Bill Nicholson by Scovell Brian

Author:Scovell, Brian [Brian Scovell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781843586692
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2011-10-08T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE:

STRUCK DOWN!

Was Bill Nicholson an unlucky manager? A case was building to support the idea. Because of questionable refereeing Benfica won the European Cup, not Tottenham. In the following season Bill’s side should have won a second Double when he took the advice, ill-advisedly, of Dave Mackay and Danny Blanchflower not to change the tactics to counter Alf Ramsey’s Ipswich Town’s withdrawn winger’s style of play. Had he followed his instincts, Ipswich would not have been champions.

But in the 1963/4 season dollops of ill fortune dropped on the frustrated manager. In quick succession Terry Medwin broke a leg and never played for the club again, Blanchflower retired through injury, John White was killed by a shaft of lightning and Dave Mackay also broke his leg. Cliff Jones was one of the first of his players to break a leg and Maurice Norman later experienced the same fate. Frantically Bill tried to recruit replacements of the same quality, but they were irreplaceable. He managed to sign Fulham’s Alan Mullery and Jimmy Robertson from St Mirren, but needed a Johnny Haynes (subject of a transfer hullabaloo in 1964 when Bill denied he had bid for him), a Bobby Moore, George Eastham or a budding George Best. Robertson (1963–8) was a combative Glaswegian who was a quality winger, but his record of 31 goals in 181 games didn’t compare with Jones’s 158 goals in 368 matches, Terry Medwin’s 36 in 125 or indeed, Terry Dyson’s 50 in 178.

Medwin, the son of a prison warder in Swansea, still had some mileage in his sturdy frame at the age of 30 and recalled: ‘Just after the Atletico triumph we flew off to South Africa to play three matches against a South African XI and I broke a leg in the first game. It was a bad one and it finished me. I played for a while at Durban and was getting involved in coaching, so I wasn’t too upset. I was paid £3,100 from my insurance and accrued benefit and worked as a coach at Fulham, Norwich and Swansea. Working with youngsters in the East End earlier was a real eye-opener and it taught me a lot about life and handling people. I think Bill tried to sign George Cohen from Fulham, but he went for Alan Mullery, a good, solid player whom he liked in preference to Charlton’s Mike Bailey.’

Now 77, Terry is still sharp and alert, enjoying his 19 grandchildren. ‘Bill never changed,’ he said. ‘He was out on his own as a manager and he didn’t have an ounce of flashiness about him – he never made up anything and told it straight. He had a tough time that season, but never complained.’

Alan Mullery first met Nicholson when Bill was manager of the Under-23 squad. After seeing him play, he told him: ‘You ought to play for England.’ He was right – Mullery was capped 35 times, proving that he was well worthy to play for Tottenham. Fulham was paid a

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