Two
football personalities from the 1960s, Ron Wylie and Peter Bonetti,
sadly passed away this week after long illnesses and both deserve a
mention here.
Ron
Wylie, City's assistant manager to Gordon Milne in the 1970s, is
better known for his playing exploits in Birmingham with both Villa
and the Blues, but he was a major influence in arguably the Sky
Blues' most attractive side in their 34 years in the top flight.
Born
in Glasgow in 1933, Ron moved south to join Notts County in 1949
after being spotted playing for Clydesdale Juniors where he won
Scottish schoolboy caps. Initially an inside forward but later
switched to wing-half, he made his debut in County's Second Division
side in 1951 and played almost 250 games for the club before an
£8,000 move to Villa in 1958. County were on the way to a second
successive relegation when he left and Villa were also on their way
down to Division Two that season. Ron's cultured play mixed with a
strong determination was vital in Villa's promotion the following
season and they defeated two First Division sides on the way to an FA
Cup semi final under Joe Mercer. In 1961 he was a member of the Villa
team that won the newly inaugurated League Cup and won a runners-up
medal in the same competition two years later. He was a regular in
Villa's team until 1965 when he dropped down a division with a move
across the city to Blues. Many thought his best days were behind him
but he captained Birmingham for four seasons and reached two further
Cup semi finals before hanging his boots up at the age of 37.
He
returned to Villa Park as a coach before Gordon Milne invited him to
join him at Highfield Road as first team coach in 1975. In his six
seasons with Gordon, the club, regular relegation battlers before
then, were only once in danger of going down – in the infamous
Bristol game in 1977 – and the pair produced a stunning response to
the knockers the following season. Adopting a brave 4-2-4 formation
the team scored 75 goals with the Wallace/Ferguson partnership
causing havoc in the process. Ron was instrumental in bringing
through some outstanding homegrown players such as Garry Thompson,
Danny Thomas, Steve Whitton and Mark Hateley as the club's financial
situation precluded big money signings. In his final season at City
the young team reached the League Cup semi final, losing to West Ham
over two legs.
After
leaving City following Dave Sexton's arrival, Ron coached in Cyprus
and Hong Kong before landing the manager's job at West Brom in 1982.
He inherited Cyrille Regis and soon returned to Highfield Road to
sign Garry Thompson from the cash-strapped Sky Blues. A year later,
with Albion in danger of relegation, Ron was sacked but was only out
of work for a short time before re-joining Villa as reserve team
coach. In 1987 he left Villa Park again and continued scouting for
various clubs but was tempted back to Villa again 1990 to work as
Football in the Community officer.
Former
City striker David Cross who played under Ron told me a funny story,
'We
played a charity game with the Tiswas lads once. Ron was under the
impression that it was a serious game (every game was serious to him)
and had never seen Tiswas on television and just didn’t get the
humour on the day. The final straw for him was The Phantom Flan
Flinger throwing a pie at one of the players as he was about to
score. Ron walked off the pitch !' David also said: 'Ron was old
school. He drove us hard and settled for nothing less than 100% and
demanded the best. He suffered no fools but always had a twinkle in
his eye when you got the inevitable bollocking.'
Garry
Thompson tweeted: 'Ron bullied me (in nicest way possible) to be
better, to improve daily, I owe him, he coached me from 17 then took
me to Albion, and was assistant manager when I signed for Villa. To
say I owe him massively is an understatement, loved the old feller.'
City
fan Ian Greaves who followed the Sky Blues home and away in the 1970s
and 80s contacted me to say:
'I have fond memories of Ron when he was assistant manager in the
1970s. He was always very aware of the time and effort the regular
fans put in and on many occasions he rewarded us with complimentary
tickets at away games. I encountered him when visiting a relative in
Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield a few years ago. He was
already showing signs of dementia then but we still managed to have a
good chat about his days at City. Like many sufferers he seemed to
have a better long term than short term memory.'
Growing
up in the 1960s we had little football on the television and relied
on magazines like Charles Buchan's Football Monthly and Soccer Star
to discover football stars. Bonetti always struck me as one of the
modern breed of goalkeepers, as did City's Bill Glazier. More agile
than the older breed with peaked baseball-type caps instead of the
traditional cloth cap and Peter had a continental style kit. He was
also a member of two fine Chelsea sides – 1965 team that went close
to winning the treble and might have won the league but for manager
Tommy Docherty's over-the top reaction to a late night drinking
session, and the 1970 FA Cup winning side, full of skill but hard
enough to counter the nefarious Leeds United. He was unfairly blamed
for England's loss to West Germany in the 1970 World Cup
quarter-final and never added to his six England caps but in an era
without the likes of Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton he would have won
more caps as would Bill Glazier.
Peter
played against the Sky Blues on numerous occasions but one game
sticks in my memory. A wet night in September 1968 with the rain
lashing down turning the Highfield Road pitch into a paddy field.
Osgood gave Chelsea an early lead when Maurice Setters' backpass
stuck in the mud but for the rest of the game City bombarded
Bonetti's goal. 'The Cat' as he was known, pulled off save after save
to keep his sheet clean and earn the Londoners a 1-0 victory. Derek
Henderson in the Coventry Telegraph, whilst acknowledging Bonetti as
'the best 'keeper in the UK at the moment', described the game as
'the greatest travesty of footballing justice I have witnessed in 20
years of sports journalism'.
RIP
Ron and Peter.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment