(15-02-2019, 17:46)Devongone Wrote: Yeah I liked the the old days far more, but would Stanley Matthews have had the space and time he got in the old days? On the other hand he wouldn't have received the crunching tackles that were allowed then, and the ball and his boots would have been more responsive.

I don't think I saw Banksy for us. I was born 1952 so I don't think I got to Saltergate until 1959 / 60. I think Fat Ron was back in goal, not bad, but no World Cups in sight. But Leicester has always been my second team because they were the first bigger club I saw play and they'd got our Gordon Banks! And I spent days getting excited at the prospect of them in the Cup Final and was close to tears at the tragedy of it.

And it occurs to me how different our introduction to the game and its skills were back then. No one in this country has played football in the backyard or schoolyard with a tennis ball or any kind of ball they could they lay the hands on for years have they? It had to make a difference to your close skills didn't it? Look at Glasgow, whistle outside any tenement and a magic, little ball player would appear ......

And our lives were so different and so much  freer. Aged just nine me and my mate went on the Cross Street end  on our own. His dad was a teacher at the Grammar School and he took us in his big Rover, we'd park in one of the side streets, he'd go in the Stands and we'd take our money and go in through the turnstile. We'd run round to be behind the goal both halves and be back at the car waiting when his dad arrived. No wonder in that prevailing atmosphere players like Frank Worthington, Alan Hudson, Rodney Marsh and George Best felt empowered to play with a freedom and flair we find very difficult to replicate these days.