Getting into the zone….

Back; W.Morris, Poppitt, Neilson, Dickson, Rennie and Hadden
Seated; Harper, J.Morris, McKay, Adam and Jordan

                                                          Getting into the zone….

The 1958/59 season was a curious one. With the reorganisation of non league football, the Southern League was split into two divisions, the North West and South East Zones. As such, there were only 34 league games to play. Thus in their wisdom, the league management, plucking from their Suggestion Box, introduced a one-off Inter Zone Cup to fill in the gaps. This still wasn’t enough and so it was up to the clubs to organise friendly matches to make the season worth while. A right mixture it was too. The Steelmen arranged friendlies as diverse as the All Stars XI, Bomber Command, amateur clubs Ilford, Sutton Town and one against Bournemouth Reserves which was the most curious of all! What was the connection with the Cherries? If any? Perhaps Chairman Fred had been there on holiday? Who Knows.

What was exciting those days was that virtually every non league club boasted a former international player in their team. Corby had Johnny Morris, Kettering had Jack Froggatt. Wellington Town had Johnny Hancocks. To name just a few. One who in particular sticks in my mind, was Roy Paul of Worcester City. Just two years previously Paul had been captain of the cup-winning Manchester City team. He was also City’s and Wales captain. It just so happened that I had his autobiography, christ knows where it came from but another anomaly was that he was born in Pentre, which is a village just up the road from my family’s home of Treherbert in the Rhondda. Taking this into account is why I still recall the excitement felt around town of Roy Paul’s forthcoming appearance at Occupation Road in March 1959. The previous summer remember, Wales had been the most successful British team in the World Cup held in Sweden. Only Brazil, the eventual winners, had put them out. The Welsh team of the Charles brothers, Allchurch brothers etc. All former teammates of Roy Paul. 

However, despite all this, and his presence, Worcester were held to a 1-1 draw. Which was an improvement for Corby on the previous week’s effort, a 3-0 away defeat to the factory team of Lovells Athletic in Newport. 

Just a month earlier Worcester, with Roy Paul at left half, had knocked Liverpool out of the F.A.Cup, 2-1 in one of the biggest shocks of the competition’s history. Liverpool included legends Tommy Younger, Ronnie Moran, Alan A’Court, Jimmy Melia in their team. A year later, Liverpool, then in the Second Division, appointed Bill Shankly as manager, and as they say, the rest is history.

Roy Paul, aged 39, called it a day after this season and returned home to the Rhondda to become a lorry driver. He passed away in 2002 aged 82. Somehow, in these money mad days of football, it’s hard to imagine any modern day stars taking a job lorry driving after such an illustrious career. Different world. 

Going off on a tangent, Roy Paul played in the only F.A.Cup Final that was officiated by a one armed referee, Alf Bond in the 1956  Manchester City verses Birmingham Final. The game when City keeper Bert Trautmann broke his neck. Bert, a tough old boy, continued in goals, despite this handicap, soothed with a pill, to help City and his captain Paul to a 3-1 victory. If air ambulances had been around in the 50s, it might well have been a different story. Bert would have been carted off and somebody else would have had to have gone between the sticks. Bert, the German prisoner of war was made of sterner stuff though.

Whilst a one armed ref is a rarity, there was another well known one, locally, who lived in Tansfield Road, Corby. Tommy Galt took charge of many a Kettering Amateur League game in the town’s West Glebe Park and other districts during the 50s and 60s. He was also known for his horticultural skills, remembered by neighbour Lynn Head for his garden ‘always being immaculate’, winning prizes, and selling flowers from his garden.’ I’m not leading you up the garden path - it’s a true story.

Wellington Town, later to change their name to Telford United and including ex Wolves and England winger Johnny Hancocks were Corby's first ever opponents in the Southern league. A crowd of over 3000 turned out to see Johnny Morris's team create a piece of history for the club. Before the kick off two new footballs were presented to the Steelmen. One from the Blast Furnace section of Stewarts and Lloyds and one from 30 former residents of Wellington living in Corby. Whatever ball they used, it was in the back of the Wellington net three times! A 3-0 victory sending the herds home and off for a Saturday night out in great mood. Joy wasn't to last too long however. Four nights later the Steelmen crashed 6-2 away at Wisbech. Such is life following the Steelmen! Some things never change it would seem.

