The Famous Five go to White Hart Lane

“I am an ambitious chairman, we are an ambitious club and we want Champions League football at White Hart Lane. " Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, August 21, 2007

"I was in the hotel because a friend came who had nothing to do with football." Sevilla coach Juande Ramos, August 20, 2007

"You know quite well that if you ever go against the orders of the chief—that's me, my girl, in case you didn't know it—you won't come out with us again. You may look like a boy and behave like a boy, but you're a girl all the same. And like it or not, girls have got to be taken care of." Julian, Five on a Hike Together, 1951

The fiasco of the Martin Jol \ Ramos affair has drawn some unwelcome attention to those in control at Tottenham, a splendid example of the best that English capitalism can offer in opposition to the multifarious international consortia that are hoovering up the Premiership.

There were four men meeting Ramos in that hotel room in Seville (apparently two left by the front door and two by the back) and one more playing golf in the Bahamas. This is a quick guide to the five of them.

Joe Lewis ("Julian")

Lewis is ultimately the money behind Spurs, although he seems to have little or no interest in the day to day business.

He is said to be the 16th richest person in Britain, worth something over £2,000 million. How exactly he counts as being in Britain when he spends all his time in the Bahamas is something The Sunday Times doubtless explains in detail when it does its list. Perhaps it is "British person" rather than person in Britain; as yet, he hasn't renounced his citizenship. He has homes all over the globe; Forbes counts him as the 486th richest person in the world.

Joe Lewis had no higher education. He was born above a pub in "the East End of London" about 70 years ago and made his initial wealth expanding the family's catering business (he started as a waiter and it eventually became the Beefeater pub chain), then selling luxury goods to tourists, before finally moving into currency trading and tax exile in the 1970s.

Lewis is the main investor in the Tavistock Group, which he founded 30 years ago. Tavistock Group is a global, private investment company. The company has grown to encompass "a broad portfolio of interests" in over 170 companies in 15 countries in areas including property, financial services, life sciences, energy, industry and consumer goods. "The company employs a simple investment philosophy looking for value opportunities where its capital, flexibility, management support and strategic hand can build value." Tavistock Group has offices in Argentina, the Bahamas, China, the European Union, Mexico and the United States. Among Lewis's property holdings are 3,600 acres in the Bahamas and 8,000 acres in Florida. He is currently investing heavily in health-care and bio-technology in Florida, which may be a consciousness of his own mortality.

Joe Lewis spends most of his time and much of his money on celebrity golf (he once paid over £1 million to charity for a day's golf with Tiger Woods - his other well-funded celebrity partner is Ernie Els). He owns two golf clubs, which play each other for charity once a year (perhaps this is the model envisaged for football in due course).

Lewis has two children. His son, Charles, left the Enic board along with the finance director in 2001 after "a string of financial misfortunes". His daughter fronts a lot of Tavistock's charitable work.

At one stage Lewis, through Irish connections, was linked with Desmond, JP McManus et al in the plan to bring Celtic and Rangers into the English Premiership.

Sources : Forbes.com; The Sunday Times; Tavistock Group website; Sunday Business Post, November 04, 2001

Daniel Levy ("Dick")

Daniel Levy is chairman of Tottenham Hotspur and Lewis's man at Enic - the English National Investment Company - which owns the controlling interest in Spurs. Levy was reportedly the one who first encouraged Lewis to invest in football clubs.

Levy was born on 8 February 1962, in Essex. His family, through their holding company A. Levy and Sons Ltd, owned the Mr Bywrite "straight talking, no-nonsense" male fashion-retailing group. (Incidentally, this group later changed its name to Blue Inc and was sold in its entirety to Marlow in February 2006).

He has a first class degree in economics and land economy from Cambridge, graduating in 1985. He is married with four children and said to be a Spurs fan of long-standing.

From university, Levy went into retailing, but at some stage he struck up a relationship with Lewis. Levy joined the board of Enic in 1995 and is now chairman.

Enic's ultimate owner is a company, Crailes Holdings, registered in the Bahamas, where little information is provided about companies. Enic , however, have been happy to confirm that Lewis is behind Enic, with Levy, via family trusts, owning 29%.

"It is very much a joint effort between Joe and Daniel," a spokesman said. "Daniel himself takes responsibility for the decisions at Tottenham."

The first grand plan was to build an international sporting group with a strong bias toward media income. This brought them to Glasgow Rangers for their first investment, followed by a £2.4 million stake in Vicenza.

Levy pushed Enic from being a finance operation into a leisure concern. In May 2000 the firm spent £500,000 buying gambling website UKbetting.com, and took a stake in the Streets Online e-tail chain. Enic also took on the Warner Brothers Studio Stores chain in the UK and other bits and pieces, including a restaurant in Las Vegas.

Enic first tried to buy Spurs off Sugar in 1998, when they valued the club at £80 million. At first, Sugar held out for a higher price but eventually in 2000 Enic agreed to pay £22 million for a 27% stake (a valuation of the whole club at about £81 million).

In 2000, Enic was also in negotiations to buy Wembley (at a time when JP McManus and Desmond were pushing the National Stadium concept in Ireland). Levy and Lewis withdrew from the £222 bid for Wembley because it was "too complex", which probably translates as "no clear profit" .

In the mid-to-late 1990s Enic embarked on a wider plan to buy a major football club in every European country. The intention was to pool resources and even players, to cash in on football's revival and television windfalls across the continent. By the time Enic finalised the purchase of 27% of Spurs from Alan Sugar in 2001, the company also owned large stakes in FC Basle in Switzerland, AEK Athens and Slavia Prague as well as the original chunks of Rangers in Scotland and Vicenza in Italy.

