watched the opener , not the greatest game skills wise but entertaining. So that's my footie fix for the coming fortnight
Listening to Glen Hoddle and Lee Dixon bashing on about tactics/formations. Ends up giving us 'eardache.! As a kid we played with a goalie, two full backs , two wing halfs , a stopper Centre Half, two pacy wingers , two inside forwards and a centre forward who could head a ball harder than some of his team mates could kick it.! Every team seemed to have players who could dribble whilst some had brilliant ball skills and were comfortable on the ball. Defenders got the ball to the wingers who then got to the byeline asap to cross it for inside and centre forward to attack the opposition goal. First coach I had taught us about the importance of angles. He then gave one of the lads a tape measure and asked him to measure the treatment table. Just as he was about to give an answer the coach knocked the measure out of his hand saying " that's all Football is lads. You're asked to do a job and somebody is always trying to stop you. " Christmas trees, Diamond formations, 4-4-2, 4-4-3 , a flat back ten if you were Mel Machin are all now used in the game. Skill seems to have been replaced by speed and power. Are we over complicating a game which when you really think about it should still be simplistic in its end objective.?
Good point MT. I suppose on paper it was 2-3-5 but we didn't play to any set pattern. Shirts were numbered 1-11 no Subs allowed until 1967/68. The goalie was a key player cos he could handle back passes. Outlawed in 1992 to stop time wasting and overly defensive play. I never played in any formation as a kid. I was told to do what I thought best when I got the ball. I would think today you'd probably say we played a bit like Sheffield United viz: kick and rush. In the 50's professional football became influenced by the Hungarians and Brazilians who were playing what we probably now know as 4-2-4. I remember Walter Winterburn England Coach (1946-62) writing in a magazine I used to get called Football Monthly talking about tactics and his tactical theory seemed to be mirrored by Tottenham manager Arthur Rowe (1951-55) who had Spurs playing 1-2 football or "push and run" as it became known. Bill Shankly never used to fill his players heads with tactics and dossiers on opposition urging them to play it as they saw it. Brian Clough shared that view . He once said " its players that lose games not tactics. There's so much crap talked about tactics by people who wouldn't have a clue how to win at dominoes" and given his achievements who could argue with that.? Love him or loathe him in my opinion he was the best manager England never had.!
No I played for Doncaster U11's. We had three coaches. A bloke called George Waite, Bill Bowes who later played the Headmaster in Kes. (He was a teacher at Hatfield Modern School in Doncaster.) The guy who influenced me most had coached Peter Swan at Armthorpe Junior School. Swanny went on to play for the Wendies and England. The coach was called Bob Parkin. Bob was ahead of his time. He taught at my School Hatfield Dunsville CP and managed to get us to the local Schools Final called the Gundry Shield. We had a full back called Melvyn Ockellshaw. (He used to hold his shorts up with a snake belt.!) In a very close game it was 0-0 with 2 minutes to go. The ball came into our box. Mr Parkin shouted " hold it Melvyn". Melvyn who was not the sharpest knife in the box bent down picked the ball up and said " why Sir.?" Bentley New Village skipper Johnny Fairhurst ( went on to play for Donny Rovers) stepped up and rolled the ball into the back of our net. John went on to be MD at Polypipe and we had a laugh over a beer at a Building Exhibition at the NEC. many years later. Instead of the British Schools FA using his talents last time I heard of Bob Parkin he moved to Germany to take up a top job with the DFB Germanys equivalent to our FA.