Following my adventure with Barry Town I couldn’t wait to go again. The atmosphere at Occupation Road was intoxicating. The football wasn’t always great but ingrained more in my memory is the permeating stench and the steam belching out from the bowels of the ‘Tuck Shop’ at the back of the stand on the Westfields Road side, with a woman that resembled to us kids, Maw Broon from The Broons Christmas Annual peering through the mist like an apparition. Maw served up steaming cups of Oxo, tasteless tea, greasy sausage rolls, Mars Bars and gobstoppers which took care of your last penny! One of the great pleasures of a visit to Occy Road.  Even if the tea was rank. 

And if you think the description of the Typhoo being rank is flippant, the quality, or lack of, was obviously a view shared by a good many. Including the committeemen of the Supporters Club who were likewise unimpressed. In the Kings Lynn programme just a month into the season they duly announced; ‘two new tea urns are being purchased’, adding, ‘you can now expect a cup of tea - just like your maw makes!’ As long as it wasn’t like Maw Broon’s I guess!

I’m sure there were more pressing subjects to worry about at the club, like the form of the first team, which to date had been inconsistent to say the least. Manager Johnny Morris had chopped and changed the team he had assembled to such an extent that faith within the devotees on the terraces was dissipating by the week.

Peter McKay scores from a cross by John Rennie 58/59

One success though was the form of centre forward Peter McKay who was signed from St. Mirren in the summer. Only a ‘wee’ feller, Peter was banging the goals in left, right and centre. Only trouble was, the defence was leaking in goals, left, right and centre! Like a sieve. McKay had scored goals for fun at Burnley, St.Mirren and Dundee United and must have been wondering what he had to do! ‘Keep banging them in!’ Johnny told him I expect. Peter, to this day, is still Dundee United’s all-time record goalscorer. 

Johnny was scratching his head. His selections at times were bordering on the bizarre. Was he pulling names out of a hat? 37 goals had been shipped in 13 games leading up to an away F.A.Cup Tie against fierce rivals Kettering Town. Johnny’s answer was to drop popular right winger Alex Harper and replace him with 18 year old reserve Martin Watson for his debut. 

If supporters, and indeed Martin, was surprised, Johnny had no fears; "Martin has been playing extremely well in reserve games” he explained, “he's an all-round sportsman, can do 100 yards in even time and is a former captain of the successful Uppingham & Corby Boys Club. Martin can catch pigeons.”

But what about the defence Johnny!

Martin Watson recalled his sudden promotion to the first team for a Steelmen match day programme in 2012. 

Martin Watson

"Pace was my main asset, my only one!" Martin joked. "Johnny Morris had been unhappy with Alex Harper's recent performances and the form of the first team altogether was decidedly inconsistent but there was no one more surprised than me when I was called up. What could have been in the manager's mind was that my pace would be too much for the Kettering left back, former Norwich City player Roy Lockwood who had shut Alex Harper out of the previous 'Derby' game. There was over 6,000 in the Rockingham Road ground and the crowd was right on the touchline. Playing for the reserves you were lucky if the proverbial one man and his dog turned up! I was a tad nervous but once the game started I was alright. I didn't notice the crowd really." 

What followed was a complete demolition of the Steelmen by a Hughie Morrow inspired Poppies. 

Martin; ”Lockwood was an experienced former league player and if truth was told, he was far too good for me. Kettering was far too good for us that day. We were hammered 5-1! And I never played for the first team again!”

