He’ll Have To Go..1960/61

1960/61 

Corby team v Kettering in F.A.Cup.
Back; Tommy Hadden, Dick Cruickshank, Bill Rodgers, Les Williams, John McCorkindale, Barry Parsons, Tommy Garvie and Fred Patenall. Seated; Charlie Hamilton, John Garvie, Jack Smith, Peter McKay and Johnny Morris.

It’s a new decade, the 60s weren’t swinging just yet but there was an air of optimism about even if Max Bygraves was singing ‘Fings Ain’t What They Used To Be’. National Service was abolished for one thing, relieving many of sleepless nights waiting for the dreaded brown letter to arrive through the post. One for whom the abolition did come too late was John Rennie. His Corby appearances were limited thanks to his time in the Army and he still had a year left of bull and drill before he would become, in army parlance, a regular.

Player / Manager Johnny Morris was soldiering on and had some work to do if he had any desires of extending his contract with the Steelmen beyond the 60 /61 season. Jim Reeves’ big summer hit ‘He’ll Have To Go’ might well have been the wish of disgruntled Steelmen supporters but Johnny was determined to prove his doubters wrong. Having finished 20th in the league he set about re-designing his team for a third time.

Goalkeeper Les Williams and the Garvie brothers, John and Tommy arrived from Boston United. Full back Jack Smith came from the Cobblers. Fred Patenall, another full back, was signed on a months trial after being released by Nottingham Forest. Unfortunately, Fred’s time at Corby was blighted with injury and after 11 first team games he was gone. John McCorkindale, a lanky blonde haired winger from Hastings was also signed. ‘Big Corky’, from Campbeltown soon become a big favourite with his barnstorming runs down the wing to the cries of  ‘Open the Gates!’. ‘Corky’ would run all the way down Occupation Road you’d hear say. 

Disappointingly despite the raft of new signings the start of the season was once again, distinctly average.

The new team assembled, it was off to Wiltshire to take on the ‘Bees’ of Trowbridge Town for the opening game of the new campaign with Johnny Morris confident his new charges would have the opposition ‘Shakin’ All Over’, which was the number one record at the time. As it happened, the Bees stung the Steelmen, swarmed all over them and won the game 2-1. This may have been a setback but three nights later the town was buzzing when Gloucester City provided the opposition for the first home game and a crowd of over 1700 turned out to see a Peter McKay hat-trick, including two penalties, in a heartening 3-0 victory. The game was overshadowed though with an injury to ‘Corky’  who was stretchered off with a broken rib when he ran into the gate, no, actually it was the Gloucester goalkeeper Barron. The report in the following night’s paper was a tad over the top with the headline ‘Tragedy put life into the Steelmen’ and ‘the crowd was hushed as Corky left the field on a St.John’s Ambulance stretcher.’ Two games later, he was back! Over the coming weeks injuries would haunt the Steelmen. John Garvie dropped out with a boil on his leg and worst of all, Peter McKay, who had scored 60 goals in the previous two seasons, suffered a career ending injury away at Poole. 

The first ‘big game’ of the season was the F.A.Cup 1st Qualifying Tie against Kettering at Occupation Road. The F.A.Cup, unlike today, was the magical competition and for non league clubs the path to riches and glory if they negotiated their way through four qualifiers to hopefully draw a League club in the 1st Round proper. 

Tommy Garvie watches as Kettering keeper Smethurst gathers the ball

I remember a hot sunny day, everybody desperate to see the Steelmen, looking smart in new white shirts, with a double black trim around the v-neck, beat the Poppies. Sartorially impressive it was. “Corky’ returned for this game and by all accounts, had a stormer of a match. Can’t really remember that to be honest, I probably spent most of the game pissing about, as usual. That’s what kids do! It’s funny how some things never seem to change though. Not me pissing about, but looking at the report, the referee missed a blatant penalty for Corby when Kettering’s Froggatt handled the ball in his area. The Occupation Road crowd went bananas, vented their anger at the man in black, ‘screaming and screeching’ - but to no avail. Referees were just as blind back then!

For all that, Kettering were the better team, according to The Friar in the Telegraph, and maybe did deserve their 2-1 victory. Tommy Garvie scored his one and only Corby goal in the six matches he played but the Steelman had the patch on his coupon in that night’s edition of the Pink Un! 

It was my first experience of F.A.Cup football and I can still remember the disappointment felt that we were knocked out at the first attempt this season. I didn’t want to go to Wembley anyway. Mike Palmer, a fellow supporter from the 'Old Village' and part of the 'gang' of schoolboys recalls his first memory of a Cup Tie for more upsetting reasons. 'Somebody stole my bike from the ground!' Mike said still peeved 50 years on. "Another memory indelible in my mind is buying a half-time cup of Bovril and it was that hot, it melted the plastic spoon!"