This portfolio turned out to be fraught with difficulties. In May 1998, after Slavia and AEK qualified for the Uefa Cup, Uefa had ruled that two clubs in "common ownership" could not play in the same competition. Enic spent £1.3m appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, which allowed AEK and Slavia to compete pending its decision but ultimately upheld Uefa's ruling because Enic owned more than 50% of both clubs.

Levy described the decision at that time as "a retrograde step for football in Europe", but with its multi-ownership plan in tatters, Enic began to sell all the clubs except Spurs. After AEK and Basle were offloaded, Enic sold its 20.2% stake in Rangers in August 2004, then Vicenza three months later.

According to Enic's most recently published accounts in 2006, that left only a 31.5% stake in Tottenham and its 96.7% ownership of Slavia Prague. Enic still appeared to own Slavia up to July last year, but the company says that in fact it had reduced its holding in Slavia to a minority interest. This came to light when Spurs were drawn against Slavia in last season's UEFA Cup. In any event, the tie would have been fine because they owned less than 50% of Spurs at the timr, even though everyone was clear they controlled the club.

With the purchase of Sugar's remaining stake this year, of course, the share in Spurs is now up to about 66%.

Apart from Spurs, Enic's main interest is now said to be "property investment."

In contrast to, say, Kemsley, Levy is not demonstrative with his wealth. He even declines to spend money on shareholders, Enic issuing no dividends but aiming to build capital value, or indeed on himself. In 2000, he was reported to take home just £10,000 a year from his work at Enic (although he does take fair chunks from Spurs and other companies - see below).

Sources : BBC News, 20 December, 2000; David Conn, The Guardian September 27, 2006

Paul Kemsley ("George")

Kemsley (or PK as he apparently likes to be known) is Tottenham's vice-chairman. A long-term Spurs fan, the carpet in his office is navy blue and white stripes and the walls adorned with signed shirts and memorabilia.

He was one of the early public faces of the new ownership, attending Q & A sessions with supporters when Levy was much more reticent. At a session in 2002, he "introduced himself to the members as an Executive Director of the Football Club whose primary responsibility is property". It's noted that several supporters present knew him and had travelled with him to away matches in the past. At that point Kemsley stated clearly that the club was not for sale and that he along with ENIC and other major investors hoped to see a return on their equity as a result of success on the pitch. However, the reference was to a "5 year plan", and those five years are now up.

It was through Kemsley that the meeting with Ramos was set up. He made contact with London based property developer Tony Jimenez, a man with interests in Seville, who has been acting as UK agent for Ramos.

Levy, Lewis and Kemsley, are involved in a property development company, Rock Investment Holdings, which has acquired a spread of commercial and residential sites around England. Lewis holds his 50% stake in Rock via a holding company, Rapallo, of which Levy is the sole director. In the year to December 2004, Levy was paid £240,000 by Rapallo; in the year to June 2005, he was also paid £525,000 by Enic for his work as Tottenham's chairman. Rapallo, like Enic, is ultimately owned by Lewis via a company incorporated in the Bahamas.

Kemsley set up Rock in the 1990s, but the business shot to prominence in 2005 when it became involved in a takeover battle for Countryside Properties. In the end the takeover didn't go ahead, but Kemsley sold the shares at a profit anyway. He said at the time, "It was great profile-wise and we made a few quid along the way. There was no question of the money not being there. The support we had from Lewis was unparalleled. He sent me £300m in cash to buy the equity. Telling him I didn’t want the money was not an easy phone call to have to make.”

More recently, starting late last year, Kemsley appeared to be building up for a takeover of Quintain Property and Development, which has large regeneration projects close to Wembley football stadium and the former Millennium Dome in London. However, in July 2007 he sold his 11.9 per cent holding at a profit. He and HSBC also recently made a profit of more than £30 million in just five months when Rock bought and then sold the Grade I-listed former headquarters of Midland Bank. A hankering towards shorter-term profit taking may not be what Spurs fans really hope to see.

Kemsley is also involved in a profit-sharing deal with the club itself, partly relating to Spurs' long search for a bigger ground. Tottenham have agreed to pay Kemsley 15% of any profits the club makes from its property investments, a deal some fans have raised objections to, but which Levy defends as a fair return for the work Kemsley will do. Piecemeal, land around White Hart Lane has been bought to create a larger footprint for the stadium, but the club insists it will not expand its current ground unless the project forms part of wider regeneration, involving public money, of the rundown area of Haringey around it.

Online gambling is another area that has got Kemsley excited on occasion. He took stakes in a number of quoted businesses, although not all his investments have been successful. Gaming VC is one he prefers not to dwell on. He has had more success with stakes in Party Gaming, the poker operator, Betex, which has a licence to run a lottery in China, and Gaming Corporation, a gambling portal. Arguably his biggest success was with Fun Technologies, an AIM-quoted company that specialises in so-called “skill games”, which allow customers to play solitaire, chess and other games for money. Unlike casino games or sports betting, it is legal in America.

Kemsley also fancies himself as a poker player and was spotted in a big money game with professionals on youtube. "Looks like some novice with lots of money to burn", was one on-line observer's comment.

He certainly has a wide social circle. Alan Sugar and Philip Green are friends. (He has appeared on The Apprentice with Sugar). In July, when Kemsley celebrated his 40th birthday with a grand party in Granada, Spain, entertainers over the weekend included Jackie Mason, the Gypsy Kings, Duran Duran, Billy Joel and Craig David. There were almost enough footballers for a team, including Robbie Keane and Jamie Redknapp. Robert Earl, founder of the Hard Rock cafe, flew in, too.