‘The Friar’, writing in the Kettering based Evening Telegraph, could hardly hide his delight;

‘Due mainly to an exhibition of wing play rarely seen at this level by Kettering's Hughie Morrow, the Poppies were 4-0 up at half time. The tormentor in chief, Morrow constantly had the Steelmen defence tied in knots and laid on two of the four goals before adding a fifth himself. The Corby side should consider themselves fortunate that they got away with a four goal deficit". 

The Friar went on to praise Corby goalkeeper Pat Egglestone for some heroic saves and equally bemoan 'incredible' misses by the Kettering forward line. Likewise he ventured that Corby's forwards suffered from some 'unintelligent distribution from behind’ and 'a lack of power on the wings’.

So ended Martin Watson's dabble in the F.A.Cup, and the Steelmen's first team! It was back to the drawing board for Johnny Morris.

Steelmen celebrating a rare victory. Barry Parsons, John Rennie, Jimmy Adam, Alex Harper and Buddy Irving.

The next five games saw Johnny shuffle his pack again, four more defeats and another 16 goals debited! With Christmas on the horizon, Johnny was looking for some good will. Or a decent defence! A disastrous December, apart from an incredible disbelieving game against the Poppies, which saw the Steelmen thrash their neighbours 5-1, saw 24 more goals sailing into their net in five games, including back to back defeats against Headington United 7-3 and 6-2. 

What inspired the performance for the Kettering game one can only surmise. Revenge? Pissed off with the gloating of the Friar? For some reason it’s a game I recall, chiefly for being taken to the match by my dad! Now I can never recall my dad being the slightest bit interested in football! He did tell me he once went on the team bus to Scarborough in the Midland League days. Which I found hard to believe but he insisted it was true. But how? Or why? He was a workmate of ex Corby players Jim Strathie, Alex Wands and Ernie Middlemiss in the steelworks and whether they went for a piss up and a day out is open to conjecture. What I do remember about the Kettering 5-1 game is standing by the corner flag with my dad and his pals from the Bessemer, and everybody going crazy as the Steelmen tore into the Poppies. It was a hard game, and Kettering suffered injuries to a couple of their players, including their goalkeeper Roberts but that was no excuse, they were pummelled! Corby’s fans milked it, taunting the Poppies supporters with the anthemic ‘A Steelman Fae Me’ resonating around the ground. Ok I maybe embellishing that a bit but there was never any love lost between the two sets of supporters, even if many of them did work together in the steelworks! 

Indeed, Danny Coyle remembers being told his dad, John, an Irishman who later became famous as a porridge eating champion and mentioned by the Apollo 11 astronauts on their way to the moon, getting more and more irritated by abusive Kettering supporters standing behind him that game and snapped, turned round and banged two of their heads together! What ensued was a battle on the touchline as well as on the pitch! 

Alex Harper v Kettering

Disillusionment must have been festering with the Steelmen supporters, even today you can only put up with watching so much crap, but If you were looking for an alternative to the horror shows at Occupation Road in 58’, what better way was there than going to the Odeon Cinema round the corner to see more horror with ‘The Fly’, ‘The Blob’, ‘Dracula’ or ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’?  

Don’t think it bothered us kids though all the same. Occupation Road was still a playground. Results didn’t matter! Running around, in and out of the holes in the back of the grandstand, treading on toes of agitated grumpy older fans, bumping into them as they supped their Oxo, being shouted at and told to ‘F--- Off!’ - it all went over our heads!

An accessory at football grounds back then was the Half Time Scoreboard. Corby’s was at the ‘Wall End’. The small terrace of railway sleepers behind the goal and in front of the huge Poplar trees with the Welfare Grounds at the rear. Picturesque the trees may have been but they served a great purpose in stopping many a wayward shot having been ballooned over the bar. The Scoreboard was a tantalising climbing frame for youngsters, an aid for hitching up to perch on the brick wall, until the health and safety merchants decided to cover it with broken glass! 

