Stretford Ender

Yep, they used to make games that bit more interesting. Chelsea away and West Ham away always called for a bit of extra care. The first time I went to Millwall was in the old 2nd Division. For some reason, the special from Manchester didn't arrive so it was mostly Cockney Reds and those who came by coach. It was a midweek game as I remember and it was a bit hair-raising. Won 1-0 though.

The dippers will go bananas if the PL is voided. It will be this - on steroids.

There's a story about him waiting in the tunnel at Anfield when Spurs were playing Liverpool, and Tommy Smith handed him a copy of the menu from Liverpool Infirmary.

He's been writing obits for the Guardian for some time now. His archives go back to 1999 but he's still writing for The Times, or at least he was through November 2019.

He has a habit of damning Chelsea players with faint praise. Here's the opening paragraph of his obituary for Peter Osgood: 'The Chelsea, Southampton and England footballer Peter Osgood, who has died after a heart attack at a family funeral in Slough, aged 59, never truly fulfilled his enormous promise and potential. It was Geoff Hurst who scored three goals for England in the World Cup final of 1966 against West Germany. But it was Osgood who might so easily have played in his place.' https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/mar/02/guardianobituaries.football I'm all for a bit of tribalism but that should be laid aside in death.

Michael Oliver would wet his drawers if he had to referee a match from the 1970s. Back then men like Jack Taylor, Roger Kirkpatrick, and Clive 'the book' Thomas, knew how to handle games without letting their egos get in the way like modern refs like Oliver who, in my opinion, likes to be the star of the show.

I never saw him play for Chelsea (too young) but I saw him in a Spurs shirt many times. My cousin is a life-long City fan who loves to talk about how he saw Greavsie make his debut for West Ham at Maine Road in 1970. The Hammers won 5-1 and Greavsie, as he did, scored on his debut. By the way, we played Chelsea that day and lost 2-1 at your place. Can't remember who got Chelsea's goals but Willie Morgan scored ours.

That's how I remember it. Grabowski did make a difference but with Beckenbauer pinned back in his own half, England should and could have coped. I remember my old man saying Ramsey was saving Bobby for the semi-final and maybe that's what happened but that defeat should not be placed squarely on the shoulders of Bonetti. After that game, it was another 12 years before England played in another WC finals. Ramsey, I think, didn't trust 'flair' players which was why lads like Osgood, Bowles, Marsh, Worthington, and Hudson were not capped as often as they should have been. In fact, as I recall, Ramsey didn't cap Hudson at ll.

Saw him play against us many times down the years. If memory serves, Tommy Docherty wanted to play Alex Stepney and Peter Bonetti in alternate games, like England did once with Shilton and Clemence. Matt made a bid and Stepney joined us. The Cat was a great nickname for him, he was quick off his line, agile, and got his hands to shots that he had no right to. I remember Denis Law shaking his head in frustration after seeing Bonetti claw a sure goal out of the top corner. I think he was unfairly blamed by the press for the loss to West Germany in Leon whilst Alf Ramsey avoided criticism. oh well. water under the bridge and I'm sad to learn of his death as all true football fans should be. RIP.