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Bert used to occasionally call in at The Crown Inn, Potter Hill on the Wortley Rd as his Uncle drank there. Jeff Smith was and still is the landlord, Bert had many a chat with him.
If anyone goes in the Crown Inn, it would be great to ask him about his appearance at Liverpool. It appears he was effective as a Lincoln player, and the match report says that Simpson was unusually quiet against Lincoln, which suggests he had a good game.
It was about 3 months ago when Bert read that he was still there and only opening Saturdays.
6 or 7 years ago me and Mrs.Joe arranged to meet up with her brother and wife at the Crown Inn on the basis that it was roughly half way between our homes .
I
And the same is true of the match report, describing a high-tempo, all-action direct approach to cope with the terrible conditions. 2 excellent goals from Ron Simpson were no more than Utd deserved:
What was again concerning was the low crowd of 14160. The programme from the next home game thanked those who turned out on an awful day, but it is clear that the Board was concerned that crowds were not increasing:
T
Your 2nd rate, piss poor, Jacob Rees - Mogg impressions do my cake in.
If you insist...
This was the first goal United had ever scored at Ipswich, and gave us a healthy lead at the top:
The defence had conceded just 10 goals in 14 games, and the back 6 played a role as important as the back 6 in 2018-19. Very different players and different roles, but if you print the team below with Coldwell and Graham Shaw in front of the half-backs, it gives a sense of how important the back units were in 1960-61 and 2018-19:
The Ipswich team, managed by Alf Ramsey, were also a strong unit, shown by the fact that they did go on to win promotion, and then followed this by immediately winning League 1. If there is one respect in which football was better than it is now, it is surely this: a club winning promotion to the top tier did not need to settle for avoiding relegation the following season, but could expect to compete as equals in the league. Some clubs were bigger and wealthier than others, of course, but the differences were such that they could be bridged, and that is surely healthier than what we have with the Premier League in 2020.
He looked like Albert Steptoe but I have read that he was a key player in Ipswich League champions season in 1961-62
Following our famous victory at Newcastle in the 1960-61 season , our next match was at home to Ipswich on the following Tuesday night in what was seen at the time as a crucial promotion battle .
That’s ruined one of my posts for next year! Actually, in putting together the info about Ipswich away, I looked at the home match you describe, and I can’t remember anything about it at all. All the other games around then I recall quite well. Either it was a long weekend in Newcastle, or I wiped out the trauma of losing a 4-pointer against Ipswich. Either way, I will pinch your post and repeat it next year.Following our famous victory at Newcastle in the 1960-61 season , our next match was at home to Ipswich on the following Tuesday night in what was seen at the time as a crucial promotion battle .
35,000 turned out to see their conquering heroes on a vile night and I was one of them . I remember being a bit apprehensive about the Crawford / Phillips strike force but also being quietly confident that if we could beat Newcastle , we could beat anybody . What could possibly go wrong.......?
The answer was a 3-1 defeat and Leadbetter was the catalyst for that defeat . Even though he was probably the skinniest footballer I’ve ever seen , he was virtually unstoppable that night and I think he was involved in all 3 goals .
Not like the Blades to build up your expectations then let you down ........(although we did get promoted just behind them )
Spurs had appointed Bill Nicholson as manager in 1958, and he was building up a formidable team, apparently by creating a team of the most unexciting surnames: Smith, Jones, Brown, White... Only Blanchflower added a name with a bit of distinction, and the character to match. They had a great mix - Mackay the hard man, White for silky skills, Jones for pace,Smith for power, Blanchflower for intelligence, etc. Within 25 minutes they were 3-0 up, and went on to give an absolute masterclass in team football. And bear in mind that when they completed the League and Cup double in 1961, it was the first time since 1897 that it had been done. The nearest equivalent from recent years I can think of is Leicester winning the PL - even when it was almost complete, you couldn’t believe it would actually happen.
I think every player on the pitch had a decent professional career, with the likes of Banks and Moore (both uncapped at the time) going on to become World Cup Winners), Angus had been a regular with Burnley the previous season when they were champions, and John Smith was one of just 17 players who played for Spurs in the Double-winning team of 60-61. Ron Yeats became a Liverpool legend, Alex Young an Everton legend. I would like to add that I predicted all this at the time, but I would be lying. I have only the vaguest recollection of the evening.
The team showed a rare change. 9 of the players had played all 14 games, but Graham Shaw was injured in a testimonial match the previous Tuesday at Leeds, and Cliff Mason, a reliable and (as it turns out later in the season) versatile stand-in, took his place, breaking up the legendary back 6 for the first time that season.
If you insist...
My admiration for your eye for detail has just gone up another notch, though your observation at first convinced me I was going mad. But I have now worked it out. I Was beginning to think Utd must have played with 12 men, but I can now confirm that Hodgson did not play against Brighton that day. United had played Brighton the previous March, and the newspaper must have had pictures from that game in the run-up to the October game. In the scrapbook for the March game there is a picture which in the caption refers to the ‘game last March’, sellotaped in at a later date. I presumably intended to do the same with the Hodgson picture, but then put it on the wrong page, and even changed the keeper’s name from Hollins to Baker. I must have glued it in, and decided to cover up the mistake, without realising that 60 years you would come along and uncover my deception! Guilty as charged, though I honestly have no memory of it. Will you ever believe anything I write again?
In addition to the continuing absence of Graham Shaw, the main problem was again in the forward-line, where injuries and questions over form led to 3 changes, including the debut of Barry Hartle. I will add a separate post about him shortly.The problems with the forward-line were later to be addressed in a limited, but ultimately successful way.
Was it a coincidence that we signed him from Watford, and a few years later we brought in several more players from there in a short period? Was there some sort of link between Utd and Watford? It surprised me to see that he played more than 100 games for United, largely in Division 1. He was a neat player, but I always regarded him as a stand-in rather than a first-teamer, largely because he was skilful, but wasn’t able to impose himself on games sufficiently. My strongest memory of him is one of which I have no record, and I would love it if someone could confirm that it is accurate. On September 15, 1962, United won 2-1 at Villa, with Hartle scoring both goals. I went by train to the game, and met up outside the ground with a lad from school who was related to Dick Wragg, the United director. A few minutes later Joe Shaw came out and gave us 2 tickets for the game; the lad from school lived on Bishopscourt Road - did Joe Shaw live round there? So we got good seats in the main stand, about the edge of the penalty area United attacked in the first half. I was sparing in the use of the rattle given where we were sitting! And the goal I remember involved Sims (a fine goalkeeper), running to the edge of the penalty area bouncing the ball (as the rules required), with Pace (ex-Villa) running beside him. At just the right moment Pace put his foot down where Sims was about to bounce the ball, and the ball hit Pace’s foot and rolled out of the area to Hartle, who chipped the ball beautifully straight back into the goal. Unfortunately the only detail of this match I can find is in Denis Clarebbrough’s ‘The first 100 Years’, with Hodgy saying the match produced the finest goal he has ever seen - Joe Shaw’s headed own goal past him!
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