Tears in 1968, fish funerals, Flash Gordon & more
A true Albion legend was in the hotseat for the latest instalment of our weekly feature.
The 1968 FA Cup winner gave some pretty interesting responses – you’ve got to feel sorry for the poor fish!
Have a read through his answers below to find out what we are on about…
Bomber, what was your first…
Football team?
I have fond memories of playing for the school team at St Columbus. We weren’t very good and we didn’t really win anything, but I loved the fact that I was playing with my mates.
Game for Albion?
It was for the fourth team against a side called Cubbington Albion when I was about 15. I had only left school a couple of weeks earlier and Cubbington were a works team full of grown men. I got kicked all game!
Thing you did after winning the FA Cup with the Baggies in 1968?
I just remember letting out all of my emotion on the pitch after the whistle. I actually cried because I was just so happy that I had fulfilled a lifelong dream and won the FA Cup.
Thing you did after you retired?
I had to go and get a job! Back in those days players weren’t paid the millions they are today, so we all had to go and find other jobs. I managed to get a job as a sales rep. One of my friends was the manager at a company and offered me the role.
World Cup memory?
Watching the 1954 final through the window of a shop with lots of other people. We couldn’t afford a television so I had to watch it through the window of the shop. I didn’t manage to catch the whole game but I saw most of it.
Time you got in trouble?
When I was about 12 I was in big trouble with my dad. I thought that by pouring Dettol into his huge fish tank, that it would clean it. I thought I was being helpful, but instead, all of the fish died. He went ballistic at me. I had never seen him get so angry.
Hero?
Flash Gordon. I used to go to the cinema every Saturday morning as a young lad and he would be on.
Hairstyle?
The old bowl cut. All the kids had it. It was the cheap option to save a trip to the barber. My mum used to do it for me.
Visit to a foreign country?
When I was 15 I went away with the Albion youth team to a tournament in Holland called the Blau Wit Youth Tournament. I hadn’t even left home, let alone go to a different country. We had to stay with a Dutch family while we were there, and we also had to get two buses from the house we were staying in to the stadium where we trained and played the games.
Expensive thing you bought?
When I was 22 I bought a red Triumph Spitfire. It was beautiful and I loved it. I loved the fact it was brand new, because before that I had never owned a brand new car.