I Remember the good old days......

With the World Cup stage finally set for the last act......
I had my own bit of nostalgia.
Last night I watched the 1966 World Cup Final on DVD.
Kenneth Wolstenholme and all. In the dying seconds of extra time, as Geof Hurst raced towards the German goal to score, television reporter Kenneth Wolstenholme shouted, "Some people are on the pitch. They think it's all over. "It is now."

What a difference to the football today. They were still gentlemen then. There was only one name taken, Jack Charlton's. There were no yellow cards then. The referee had to be literate. When players went down they got straight back up. No diving, well there was one. Germany's Helmut Haller flung himself to the floor, but only the once and that was excused by Wolstenholme. " He plays in Italy. They have to do that there".
It was a great game. It could have gone either way. I still couldn't tell if Geof Hurst's second controversial goal went in. I watched and remembered Roger Hunt turning away to celebrate, when he was on the spot to head the ball back in the goal. So he was confident.

I did not remember much of the game. Interestingly, if I had to choose a Man of the Match, it would have been Alan Ball. He was easily the best player on the field. He never stopped running and working. he had tremendous skill. Nobby Stiles, Roger Hunt and Fulham's George Cohen were also good contenders.

In my opinion the best match of the World Cup was not the final, but the semi final against Portugal. We had to be good to win that. Portugal's Eusebio was a fantastic player.

Forty years ago.... They say England will not win it again until there is a Fulham player in the team.

 

AAHHH '66 I have a friend in Preston that would love to go back to that time. He's an older fellow who was at the match, and according to him after that English football went downhill.