Source: TheGuardian
My 50 years of football reporting, from Hurst and Moore to VAR via Le Tissier | Jeremy Alexander
After half a century covering the game in all its guises, with escalating wages and silly celebrations, it is League Two that provides the perfect swan songLeicester City 5, West Ham United 4: it was quite a match to kick off half a century on the highways and byways of football, writing more as a neutral fan than hard-nosed reporter. The ground was Filbert Street, the date 27 August 1966, four weeks after England won the World Cup. Ron Greenwood’s pledge to attack meant “Banks saw nearly as much of Moore and Peters as he did at Wembley”. Hurst beat him twice but it was not enough. Players did not have Christian names then. Now they have forenames. And games may be goalless.The 70s began at Craven Cottage “in some ways just like the early 50s for there was Haynes, a hair or two greyer, still turning on a sixpence and spraying out passes like stars from a catherine wheel. Who would have thought 18 years ago the coin might pass from circulation before the master?” There was also “a brief delay while the referee sent for a skewer to fix a goal-net. A foot, with man attached, briefly substituted.” The game moves on. Now there are fourth officials and VARs in waiting. Related: Danny Cowley has Lincoln aiming even higher after year to remember | Jeremy Alexander Continue reading......read full article
