I have been impressed with what I have seen so far and keep thinking of our record breaking side playing the present team in the new stadium, because that would be very interesting. That bring me to something that happened at Stamford Bridge one day when the chairman of Chelsea, in the 80s, asked Peter Osgood, “How do you think this team would have faired against your 1970 FA Cup winning team?” which Ossie replied “I say we would have won 1-0” which had Bates thinking before continuing, “How did you work that one out?”. Osgood cheekily said, “Well, I think it might have been more but we are all in our 50s now”. Bates was stunned!
TALKING ABOUT THOSE GOOD OLD DAYS
It is approaching May Day a day I always think of my best friend, Leslie May, who died to tragically young, which also reminds me of my time when I would travel to Majorca around this time, especially before preparing for yet another operation from Professor Frank Williams, and whilst there, on this particular morning I’d go to a nice Bar on the waters edge and raise my glass to Leslie, and have the Bee Gees song Firsts of May ring through my head.
When I was small, and Christmas trees were tall,
We used to love while others used to play.
Don’t ask me why, but time has passed us by,
Some one else moved in from far away.
Now we are tall, and Christmas trees are small,
And you don’t ask the time of day.
But you and I, our love will never die,
But guess we’ll cry come first of May.
The apple tree that grew for you and me,
I watched the apples falling one by one.
And I recall the moment of them all,
The day I kissed your cheek and you were mine.
I just played on Youtube and shed a tear for Leslie, which I always did on the waters edge.
However, it is 30 May and I am travelling to Stoke-on-Trent, where Leslie came to see me play many times, for a function put on my behalf by David Grice. He has organized a day of football and music with me and my old Stoke City team-mates and some very fine musicians, who I know well, and have supported since knowing David. This will take place on Sunday and I am really looking forward to see a few of my old friends, where there is no doubt we will go through all of our great times together.
Whilst on the subject of ‘years ago’ I saw an interview last night with Dave Whelan. Whelan was a member of the Blackburn Rovers FA Cup side of 1960, which lost 3-0 to Wolves. Whelan himself did not complete the game, a challenge from Whelan culminated in the Blackburn man being withdrawn before half time due to a broken leg. His injury is one of many serious injuries suffered by players in the 1950–60 era and was known as the Wembley hoodoo. Following his leg break, Whelan was sold to Crewe Alexandre where he played for several years before retiring to concentrate fully on his chain of supermarkets, Whelan’s Discount Stores, which were sold to Ken Morrison for over a million pounds. Whelan was accused of making antisemitic statements, following an interview he gave The Guardian defending his decision to hire Malky Mackay as manager of Wigan. Mackay is currently under investigation by the Football Association (FA) for alleged racism and antisemitism in e-mails and text messages he sent when he was the manager of Cardiff City. During the interview, Whelan was quoted as saying “Jewish people chase money more than everybody else.” The statements were condemned by West Ham United co-chairman David Gold and former FA and Premier League executive Simon Johnson, both of whom are Jewish. Whelan was also accused of racist attitudes by defending Mackay’s alleged referral to Chinese people or “chinks”. Cardiff City owner, Vincent Tan, who is Malaysian Chinese, said of Whelan, “I think he has insulted the dignity of the Chinese”. Whelan later apologized for his remarks. Anti-racist organization Kick-It-out offered support to Whelan, saying that they had a responsibility to ensure that people of his age would understand “modern expectations”.
Whelan threatened to leave his position at Wigan, if the FA found him guilty of racism. At the first Wigan match since the controversy, against Middlesbrough on 22 November, Wigan fans applauded Whelan as he took his seat at the DW Stadium. On 27 November, the FA charged Whelan with an aggravated breach of FA Rule E3 as his comments had included “a reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or nationality and/or religion or belief”. He was given a six-week ban and fined £50,000 on 31 December, although the FA investigation stated that he was neither a racist nor had intended to cause offence.
I for one, remembering those at the FA, not only behaving badly at an Airport “drunk” on one trip when I was captaining England Under 23 and if you think what Whelan has put into our football for purchasing Wigan Athletic, with his hard earned cash and yet there are these people, who do nothing but “take” and contribute nothing to our game condemn such a man. It is disgusting. These at the FA are also the ones that found me guilty on two occasions one/of asking for transfer from Chelsea to Stoke City, which cost me a small fortune in those days, and it was of course lies from both the Chelsea manager and chairman, so they could see both Osgood and me to help pay for the East Stand in 1974. That was number one, number two was that they banned me for three years for pulling out of another Under 23 tour because of my chronically bad ankle injury. This was at the end of a season, where after I had played 50-odd competitive (Bruce Anderson again comes to mind) matches for Chelsea. That three year ban did not help England’s chances of reaching the1974 World Cup (which they failed to do) – if I say that you do not ban your best young players for something so trivial. These people have tarnished Dave Whelan at a time they should have backed him to the hilt. We call Scottish people ‘Jocks’, Chinese ‘Chinks’, Germans ‘Krauts’ and and so do those hypocrites at Soho Square, and it is both disgusting and totally ridiculous that a man, who has given so much, after breaking a leg in an FA Cup final (something those at the FA know nothing about), destroy everything he stands for. If you ask anyone at the FA to put money into a football club, they would run for their lives. Ken Bates bought Chelsea for a pound note and bragged about it, yet he called so many people far worse. If Whelan ever wanted my support and I think that goes for 99% of those in the dressing rooms I played in he’d get total backing. It is about time, like Brian Clough, always said, that those at the FA should be swept out with a nice new broom, and then English football might just stand a chance, Yeah, those that employed Adam Crozier, who told the female staff to look for another job, hen they approached him about getting a taxi’s for them from the office in Soho Square because they were being harassed and made ‘offers’ to from those that hang about around that notorious area. I’ll never forgive those people who banned me for three years but only banned Rio Ferdinand for failing to turn up for random drugs test. Why? Because he played for Manchester United and cost 20 million.
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