‘Pop’…… The bubble will burst, but no-one can say when. Today (Sunday 01 October) in the Assembly Room of the Town Hall there was a fascinating, informed and insightful discussion into football. Football in the UK particularly, but inevitably, with The Premiership being probably the world’s major league – football everywhere. But will this current position of strength last? Ben Ridley, Jane Purdon and Andy Hamilton gave all those present their considered views.
‘Football Shorts’ is a new series of ‘quick reads’ originated and Inspired by Ian Ridley, football writer, author and acclaimed journalist, and it currently comprises three titles. His own ‘Pantomime Hero’, is about Jimmy Armfield. ‘The Homecoming’ – about The Lionesses and Beyond is by Jane Purdon, former CEO of ‘Women in Football’, Chair of the Professional Game Academy Audit Company (PGAAC) and former Club Secretary of Sunderland AFC. And of course, ‘Blue was the Colour’ is by Andy Hamilton, author, comedy writer, frequently seen and/or heard in many TV and radio shows – ‘Have I got News For You’ being just one – but importantly a person to whom football is important, like you and me, as it figures so strongly in many of our lives.
Andy’s ‘Blue was the Colour’ is described as ‘a tale of tarnished love’, falling in and out of love with Chelsea which, however bad or depressing things get regarding the club – its ownership saga, day-to-day happenings or just the performance – the relationship becomes part of the DNA, an itch that can never be scratched away.
Jane’s ‘The Homecoming’ is about The Lionesses, The England Women’s team – or more aptly described as a ‘phenomenon’ – and their rise to become for many even more important and exciting than the men’s national team. Successful – definitely, and the crowds and environment in the stadium for a Lionesses match – very different, welcoming, friendly and no less captivatingly exciting. And the emergence of professional women’s football in England (and Wales) culminating in the narrow defeat by Spain in the recent World Cup Final in Australia. But really kicked off by the wonderful achievement of winning the Euros at Wembley last year, marking the centenary of the women’s game here.
Ian, who came up with the concept of Football Shorts was in Marlborough to talk about his edition – ‘Pantomime Hero’, a commentary on the late and great Jimmy Armfield. Jimmy was a legend in English football, not through just what he achieved, but who he was and what he did. Captaining England on the pitch, eventually for the latter years of his life being a top football broadcaster, familiar to most who ever wanted to hear football on the radio, with one notable claim in so far that he ‘saved’ Leeds United from some altogether different fate in the immediate aftermath of the 44 days of Brian Clough, who was appointed to take over from Don Revie. There is something about 44 days. Etched in the memory (of any football aficionado) as being the number of days that almost led to disaster (for Leeds United, anyway), but also the same number of days that almost led to disaster, not for Leeds United but for the UK as a whole, under the premiership of Liz Truss.
Ian, Jane and Andy brought the world of Football and The Premiership to us all. There’s a lot that is good about Football in England and Wales, but also a lot that isn’t. Described by Ian as being ‘a bubble’, every such entity eventually goes ‘pop’, but when? And how? What will be the final stage(s) of that journey? Ian and Andy were clear that men’s football, or the upper levels of the professional game were getting to a point so very far removed from normal life.
Andy pointed out that at his very first Chelsea match, at Stamford Bridge when he was six years old, the players were all playing for what then could have been regarded as a good wage, about £20 per week. Good by comparative standards, but in a completely different league to that of today, where Andy again cited the ‘millionaire’ players who hadn’t even emerged to the first team level, to even debut for their club. (Incidentally Andy’s first match was Chelsea v. Newcastle in the early sixtes, ending in a 4-2 victory for the Blues and a game where all six goals scored were headers).
Ian bought Jimmy Armfield back to us all. As noted above, a superb broadcaster in his later years but a great footballer, coach and manager before that. The title – Pantomime Hero – was about Jimmy’s spell at Leeds, rebuilding and focusing the team (and club) post Brian Clough’s short and tempestuous reign. As a way to build that all important team spirit Jimmy arranged for a Pantomime to be put on, starring the Leeds squad as characters with Billy Bremner as Buttons, Gordon McQueen as the ‘Good Fairy McQueen’ and Norman Hunter as Prince Charming. But is was Cinderella who, as ever was key to the panto, and Jimmy chose Duncan McKenzie, an outrageously talented signing from Nottingham Forest, but a (then) very expensive Clough signing who wasn’t fitting in to the otherwise fearsome Revie era dressing room culture. The Pantomime helped. Jimmy played the role of narrator and prompter as learning lines was never the strong point of the team, and he also acted as Master of Ceremonies in top hat and tails. The pic on the cover of Ian’s Football Short is of him on stage, that evening at The City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds, for the one night, only. It sold out, but there was only that single performance……
Jane’s first match was at Roker Park, Sunderland. At the time of Sunderland’s famous cup final victory, ironically against Leeds United in 1973. Her home town. Jane’s relationship with Sunderland started on a high, the greatest point in the club’s post war history. She didn’t know – at the time – that it would be all downhill from there….. Jane admits that Roker Park, since superseded by The Stadium of Light was ‘a dump’. Ian commented that ‘nostalgia isn’t what it used to be’. Later, as noted above, Jane became Club Secretary at Sunderland A.F.C.
So football – where is it going? Will the women’s game follow the same journey as that of the men’s game? Whilst the need for equivalence and money is important, there are real worries about the future in both areas, but Jane was clear to describe the atmosphere at Wembley when The Lionesses picked up the Euros Trophy. Something so far removed from when the men’s team played Italy in the final of the men’s Euros a couple of years earlier.
Ian, Jane and Andy were clear about one thing – men’s football can learn from women’s football. What has been achieved, so far on such a relatively minuscule budget. The Premier League is a bubble. It will burst, but what then?
‘Blue was the Colour’ – Andy Hamilton, (£9.99)
‘The Homecoming’ – Jane Purdon, (£9.99)
‘Pantomime Hero’ – Ian Ridley, (£9.99)
Pics by Ben Phillips
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