Read Catch A Falling Star Online
Authors: Neil Young,Dante Friend
Harry officially retired in 1974 through illness but he carried on scouting part-time until he died eleven years ago. His funeral was an extremely sad day. I attended along with people from all over the land; managers, trainers and players from many, many clubs. He was very well respected in the game.
Thanks to Harry I signed amateur forms for City in May 1959, and signed on as an apprentice in July 1960. By February 1961 I was a first team professional, having made my debut in the reserves at sixteen.
All of this had started in earnest when I was picked up by Harry playing for Manchester Boys against London Boys when I was fifteen. The previous year, as a fourteen-year-old, I played in a Manchester Boys team trounced 7-2 by our
When I first signed on as an apprentice at City, we had to continue with a trade because if you didn’t make it, then what would you do with no qualifications? I was working
at an electricians
in town during the day and then I’d have to catch the
train from Central Station to Urmston every Tuesday and Thursday to train with City. So I’d get the bus from town back to
Fallowfield
where I wouldn’t get back before
. This was a very long day indeed. My first wage at the electricians was £2 18s 6d – roughly the equivalent of £2.95 these days I suppose, of which £2 would go to my mum.
As apprentices we had to supplement our wages because we were only on £5 a week during the close season. So at the age of fifteen, Alf Wood and I got a job in
Burkit
and
Bostocks
. This was tough shift work from
to
but a great laugh.
If you can imagine, there was a big conveyer belt about fifty yards long and at the end of it was a machine that sliced bread and wrapped it into the finished article. They were then pushed down into trays which held about twenty loaves each. The trouble was, when the paper ran out we had to press a red button to stop the bread coming down. Often we were very tired or occasionally we didn’t get to the red button in time. There would be bread hurtling about everywhere! Nevertheless I was very popular with the
neighbours,
I must have been like Jesus handing out all the bread every morning. They could see me approaching – twelve loaves in bags to be distributed to everyone on our street!
Another summer was spent painting all the railings around
Anyway, back to the serious business of making it as a professional. When I was on the
groundstaff
I was playing for the then ‘B’ team, a sort of under-16s side and I was invited to sign on full-time at City. If you were invited to go full-time you had a good chance of making it all the way.
Still, even at this stage it wasn’t all fun and games by any means. We had to be there by
to make sure all the training kit was put out in the dressing room. Once we’d done that we weren’t allowed back into the first team dressing room unless one of the first team invited you in. Secondly, my job involved cleaning all those boots every Monday morning. That was hard work. Just imagine though, I had Bert
Trautmann’s
boots in my hands and they had to be spotless. After that we could go and train in the car park.
Then for two more hours we would clean the dressing room. I loved every minute of that because that’s where I wanted to be.
a
dream house for us fifteen and sixteen-year-olds. Funnily enough, I was the only one to go on and actually sign for the club. My friend Fred Eyre was one who did not make it all the way. We played in the youth team together but he just missed the cut.
In the summertime we had to go in the stands and paint all the double bars where people used to sit or stand during a match. Anyone who can remember how
seater
can recall how many of those there were. I was in heaven though because that’s where I wanted to be.
I would sit in that first team dressing room and dream about playing for City.
Running out to a huge roar, the fans idolising you and chanting your name.
Then Johnny Hart would come in, wake you up from your trance and make you clean up some more.
I think he had a soft spot for me because he used to keep me behind on purpose so I would have him a game of table tennis upstairs. He was a massive cheat though. He’d go: “Neil, who’s that over there?” and serve when I turned around and he’d claim the point. It was all in good fun though.
Johnny was a really big influence on my career. I know his son Paul too, lovely people and staunch blues to boot. Johnny used to pull me to one side and say: “Keep doing what you’re doing son and you’ll go all the way to the first team.” As a kid, that’s just the sort of thing you want to hear.
Then I was picked to play for the
Hollins
, Ron Harris and Martin Peters, all of whom went on to have tremendous careers.
