22-08-2016, 20:24
(This post was last modified: 22-08-2016, 20:26 by SaltergateBorn.)
I remember my father and grandfather both telling me about the arrogance of our footballing authorities in those days - even I`m not that old - and their total conviction that we would always be able to see off `Johnny Foreigner` due to our genetic and God-given superiority This came crashing down around our ears, firstly in 1950 (Belo Horizonte and all that) and then the seeing-too that that the Hungarians gave us in `53 and`54. Apparently, we were so convinced that the 6-3 stuffing they gave us at Wembley in `53 was a fluke that we insisted on them giving us a rematch in `54 so that we could put the record straight. So they did; in Budapest. We put the record straight by getting an even bigger seeing-to; 7-1 that time.
I read Billy Wright`s autobiography a few years back. Apparently the England team were nearly wetting themselves laughing in the warm-up at Wembley about `the little fat bloke` that Hungary were playing at no.10. Billy had to admit that 90 minutes later they weren`t laughing any more; the`little fat bloke` turned out to be a little fat bloke called Ferenc Puskas who gave him - and the rest of the England team - a complete run-around. I`ve often wondered what became of him. I might be wrong, but I think he may have ended up teaming up with a bloke called Alfredo di Stefano in Madrid. Hmm.....
It just amused me that we were so shell-shocked by this that the 1954 World Cup appears to have been the final knock to our arrogance. I mean, we only reached the quarter-finals, for gawd`s sake. Shock! Horror! It`s a good job the national footballing psyche couldn`t see what was coming down the road or the the whole nation would have been in therapy.
I`m interested in what you say, Dev, about 5 divisions. Firstly, why do you think this would make such a difference? Secondly, don`t you think we already have that in all but name? The conference (or National League, or whatever you want to call it) is pretty much a de facto fifth division anyway, isn`t it? Or do you see the existing league teams being split into 5 divisions to reduce the games played? That would certainly ease fixture congestion, but I`m not sure we actually get too much of that these days, with milder winters and FA Cup shoot-outs rather than 2nd and 3rd replays. At the end of the day, I suspect that money will talk - as always.
I read Billy Wright`s autobiography a few years back. Apparently the England team were nearly wetting themselves laughing in the warm-up at Wembley about `the little fat bloke` that Hungary were playing at no.10. Billy had to admit that 90 minutes later they weren`t laughing any more; the`little fat bloke` turned out to be a little fat bloke called Ferenc Puskas who gave him - and the rest of the England team - a complete run-around. I`ve often wondered what became of him. I might be wrong, but I think he may have ended up teaming up with a bloke called Alfredo di Stefano in Madrid. Hmm.....
It just amused me that we were so shell-shocked by this that the 1954 World Cup appears to have been the final knock to our arrogance. I mean, we only reached the quarter-finals, for gawd`s sake. Shock! Horror! It`s a good job the national footballing psyche couldn`t see what was coming down the road or the the whole nation would have been in therapy.
I`m interested in what you say, Dev, about 5 divisions. Firstly, why do you think this would make such a difference? Secondly, don`t you think we already have that in all but name? The conference (or National League, or whatever you want to call it) is pretty much a de facto fifth division anyway, isn`t it? Or do you see the existing league teams being split into 5 divisions to reduce the games played? That would certainly ease fixture congestion, but I`m not sure we actually get too much of that these days, with milder winters and FA Cup shoot-outs rather than 2nd and 3rd replays. At the end of the day, I suspect that money will talk - as always.