Cocky
By Vince Cooper The long and storied history of football is littered with ‘bad boys’. Most earned their reputations on the pitch with tough-tackling...
Big Chiv
By Vince Cooper Football in the 1960s and especially 1970s is often fondly remembered as the ‘maverick’ era, filled as it was with players who had...
FIRST MAN IN THE BRIDGE HOT SEAT
JOHN TAIT ‘JACKY’ ROBERTSON BY Vince Cooper CHELSEA’S managerial hot-seat has become known for being notoriously difficult to fill. Whether because...
FA CUP 74-75. HAMMERS TAKE THE TROPHY AS BOBBY BIDS WEMBLEY FAREWELL
By Vince Cooper The 1974-75 season saw a tight and exciting tussle for the First Division title. At the end of the campaign five points covered the...
THE LAW MAN
BY Vince Cooper DENIS Law was one of those players that, as a fan, it was hard to dislike, even if he wasn’t on your team. As an opponent it might...
THE CHANGING MAN
THE CHANGING MAN THE LIFE AND CAREER OF RAY KENNEDY 1951-2021 BY Vince Cooper IN 2021 former Arsenal, Liverpool, Swansea and England star Ray...
RAMON
THE RAY WILSON STORY By Vince Cooper WHILST Ray Wilson wasn’t one of the bigger characters in the 1966 World Cup winning team, and also wasn’t one...
THE DARLING OF BLACKPOOL
THE JIMMY HAMPSON STORY BY Vince Cooper Whilst followers of Blackpool have a number of heroes to look back on in the club’s almost 140-year history...
GENTLEMAN JOE
THE JOE MERCER STORY By Vince Cooper FOR many, the mark of a true football great is one who reached the top both on and off the pitch. To have made...
DANNY BOY
The Danny Blanchflower Story BY Vince Cooper A supremely gifted player and a superb captain, Northern Ireland’s Danny Blanchflower undoubtedly...
THE LITTLE BIRD
THE GARRINCHA STORY BY Vince Cooper For years the debate raged about who the title ‘Greatest Player in the World’ belonged to. Pele was generally...
BOBBY BUCKLE AND THE EARLY YEARS OF TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
BOBBY BUCKLE AND THE EARLY YEARS OF TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR BY Vince Cooper WHITE Cottage is where it all started. From this came Hotspur FC (the prefix...
THE COLOSSUS
WILLIAM ‘FATTY’ FOULKE(S) By VINCE COOPER IT has always been said that Goalkeepers are the real characters of football. Stories of eccentricity...
FOOTBALL OR CRICKET? BOTH
JIM CUMBES AND CHRIS BALDERSTONE BY Vince Cooper Above: Jim Cumbes with the League Cup and County Championship trophies THERE was a time when it...
A WINNER WITH A BIG HEART
THE DAVE MACKAY STORY BY Vince Cooper THROUGHOUT his playing career – and then when he went into management – one word defined Dave...
THE MAESTRO
THE JOHNNY HAYNES STORY BY Vince Cooper OFTEN we look back at a footballer’s career and wonder ‘what might have been’. One move, one new teammate,...