Memory Lane

................and may I be the LAST to congratulate you on the birth of the twins Jamie! ;D

Cheers Merse - they are now four and a half, how time flies.

It really is interesting to see how things changed over there.

On the subject of steve B I am trying to get a message to him about this site. Hopefully he will be with us soon. To use a "bakerism" he was sometimes right, sometimes wrong but always certain. I hope we get him here soon because he will love this site.

Bring on the season

Changes?

Playing with my kids on the state of the art "3G" pitch last Sunday, I was thinking just that.

There was my four year old and my seven year old, both in their replica kits; each with their perfectly sized footballs..............a "Diablo" for Olivia, a size 3 for Anthony, footwear that was brightly coloured metallic finished and ideally studded. Olivia's even resplendent in pink Nike!They can each play the ball equally comfortably with either foot - inside or outside of the foot, no problem.

"Where" was I at that age almost half a century ago?

My parents had sunk all their efforts into a two and a half thousand pound bungalow in Aller Park (in 1956) so there was no spare money. My first boots were old fashioned even by the standards of the day, brown leather "clod hoppers" - solid toe caps, ankle supports, and nail in leather studs which meant that if you walked on tarmac too much the nails would protrude through into the interior leaving you with painful and bleeding feet. When the studs were worn and needed replacing, my dad would invert the boot on his last, pull out the old ones with pliers and hammer in new ones!

The only choice of football was an old brown leather full sizer that would reach almost to my knee when at my feet (if that makes sense) and as for kits...............don't even go there, they didn't exist!

We didn't have a telly until I was ten years old, so my only experience of football was the real MacCoy down at Plainmoor, Newton Rec or occasionally Home Park. The first televised games that I recall on that little 14" set were the 1962 World Cup from far away Chile, and they came after just the previous three or four FA Cup Finals and all those had been watched at my Dad's friend's up until then.

All tellys were black and white (or more accurately a misty bluey grey and white) so that for years I always thought Blackburn Rovers played in black and white halves! ;D

Now Anthony forever feeds me information of which superstar plays for which club, info I can never come to terms with and all gained from his FIFA 2008.

Times certainly change, my childhood (played out in a clearing in the bracken on Aller Brake) had so much more freedom and safety, that half a century on I look on at my kids playing under supervision most of the time and feel more than a little guilty.

But hey, they wouldn't thank me for chucking them into a time machine and sending 'em back to the fifties would they!

Our paths must have crossed, no I never nicked your trike........I had one like that myself; but the common by Milber Woods (Ash Way would be built over that now) was a bit of "disputed territory" between the Buckland Boys and us lot from Milber/Aller.

I certainly remember the Best family, as well as George Bahari, Frank Harris, Gerald Luxton, Ron(?)Holmes (who's son Nigel is such a founding strength of Buckland Athletic) and of course manager Bill Anderson. Terry Way was a magnificent footballer and it was my privilege to play with him in his later years (he played well past 50 you know) at Liverton as well as for him when he became manager there. Alan Garrett was also another tremendously gifted player who played well on into advanced years.................those guys were so good I swear they could find you with a pass with their eyes closed! Real craftsmen, proper gentlemen and such a help to young lads beginning in the game.

Terry and Alan were really good enough to play professional football, and just why they didn't defies imagination. Do you remember Russell Petersen, Bill Bannister, Bobby Jones, Kenny Drawer and Joey Dunn? All great lads and on the odd occasion I made the first team at Spurs as a teenager, I certainly learned a lot about life on those long long trips down to places like Falmouth and Penzance that always seemed to end up in the dead of night back in Newquay

Old Andy (Bill Anderson) used to get played up something rotten by the likes of Kenny and Joe and I remember one day they filled out the team sheet with him as sub down at Wadebridge (only one sub then remember) and the old boy had to come on after just a few minutes, standing pointing and raging his way through the game as we kept feeding him "hospital passes" ;D

I believe we had Ian Twitchin and Steve Morrall playing for us that day as well as Robbie Robbins in goal - three more really gifted players, and the legendary Don Mills

As a young lad I used to sneak into the rec through a hole in that corrugated iron fence that separated the two arenas together with Cameron Hill (who also used to be a mascot and who's dad Arhur played for the club tragically dying from a heart attack in his thirties), Ian Phillips and Steve Bennett and we used to play on the pitch much to Andy's displeasure. Anyway, one evening he said to us; I've been watching you lads and I'm really stuck for players on Saturday as we have to put three sides out so come on we'll sign you on, and we did. Training used to be at Plainmoor on Tuesdays and Thursdays under Geoff Cox and Don Mills, and Dougie Clarke (despite being in his late thirties and in the Torquay first team) used to come in on Tuesdays for a bit of extra training.