Another guest was 'Magpie' Mike Ashley, billionaire founder of Sports Direct and the new owner of Newcastle United. One anecdote Kemsley has told is quite instructive about both of them, "When I was 15, I was a Saturday boy at this place called John Paul Menswear. Mike (Ashley)'s first sports shop was opposite, and I'd always be in there playing darts. He would beat me every week and I'd usually go home with no money".

Although the rumours that Ashley had funded the party were denied, he is widely said to be one possible buyer for Spurs if, as also rumoured, the whole plan is to add value to the club before flogging it off.

Sources : Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust Members Meeting, 1 August 2002; Matthew Goodman, The Sunday Times, December 4, 2005; David Conn, The Guardian September 27, 2006 ; The Evening Standard, June 12, 2007; The Financial Times, July 13, 2007 ; The Financial Times, July 18, 2007; Ian Ridley and Daniel King, Daily Mail, 25 August, 2007

Damien Comolli ("Anne")




Comolli was appointed as Director of Football in 2005 after Chelsea "head-hunted" Frank Arnesen. He is now aged 35. Technically, at least, he is Jol's boss, with responsibility for the medical, academy, scouting and club secretarial departments.

Levy does not seem to trust managers and was keen to establish this European model, initially with Arnesen and Santini. Explaining the scouting system in the club magazine this year, Comolli was clear about who governed the process. “Obviously we [the scouting department] come up with all the names and I tell Martin this is the reason why we think this player is No 1, No 2, No 3 and so on. Of course Martin has a vital say in all of this and he might say he prefers one player to another, so we can swap around, but basically we’re always working on a team of players who currently play for other clubs.” In practice, this seems to mean that Jol doesn't necessarily get the players he wants, or even players in the positions he wants.

Comolli started out as a defender in Monaco's youth team but injury and an underlying lack of true quality made him turn to coaching, at the age of 20, with encouragement from Arsene Wenger, then manager at the French club. He started with the under 16s. He spent three years at Monaco, a season in Japan with the Nagasaki Under-18s, and then joined Wenger at Arsenal in 1997.

Comolli also gained a Law degree at the Universite de Nice in 1995.

At Arsenal he was chief European scout. Names such as Kolo Toure, Jeremie Aliadiere and Gael Clichy stand out among the untested players he brought to the club, while he also helped to sign Thierry Henry and Robert Pires.

After leaving Arsenal, he was technical director at Saint-Etienne for a single season, when they finished sixth, but he then fell out with the club hierarchy. "I did not agree with the direction the club was going in terms of management. We had different points of view. I am not in football just to sit behind my desk. I say what I think if I think something is wrong. I am respectful of the people who run the club but I didn't agree and I left."

On his initial appointment at Spurs he portrayed himself as a workaholic. "I have no time for myself,'' admitted Comolli, who is married with two children. "My family is great and very supportive. When you are in professional football and you are passionate you don't even know what time it is. Whatever it takes you do it, because it's a privilege to be working with your passion.

"Football is about details and I think making the right decision in every aspect is important. Otherwise it would be an easy job and it's not an easy job. Football is a very small world but you can still make a difference by working harder. I'm talking about everything. Every detail counts if you want to be successful. "

Levy's take was "He'll be a huge asset to the club with his forward-thinking approach to international networking and partnerships." Whether the discussions with Ramos come under that heading, I really don't know.

Sources : John Ley, Daily Telegraph, Sept 16, 2005; The Evening Standard, Sept 8, 2005; The Sunday Times, August 26, 2007

John Alexander ("Timmy the dog")

Alexander is the club secretary at Spurs and only along at the meeting because he is their contracts man. He is also, presumably, the one who really should have known better.

Born Liverpool 1955, John Alexander signed as a professional for Millwall after graduating from London University with a BA Hons in Geography. He went on to play for Reading, where he was a member of the 4th Division championship winning side in 1979, and later Northampton Town.

On ceasing to be a professional footballer, John worked for the BBC for five years before joining Watford in 1987 where he was Assistant Secretary to Eddie Plumley before becoming Secretary. He joined Tottenham Hotspur as Club Secretary on March 27 2000 from Watford, replacing Peter Barnes, who left White Hart Lane to join West Ham United.

In June 2005 the Football Administrators Association announced that John Alexander was to be their new Chairman. He took over from Alan Jones who served as Chairman for over four years. The Football Administrators Association draws its membership from those concerned with the administrative side of the game, consisting mainly of Club Secretaries and their assistants, but also including several Chief Executives. It is a sister association of the League Managers Association.

Hence, he should have known better than to go behind his manager's back. And to get caught, of course.

As the Daily Mail said "at the very least, (it) shows that the 15th wealthiest club in the world .... are unfamiliar with behaving like a big club". Enid Blyton has nothing on this little adventure.

Sources : FAA website; Ian Ridley and Daniel King, Daily Mail 25 August, 2007

Epilogue

In the meantime, "according to sources at Tottenham and in the City", Enic’s ownership is not intended as a long-term investment. Towards the end of last season talks were held with an American consortium about a potential takeover . Although that approach did not result in a formal offer, ENIC remains eager to profit on its ownership of Tottenham and would sell its holding for an appropriate price. Both club and owners are being advised by Seymour Pierce, City financiers who specialise in Premier League takeovers and who, through Keith Harris, the former chairman of the Football League, brokered the purchase of Manchester City by Thaksin Shinawatra.

After accounting for its complex structure of ordinary and preference shares, Tottenham’s current stock market value is £212m. Last season the word was that ENIC would settle for a 50% mark-up on that figure, but the £470m buyout of Liverpool and the battle for Arsenal have widened their eyes. The asking price for Spurs now stands nearer to £450m.

