Keith B

Very wise Bruegel - goes for me too 😊. Thinks . . . did I hand it in ? ? ?

To me, for Truro City FC to even consider playing their home games in Devon, is both bizarre and ridiculous. Surely they ought to be able to find somewhere in the Duchy at the very least to play their matches.

What date/dates would that have been approximately WOTP ? I was based at City Road nick from 1972 until 79, when I was transferred into Central London. I married a young lady who was a missionary working in a Christian Youth Club in Ivy Street, just off Hoxton Street in 1976 (first time I saw this young lady she was playing football with some lads in a school playground just north of Hoxton Street). We then moved out to Enfield.

Very good panda - made my chuckle a number of times.

It's funny you should say that WOTP. Actually I have written what you could call an autobiography - it's really for my daughters. Covering a period from early childhood, through my teens, learning a trade and going away to sea for some years, cruising the world. Then my years in the Met Police and having retired from that, a short period in forestry (loved every minute) and then twenty odd years as a planning enforcement officer for the Dartmoor National Park Authority. Faced almost as much violence against me in the last job, than I did in the Met, death threats included. Three very different

Yes I read Tom Finney's biography too. My interest, obviously because he was a great footballer (great winger for England), but also because I too started working life as a plumber's apprentice and then became a fully qualified plumber. Recognised a lot of what was written in that regard. Finney was plumbing before me of course, but my apprenticeship being in the late 50's early 60's was not so different. Plumbing whilst very different now in terms of materials used and methods, back then was still very similar to what Tom would have been doing. Wages - well now a plumber can command fantastic

Nice touch indeed.

Well my word - didn't those young lads do well against arguably one of the best teams in Europe. Until the 60th minute, they held out by fantastic resolute defending. They chased, harassed and got into the faces of the Liverpool players, not letting them settle on the ball until, many of them were completely shattered. I can imagine a number of these young lads will have scouts and coaches chasing after them with cheque books at the ready. Well done these Aston Villa academy lads. A great and fascinating game to watch. The final result was inevitable, but none the less these lads put up

Oh dear - ok Bruegel, I get the message. Sorry. That said - most if not all of P&O's cargo ships had football teams. They often challenged amateur clubs around the world, quoting the dates they would be docked and for how long. They could do this of course, because they often spent days or weeks in a port.

Mmm . . . just a bit 🙂.

Hey I didn't know that. A dock strike in Southampton broken by scab labour from Portsmouth. Yes one could understand that causing some resentment which later showed itself in the Saints v Pompey fixtures. I do remember the seaman's strike in early 1966/7 (?) I was with P&O as a ships plumber and we were stuck in Southampton docks. 4/5 P&O liners tied up, two abreast and the rest anchored at various ports around the world. That was different though. We were very glad when the strike was over and we could sail again.

In the days of the old Div 3 South (and North) one derby match that would always guarantee a fierce encounter, was Southampton (Saints) v Bournemouth or Portsmouth (Pompey) Pompey were then in the old Division 1 and so meetings were rare, except in the FA Cup. However in the years I remember, Saints had a center forward named Dereck Reeves. Reeves was a prolific goal scorer and if you read in the football paper that Southampton had won a match 1-0 you could bet your mortgage that it was Reeves who had scored. A corner kick for Saints in those days was almost a guaranteed goal and that Ree

McGrain was indeed a great full back. Wish England had one as good as him now.

Not so good to watch though I don't think and gets very boring - you pass to me and I give it back to you and this is repeated. Playing it out from the back can be fraught with danger too, especially when you see passes across their own penalty area.