Stuart Pearson

Stuart Pearson, former Hull, Man Utd, West Ham and England striker.

 

Billy Wright

Billy Wright, captain of England and Wolves

 

Danny Clapton

Arsenal and England winger Danny Clapton.
Played over 200 games for Arsenal during the late 50's but just one cap for England.

 

Alan Hudson

One for Chelsea fans, Alan Hudson.
A skilful player always classed as a luxury player by England managers at the time, which is why he only won 2 England caps.
Remember seeing him play for Chelsea and Stoke and thinking he was really good.

 

Ronnie Rooke

Ronnie Rooke
Former Arsenal, Fulham and Crystal Palace player 1933-50, also played one time for England during World War 2

 

Alan A'court

Alan A'court of Liverpool
Played 350+ times for Liverpool in the 50's and 60's, and was in the 1958 England World cup team despite Liverpool only being a 2nd Division team at the time.
I probably know the name best because he was always first on the list of England players

 

Terry Paine

Southampton legend Terry Paine
Terry played over 700 games for the Saints between 1957 and 1974, even then he hadn't finished and played another 100+ games for Hereford.
Also part of the 1966 England World Cup squad.

 

World Cup 1958

The World Cup in 1958 was held in Sweden, and eventually won by Brazil with the young Pele becoming the star of the show.

For the only time all 4 home nations qualified with Wales and Northern Ireland making it to the Quarter finals.

Here are a selection of newspaper cuttings from the time.

Fixtures

Brazil v Russia

 Wales v Mexico

 Northern Ireland v Czechoslovakia

 Czechoslovakia v West Germany

Brazil playing Wales in the Quarter Finals of the 1958 World Cup, Brazil won 1-0. Pele obviously and Welsh keeper Kelsey, not sure about the other Wales player?

 Brazil v Russia

Brazil Winners

Johnny Byrne

Johnny Byrne Former Crystal Palace, West Ham, Fulham and England player. 

Signed for West Ham in 1962 for a then record fee of £65,000, after making over 200 appearances for Palace.

 

Peter Bonetti

Peter Bonetti of Chelsea and England.

Peter is another player who sadly passed away this year at the age of 78.

Here are a few action shots from his career.

Get Well Soon

Sad news that Jimmy Greaves has suffered a stroke :(
Best wishes to him and his family that he pulls through and can carry on a near normal life.

Jimmy is one of the legends of English football, 44 goals in only 57 games for England although sadly injured during the 1966 World cup triumph, where his replacement Geoff Hurst filled his boots so well that Jimmy couldn't get back into the team (no substitutes back then).
Earned his reputation with amazing goal scoring exploits at his first club Chelsea, and after a brief spell in Italy with Milan he returned to England with Tottenham where he scored over 200 goals, in his later days he had a spell at West Ham.
Best known by people of my age for his television work, on Saturday lunchtime's "on the ball" followed by "Saint and Greavesie" and regular appearances on footie related programmes.

Here's a few pics, first one from my cuttings collection.

A classic shot

... and of course in the Hammers kit :)

Get well soon Jimmy.

Legends

Brian Clough and Bobby Charlton here being tipped for England honours.
Their future careers went in different directions.
Clough went on to become one of the greatest managers of our time but only represented England twice despite scoring nearly a goal a game before injury ended his playing career.
Charlton went on to win 106 caps for England and is rightly regarded as a football legend, but his managerial career was far from successful.

They Think It's All Over

They think it's all over ... it is now.
That moment, one of the all time great pictures.
Geoff Hurst scoring his 3rd and England's 4th.

 

Ron Greenwood

Former West Ham and England manager Ron Greenwood.
In his playing days he played for Fulham, Chelsea, Brentford and Bradford Park Avenue, and won 1 cap for England B.
Before taking over at West Ham in 1961 he had been assistant manager at Arsenal.