Two things are essential to "achieve full market potential" (sell for as much as possible) : Champions League football and the redevelopment of the Lane into a larger stadium of Emirates size. Both aims would be largely embraced by fans, whose main complaint about the current ownership has been the time when a sponsor's logo meant they had a bit of nasty red on their shirts.

If Kemsley and Levy can achieve both aims before cashing in, they may yet retain the "best owners in the world" tag they have been given by some groups of fans.

Heinze : "In the end you just give in" (or not)

In the end, Phil Chisnall's record is preserved - and given the tenacity which United displayed this time around, likely to last a good many years longer. But I don't think he'll be the answer to many quiz questions for quite a while - it's become much too easy a question.

Strange that no-one ever mentions how much longer it is since Liverpool sold anyone to United.

In the end, Liverpool's lawyers have been proved fallible (I hope it was the club paid them, not Gaby, for I doubt it was "no win, no fee"), Benitez makes a fool of himself, United are (apparently) paid more than they had any right to expect and Gaby is given the chance to take over from Roberto Carlos. And I don't imagine his agents will lose by the deal either, more's the pity.

So why does so much bitterness appear to linger? Gaby himself seems to have shrugged his shoulders, so I almost wonder if it was just a fight on principle, because he (or his agents) objected to being told what to do. Keano pointed out to Jaap Stam the unpalatable truth that footballers in the end are slabs of meat, but I fail to see why footballers are expected to like the fact and to fawn over the shopkeeper.

And, personally, I am also not at all clear why fans should expect a foreigner who has been in Manchester (or rather in the rich ghettos of Cheshire) for three years, to share their irrational hatred of a club down the road. Loyalty is a rare quality in the modern era; it can't be expected of many owners, directors or players and, frankly, not of all fans. SAF clearly defines "loyalty" as doing what he tells you to do. It is a personal relationship (rather like The Godfather). Perhaps Gaby grates because, for one season at least, there were fans who had the perception that he was different.

From what SAF has been saying since, that perception was probably largely illusory. If it hadn't been for the injury, it would have been obvious his "people" were wheedling to get him away years ago.

Ferguson told MUTV the player's agent was agitating for a move virtually as soon as he had arrived. "We signed Gaby in July 2004 and he immediately went off to play for the Argentina Olympic team, and then onto some World Cup qualifiers," he said. "We didn't get him until September, so in that first year he probably played about five months. At the start of the following season, a day before he suffered his cruciate injury against Villarreal, his agent came to see me and said he either wanted a transfer or for me to double his wages. That immediately sent out the wrong signal. Throughout his rehabilitation, his agent was asking me to sell him."

And in classic Ferguson-speak "You wonder whether the lad actually wants to play for you and in the end, you just give in."

That reminds me of the passage in The Godfather where Don Vito throws up his hands and says "but who can reason with this man", and the chap goes very pale and turns up in a New Jersey swamp a few weeks later.

The club shows the players little enough loyalty. When their time has gone, we unload them without a qualm. Even players who have been fans since they were children. The stories abound of the ruthlessness of Busby et al. He, in particular, had a fear of those he discarded coming back to haunt him. One player he sold commented that he liked to sell people "outside the Manchester Evening News circulation area".

The thing to do is celebrate the rare instances when loyalty is to be found, when players share in the irrational accumulation of desire that makes up United. The rarity is what gives it the value.

And in the end, to what are we giving the loyalty? Clubs have changed their names, their strips, wound up and re-formed, changed grounds. They have been bought and sold like slabs of meat themselves (sometimes by butchers - both literal and metaphorical butchers).

Norman Mailer in The Siege of Chicago tries to explain why Lyndon Johnson (and other US politixians) could never deal with Ho Chi Minh. "A good politician ... can deal with any kind of property-holder but a fanatic, because the fanatic is disembodied from his property. He conceives of his property - his noble ideal - as existing just as well without him. His magic partakes of the surreal."

Players, managers and owners may all prate about the club being "bigger than anyone",but they don't really mean it, don't feel it the same way, except in occasional instances. Their loyalty is the loyalty of cosa nostra and the shared backscratcher.

It is unfair to expect a player to be a fan. Only fans understand the magic that exists just as well without them.

Record Suspensions : Kevin Lewis

United players figure highly in the longest suspensions of all-time list. Cantona, of course; Frank Barson, not long after leaving us; John Fitzpatrick. There is an unlikely inclusion : one United player who never even turned out for the first team, Kevin Lewis.

Kevin Lewis

Kevin Lewis was born in Hull on 25 September, 1952.

He came to United through the apprentice scheme, and was under contract to the club from 1969-72. In 1970-71, he was a member of the first-team squad but never played in the side.

Kevin Lewis was a full-back. Sadly his main claim to fame whilst at Old Trafford was his disciplinary record.

He was first given a three week ban in 1969, by the same tribunal that banned John Fitzpatrick for eight weeks. On 28 January 1971, there is record of a four week ban and a £25 fine. On 10 December 1971 he was back before a tribunal after a sending off in a Central League game. This time they banned him until the end of the season, presumably almost five months.

That was it with United. At the end of the season Lewis was on his way to Stoke City, where he remained until 1976. He played in front of Peter Shilton and behind Jimmy Greenhoff and Alan Hudson, amongst others, but only managed 15 first team appearances for them.

After Stoke, he moved on to Crewe Alexandra until 1981, when he moved to non-league football.
In his English League career he played 137 games, with 2 goals, so the vast majority of these must have been with Crewe.

In 1983-84, Lewis was a member of the Telford United side that had a storming cup run.

" Telford United, proud representatives of the Alliance Premier League, came agonisingly close to holding Derby County to a draw in last night's FA Cup fourth round tie at the Baseball Ground. "

Lewis made his mark early in that game, and clearly his combative approach did not change over the years. As the match report said, "Derby set off with a bang and were ahead after only six minutes. Even before the goal, Kevin Lewis had been booked for something he said to the referee and, with a caution recorded, was lucky to stay on the field after scything down John Robertson."

