10-05-2018, 10:12
Oh, shit! Our Relegation must have finished him off.
Such an underrated player. We took him for granted back in the 60s because he was yet another product of the Youth team which kept producing International class youngsters (eg Hope, Brown, Cantello, Robertson, Hartford, then Robson, Moses etc). Astle, Johnny Kaye, Chippy, Hopey, and Bomber were the stars along with Shuvit (as Jeff used to call him), but if he didn't have those stars around him he'd have been a god - he really was as good, if not better - and he was only about 20 in '68!
We called Graham the new Duncan Edwards, and he was just like him in every way. But he broke his neck and leg in separate incidents, as I recall, and probably came back into the 68 Cup Final a few weeks too early.
I actually wrote to Alf Ramsey back in 1970, begging him to get his arse up to an Albion match and have a look at Astle and Lovett. (I got no reply, but Astle made the Mexico trip!)
Injury forced him out of the Albion team in about '73, when he must have been only 24-25, but I regularly watched him play for Solihull Borough. No Mr.Big about him in the Club bar afterwards either. Smashing bloke, but so underrated.
Such an underrated player. We took him for granted back in the 60s because he was yet another product of the Youth team which kept producing International class youngsters (eg Hope, Brown, Cantello, Robertson, Hartford, then Robson, Moses etc). Astle, Johnny Kaye, Chippy, Hopey, and Bomber were the stars along with Shuvit (as Jeff used to call him), but if he didn't have those stars around him he'd have been a god - he really was as good, if not better - and he was only about 20 in '68!
We called Graham the new Duncan Edwards, and he was just like him in every way. But he broke his neck and leg in separate incidents, as I recall, and probably came back into the 68 Cup Final a few weeks too early.
I actually wrote to Alf Ramsey back in 1970, begging him to get his arse up to an Albion match and have a look at Astle and Lovett. (I got no reply, but Astle made the Mexico trip!)
Injury forced him out of the Albion team in about '73, when he must have been only 24-25, but I regularly watched him play for Solihull Borough. No Mr.Big about him in the Club bar afterwards either. Smashing bloke, but so underrated.
Start every day off with a smile and get it over with