The Ambler Online

The end of the disaster season
Here we are at the end of the disaster season – all three of our local clubs embroiled in relegation issues for most of last season and now the reality of two of them getting used to being in the Championship League.

My own personal view of the situation, particularly that of United is a culmination of many things.

First and foremost there has been a complete lack of discipline, not only the players themselves, but at the very top, which includes Directors, an owner in Mike Ashley who imposed a flawed executive management structure and a medical staff totally inefficient.

The club has been a complete shambles far too long and the reality of failure has finally caught up with them.

When Alan Shearer took over as Manager, the whole football world sat up to take notice – full of expectancy, especially those dedicated United supporters.

Like many observers, watching events unfold I was astonished Alan gave up the comforts of the B.B.C. commentating studio into the inferno which now engulfs him. I wrote in a previous column that Alan would lose all the credibility he had built as a player should be fail as a Manager. The task ahead of him is formidable. Interviewed on radio shortly after taking over as manager, he said DISCIPLINE was his main priority. It beggars belief when he went on to say that several players couldn’t even get to the training ground for 10.a.m. starting time. Players earning thousands of pounds a week cannot get up in the morning for what is a job in a million – thousands of kids would crave for the chance.

On the final note – none of these three clubs can afford to rely on other teams results – they must pursue their own destiny.

Team Formations
For more years than I can remember I’ve been preaching the most successful team formation executed during my playing days.

In todays football every team operates various formations – 3-4-3 4-3-3 2-5-2-1
Most payers have no idea on how to implement the ever changing pattern instigated by their coaches.

Why not return to the simple formula of 2-3-5 which was regularly implemented during my day with great success. When defending both wingers moved inside, full backs closed ranks creating a funnel system in the middle of the field – when attacking wingers and full backs moved wide it was simple and flexible, most importantly keeping balance.

Nunn's Amble Boys Club

It was interesting to read the article in Ambler from Roy Robson re the formation of Amble Boys Club.

To put the matter straight - Brian Nunn, the Founder, together with Lewis Bobb (now living in New Zealand ) Willie Traynor ( London ) and myself were the very first members of Amble Boys Club. The year was 1938, one year before the 2 nd World War.

Our 'Head Quarters' was a derelict building which we knocked into reasonable shape, and it was from there we discussed plans for the future - that building is now The Quay Restaurant.

As events unfolded there was a steady influx of new members willing and ready to help us in our vision to build the club into a worthwhile venture for future years. We even managed to scrape together 11 players to form a "Football Team". Although as eventuality was to prove, whatever aspirations we may have had presenting ourselves as a formidable outfit, ready to take on any team was very quickly knocked on the head.

Rather ambitiously, Brian arranged a game against Ashington Boys Club reputed to be the strongest team in Northumberland! To say that we were annihilated would be putting it mildly! Losing to the tune of 13 - 0 was eventually quite a reasonable score line!! Their scorers were Gray and a lad named 'Milburn' who shared the goals between them. Nothing more was ever heard of Gray again, but of course as the football world knows, "Wor Jackie" became a Newcastle United legend and was my great friend until he died at the early age of 62. Amble Boys Club lives on.

June 2009

That's entertainment

Show business and sport, especially football and cricket, have always been inextricably linked, and I’d like to tell you some of my encounters with show business characters through my sporting career.

Many of them, from stage and film, told me they’d much rather have been a pro footballer or cricketer had the financial rewards been as good as those of show business. In today’s sporting climate it is ironic that the financial situation between the two factions is completely reversed.

My first meeting with a famous television star of the 1950s occurred on a train on a journey with my Port Vale team mates, to play against Southend. The club secretary had forgotten to book seats on the train so we had to stand! My annoyance disappeared when a chap next to me and smelling of alcohol and cigarettes, in a whisper, offered me “a wee drop of the hard stuff”. It turned out to be Jimmy Wheeler, a comedian who appeared regularly on television and could make you laugh without opening his mouth. For the rest of that journey, he had me in fits of laughter. I heard soon after that he had died from a drink related illness. What a waste of wonderful talent.

Another memorable meeting happened after an FA cup replay at Vale Park, in which we’d beaten Southport 2-0. Two instantly recognisable figures came into the dressing room – Stanley Matthews and Terry Thomas, famous for his gap teeth and posh cockney accent. Terry congratulated me with, “Cor blimey Ray, you’ve got more arms than a bleedin’ octopus”…. words I could never forget.

With our cup run flourishing we were being put up at the best hotels in London and seeing top variety shows. After watching the Arthur Askey show at the Palladium, the team trooped into his dressing room. Still dressed in his pyjamas, which he’d worn throughout the show, he displayed another side to his character. Gone was the wisecracking comedian. He was serious and extremely courteous. A Vale director tried to act the fool with him but was given an instant rebuff.

In the early 1960s Des O’Connor invited me to play in his celebrity team against Hampshire police, with names such as Max Bygraves, the Rockin’ Berries (a well known pop group), Kenneth McKellar (playing in his kilt) and Jack Douglas, the Geordie comedian. It was great fun with crowds cheering us on.

I had the opportunity of meeting up with Eric Morcambe, while I was Luton FC’s youth manager. He revealed that he had had an ambition to be a goal keeper. He lifted his glasses in his inimitable style and quipped, “But I didn’t have the legs for it. Come to think of it, I didn’t have the body, either!” I never heard him utter one expletive. He hated comedians who couldn’t tell a joke without using foul language.

Poole, where Norma and I lived for 26 years is a beautiful seaside resort and show business stars flocked to the resort whenever possible. When I managed Poole Town FC I received requests from the Show Biz X1 for permission to play on our ground against selected opposition names such as Mike and Bernie Winters, Tommy Steele, Norman Rossington, Bernard Breslaw and the irrepressible Ronnie Corbett and many more. Some of them were so miserable! To be fair though - those lads did well for so many charities.

March 2009

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