After dodgy refereeing decisions on both sides, Telford eventually lost 3-2.

Kevin Lewis was manager of Leek Town from 1985-86 when he resigned to return to Telford United as assistant manager.

These days he runs "The Dyers' Arms", a few minutes walk away from Leek Town's ground. One of the websites even refers to him as "the last of the Busby Babes", although I doubt if Kevin thinks of himself that way.

The Retirement Sweepstake

Sir Alex Ferguson is still cagey about the exact date he might retire. The only clue he seems to have given is that he doesn't intend to be there when he's seventy (31 December 2011, as a matter of interest).

One date that might hover in the reaches of his mind is 2010, the point at which he will have been manager for longer than Sir Matt Busby, who lasted 24 consecutive seasons as United manager, before ushering in that period of gloom and destruction for the club that was the early 70s. (He also spent an additional period as manager after the interlude that was Wilf McGuinness).

Busby is the longest serving football club manager of the modern era (although Dario Gradi came very close to surpassing him).

All of them have a long way to go to come near the longest serving manager of all time. Fred Everiss of West Brom was appointed in August 1902 and apparently spent 46 seasons in charge (I suspect they have cheated, because I don't think they called them managers in those days and, indeed, WBA themselves didn't call anyone "manager" until Everiss had retired).

Anyway, the closer he comes, SAF would hardly be human if he didn't find that bit of history enticing. Well, perhaps he is hardly human, of course.

Source

http://www.leaguemanagers.com/manager/longest-historical.html

A Murder Mystery Interlude : Frank Barson not involved

When Frank Barson left Villa for United in the summer of 1922, his successor in the Villa team was a young man called Tommy Ball.

Born in County Durham in February 1899, Thomas Edgar Ball had been playing for a local colliery team when he attracted Villa's attention and was signed in January 1920 as cover for Barson. After Barson's departure, Ball took his place and quickly became recognised as one of the league’s best centre-halves.

While Ball was never destined for great things on the pitch he does still hold a unique place in footballing history. For as far as can be discovered, on the evening of Armistice Day, 11 November 1923, Thomas Ball became the only professional in the Football League ever to have been murdered. At least, on this occasion, even rumour does not suggest Frank Barson was involved.

The Murder Story

Ball and his wife lived at Somerville Cottages, Brick Kiln Lane, Perry Barr. Their immediate neighbour was a 45 year old former Birmingham policeman called George Stagg.

On the evening of Sunday 11 November, Mr and Mrs Ball returned home by bus at about 10.30, after a few drinks in the Church Tavern, Perry Barr. Ball had played for Villa in Nottingham in a 1-0 victory over Notts County the previous day.

Soon after their return home, close to his house, Ball was shot in the chest. By the time a doctor arrived he was dead, the body lying on a couch, a wound in his chest "about the size of a half a crown".

A Police Sergeant Davenport attended the scene and arrested Stagg, who was waiting in his own house for his former colleagues. Stagg proceeded to make a long statement to the Police.

On the Monday morning, Stagg was accordingly remanded in custody on a charge of wilful murder. He was described as a tall man, with grey hair and moustache, wearing a long mackintosh. The Police evidence suggested that Stagg had fired one shot from a "single barrelled gun", then reloaded and fired a further shot which had hit Ball in the chest and killed him. On 28 November, Perry Barr Magistrates committed George John Alan Stagg for trial on the charge of murder.

Stagg had served in the army for many years, leaving to join the City of Birmingham Police Force for a time but returning to the army when war broke out. Wounded, he was invalided out in 1916 and worked in several local factories. In 1921 he bought the two cottages in Brick Kiln Lane, letting one to the newly married Balls in October 1922.

The case came to trial at Stafford Assizes on 19 February 1924. Stagg pleaded "not guilty".

The prosecuting counsel, C.F. Vachell, suggested a history of bad relations between the neighbours.

Beatrice Ball testified that her husband had left the house on the night of 11 November to look for a dog. She said that almost immediately, before her husband could have got any further than the gate, she heard Stagg shouting, and immediately afterwards the sound of a shot. She went out and saw her husband staggering from the direction of Stagg's gate, holding his hands to his chest. He said to her, "he has has shot me".

Mrs Ball also stated that her husband was a moderate drinker who had been perfectly sober on the night of his murder. They had been happily married, she said, and he had never struck her. Ball's excellent character was further emphasised by the Aston Villa trainer Alfred Miles.

Medical evidence was that Ball had been shot through the heart.

Stagg stuck to the statement he had made to the Police following the murder. His story was that Ball had been drunk and had tried to climb over the bolted gate into his garden. Stagg said that he had fired his gun to scare Ball away. When this didn't work, he prodded him in the chest with the gun. Ball caught hold of the gun and tried to wrench it away from him. He in return tried to wrench it back. Ball fell back and there was an explosion as the gun went off.

In the witness-box, Stagg added to his original statement, saying that his foot had slipped during the struggle and that he was "almost certain" that the gun-trigger caught on the gatepost. His defending Counsel, Sir Reginald Coventry, argued that it was a pure accident and there was no conceivable motive for his client to murder Ball. Coventry was described as a slight, stern man, the son of a Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire, notable in later years for his opposition to the abolition of judicial flogging for punishing the "professional garotters of Liverpool and Cardiff".

Stagg also alleged that Ball was a violent man who often attacked his wife, something which she herself had firmly denied.

