When Footballers Were Skint by Jon Henderson

Author:Jon Henderson [Jon Henderson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781785903854
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Published: 2018-06-05T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

A MATCH TO REMEMBER

In which fans pack Goodison AND Anfield to watch live as Gordon Milne commits a howler – the Wales winger forgets his effing boots before scoring his greatest goal against England – the Arsenal new boy who cried himself to sleep feels much better after his volley into the top corner – a keeper plays so well the papers get his name wrong.

Warwick Rimmer has said he will pick me up from outside Hamilton Square underground station. Travelling from Liverpool Lime Street, Hamilton Square is the first stop on the Wirral Line on the Birkenhead side of the Mersey. From in front of the station there is a commanding view across the great expanse of river in the direction of Albert Dock. It is a waterway that has shaped British history. It makes a riveting spectacle.

Right on time, Rimmer pulls up. He has a full head of white hair and hobbles a bit, the legacy of twenty years of professional football, but is trim enough to be playing still. Although he played for Football League clubs Bolton and Crewe – he signed for Bolton as a fifteen-year-old in 1956 – he is a Birkenhead man born and bred and when we meet is working for Tranmere Rovers.

When his playing career ended he became commercial manager at Tranmere before spending twenty-six years as their youth development manager. Latterly he has worked part-time as their child protection officer and recruitment officer.

As we drive through Birkenhead he slows down to point out where his father and uncle, Syd and Ellis Rimmer, once had what would have been grandly known as a turf accountant’s office (betting shops were not legalised until 1961). We are heading for Tranmere’s ground, Prenton Park, which is more than 100 years old and, despite several rebuilds, still has plenty of room for improvement.

We make our way along a warren of narrow passages under the stands before finding a room we can talk in without being disturbed. It is about ten feet square and probably has not changed much over several years, apart from the fridge filled with beers in the corner. It is where the opposing managers, assuming they are still talking to each other, have their post-match chat.

If this sounds a sombre setting to introduce a chapter about matches to remember, there is a reason. Rimmer has continued a surprising trend: the regularity with which my veterans have identified as their memorable matches those that they might be expected to want to forget.

In fact, it has been striking how many of them have only fleeting recall of the great games in which they featured, such as World Cup matches and FA Cup finals. They choose to hark back to some of the less obvious ones because of their salutary lessons.

When players shared with so many the daily grind of making a modest living, maybe it is hardly surprising that these matches had a deeper, more durable meaning.

A game that has clearly stayed with Rimmer

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