To the world at large, even some less discerning football followers, the names Trevor Meredith, Larry Carberry and Ron Webster are unlikely to be mentioned when the game is discussed, mention of Heslop as likely to conjure a character seen in the early episodes of ‘Porridge‘ than Manchester City league title-winner George.
While FA Cup Final heroics, talking once upon a time here as if you hadn’t already gathered, would come to define a career no matter where it went afterwards (Alan Taylor, Ian Turner, Roger Osborne), solid, consistent performers could slip under the radar in a league title-winning season.
Indeed, the dependable contributions of say Webster, Carberry and Meredith were not headline-grabbing in the way of a leading goalscorer or eye-catching midfielder – but still essential to the greater good.
In other words, for an Alan Ball there is a Sandy Brown, a Tony Book for a Colin Bell.
The essence of a title-winning team was always thought to lay in a strong spine – stand-out goalkeeper, dominant central defender, midfield general and free-scoring centre forward – with the trained eye of an astute manager able to develop or recruit other key pieces of the puzzle.
Having a dash of mercurial brilliance also helped, but the likes of Revie, Clough, Paisley, Catterick, Busby and Shankly, two-time title-winners each (at least), shared a principal of picking good players in their right positions and presto the balance of the team – ‘shape’ in Premiership parlance – tended to take care of itself.
On the other hand, numerous great players of the post-war, pre-Premier League era ended distinguished careers without being a league title winner – a plethora of goals or dizzying individual skill not enough to carry off the Championship. Other factors, loyalty to one club, injuries, shortcomings in those around them also had an effect, resulting in many all-time greats being a ‘champion‘ in status, but not in fact.
Twenty examples are hereby gathered:
PAT JENNINGS: If a top-class goalkeeper was essential to title-winning aspirations, then with Northern Ireland international Jennings as their last line, Spurs (late-60s/early70s) and Arsenal (late-70s) can only have come up short in other departments. FA, League, and UEFA Cup honours, along with ‘Footballer of the Year‘ (1973), all came the way of this most accomplished of performers, whose personal consistency outreached those around him.
BOBBY MOORE: The finest English defender of all and greatest-ever England captain, during his 16-year West Ham career the league title never came within a mile of the Mile End Road. How differently things may have turned out for World Cup winner Moore – and Spurs – had a proposed 1966 move to White Hart Lane not fallen through.
DEREK DOUGAN: His deadly early-70s partnership with John Richards made Wolves one of the most attractive outfits around, but while they were prolific the defence was profligate – so a serious title challenge failed to materialise. That said the ‘Doog‘ was a defining football character of the times, providing goals and entertainment wherever he played.
JIMMY GREAVES: Signed the season (1961-62) after a terrific Tottenham team won the double, FA Cup and European Cup Winners Cup successes soon followed – and while there was no doubt Spurs had signed the most natural goalscorer English football has produced, it poses the question that with Jennings at one end and Greaves scoring at calculator-defying consistency at the other, how did the title not find a way to N17 at least once more during the 60s?
STANLEY MATTHEWS: Won second division title medals with Stoke City thirty years apart (1933/1963), the time between bringing three FA Cup Final appearances with Blackpool, one of which bears his name – added to which is the eternal admiration of those who saw him play. Not a league winner, but his 1956 demolition of a Brazil side who would win the World Cup 18 months later is a leading contender for the most inspired display (Matthews then 41), by anyone who has ever worn an England shirt.
PETER OSGOOD: If star quality won medals Osgood would have been decorated way beyond those that did come his way. The focal point of a gifted Chelsea side who strutted their stuff through the late-60s and early-70s, ‘Ossie‘ was the complete centre-forward. Had his talents been utilised elsewhere a title may have come along, although in his pomp it is hard to imagine him walking the walk anywhere bar Stamford Bridge.
JACKIE MILBURN: Three FA Cup winners medals in five years and strike rate making him the toast of Tyneside, ‘Wor Jackie‘ was the key figure in a Newcastle side who illuminated many a 50s Saturday afternoon – always entertaining, if not, like their leader, the finished article.
NAT LOFTHOUSE: The ‘Lion of Vienna‘ in an England jersey and ‘Baron of Burnden Park‘ in that of Bolton, Lofthouse was very often unplayable – as a breathtaking goal return for club and country testify. In an era of great Englisn centre-forwards, Milburn, Wilshaw, Taylor, ‘Nat‘ was at the forefront.