The Judge summed up quite clearly. He pointed out that there was a conflict of evidence, However, he said the substantial thing was that, if the gun had been fired deliberately, it was murder; if the gun had gone off accidentally in a struggle, it was manslaughter.

The jury retired for an hour and forty minutes, before returning with a verdict of guilty of wilful murder. At the same time, they recommended the prisoner to mercy.

Mercy was not, of course, the prerogative of the Judge, who put on his black cap and sentenced Stagg to death by hanging. Trials were quick in those days; it was all completed in the same day.
On 18 March, the case was considered by the Court of Criminal Appeal. Sir Reginald argued that the Court should substitute a verdict of manslaughter for the one of murder.

However, the Lord Chief Justice indicated there was no ground on which the Court of Appeal could intervene. The summing-up had been unassailable, the verdict was clearly one which a jury could reasonably have reached on the evidence.

The question of mercy had to be left to "those who dealt with such matters", who would no doubt give the jury's recommendation "all the weight which it demanded".

And indeed Stagg was lucky. On 26 March, the Home Secretary announced his advice that the death sentence be commuted.

It seems strange that, even in those days, no-one appears to have been particularly surprised that the inhabitants of Birmingham patrolled their gardens armed.

Ball was described by the Birmingham press as, "a player of considerable achievement and even greater promise".

A stone football marks the grave of Tommy Ball in the graveyard of the church of St John the Evangelist in Perry Barr. It sits on a plinth with the inscription “A Token of Esteem from his Fellow Players of Aston Villa FC.” They say that "items are frequently left as gifts on the grave when Villa are having a good season". Perhaps a misuse of the word frequently, of course.


Sources

The Times
The Best of Heroes and Villains, 1994
I am told that Paul Lester has written a small book on the murder, which I haven't yet read, but which may well have more detail. I do wonder if Stagg ever emerged from prison, for instance.

Frank Barson : the finest football brain of his time

If anyone recalls Frank Barson these days, it is as "the hardest man of all". He features in lists of the top 50 hard men of football (no 35, as it happens, but Stuart Pearce of all people got to number 2), the 50 worst tackles, the 10 longest suspensions. He is most remembered for the likely apocryphal tale that he took a gun, rather than an agent, to his contract negotiations.

There was much more to Barson than that.

Frank Barson was a very talented half-back, although later in his career he was increasingly prone to fits of very bad temper. It was said then that the mere mention of the fact that Barson was playing against them led opposition players to claim they were injured, rather than play against him.

Yet Percy Young says one contemporary who played with Barson saluted him as “the finest football brain of his time”.


Frank Barson



Frank Barson was born in Grimesthorpe, Sheffield, on 10 April 1891.

In his working life, he started as a blacksmith. After starring for Firshill Council and Grimesthorpe schools, he started his football career as an amateur at Albion FC.

In 1909 he signed for local outfit Cammell Laird FC and it was two years later in July 1911 that he began his professional football career with Barnsley.

The Barnsley Battlers

The historian Richard Holt has said, “There was a self-conscious cult of northern aggression, which applauded the violent antics of some players”, and Barson learned his trade with the “Barnsley Battlers”, who were amongst the main practitioners. In Holt’s words, “Clubs like Barnsley, fed by miners from the nearby coalfield, abounded in stories of men working double shifts and walking twenty miles to play a match”.

It was whilst at Oakwell that Barson's notorious temper first became evident; before he could even start his first game for the Tykes he had to serve a two month suspension, following a brawl with a few Birmingham City players in a pre season friendly. On another occasion he had to be smuggled out of Goodison Park after a cup-tie to avoid a waiting crowd, who had been incensed by his behaviour during the game.

Barnsley's 1912 FA Cup semi-final tie with Southern league Swindon was notoriously brutal, as Barnsley set out to “curb the pace” of Swindon’s star player, the amateur international, Harold Fleming. “Barnsley deliberately kicked Fleming … until he had got seriously injured, and the local press jeered at the southerners for making an official complaint”. After a 0-0 draw, which Swindon finished with nine men, Barnsley won 1-0 in the replay (against a team without Fleming, who didn’t play again for nearly a year).

Barson wasn’t selected in this Barnsley team, which went on to beat West Brom in the Cup final replay at Bramhall Lane (another solitary goal, after another 0-0 draw), but he clearly learned a lot about uncompromising defence. In his own words, "at Barnsley they taught me to be a robust player".

After the war, Barson had a very public falling out with the Barnsley directors over travelling expenses and he joined Aston Villa in October 1919, for a fee of £2850. Barnsley were in financial difficulties, and the money was welcome to them. Despite their differences, Barson was generous enough to refuse to take his own share of the transfer fee from his old club.

Aston Villa (and England) : the glory years

When the league started again in 1919, the decision to extend the first division to twenty-two teams had made it likely that Barnsley would be automatically promoted from the second division. However, a ballot was instead called and Arsenal went up in their place (the Arsenal chairman later admitting to some underhand dealings but, given the circumstances by which United found themselves still in the top division, I won't make too much of that). The wish to play top-flight football may have figured in Barson's decision to leave Barnsley.

On the other hand, it is said that, strangely for such a self-confident man, Barson initially thought himself not good enough for the Villa, and had to be persuaded by their manager, Ramsay. Eventually, Barson moved to Villa in October 1919, making his debut in a 4-1 win at Middlesbrough.

In their book 'Aston Villa: A Complete Record, 1874-1992', David Goodyear and Tony Matthews say: "Despite several brushes with authority, Frank Barson was a truly great centre half, a fierce tackler and dominant in the air. He became a legend in football, probably serving more suspensions than any other English defender. He revitalised a flagging Villa team. His dynamic personality brought the best out of the players."

Whilst undoubtedly being a huge asset to Villa, he once again fell out with the powers that be at the club, this time over his refusal to re locate to Birmingham, due to business commitments in Sheffield.