Early season form was largely uninspiring and must have been a worry for manager Morris. Feelings expressed succintly by The Steelman in the Telegraph following a 1-0 home defeat by Hinckley Athletic 

‘Apart from the odd moment when it looked as if one side or the other had at last decided to play good football, this game was as insipid as the score suggests. It opened quietly and this was apparently an omen of its whole content, for at no time did it look as if anything startling was going to or could happen. The game finished as it had begun, quietly and without any real fight from either side.’

As the first team toiled,the reserves were going crazy in the United Counties League, battering everyone. 40 goals in the first 8 games which culminated with a 10-1 hammering of Raunds Town. Winger Alan Major was the main glutton, scoring 17 of the 40.

The Youth team were also doing well and were given a plum draw at home in the F.A.Youth Cup against the youth side of one of the mightiest teams in Britain, Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Wolves were the nation’s favourite team alongside the ‘Busby Babes’ of Manchester United during the 1950s and early 60s. Wolves were also the current F.A.Cup holders having beaten Blackburn Rovers 3-0 at Wembley in May. Their golden shirts a popular item for Christmas presents shall we say. Steelmen supporters John McKensie and Dougie Wilson were two who showed off their ‘Wolves’ kit on the West Glebe Park and other ‘greens’ around the town. 

I missed the night of the Wolves Youth game, it was too late, too dark, I had school in the morning..reasons my maw refused to let me go! I recall looking dolefully over the chimney pots of the Westfields Road estate, the floodlights bristling, the occasional roar. Talk about being pissed off! The young Wolves proved to be too much for our young Steelmen and routed us 8-1 in front of a host of dignitaries including the Wolves manager Stan Cullis and his old adversary, Johnny Morris.

Cullis was obviously keen to take advantage of the ‘easy’ draw for his side and to make sure of the result, included no fewer than six reserve players in his team. Most of them would carve out impressive careers with Wolves and become England internationals as well. A goal in the first minute and three more before half time finished the game as a contest. Goalkeeper Larry Wealthall was praised for his valiant efforts as the young Wolves laid siege on his goal. A consolation was granted when Cleland fired home to give the scoreline some respectability. Larry Wealthall; "I'll never forget playing against Wolves Youth; We had to give up the Home dressing room for them! Should have given them the visitors dressing room with the cold shower! Stan Cullis went bananas at the end when we scored!"

For aspiring youngsters it was around this time that the Corby Streets League was founded. Games between teams of youths were a already a regular feature on the various parks around town. Our crowd from Studfall Green played games against similar teams, could be 10 or 12 a-side depending who could be bothered, on areas at Shetland Way, Welland Vale or the ‘Wessie’. Whoever it was suggested the idea, for a season or two, the Streets League was a huge success. Teams applying for admission showed great imagination in their names. Willowbrook Rangers, Everton Rangers from the Exeter estate. Leighton Orient from Leighton Road, Welfare Wizards, Odeon All Stars based in the old village. Wickbridge United from the Abington Road area and a team calling themselves the Our Ladys XI remembered by wing half Ian ‘the Bomber’ Wilson. “Peter McCowatt ran the team and somehow we acquired these red shirts in the style of Manchester United with the v-neck. Looked great. Then Peter suggested we should all have numbers sewed on our back. Well, we got our mothers or sisters to do the job if we could but most of them were stitched on by ourselves. You’d never seen anything like it! Some of the numbers were hanging off, some were squint, the number seven was stitched on sideways, there were two number nines, or sixes, you couldn’t tell. Right shambles it was but caused a lot of laughter!”

Being younger than most of the guys I only played the odd game as a ‘guest’, best way of putting it really, in reality when some team was short of numbers!

My highlight came when playing full back for Willowbrook Rangers up at the Shetland Way park, forget who we were playing but the game was heading for a draw when somebody shot at goal with our keeper beaten, and I managed to head the ball off the line! Only thing I did all game! But I do remember the delight of our players all cheering, smiling with relief and glee. Felt like a hero! 

Despite not knowing what sort of performance the Steelmen would serve up, attendances were still respectable with crowds of over 1000. It didn’t pacify the chairman Fred Deeley however. Fred was constantly bemoaning the lack of support and the perilous state of the club’s finances. 

Such was the parlous state of affairs, the council stepped in to help and a house to house collection to ‘Save Our Steelmen’ was launched. Odd to think that 20 years later a similar campaign would be launched…’Save Our Steel’. But that’s another story. 

