Just as I can make no claim to have been in the audience the night ‘Live at Leeds‘ was recorded or within earshot of 3 Saville Row when The Beatles played on the roof, so I must state for the record to being nowhere near Wembley Stadium on the July afternoon in 1966 when England won the World Cup.
These events occurred in my lifetime, but chances are I would have been the youngest person present at all three, although not being there has not deterred in any way my fascination with such landmark occasions – or in those creating such moments of immense significance.
In the case of England winning the World Cup, I have watched and read just about everything in existence appertaining to the team and 1966 tournament in general. But as the years have passed my focus has tended to be on the two men most identified with the triumph – namely manager Sir Alf Ramsey and captain Bobby Moore.
It will come then as no surprise that when seeking some football stimuli recently I reached for the excellent 2016 Matthew Lorenzo-produced film biography of Bobby Moore, simply entitled BOBBY (director Ron Scalpello, 93 minutes).
Watching it on DVD for the first time was to be reminded not only of his mastery as a footballer, but also the feeling of melancholy that accompanied me from the cinema when I saw the film on its release – the realisation that life dealt Bobby Moore some terrible hands, the worst of which being the cancer that took his life at the relatively young age of 51.
The film goes straight away into the World Cup of 1966 which for the first half of the piece is used as a springboard to tell his story up to that point.
Between each England match in the competition the journey goes back to his childhood in Barking, development as a young footballer at West Ham United under the guidance of established first team players such as John Bond and particularly Malcolm Allison and breakthrough into the West Ham first team.
It then moves to his inclusion in the 1962 England World Cup squad – Moore going on to became a mainstay of the national team until 1973 – captaining the side for ten years after leading them out for the first time in May 1963.
After highlights of the ’66 quarter-final against Argentina and then semi-final against Portugal, first wife Tina describes how they met and early days of their marriage, while on the field West Ham, with Moore as captain, win the FA Cup in 1964 and twelve months later lift the European Cup Winners Cup, beating Munich 1860 in the final at Wembley.
As Moore lifts the trophy commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme makes the prophetic comment:
‘Who knows – next year he might be standing in the same spot with the World Cup in his hands.’
As for the 4-2 extra-time World Cup Final victory over West Germany, team-mates Gordon Banks, Geoff Hurst and George Cohen provide valuable insight into the role played by Moore, both as defender and captain in England becoming World Champions.
Reflecting on the moment where the teams walk out of the tunnel, Cohen recalls:
‘That’s the only time I ever felt nervous before a game. At that time with England I would always go out right behind Bobby Moore – but I knew he wasn’t sweating. He was the coolest person in the ground.’
As Moore prepares to receive the Jules Rimet Trophy from the Queen, (seconds before he has wiped his hands free of dirt on the velvet covered balustrade of the Royal Box in readiness for shaking hands with Her Majesty, thus creating one of the most enduring images of the day), the film cuts again to Tina – who reveals her thoughts in that instant went back to the time two years before when Moore had survived testicular cancer:
‘I thought if only all the celebrating people knew the truth of what Bobby had been through he’d be even more revered.’
After July 30th 1966 life would never be the same for husband and wife in the Moore household. As a couple they entered a stratosphere of fame which up until then had only been the preserve of pop or film stars.
Invitations to West End parties piled up as their lifestyle became increasingly glamorous and despite West Ham manager Ron Greenwood being unimpressed with this endless round of social engagements, Moore remained in exemplary form, particularly for the national team – form he took into the 1970 World Cup in Mexico where England went to defend their title.
In the group game against eventual winners Brazil, a team of outrageous talent with Pele at the fore, Moore produces the most acclaimed display ever given by a defender as England lose a tight game 1-0. Playing in accomplished manner for the remainder of tournament, it ended for England with a quarter-final reversal against West Germany, Moore in no way culpable for the 3-2 defeat.
His impeccable displays are all the more astounding due to occurring only days after the incident that would largely shape the rest of his life – Moore accused of stealing a bracelet from a jeweller in Bogota, Columbia, where England had gone to play a warm-up game.
Placed under house arrest for four days, the obvious weakness of evidence made it clear the whole episode had been a ploy to disrupt England in their World Cup preparations and although Moore was finally exonerated, it was the first in a series of disconcerting scenes that would blight his life from then on.
If Moore had climbed every ladder between 1966 and 1970, in the years that followed he slithered down a number of poisonous snakes. In January 1971 there came the ‘Blackpool nightclub‘ incident, Moore and three team-mates out until the early hours before an FA Cup tie the following day in which West Ham are heavily beaten, (the matter doing irrevocable damage to his relationship with Greenwood), wife Tina was subject of a kidnap threat, Moore himself had his life threatened and there were a series of ill-advised business ventures.