We didn’t take much notice of the series of letters on the board. Didn’t really get it. What were they supposed to indicate? Bemusing really. And even more so when not long after the start of the second half a guy would come round with a box of numbers to place against them! Only later when you picked up a discarded programme and discovered inside a list of games with letters against them did you understand. Under the banner - ‘Half Time Scores’. A - Liverpool v Chelsea, B - Northampton v Rochdale, C - Leicester v Preston ..and so on. Turns out, the scores were waited with great anticipation from the supporters, especially those who had filled in their Pools Coupon! “Bollocks’ would often be exclaimed if the  scores weren’t looking too fruitful at half time. 

Studfall 'B'

Meanwhile I was being noticed at school for being a half decent player on the football field and selected to play right half for Studfall ‘B’ away at the Cottingham village school one Saturday morning. Going there in a minibus made it feel even better. Proper football stuff! Our kit was pale green and white squared shirts and black shorts. The shirts were grubby, stank of body odour, hadn’t seen a washing machine for years, full of holes and were too big! The team included Ian Althorpe, John Raby, Michael Virgo, Robert Pinkerton, Joe Ashforth and others I can’t recall. The game was played literally on a cow field. Dollops of cowpat everywhere! Despite the fear of heading a ball with cow crap on, and the pong, it was a good game, ending in a 2-2 draw. 

The 58/59 season was drawing to a close, the Steelmen struggling along in the bottom half of the league, ensuring that they would be placed in the lower division of yet another revamp of the Southern League the following campaign. With a few blank Saturdays to fill in, it was a great surprise when it was announced in February that Bournemouth Reserves were visiting to play a Friendly. A bigger surprise was a raffle organised by the Ladies Section of the Supporters Club advertised on the front of the programme. ‘Win a brand new black Austin A50 car, fully taxed and insured - for just a 1/-‘ Which is 5p in new money. It was in aid of what they called the Peter McKay Fund, an attempt to fulfil the outstanding transfer fee owed to St.Mirren since the summer. The car was valued at £550. The draw was to be made on Easter Monday March 30th during half time of the Hereford United game.
The Bournemouth game was a fairly sedate affair which ended in a draw 2-2. Well, nobody wanted to break a leg I suspect but for us kids it was fascinating to see a Football League team, albeit the second string, at Occy Road. They even had a badge on their shirt! Big Time!

Bob -A Job Week. Corby Scouts Alan Sheffield (13), David Hay (12), Peter Martin (11) giving the A 50 car a makeover before handing it over to the winner who remains anonymous.

A couple of other games stick in my memory. Bath City came to town with the legendary former Blackpool and England centre forward Stan Mortensen, and a character called Charlie ‘Cannonball’ Fleming who was a famed Scottish international previously with Sunderland, threatening to cause havoc with the Steelmen defence. ‘Cannonball’ Fleming conjured up visions of a ‘Roy of the Rovers’ figure spearheading the Bath attack, a guy with fire in his boots, a shot like a bullet and one to keep your eye on if a wayward one came your way behind the goal! We feared this bloke! As it happened though, Cannonball was sidelined through a shoulder injury. All the same it was expected that Bath would rampage through the Steelmen. After all, in 52 games so far, Corby’s defence had let in 150 goals! Instead, it was  'tame', as the bored Evening Telgraph reporter described it. Maybe Bath and Morty in particular weren’t really interested. Like Roy Paul, Morty was ready to hang up his boots. The match was a typical end of season affair, a damp squib. Goals from reserve player George Wilson and a Johnny Morris penalty gave Corby the points, 2-0. 

Five days later on a wet miserable Friday night, the night before the Nottingham Forest v Luton Cup Final, Corby entertained another Welsh side, Merthyr Tydfil. 

The game was another typical end of season affair. I can still see myself standing alone behind the Occupation Road goal, leaning against the fence, shivering and wet through with the rain, wondering what the f--k I was doing there. A feeling I would experience many a time over the following decades! But you stick it out, never give up hope. And I can still see Johnny Morris sliding through the mud in the quagmire of a penalty area to guide the ball home for a 1-0 victory. 

Memories are made of this. The number one record this week was ‘A Fool Such As I’, Elvis Presley. Fairly appropriate you might add.