Hidden histories of England’s football team

The book brilliantly brings out the paradox that British club football was always widely followed throughout the world but the national team rarely lived up to expectations. He quotes a clever line from a Yugoslav journalist in the 1930s, who claimed that if you ask any schoolboy in Belgrade, “Who is Bastin”….the boy would reply “outside left for Arsenal, the greatest winger in the world” but if you asked him who is Winston Churchill he will say, “I am sorry. I do not know that player.”

According to the author the myth of English football supremacy was finally shattered on 25 November 1953, when they were outclassed 3-6 at Wembley stadium by the magnificent Hungarians. The author describes this defeat as “the twilight of the soccer Gods.” Hungarian captain Ferenc Puskas, who won 85 caps and scored 84 goals for his country, scored the most memorable goal of this match. Puskas got the ball on the right side of the area and as English centre half Billy Wright came charging in, he used the sole of his boot to drag the ball back and fired in at the near post. The author quotes renowned sports journalist Geoffrey Green’s brilliant description of this goal, “Wright went past him like a fire engine going to the wrong fire.” He also quotes from Willy Meisl who said, “To the British fans Hungary’s game must have looked like soccer telepathy.”

Crisp anecdotes and fascinating biographical details are the other hallmark of this book. England’s captain in 1906, the muscular Bob Crompton was the first footballer to own a car and whose “record of 41 caps would not be broken until the 1950s”. Then there is this excellent description of the bustling Everton and England striker Dixie Dean, in the 1920s and early thirties. He is described as a physical player, “who prided himself on his kangaroo leap and rocket-powered header.” Over a 17-year-career Dean needed 15 different operations.

Sir Alf Ramsey

Sir Alf Ramsey’s attention to details gets described in the section with the 1966 World cup victory. In the final preparation for the 1966 World Cup at Lilleshall, Ramsey’s attention to detail was minute. “The attention to detail was minute. Players were moved around in different rooming combinations to prevent cliques developing. The team doctor, Alan Bass, gave demonstration in the proper technique of clipping toenails.” The training regime, football, physical training some non-contact sports and bedtime by 9p.m. sharp was described as sadistic and Jack Charlton said. “It was a test of character as much as a physical training programme.”

Yet for all his emphasis on fitness and athleticism Ramsey understood the need for a few beers after a match. The day after the goalless draw opening match with Uruguay he took the squad on a “stress busting trip to Pinewood Studios to watch the filming of the new James Bond movie You Only Live Twice”. Later, Sean Connery gave the players a pep talk and shared some beers with them.

The author praises Ramsey for being clairvoyant and realizing that with all teams playing in the 4-2-4 formation, rampaging down the flanks was limited. So in the knock-out stages of the tournament he reverted to a trio of hard working midfielders, in a 4-3-3 system.

Brigg’s research gives an insight of how some professional players lived discredited lives after retirement. He describes the life of Peter Storey Arsenal’s hard tackling anchor man as thus:”After retirement, he would be gaoled twice for a series of lurid offences, including running a brothel in East London, counterfeiting gold coins and importing pornographic videos.”

The hallmark of this remarkable book are the numerous analytical portraits of legendary players like amateurs John Goodall, Vivian Woodward (29 goals in 23 international matches), G.O. Smith (also a first class cricketer), professionals such as Stanley Mathews, Len Shackleton, Stan Mortensen, Tom Finney, Bobby Moore, Tony Adams, Glen Hoddle, Stuart Pearce, Paul Gascoigne, several others and some continental stars like Puskas and the Austrian Matthias Sindelar, probably the finest footballer of the 1920s.

The book is embellished with 75 black and white photographs and incorporates more than 100 witty quotations about English footballers past and present. The flowing prose, use of irony and subtle humour makes this a riveting sports book which aptly shows the gap between national expectation and actual achievement has been very wide in the case of England’s hapless football team.