On the field he had also began to falter. Uncharacteristic errors cost England goals against West Germany in a 1972 European Championship defeat and when they lost to Poland in a World Cup qualifier – their failure to qualify for the 1974 tournament ending his international career.
An end to his West Ham days were also in sight. After making over 600 first team appearances Moore dropped down to Division Two in joining Fulham in March 1974 – the highlight of his three year tenure at Craven Cottage being a return to Wembley in 1975 for the FA Cup Final, where ironically they were beaten by West Ham.
Ending his playing career with Fulham in April 1977 Moore initially appears intrigued at what his future prospects might be, the general assumption being he would make the natural progression into management.
Whether this was based on the hope his first job as a manager was secured it is hard to say, but talks had already been held with Watford chairman Elton John with regard to Moore becoming manager of the Vicarage Road club – the two men subsequently agreeing a deal to this effect with the story widely reported in the press.
John, however, was then persuaded by other Watford directors the post would be better filled by future England manager Graham Taylor, Moore learning he had been usurped while on holiday with his family, the rejection clearly the source of much disappointment to him – as Tina and daughter Roberta do their best to convey.
In terms of disillusionment worse was to follow when Moore writes to the Football Association offering his services in the wake of Don Revie resigning as England team manager, the World Cup winning captain not receiving even the courtesy of a reply from The FA.
As the years passed and The FA remained pompously content with how they were running the game, the governing body had neither the inclination or imagination to see how well Moore could be utilised in the same way former World Cup winning captains Franz Beckenbauer and Pelé were being entrusted with ambassadorial roles by the football authorities in West Germany and Brazil.
Greg Dyke, Chairman of the FA at the time ‘Bobby‘ was made says: ‘We as the FA, probably didn’t treat Bobby Moore as he should have been treated.’
Probably? His cold-shoulder treatment at the hands of The FA in the years after he finished playing was shameful and only matched in spite by the way they also ostracised Sir Alf Ramsey. Geoff Hurst alludes to the Bogota incident going against Moore in receiving any favourable acknowledgement from The FA, while there is also a suggestion Moore was judged by some of the company he kept, the inference going no further.
Either way, in latter day interviews Moore seems genuinely mystified by attitudes within football that seem to have aligned against him.
For the cameras he retains his customary good humour, but Tina and Roberta Moore reveal just how hard he took the knock-backs – a succession of low-key, barely noticed appointments eventually taking him by the late 1980s into the world of commercial radio and a summariser spot alongside commentator Jonathan Pearce.
By then Moore had rediscovered some personal happiness, his marriage to second wife Stephanie following in the wake of a painful divorce from Tina – but tragedy in the form of bowel cancer proved fatal and despite admirable stoicism in dealing with the illness it finally claimed his life in February 1993.
While his ex-wife, daughter and widow say how comforted they were by the outpouring of emotion that followed his death, others are less forgiving about those who cruelly slighted Moore in the years when he should have been held in enormous reverence.
‘The FA and West Ham did themselves a great disservice,’ says Pearce, ‘what they did was too late.’ Former West Ham team-mate Harry Redknapp is even more cutting about the club for whom they both played:
‘Suddenly they wanted to name stands after him – when he was alive they didn’t want to know.’
But recriminations aside, as valid as they are, Bobby Moore, the living, breathing epitome of classy defending is the way he should be remembered. With thirty seconds remaining of the biggest game on the planet, the sharpest football brain on the pitch, working inside the coolest head delivers an exquisite pass into the path of Geoff Hurst – who races through to score the goal that secures World Cup glory for England.
No wonder Hurst is moved to say: ‘The bigger the game the better Mooro always seemed to play.’ In remembering their tussles Pele says of Moore, ‘he was not only the fairest opponent I ever faced, but the best,’ while with almost the last word Pearce states:
‘He wasn’t just a footballer and it wasn’t all about 1966. He was a man of great spirit, bravery and dignity and his legacy goes on because of that.’
For me the greatness of Bobby Moore is even closer to home than this fine film. One Christmas Day afternoon some years ago, in a state of advanced festive refreshment, I was surprised to learn a dear Scottish friend of mine and long-standing Liverpool supporter had indeed been present at the 1966 World Cup Final.
‘But Ken,’ I said, ‘you can’t stand England.’ From over his glass he replied: ‘Aye – I loved Roger Hunt that much I’d even watch him playing for England.’
After pausing a moment Ken then added: ‘And that Bobby Moore could play as well.’
This article was first published on 25/8/2018;
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of MONTY’S DOUBLE, an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book – and also: