The 1963 Roker Park battle between Charlie Hurley and John Charles

Sunderland travel to South Wales this weekend to face Cardiff City. The author of this piece has rarely looked forward to a match for so long as it will mean I will have again seen a competitive match on all current 92 Premier/Football League grounds. I first did this when Sunderland faced Bournemouth on 21 January 1988. 

Published by SPORTSBOOKS in
2008. 

The game will be the first time the two sides have met in a top-flight match since they drew 1-1 on March 30 1957. In 1963-64 both teams were seen as promotion contenders to Division One. Sunderland had missed out twice on promotion by finishing in third place in 1961-62 and 1962-1963, whilst Cardiff had strengthened by signing from Juventus the greatest Welsh footballer of all time, John Charles, a man equally at home at centre back and centre forward.

What follows is taken from my authorised biography CHARLIE HURLEY - “The Greatest Centre Half the World Has Ever Seen” published by SPORTSBOOKS in 2008. 

Sunderland started the 1963-64 season in tremendous form, winning six and losing just the once. They then came up against Cardiff City. who had Ivor Allchurch, the one-time Swansea hero who had scored four at the Vetch Field back in September 1958 when Sunderland limped off beaten 5-0, and John Charles in their team.

This time Allchurch scored three times in sixteen minutes as they overturned a two-goal deficit (both scored by Nick Sharkey) before being pegged back when Hurley scored Sunderland’s equalising goal after sixty-four minutes, out-jumping John Charles.

Don Murray, a Cardiff player that day, described the struggle between Charles and Hurley as “a clash of giants. Like John, Charlie was tremendous in the air. That was some battle. The corner came in from the left and Charlie jumped above John and sent a header screaming into the net. To beat John in the air took some doing but Hurley could do it on his day. “

Hurley is a big fan of John Charles stating: “John Charles was the cleanest giant you’ve  ever seen. He was built like a brick shithouse and he was a cracking player and even to be compared to him was and is a privilege.” 

The feelings were clearly mutual, with Vince Wilson in the Sunday Mirror reporting that Charles had told him before the game that “Hurley’s the best centre-half in Great Britain and a world class player.”

Interestingly Charlie Hurley’s opinion of the Welshman is borne out by a story from Italy when Charles was starring for Juventus. In time-honoured Italian fashion he was being kicked so badly by opposing defenders in one game that he lost his temper. He turned to his inside forward, Argentinian Omar Sivori, to say he couldn’t kick them back and could Sivori do it for him! Sivori was 5ft 7ins tall, Charles was 6ft 2ins. 

Book review - The State in Capitalist Society by Ralph Miliband

The Daily Mail last year criticised Ralph Miliband, the father of Labour leader Ed, calling him, because of his Marxist beliefs, “the man who hated Britain.”

The Belgium-born Polish Jew fled with his father to Britain in 1940 after Nazi Germany invaded Belgium. He served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War and gained British citizenship in 1948. He became involved in left-wing politics and made a personal commitment to socialism at the grave of Karl Marx.

Miliband published a number of books during his lifetime. His first in 1961, Parliamentary Socialism, found the Labour Party lacking radicalism and obsessed with retaining the confidence of business and financial interests. This led to an intolerance towards extra-parliamentary actions and failing to offer an alternative to capitalism.

In 1969, Miliband’s The State in Capitalist Society was published. It is generally considered his finest piece of work. It is based on how we all live in the shadow of the state and increasingly  depend on its sanction and support. 

Miliband’s book challenged the prevailing political orthodoxy that power in Western societies was competitive, fragmented and diffused. As such the state - consisting of the government, the administration, the military and the police, the judiciary, sub-central government (such as regional assemblies) and parliamentary assemblies - could not fail to respond to the demands of competing interests during the decision making process. The notion of a ‘ruling class elite’ was seen as absurd. Consequently capitalism had been radically - and democratically - transformed since its inception during the industrial revolution. 

Miliband demonstrated the reverse, highlighting how the increasing concentration of private economic power had already transformed all states into instruments of the giant corporation’s bidding, bringing in its wake massive and growing inequalities. A tiny number of children from working class backgrounds may make it to the very top of society, but the overall structure remains intact as this does not pose a serious challenge to capitalism.

The state, argued Miliband, is partisan when industrial disputes occur and governments - of all political persuasions - will seek to place inhibitions upon organised labour and leave wage-earners in a weaker position compared to employers. ‘Democracy’ also requires ensuring left-wing dissent plays as weak a role as possible. Trade unions are only ‘good’ when they don’t raise excessive wage claims or seek to radically alter society on behalf of working people. Miliband feared that even in advanced capitalist societies such demands would increasingly be met by conservative authoritarianism and the state surveillance and harassment that accompanies it. 

Miliband was frustrated because he recognised that productive and technological advances had revealed a material capacity for human liberation but ‘advanced capitalist societies cannot achieve this within the confines of an economic system which remains primarily geared to the private purposes of those who own and control its materials resources......

He sought instead ‘societies with a spirit of sociality and cooperation from their members, a sense of genuine involvement and participation’ and in which ‘the state will be converted from an organ superimposed upon society into one completely subordinated to it.’ 

Written 44 years ago, the State in Capitalist Society, remains, in the wake of the current neoliberal austerity project, valuable reading today. 

1949-50 and Sunderland lose out on league title when top scorer is injured in crucial run-in

Taken from the GOLDEN BOOT - football’s top scorers by Mark Metcalf and Tony Matthews and published by Amberley Publishing in 2011.

When Sunderland beat Aston Villa 2-1 at home on 1 April 1950 they climbed to fourth place in Division One, just two points behind leaders Manchester United and with a game in hand. A 2-0 victory six days later against Middlesbrough reduced the gap to just a point with only six matches remaining. Success though had come at a price with Division One’s top-scorer, Dickie Davis, baldy injured in a collision with Boro ‘keeper Rolando Ugolini. His absence in the following five matches was to be crucial in denying Sunderland a seventh title success. 

The Birmingham born player had scored 23 times in 33 matches and and had formed a lethal partnership with Ivor Broadis. Standing 5’ 8” tall and weighing just over 11 stones, Davis knocked home his first of the season in the opening day defeat at Liverpool. Despite the result the performance showed Sunderland were set for a fine season and in the next game they drew 2-2 at Burnley with Davis proving a constant menace to the home defence and scoring another goal. 

Facing WBA at home the game was tied at 1-1 when Davis, receiving a pass from Jack Stelling, pivoted sharply and shot past Jim Sanders to ensure a 2-1 victory. It was just the tonic he and his side needed, and the following weekend the man who’d guested for Aston Villa during the war was in impressive form against Manchester United at Old Trafford. First, on nine minutes he hit a powerful shot that was going past ‘keeper Jack Compton, only for Johnny Carey to get the last touch.  Today such a goal would recorded as the striker’s, but if Davis was disappointed he didn’t show it as six minutes later he eluded Allenby Chilton and met a perfect Tommy Reynolds centre first time, Sunderland eventually running off 3-1 winners.

Sunderland’s next away game was at Newcastle and Davis was again to add his name to the scoresheet. There were doubts about whether his shot had crossed the line in a 2-2 draw, but there were no doubts about the quality of the finish, a back-heeler in a crowded goalmouth from 15 yards out. It was the sort of goal only a player in form would have attempted and Davis followed it up by opening the scoring in the first minute of the following weekend’s 2-1 home victory against Fulham. Two further goals followed in the next game at Roker Park, a header and then a tap in after the Charlton legend Sam Bartram inexplicably dropped a simple cross at the centre-forwards feet. 

With Sunderland and Davis maintaining their form into the New Year the Wearsiders travelled to face Birmingham City in mid-January. The Blues had in goal one of England’s greatest ‘keepers in Gill Merrick, but on 67 minutes he was to be left helpless by a magnificent Davis goal. Len Shackleton had crossed but with the ball going away from both Davis and the goal there seemed little danger before the Sunderland man leapt backwards to flick the ball over his head and past the startled Birmingham number one. 

It proved to be a crucial match winner and with his confidence now raised to new heights Davis struck his first hat trick when he scored half his sides goals in a 6-1 demolition of Derby. 

Cup holders Wolverhampton Wanderers had a fine defence with England international Billy Wright at the centre and the man many feel is the best ever between the sticks for the Black Country side, Bert ‘the Cat’ Williams. Dickie Davis though was now in sparkling form and on 11 March 1950 he notched his second hat-trick of the season as Sunderland won 3-1 at Molineux. Centre half Billy Shorthouse gave his much smaller opponent a right battering, but it failed to prevent him running off at the top of the First Division goal scorers chart with a total of 21. That rose to 23 when he grabbed the equaliser at reigning champions Portsmouth in a 1-1 draw and scored Sunderland’s second in a 2-2 draw at the Valley, nodding home a Tommy Wright cross with just three minutes remaining. 

Although he failed to net in the games against Villa or Boro at Roker Park, the double victories meant that since losing to Stoke City at the Victoria Ground in late December Sunderland had played 12 league games unbeaten, winning eight of them.  

Len Duns had been a fine servant for Sunderland, playing at Wembley when PNE were beaten in the FA Cup Final in 1937 and earlier collecting a League winner’s medal. He hadn’t though played a league game in over a year. With Davis missing he was drafted in to play outside right as Sunderland reshuffled with Tommy Wright moved to play centre forward. Fulham were easily beaten 3-0 at Craven Cottage, but with Middlesbrough fighting for their lives a derby match at Ayresome Park was always going to be a difficult test.  So it proved, as Sunderland went down 2-0. 

The performance saw further changes in the starting line up for the must win home game with Manchester City game. Bert Trautmann twice saved one of Jack Stelling’s penalty kicks as Sunderland flopped 2-1. When Sunderland subsequently lost a third consecutive game, at Huddersfield, they were out of the title race as despite two victories in the final pair of games it was not enough to pip holders Portsmouth for the title. Sunderland finished third just one point behind Pompey. 

Davis returned for the final match, a 4-1 thrashing of Chelsea at home, and scored twice to ensure he finished with 25 goals for the season, three more than Stan Mortensen of Blackpool and Jackie Stamps of Derby County.  Davis thus became the fifth Sunderland player to finish a season as the top scorer in the top-flight and he would surely have also collected a League winner’s medal if he had not missed 5 crucial games at the end of the 1949-50 season.

* All six of the Sunderland players who finished as top League scorer are featured in THE GOLDEN BOOT. 

Suite Dreams - facilities for disabled fans at Old Trafford

Special commemorative publication celebrates unique facilities

Manchester United players have helped Manchester United Disabled Supporters Association (MUDSA) launch a special commemorative publication that celebrates the tenth anniversary opening of the Ability Suite match day lounge at Old Trafford in 2003.

Phil Jones, Wayne Rooney, Phil Downs MBE (MUDSA), Shinji Kagawa and Ashley Young 

This unique facility has an adapted kiosk with a low level counter, accessible toilets and large TV screens. Warm and comfortable is the only way to describe the environment that it provides for pre, mid and post-match relaxation and analysis. The Suite is sited directly behind the main disabled supporters viewing area in the south-east quadrant of the Theatre of Dreams.

The foundation of the Ability Suite is in the formation of MUDSA in December 1989. The association is supported both financially, and spiritually by the football club, and is the first of its kind in the world. Since 1989, the partnership has meant that facilities for wheelchair users, visually impaired fans and ambulant supporters have improved beyond recognition. 

10 Years of the Ability Suite is 36 pages in length and is full-colour throughout with some great photographs. MUDSA members, of all ages, speak fondly of the facility and of an organisation that means so much to them, and their families, in helping them to be more independent and self-confident, whilst also aiding the development of new, lasting friendships.

The comments of away fans are also included with many wishing their own clubs could develop similar facilities. An interview with United director David Gill reveals the warmth the club feel for their disabled supporters and SUITE DREAMS is peppered throughout with comments from players, past and present, on their relationship with MUDSA.

United forward Ashley Young said, “It is great to see the commemorative booklet and to realise that the facilities for disabled people at Old Trafford are so impressive. Let’s hope we can see them get even better in the future”.

A copy of 10 Years of the Ability Suite, the contents for which was co-ordinated by football author Mark Metcalf, can be downloaded from:-

http://www.mudsa.org/abilitysuite10.pdf

New roads are rough deal for cyclists

This article is in the current edition of the Big Issue in the North magazine. 

Please buy the magazine when you see a seller. 

The Preston City Deal new roads plan is one of many proposals by new local transport bodies criticised in a new report. The Campaign for Better Transport and Campaign to Protect Rural England fear new roads are being prioritised at the expense of buses, bikes and public transport.

Last year, the government invited 20 cities to negotiate City Deals, giving them new powers and freedoms.

The multi-million pound Preston deal was signed in Downing Street in September by the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, minister for cities Greg Clark, local businesses and leaders from Preston City Council, South Ribble Council and Lancashire County Council.

Attractiveness

Transport for Lancashire (TFL) will now oversee four new highway schemes in the Preston City Deal, funded by the councils and central government.

Supporters claim the new investment will add £1 billion to the local economy by paving the way for 15,000 new homes and increasing the attractiveness of local employment sites, including the Lancashire Enterprise Zone at Salmesbury and Warton. Clegg expressed his hope that “more cities will follow Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire’s lead”.

That seems almost certain from the information published by the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) in their report Where the money’s going – are the new local transport bodies (LTBs) heading in the right direction?

These 39 new bodies have put forward £1.3 billion of spending plans on 210 proposed projects. The report scored schemes for their transparency in choosing their funding priorities and whether they have considered a full range of transport modes.

Priority schemes

The overall picture is that the LTBs’ planned spending consists of 59 per cent for road building and 26 per cent for public transport and sustainable travel. Bus projects make up 7 per cent of the total and cycling is not included in any priority schemes.

CBT claims the UK is one of the most car-dependent countries in Europe and that the LTB plans will “lock us into car dependency for the foreseeable future, whereas the development of new housing and employment sites offers the potential to secure a step change in public transport services... such that new road-building is not needed”.

The organisation claims new roads generate more traffic, as people seek work further afield, and that public transport, walking, cycling, smart ticketing and good travel information can cut traffic.

North Yorkshire LTB scored highest in the North West and Yorkshire and Humber, its rail improvements plans and transparent website giving it 23 points. LTB Cheshire and Warrington (CWLTB) rated only nine points whilst the TFL scheme scored five.

Car dependency

A CBT spokesperson said: “Our main concern in the CWLTB plans is the Woodford- Poynton relief road, which is part of the same set of schemes as the hugely destructive Manchester Airport relief road. The Congleton Northern Link Road and the Middlewich Eastern Bypass projects are also associated with large greenfield developments that are likely to increase car dependency.

“The Preston City Deal is all new roads, none of which incorporate cycling or public transport provisions such as bus lanes.”

No one from CWLTB was willing to answer questions on their plans. 

John Fillis, Lancashire County Council cabinet member for highways and transport, defended the TFL plans in Preston and said: “We are also working on four other schemes in Lancashire and two have significant investments in the rail and tram network around Blackpool/Fleetwood and in the Blackburn and Bolton area.

“We are also proposing improvements to the main railway stations, bus corridors and dedicated space for public transport once the new distributor roads are open... The masterplan, for which we are holding public consultations, establishes the principle of a strategic cycle network across East Lancashire.”

Hurley heads cup winner against Norwich in 1961

Sunderland face Norwich City on 21 December 2013. One man who loved facing the Canaries was Charlie Hurley and many older Sunderland fans still fondly recall his performance at Carrow Road in the fifth round of the 1961 FA Cup. Mark Metcalf takes up the story from his authorised biography CHARLIE HURLEY - “The Greatest Centre-Half the World Has Ever Seen”

After beating Arsenal and Liverpool in rounds three and four, Sunderland drew Norwich City away in the next round of the FA Cup and not for the first time a player and team were motivated by mind games from the opposition. Charlie Hurley recalls: “I will always remember Norwich because I remember reading the headlines the day before the match. I don’t know if it was a wind up or not but it said ‘Hurley, the weakness’ so I couldn’t fathom that one out. It put my back up anyway. We took a bit of a battering and then we had a good spell in the first half where we could have got something. Then we got one corner with about ten minutes to go which Harry Hooper took.

“He was the type of guy who’d say ‘which way do you want the lace Charlie?’ It shows you how long ago it was. He always curled the corner away from the ‘keeper, beautiful for someone good in the air. One corner, and bop and in the back of the net, half way up the iron stanchion at the back of the net. Before I could even get off the floor there was a mass of players on my back. I was carrying six on my back when I went over to shake hands with Harry Hooper.

Stan Anderson and Charlie Hurley 

Then we took a pounding for ten minutes, and we won 1-0. Those types of games will always stick in your mind. An awful lot of Sunderland fans from those days who I talk to pick that game out. It was packed at Norwich that day, in those days fans and players were one, there were no prima donnas in those days. OK, we were earning a lot more than the fans even in those days but our players loved the fans.” 

Stan Anderson rates Hurley’s performance at Norwich as the best he saw him make from him in a Sunderland shirt. “He was brilliant. It is a shame that TV in those days wasn’t as good as it is now because if they’d looked at that goal from all the angles that they do now – it was such a bullet-like header from 12-15 yards out. I remember it coming over my head and just turning to look and I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. 

