Loose Button

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Loose Button

Memories what memories, for I have just left the Betting Shop where a lady told me of how Dave Sexton showed her his ‘loose button’ – only this was the one that came off. Whereas the one that Harry Redknapp spoke about never did. It was actually a tip for a horse whereas Dave had a navy blue jacket with a button missing and nobody ever knew where it was. It was his FA Cup ‘lucky charm’ and I remember him walking the team out at Wembley with a button missing. As for Harry, he came into the changing room one day before training and when asked by a young American how he did at Longacres the day before he said, “I done my money but have been told two horses to look out for, so get the Seattle Times every day and Look for Dusty Carpet “it’s never been beaten” and an even bigger certainty” Loose Button” it’s got to come off soon. The youngsters looked every day and asked him if he had it right and the more they asked the more he told them to save their money because these horses would win….

Such naivety of those poor young American players..,.

As for the Loose Button on Dave’s jacket it was replaced by an FA Cup winners medal something that Harry achieved years later with Pompey, but compared to our final with Leeds United, Pompey and Cardiff City, under Dave Jones, was like watching a kids play at the Funfair, whereas ours was all out war…and of course we won the battle, the war and the silverware…poor old Leeds United?

So it took a lady in the Betting Shop to inform me after forty four years to let on about Dave’s superstition, something we all had, mine was to put my pants on first (jock straps were a thing of the past in 1974) followed by my red and white striped shirt (at Stoke City) then my white socks and my size eight boots, I would hold onto my shorts until the bell rang and then tucked my tie-ups into the top of them once on. I was like Stevie Wonder, no not blind, but very superstitious and lucky that in those days we did not have buttons on our shorts otherwise I’d still be waiting for that winner?

By | 2017-05-22T21:31:07+00:00 May 11th, 2014|Alan Hudson|0 Comments

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