THE WORLD CUP 1970

Yesterday: In the March of 1970, all my troubles seemed so far away, now it seems as if they’re here to stay, oh I believed in ‘Yesterday’. Suddenly, I was half the man I used to be…

I’d done nothing wrong, now I long for yesterday….

On the Easter Monday of 1970, I went for a ball at The Hawthorns, the home of West Bromwich Albion, and on landing my right foot went down a hole, something that could not happen today, with the playing surfaces being like snooker tables. As soon as I went over on my ankle I knew that I would miss the upcoming FA Cup final agains Leeds United at Wembley.

However, at that moment, it never entered my mind that I would also miss the World Cup in Mexico, the greatest of all time, in my eyes, where Bobby Moore had his finest hour in an England shirt against Brazil.

From that day on every time I hear the song ‘Yesterday’ it reminds me of missing Chelsea’s first ever FA Cup final success and England defending their only ever World Cup triumph.

If this was the worst day of my life on a football field it was 27 years on in the Mile End Road where the worst day of my life took a new meaning.

After 59 days in a Royal London Hospital coma, and the whole of 1998 in St Bartholomew’s Hospital I became disabled, changing my life in so many ways. I could and still cannot go training of a morning, like I did every day and spend as much time in a hospital waiting room as I did in a gymnasium.

Oh, I believe in ‘Yesterday’