“He must have hit it flush on the head and if it had hit the crossbar it would probably have broke it.  It just absolutely flashed into the net. The goal won us the match. I bet we were under the cosh for eighty-five per cent of the time but Norwich never looked like scoring. I remember one of the Norwich players asking ‘How the bloody hell have we lost this match?’ 

The goal arrived with eleven minutes remaining and Argus described it as: “From a Hooper corner-kick Hurley beat Keenan with a magnificently placed header which was a goal all the way.”

“Hurley could be the rage of the Continent in a classy side like Real Madrid,” wrote Charlie Summerbell in the Daily Mirror the following week. Madrid were, of course, the best side in the world at the time having won the first five European Cups between 1956 and 1960. 

David McLean - the Sheffield Wednesday striker who finished as top scorer in Division 1 in 1911/12 and 1912/13

This article is an edited version of an article
from the above book that was published in
2011. 

Two Sheffield Wednesday players have finished as top scorer in the top flight of English football at the end of a season. In 1926/27 Jimmy Trotter scored 37 league goals, roughly half the number scored by newly promoted Wednesday that season and he finished one ahead of Newcastle’s Hughie Gallacher. Scotsman David McLean finished equal top scorer with Sunderland’s George Holley and Aston Villa’s Harry Hampton in 1911/12 before outscoring everyone else the following season with 30 goals.

McLean was signed from Preston in the summer of 1911 and initially he struggled with only four goals when Wednesday played Bradford City on 25 November. He beat ‘keeper Mark Mellors twice and he quickly added further doubles against Manchester City and WBA.

On Boxing Day 1911, Sunderland travelled back home punch-drunk, hammered 8-0, a result that remains the Wearsiders equal record defeat. McLean notched four and his best was when he slipped the ball beyond the full-backs before beating them for pace and showing a fine touch to net. Back at Deepdale, McLean played a lovely one-two with George Robertson before driving home and unstoppable 25-yard shot. Back at Hillsborough, he netted twice against Notts County with his second seeing the centre-forward shrug off some heavy challenges before hammering a shot past ‘keeper Albert Iremonger.

Further goals against Manchester United and Aston Villa meant it was no surprise when McLean was given his debut for Scotland against England at Hampden Park before a world record crowd of 127,307. Also playing for the Scots was McLean’s Wednesday colleague Andy Wilson, who gave the home crowd something to cheer by netting only seven minutes only for Holley to equalise six minutes later. The game ended 1-1 and McLean did not get another chance to play for his country.

McLean wrapped up his first season with Wednesday by scoring three goals in a 5-1 defeat of losing cup finalists, WBA. He had scored 25 times, seventeen at home and eight away and Wednesday finished fifth.

The 1912/13 season saw Wednesday start with a bang and only one point was lost in the first five games in which McLean scored seven times. Wednesday’s impressive start came to a shuddering halt in the sixth game when Aston Villa hammered them 10-0. Yet three consecutive victories against Oldham, Chelsea and Arsenal, were enough to raise hopes of a third championship success after previous successes in 1902/03 and 1903/04.

At Stamford Bridge, McLean completed the scoring in a 4-0 victory when his pass out to Robertson saw the winger deliver a return cross that the Wednesday centre-forward buried beautifully in the corner of the net. By the end of December, McLean had fourteen league goals and his side were second in the table.

His goal at Ayresome Park that beat Tim Williamson was one of the best ever scored at the time as McLean appeared to make the heavy ball swerve in the air before it beat the ‘keeper. Playing against Grimsby in the FA Cup, McLean scored four times. Having belted home a great goal at Anfield, McLean hit an unstoppable shot in the local derby, which saw United beaten 2-0. Victory was especially sweet as it took Wednesday to the top of the league and that remained the case until only one point was won from the two games over Easter and Aston Villa and Sunderland moved ahead. Wednesday was to eventually finish third.

Mclean scored twice in the final match of the season when WBA were beaten 3-2 and his 30 goals were three more than his nearest rival, Sunderland’s Charlie Buchan.

McLean’s form dipped in 1913/14 and he scored only nine times but in 1914/15 he returned with twenty-two before the war brought an end to competitive football. He played just three more times for Wednesday after battlefield hostilities ended and he left to play for Bradford Park Avenue having scored 100 goals for Wednesday in just 147 appearances. David McLean died in 1967.