The Life of Brian Honour by John Riddle

Author:John Riddle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Brian Honour, biography, football, footballer, soccer, legend, Hartlepool United, Pool
ISBN: 9781907792649
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2011
Published: 2011-07-19T00:00:00+00:00

In the Palmer of His Hand

Andy Saville was to feature quite prominently in 1992-93 and signalled his intentions before over 4,100 on the first game of the season at home to Brighton by slotting home his first penalty. The match ended in a 1-1 draw, and in all Andy would score seven times from the spot.

Three days later, on 18th August, United travelled to Halifax Town, and goals from John MacPhail and Lenny Johnrose in a 2-1 win in the first round, first leg of the League Cup made the journey home from Yorkshire quite enjoyable.

In the second leg Pools finished the job with two goals from Lenny and one from Southall, to set up a clash with their old friends from Sheffield Wednesday. More than 10,000 saw the away leg and Wednesday win 3-0, but when they travelled to Hartlepool it was a different story.

On 6th October Hartlepool United entertained Sheffield Wednesday in the second leg of the League Cup and, 3-0 up from their first encounter at Hillsborough, Wednesday arrived at Victoria Park in a buoyant mood.

Nowadays it’s easy to criticise the modern-day footballer. Players of average ability earn obscene sums of cash as television continues to attract advertising and subscription dollars from around the globe. Players are frequently caught with lap dancers, they plough their sports cars into innocent bystanders, they piss in plant pots in front of Americans only days after 9/11, groupies are ‘roasted’, £20 notes are used to light cigars, supporters are kicked, punched and spat on, thousands of pounds are gambled on horse races they don’t even watch, drug tests are ‘forgotten about’, and the average fan is treated with utter contempt by a sickening few. Grown men, who should be privileged to earn a living playing the game they love, behave disgracefully week in, week out.

And with the above in mind, I can guarantee you that nothing could give you a more prophetic indication of where the game was heading than what happened at Victoria Park in 1992.

The game itself finished 2-2, meaning that United went out 5-2 on aggregate, but for once the football was not the issue. Lining up for Wednesday that night was Carlton Lloyd Palmer. Palmer would finish his career with 18 England caps, scoring one goal. But, to be blunt, his brief spell wearing the 3 lions coincided with one of the most forgettable periods in the history of our nation’s sport. A personification of everything wrong with the ‘Graham Taylor era’, Palmer was picked for industry, drive and work rate, ahead of guile, craft and skill.

During the game Palmer said to Brian, “What were you doing during the summer? I was playing for England!”

Given that Palmer was referring to the 1992 European Championships in which England finished bottom of their group and only scored one goal in the whole tournament, it seemed like a bizarre thing to be boasting about!

Brain, bemused, responded politely, “I went to Salou with my wife.”

The game continued and Brian jinked his way into the penalty area only to be clattered from behind by the gangly Palmer.

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