Big Mal by David Tossell

Author:David Tossell [David Tossell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing
Published: 2012-03-12T16:00:00+00:00

12

* * *

THE BIRTH OF BIG MAL

‘I beheld the wretch – the miserable monster whom I had created’

– Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818

John Bromley, then the head of ITV sport, would not have realised it, but at the moment he sat down to plan the network’s coverage of the 1970 World Cup he became a television Frankenstein. When ITV went on-air at 5.15 p.m. on Sunday, 31 May with its coverage of the opening ceremony and the Mexico–USSR match, the monster of Big Mal was brought to life. All that was missing was the lightning bolt striking the castle tower.

Events in Mexico changed the face of televised football. For those who had upgraded their sets, there was a glorious parade of colour, making the brilliant football of the Brazilians even more vivid and vibrant. For those tuning in to ITV, there was placed before them a new way of discussing football on television. Here were blokes sitting around arguing and wise-cracking about the game in the way the average viewer did with his mates at the pub. Those who had spent the earlier part of that Sunday afternoon watching the rapid-fire delivery of Bob Monkhouse fronting the popular game show, The Golden Shot, would scarcely have seen the join.

Brian Moore had been asked to anchor ITV’s coverage in the London studio instead of taking his place behind the microphone in Mexico, with Jimmy Hill placed in charge of a revolutionary new feature – the ‘World Cup Panel’. Giving their views on the action unfolding before them were Wolves and Northern Ireland centre-forward Derek Dougan, Scotland international wing-half Pat Crerand and England full-back Bob McNab, who had been among the six men sent home by Alf Ramsey from his original travelling squad of 28. Alongside them was the undoubted leader of the gang, Malcolm Allison. The next three weeks would change the course of his life.

This was the moment that ‘Big Mal’ became more than just a convenient nickname applied by the media when they needed a snappy headline. Big Mal was now a living, breathing personality. He became the Mr Hyde to Allison’s cerebral, innovative Dr Jekyll. Having won four major trophies in three years, Allison did not win a single thing in English football after the birth of Big Mal, despite two decades of trying. It seems to be more than coincidence.

Allison’s profile away from the field was already growing, having been introduced by Derek Ufton to the agent Bagenal Harvey, the man who turned Denis Compton into the original ‘Brylcreem Boy’. Ufton recalls, ‘I was working with Bagenal and when Mal went to Manchester City I got him involved. Bagenal was a great guy. He was the first agent and he suffered because people didn’t really know what that meant, so people used to call him Mr X. I said to Bagenal, “You have got to get Malcolm on the books because he has so much to offer and he is bound to be wanted by the media.” Malcolm was two hours late for their first meeting, which didn’t go down well.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.