KEVIN BEATTIE: Often referred to as a ‘70s Duncan Edwards‘ – not without good reason – Beattie was the model central-defender with attributes of a top-class midfield player thrown in. An Ipswich FA Cup winner in 1978, injuries cost him and one suspects the club, many more honours.
STAN MORTENSEN: The first player to score a hat-trick in a Wembley FA Cup Final (1953), if his oppo Matthews was the wing-wizard then ‘Morty‘ was the one man forward-line. Three FA Cup Finals in six seasons was a commendable effort from a talented Blackpool side, but not even the combined greatness of M & M could carry them over the title line.
STAN BOWLES: Of all the players listed, ‘Stan the Man‘ is the one with perhaps most reason to feel aggrieved – Bowles providing the fizz and finesse as a superb QPR team fell agonisingly short in 1976, their points tally enough to win the title the year before and after.
LEN SHACKLETON: If Bowles had a 50s equivalent it would have been the ‘Clown Prince‘ himself, the great Len Shackleton. Wherever ‘Shack‘ plied his trade (Bradford Park Avenue, Newcastle United and Sunderland), he was always top of the bill, star of the show material. Outlandishly skilful, a close-run thing in 1950 whilst on Wearside the nearest he came to being a champion in the literal sense.
LIAM BRADY: From his mid-70s introduction into the Arsenal team it was clear Highbury had an outstanding talent on its hands. As the decade unfolded, Dublin-born Brady and the Arsenal team around him grew in stature, appearances in three FA Cup Finals and a European Cup Winners Cup Final, yielding only one triumph – failure to make a significant title bid in no way a reflection of Brady’s brilliance.
RONNIE CLAYTON: Feted as one of the most accomplished defenders of the day, from his 1950 Blackburn debut Clayton was renowned as a class act. If a 1960 FA Cup runners-up medal was scant reward for a distinguished 19 season club career, captaining England and having an Ewood Park stand named in his honour is more reflective of his esteem.
GLENN HODDLE: If born in Milan or Munich rather than Middlesex, chances are Hoddle would have been a World Cup winner, the Italians or Germans not wasting the chance to build a team around such a sublime talent. Spurs built a couple of decent sides around their midfield maestro to secure cup honours, but never lasted the Championship course.
STEVE COPPELL: Cut a splendid dash down the right-wing as Manchester United, under Tommy Docherty, made an exuberant mid-70s return to the top-flight after a one-season second division sojourn. Quick, direct and always capable of scoring, his all-round talents were hailed at Old Trafford and by successive England managers in the form of 42 caps. By the time injury ended a fine career, Coppell-era United had occasionally been in with a title shout, but never managed the final word.
ALAN HUDSON: For most of the 70s Hudson was a top-drawer midfield player, whose poise on the ball often appeared he had time to kill. Memorable displays, particularly for Chelsea and Stoke City, were not enough to land a league title – although outclassing the World Cup winning West German midfield at Wembley in 1975 should have put him front and centre on the international stage. The subsequent lack of imagination came in team selection and not from him.
WILF MANNION: Once described by Stanley Matthews no less as the ‘Mozart of football‘ due to his exquisite ball skills, Mannion could have been absent from the list had World War Two not occurred – Middlesbrough a coming force when football was suspended in 1939. Rescued from Dunkirk as a serviceman in 1940, when football resumed after the conflict, Mannion known as the ‘Golden Boy‘, due to a mixture of his blonde hair and shining ability, was no less potent – remaining a star attraction for club and country.
MARTIN PETERS: Moving from West Ham to Spurs for a British record £200,000 fee in 1970 looked likely to land World Cup winner Peters the domestic honours that had so far eluded him. Boosted by his elegance and quick-thinking, Tottenham went on to win a trophy in each of the next three seasons and while they were always an attractive proposition, not even the class of Martin Peters could elevate them to the front.
he was able;
ARTHUR ROWLEY: With Rowley, the highest goalscorer in English league history, it is all too easy for statistics to take over – 434 goals in 619 games, 16 hat-tricks for Leicester alone – but if we are to play that game what about a run of 13 seasons (50/51-62/63), where he scored over twenty in seven, over thirty in five, with 56-57 bringing 44 in 42 matches.
Spending his later years in Shrewsbury, for whom he played and managed, the author shared many an afternoon pot of tea with the great man, whose memory was as abundant as his goal-scoring – Rowley seemingly able to remember every single goal he ever scored.
Known to bristle at any list that incorrectly showed his tally as 433, if you have Wikipedia up there Arthur, you’ll see they have it right.
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