In a spark of genius, Johnny Morris had promoted reserve full back Dick Cruickshank to centre forward in the first team to replace Peter McKay. Dick responded by scoring 29 goals in 39 games. Another significant move came with the return of Tommy Hadden who joined the ‘boot room’ as trainer. His partner in crime was Donald Johnson, a wee feller who could run a 100 yards in seconds. Or so it seemed. A familiar sight was Don racing onto the pitch to attend an injured player, a football bladder filled with iced water and a sponge, and the iced water spilling everywhere as he tore across the pitch. This was the accepted cure-all for football injuries at the time. A sponge full of cold water on the baws was guaranteed to see the footballer spring to his feet. 

Revenge over Kettering for the F.A. Cup defeat came on Boxing Day when Corby smashed them 4-0 at Occy Road. A ‘cracker’ of a game it was. Just for good measure, Corby knocked the Poppies out of the Southern League Cup too, in January, winning 3-1 at Rockingham Road.

Austin McGill scores for Kettering in the League Cup Tie as Les Williams is stranded, but he was still on the losing side!

That christmas was when I became briefly, the most popular boy in the street…after I received a REAL leather football for a present. Even had a tin of Dubbin to go with it! Christmas Day we were all out in the street, all the boys from around the streets, goals at each end of Teesdale Road, the snow was a foot deep. Brilliant! Diving and slipping, slithering around in the snow, great fun. Of course there was the usual moans from some neighbours who growled at us as we retrieved the ball from their garden or fell in their hedge. We ignored them to be honest. Thing was with that ball. After a while in the snow or when it was raining, the bloody thing turned into a medicine ball! Nearly broke your foot kicking it! And forget about heading it.. it would have knocked you out. Often on such occasions when the ball became too heavy, there was always someone with a substitute ball.. the Frido. Lighter and made of rubber it was red in colour and covered in pimples. Until you got used to it, that could be a pain as well. Especially if it was fired into your leg. It would sting like hell. The other down side was it never used to last long. A few shots into the hedges and it would soon get a puncture. Normally their would then be a whip round of pocket money to go and buy a new one out of Tommy Alexanders Sports Shop. 

With all the vibes coming out of the boardroom Johnny Morris was doubtlessly concerned about his future and there was a rumour at the time that he had apparently applied for the manager’s job at league side Carlisle United. The board got whiff of the news, took umbrage and cut his wages. Debating what to do next they obviously decided ‘Its Now Or Never’, and inspired by Elvis’s number one record, agreed mutually with Johnny that a parting of the ways at the end of the season was the way ahead. 

‘Big’ name players were still winding down their careers in non league football and one was the former Newcastle United legendary centre forward, Jackie Milburn. Jackie was signed by Yiewsley, shortly after a 7-2 defeat at Corby in November actually. He was in the team when the Steelmen beat them 2-0 in the return league fixture in March. By then he was player/ manager and remained at Yiewsley for two seasons before taking over from Alf Ramsey at Ipswich who had taken the England job. 

As the season trundled on with mixed fortunes for the Steelmen, including a semi final fixture against glamour side Chelmsford City in the Southern League Cup, which we were unluckily beaten 1-0, and a 6-0 defeat at Barry Town, who included a couple of Swedish internationals in their team, there was a glut of goals at the end with 26 being scored in four games. That’s entertainment you’d say! Nice way to send Johnny on his way. There probably still wasn’t many wishing ‘Johnny Remember Me’ (John Leyton number one) as he left to return up north. Then again he might have felt it was a ‘Great Escape’. Reference to Leyton’s film he starred in with Steve McQueen the same year.

The signings of the Swedish, and Finland players came about thanks to the Barry chairman, Mr Bailey having business interests in Scandinavia and according to their history, ‘audaciously approached the Swedish squad’ who had reached the Final and lost 5-2 to Brazil, and enquired if any of them would fancy playing for the Welsh side. The Scandinavians were still part time and it was their winter break so Bailey thought he would have a chance. Over the next couple of years, half a dozen came over. Amazing really. 

For all the negatives surrounding this season, Morris had guided the Steelmen in the right direction in his final season, up to 9th in the league of 22 and giving youngsters Ian Dey, Willie Armour, Dick Cruickshank, Alan Major a taste of first team action. Peter McKay had retired, John Garvie signed for Stamford but later became better known as a popular publican, taking over the Domino and later again, as steward at the British Legion and Catholic Clubs. He was the landlord of the Domino when in 1967 I and a few of my pals were caught drinking under age by the police and fined a hefty £2 for our troubles! That was worth about 16 pints so if you equate it, that would be around £50 nowadays! Ridiculous.

The Youth team provided hope for the future and were the inaugural winners of the end of season District Youth Cup when they beat Corby Youth United 3-1.