Forgive the blogger as he takes a walk of nostalgia to the old Wembley Stadium and the 5th May 1962. The prompt of this today is that both teams met again last Friday evening in the 3rd round of the FA Cup a repeat of the Final in 1962 ( nearly 62 years on ). Tottenham won that day 3-1 and on Friday evening beat Burnley again 1-0.
In the 62 years intervening I realised how the game and entertainment of soccer had diminished. Gone were the twin towers of Wembley and that muddy pitch in was the new Tottenham stadium with its green carpet pitch. The mud made the game more fun , the carpet dictates the perfection and passing reminiscent of a computer game.
In 1962 the two opposing goalkeepers Brown and Blacklaw both Scottish Internationals whilst on Friday I was unable to pronounce the two names of the foreign goalkeepers. Jimmy Greaves graced Wembley on £300 per week whilst some of the players on Friday were being paid £300,000 per week. Yes it is a faster game now but so often slowed down by the eternal cross field passing.
Money has ruined football that Feeling L S Lowry depicted in his painting ‘ Going to the Match ‘ completely missing. We have allowed the Masters of the Universe to buy their way into the terraces and those fans in the football coliseum demand the blood of the coach if their team lose a single game. How long will Ratcliffe last at Manchester United as 25% unless he spends zillions on a winning team. His Ineos moment could be Outeos at any moment. The American owner of Chelsea has spent over £1b since he came in but his team languishes mid table. The Americans that own Crystal Palace lament whilst the team they could have bought Aston Villa for a fraction of the cost now knock at heavens doors.
The fact is Money can’t buy you love or the best team. Balls hit posts and bars , freak shots can hit the net , it’s a game of luck and fortune good and bad. Bobby Smith the Tottenham centre forward would come to the ground by bus along with the other impoverished players yet they could entertain. Burnley under Jack Lord the King of Carpets did not lay out any green carpet pitches and even his home ground was named Turf Moor. The new Wembley built at an extortionate cost does not have the capacity of the old Wembley and these glitz stadiums lack the atmosphere of the monkey nut, hot dog, Bovril ridden arenas.
Anyway I’ll stop the rant and the journey up memory lane knowing we are in different times. The painting ‘ Going to the Match ‘ was acquired by Salford Museum last year for £7.8m so inflation caught up with us all and Lowry , Greaves, Nicholson and Robson would all be turning in their graves if they knew. I guess at the end of the day memories can’t be priced by anyone or bought by any Masters of the Universe.
qbitblogger 