This caused him particular problems on one occasion, when he and goalkeeper Sam Hardy, who lived in Chesterfield, were forced to walk seven miles to Old Trafford in bad weather after missing a rail connection. Naturally, in the best Barnsley tradition, Barson was the best player on the pitch that afternoon.

Barson's living arrangements caused further controversy on the opening day of the 1920-21 season, when he and Clem Stephenson missed a defeat at Bolton. Both were suspended by the Villa board for fourteen days for “refusing to play” and given a month to arrange to take up residence in Birmingham. (Times 24.09.20) Barson still refused to move house. Nevertheless, he was appointed Villa captain in succession to Andy Ducat, although there are suggestions that he merely decided he wanted the job and nobody dared argue with him.

He celebrated his appointment as captain by scoring with a header from thirty yards out against Sheffield United, for many years renowned as the longest headed goal ever scored.

On 9 February 1920, Barson was selected for an International Trial, ironically enough playing for “The South” against an England XI at West Brom (The Times, 3.2.20).

He clearly impressed the selectors for in due course, in March, he was selected for England alongside his Aston Villa club half-back colleague, Andy Ducat, a talented sportsman who also played county cricket for Surrey.

In fact, 15 March 1920, when he ran out for England against Wales at Highbury, was to be Barson’s one and only international appearance. In difficult conditions, with the ground cutting up badly after heavy rain, the Welsh won 2-1, the 44 year-old Billy Meredith featuring prominently for Wales. According to The Times, “delay in finishing attacks and uncertainty in defence accounted for England’s defeat”. But this was the first time Wales had beaten England since 1882. Although Barson, along with his fellow half-backs, was said to have “supported the forwards admirably and assisted in frequent attacks”, he never played for England again. (Times, 16/3/20)

Barson also featured prominently in Villa’s fine cup run that season. In the semi-final against Chelsea on 27 March 1920, he had to deal with their star player. “Cock was closely watched by Barson and it soon became apparent that the centre-half had the Chelsea player well under control. This was the first indication that Chelsea might be defeated, as the wing forwards appeared at a loss what to do with the pivot of the line ineffective”. Villa scored five minutes before the interval and never looked like losing after that, going on to win 3-1. (Times, 29.03.20)

On 24 April 1920, the first Cup Final since the end of the war took place at Chelsea’s ground at Stamford Bridge. The change of venue was lamented by The Times as eliminating the “beanfeast” atmosphere of Crystal Palace and its accompanying fairground, and making the game “just like any other cup-tie”. Aston Villa took on Huddersfield Town and won by the only goal of the game, scored in the first period of extra time. (Times 23.4.20)

Probably the most famous story about Frank Barson (apart from the gun legend)concerns this 1920 FA Cup Final. Inevitably, it seems, he was warned about his behaviour by the referee J.T. (Jack) Howcroft – but this time it happened in the dressing room before the match started. "The first wrong move you make, Barson, off you go" he was told.

It was a hard game in those days. Don Davies pointed out that, "Referees who had to handle man and crowds in those days were something more than referees; they were social reformers, purifiers of the public morals".

Howcroft of Bolton was the leading referee of the day and highly demonstrative in everything he did. "The complete master of the grand manner", said Davies. "To men like J.T. Howcroft refereeing was life; unceasingly he studied the part, rehearsed the part, acted the part;.... and one feels sure that he took no share in a game without believing that of twenty-five performers involved (including the linesmen) the greatest of these was Howcroft".

Perhaps Howcroft also had an eye to what might make a good story in the years to come, but in truth he was merely carrying to an extreme one of his cardinal principles, "Dive straight in and get a grip at the start". He repeated the pre-match threat to Barson a couple of years later when officiating another Villa game. Despite this, the two men are said to have always retained a healthy respect for each other.

Opposing crowds hated Barson, so much so that he was forced to defend himself publicly on the grounds that he had been "brought up to play hard and saw nothing wrong with an honest to goodness shoulder charge".

The Times pointed out, “A player like Barson …. is not loved by any but members of his own crowd, but ruthlessly and fearlessly he manages to break up attack after attack” (TT 5.3.21)

The beginning of the end to his time at Villa came following a match against Liverpool. Barson had invited a friend of his to wait in the dressing room while he got changed, and this drew a rebuke from a director. The disciplinarian Rinder became involved in the argument and when Barson refused to apologise, his Villa days were numbered. Even Frank Barson couldn't get the better of Fredrick Rinder. A seven day suspension was the result and Barson, his sense of justice offended, responded with an immediate transfer request.

Manchester United

It is more than possible there was also a financial element underlying this dispute with the club. Villa actually did offer Barson good terms to re-sign at the beginning of the following season, but he simply refused to play for the team again. He turned down offers from several clubs but eventually joined Manchester United in late August 1922. Villa had wanted £6,000 for his signature, then £5,500. United offered £4000 and Villa eventually settled for a reduced fee from United of £5,000, which was still a record fee for a defender.

Clearly, despite the maximum wage, there was also considerable discussion about "personal terms". Apart from anything else, Barson was apparently promised his own pub, so long as United gained promotion within three years. He also received permission from the Old Trafford board to live in Sheffield and to train at Rotherham.

At United, Barson expected special treatment. More precisely, he expected extra money, in an envelope, slipped into his pocket or left on a shelf for him to pick up. “Where’s the doin’s?”, he roared at the trainer before one match, when no package was to be seen. “I’m not taking my bloody coat off till I get it”.