We trained down at the Arsenal and we played a practice game against the Gunners’ under-19 side. I had a good game and I waited to hear whether I’d been chosen to represent my country.
The day before the
ecstatic,
it was a dream come true. We played at Brighton on a damp Wednesday night and when I put that England shirt on I felt like I’d grown another six inches. It was
We were drawing 2-2 with ten minutes to go. I’d scored two and then we were awarded a penalty. Billy Wright, our manager and of course, former
spot,
I was shaking like a leaf. I remember thinking: “If I score I’ll be a hero and if I miss nobody will remember the two I did score.” It was in the lap of the gods. Well, God was on my side that night, as I sent the goalkeeper the wrong way. All the players dived on top of me. It felt absolutely incredible.
Unbelievable.
The lad from the back streets of
Fallowfield
had just won a game for
It wasn’t too hard to adapt as far as I was concerned though, the higher the grade you played, the slower the football seemed to be. Often in youth matches you’ll get a few people charging about aimlessly but further up you have to keep the ball and use it better.
Like I said, until I made my first team debut I wasn’t allowed to enter the first team dressing room unless invited. Every Monday we had to clean the boots and each player had a number and the boots were put on numbered shelves. We’d have until
to get them clean.
Lawrie
Barnett was the man who would inspect the boots. If they hadn’t been done right, there would be an inquest. It was strict but you had lots of fun.
The attitude of the first teamers to most of the apprentices was at best, indifferent and at worst, ignorant. Nevertheless I believe I had a bit of a rapport with some of them because they asked me to play in the odd five-a-side in the reserves and I started to speak to some of the first team professionals. Overall though, they tended to keep their distance from the younger lads, there was a bit of ‘us and them’ about the place.
We played five-a-sides and head tennis in the gym below the main stand. This was the gym where I practised my skills over and over and over again. We even used to play and train in the old car park behind the Platt Lane End, which again helped develop my ball control. You have to be able to get it under control quickly because on that particular surface it can just bobble away.
So by the age of sixteen I was a regular in the reserve team and felt that I was making a name for myself. Often I’d play alongside players such as Johnny Hart, Bill
Leivers
, Cliff Sear, George Hannah,
Ken
Barnes… truly great players for me to learn my trade from.
Players of real stature and standing in the game.
In the reserves you might come up against players coming to the end of their careers. Well-known, experienced full-backs who I’d be roasting in away reserve team matches. They’d be giving me a right earful because they’d be embarrassed at me skinning them on their own pitch.
I’d hear shouts of “Beat me again like that son and I’ll break your legs!” They’d try and scare you but that is part of growing up in the game. It’s all a learning curve.
We’d have games in training, the first team versus the reserves and I used to love them because it gave me the chance to shine, to beat players and score a lot of goals. The manager Les
McDowall
used to pull me to one side and encourage me: “Keep playing like that and you’ll soon be in the first team.” So with the manager and coaches’ encouragement I felt I was nearly there – a first team place didn’t seem so far away.
*
Of course football produces its fair share of funny moments – after all although we take the game deadly seriously, it’s still only a game. One particular funny incident I can recall was when I was sixteen and playing in the reserves on the right wing. Yes, that’s correct, right wing. I was being groomed on the right as Dave
Wagstaffe
was the first choice left winger. Of course I could cut inside if I wanted to but that day we had a right full-back, whose name escapes me, who had come down on trial from
Irn
Bru
beforehand – he’d only been off for a wee, hadn’t he! These days he wouldn’t be allowed back on the pitch – then again, the guy was never heard of again.
In any case I was now a promising winger, promising enough to be selected for the Youth World Cup being held in
Unfotunately
, and not for the first time, my fledgling international career was cut short because City said they needed me to help stave off relegation and although we stayed up, it was a big chance missed!
You will have gathered that by this time I had made the break into the big time. I was in the reserve team when it happened. Ray
Sambrook
got injured and I slipped in with just under a quarter of the season to go and played so well that I kept my place until the end of the season.