I fondly recall lapping the Plainmoor pitch and when we were on the Popside pumping our arms twice as fast (as shown by Joe and Kenny) so that it appeared to Don sitting in the grandstand that we were running faster than we were - as if he was really fooled!

I never had the ability to warrant playing in a few Spurs games alongside the likes of Don Mills,Tommy Northcott, Geoff Cox, but I had the privilege and that grounding at Spurs stood me in good stead for taking the brickbats of life as we frequently got taken to the cleaners by bigger and stronger old pro's in the South Western League, and whipper snappers like me got the piss taken out of us endlessly in the dressingroom and on the training pitch. But I think my most enduring memory was seeing Tommy Trankle (a giant of a teenager) half disappear through the rotten floor of that old dressing room at the rec as he warmed up before a match...............as he stood there up to his waist in splintered floor board Andy just said "Tranks stop pissing about and get ready for the game" ;D

Robbie was an outstanding keeper who who kept Pat Roche out of the Spurs team and Paddy went on to play for the Republic of Ireland and Manchester United after returning to Shelbourne in Dublin.

Rob actually played as an amateur for Mike Green's side in the Football League and also for Sheffield United in the old Central League. One thing that went against him was that he never grew to more than 5'9" and the other was that he took the good advise of my former colleague Alex Jackson and told United what they could do with their offer to turn full time pro' as it would have represented a pay cut from his salary at Centrax.

"Don't be timid son, they'll come up with more than that, stick to your guns" Alex told him - they didn't! and I do believe it was none other than Ken Furphy who gave him a chance at Bramall Lane, although I may be mistaken after so many years.

Robbie returned down South and made a great career for himself at Falmouth and Bideford, as did another rather shortish local keeper Bryan Helley - remember him?

Cameron used to be the original little "street scrote" and used to bunk off with me on those epic journeys up North in support of the Gulls despite being three or four years younger. His mum ran an off licence on Hilton Road, and I fondly remember him playing for our Sunday youth team - Newtor United and having to have his boot laces constantly done up for him on the touch line by my dad as he couldn't do the job properly himself. He grew into a six foot plus strapping great lad and was an imposing centre forward for Newton 66 and Newton Abbot where he later became club chairman.
He's lived up in Derbyshire for many years now as he moved up there with his job installing ACMs for the old Post Office years ago. I've still got his phone number and last saw him at a game at Mansfield about three years back. His mate Steve Bond who worked with him is now a FIFA and EUFA licensed pitch side photographer and I chatted to him recently pitch side at Rushden & Diamonds where he told me all about his recent trip to the African Cup of Nations and previously his trip to the South American Cup!

Stuart Knight is no longer alive I believe, and he "almost" became my brother in law at one time! He straightened himself out once he left school and joined the army............had a bit of a reputation did Stu, but he was OK really and I had a lot of time for him.

No Spagbol..............I met Roy at Clive Holmes funeral a year or so ago - same name, no relation.

Clive and Nigel were the sons of the old club trainer and "rub man" of Newton Spurs who might well have been called either Frank or Roy himself and he passed away over thirty years ago.

Clive was a born comedian and town eccentric of NA and tragically died of cancer last year aged 56. His funeral was held at St Lukes Milber and was notable for the number who turned up in shorts and wooly hats (Clive's trade mark, whatever the weather) When Clive was holding court in the old Post Office Social Club in Bradley Lane or the Courtenay Arms, the world used to stop to witness the entertainment..............a natural comic and a very funny man.

I met up with him shortly after splitting from my first wife many years ago, and he said "it's not for me to criticise or take sides, but............" and he punched me as hard as he could on the nose before buying me a pint!