The team he joined in the Second Division was not a typical United side. It had a solid defence, but the forwards were disjointed. As one of the team said, “When we were a goal down we knew we had had it”. Barson developed a fine understanding with his goalkeeper, Alf Steward, who took over from the veteran Jack Mew in 1923, exemplified by the way Barson would frequently head an opposing corner safely back to the keeper from close range. Behind him, Moore and Silcock were a fine pair of full-backs and his half-back partners were accomplished players. But the forwards rarely seemed to click.

Barson’s time at Old Trafford was plagued by injuries, but he was given the captaincy and immediately proved a commanding figure. Within the required three seasons, he led United to promotion back to the First Division. Coming into the last game of the 1924-25 season, United were lying second in Division Two, but could still be overtaken by Derby County. Fittingly for the great defender, it was a 0-0 draw with his old club Barnsley that earned United the necessary point to guarantee promotion. United conceded only 23 goals that season.

Despite the games he missed through injury, Barson was regarded as a hero in Manchester, although he didn't welcome undue flattery. Off the field, he was said to be a mild-mannered, considerate man. The story goes that when Frank opened the door of his new pub he was swamped in the rush and decided then and there that running a pub was not the life for him. In fact, he was so sick of such attention that he immediately gave the business to his head waiter.

The first season back in Division One was successful enough, certainly in terms of attendances. In February 1926, 56,661 saw United beat Sunderland 2-1 (albeit somewhat luckily, since Sunderland had an apparently good goal disallowed). The Manchester Guardian said of Barson, he “was a commanding figure; he held the side together at a critical time, and set the example of bold tackling, well-judged passing and not a little daring that was of incalculable value” (MG 25.02.26). Barson’s form led Arsenal to make enquiries about his availability befoe Christmas.

Sadly, one of his worst games came against City in the FA Cup semi-final, United’s first semi-final since the glorious pre-war days. City won 3-0 and Barson's mistake was responsible for their third goal.

United finished the season 9th. The change in the off-side law cannot have helped a team which had based itself on a resolute defence.

John Chapman, the manager who signed Barson, preceded him out of Old Trafford, "suspended forthwith from all involvement with football" by the FA in October 1926, because of alleged improper conduct whilst acting as the club’s Secretary-Manager. The full details of the charge were never made public, but United had little option but to dispense with their Manager’s services.

Barson’s injury plagued six years at Old Trafford ended after making 140 League appearances and scoring 4 goals for the Red Devils he joined Watford on a free transfer in May 1928

Later Years

Barson's notoriety reached a high in 1928. On September 29 he was sent off for allegedly kicking Temple, the Fulham outside right, while playing for Watford against Fulham. On October 16, the FA issued the statement that “F Barson of Watford is suspended from today from taking part in football until the end of the present season”, a draconian period of some seven months. (Times 17.10.28) Five thousand fans took up his cause by signing a petition, which was delivered to an unsympathetic Football Association by the mayor of Watford. The petition was ceremonially burned in the mayor's presence.

Barson didn't play again for Watford. Exactly a year after leaving Old Trafford he accepted the post of player coach at Hartlepool United. Strangely, within five months (October 1929) he had signed amateur forms for Wigan Borough. He became a professional for the club in July 1930 in what was to be was Borough’s last full season as a Football League club. He was 39 at the time, and at the end of his career, but he appeared 19 times in a Wigan shirt. His last appearance was against Accrington Stanley on Boxing Day 1930, when he got sent off in the 83rd minute for allegedly jumping on an opponent.

Frank was inevitably the club’s highest paid player and in an effort to stabilise the club’s terrible finances he was off loaded to Rhyl Athletic in June 1931. It did Wigan no good. Finances were at rock bottom, and another League ultimatum of pay up or resign couldn't be met. A public appeal seemed to indicate the people of Wigan just didn't want a football team, and on 24 October 1931 Wigan Borough played their last League game at the Racecourse Ground, crashing 5-0 to Wrexham.

And Barson himself never played league football again; one story told in Wigan is that this was because the FA inquiry into his sending off adjourned itself sine die”, stopping him playing until it had reached a decision, which it had no intention of ever doing.

In May 1932 he became the player manager of Rhyl where he remained until his contract was terminated in March 1935. Within three months he re-surfaced as the manager of Stourbridge, but an offer to return to Aston Villa as youth coach in July 1935 meant he gave up the job as soon as a replacement was found. Three months after his appointment as youth coach he became the senior coach and head trainer at Villa Park until the outbreak of the Second World War.

After the war, Barson became the trainer at Swansea Town from June 1947 until February 1954. He finished his career in May 1956 after previously spending almost two seasons as the trainer at Lye Town.

Barson as a Legend

Percy Young, the historian of Manchester United, said of Barton, “To the thoughtless, who do not discriminate between toughness and roughness, he was a rough player. Nor did a dominant personality and an instinct for natural justice endear him to referees. He tackled ruthlessly, but cleanly, and used his weight, but fairly. He had the instinct of a duellist, to whom a contest is a personal issue between two combatants. If Barson was maliciously treated by an opponent he issued due warning of the wrath that was to come. He also frequently advised the referee. Nor was this confined to his own interests, for unfair tactics against a colleague roused him to fury, Thus he inspired admiration for his skill and affection in those who played with him."

In his book Soccer in the Blood, his fellow player Billy Walker (Aston Villa 1919-33) wrote of Barson "Perhaps the greatest of all the great characters in my album - he played with and against me - was the one and only Frank Barson.

"Frank was a Sheffielder, a truly great footballer and personality and a card. He was never ashamed of numbering amongst his friends the notorious Fowler brothers, who were hanged for murder."

The Fowlers were part of the Sheffield gang wars, strong-arm men working on behalf of one of the local bookmakers and other criminals. They were convicted of leading a group who killed a local man, in the culmination of an argument that had started over a barmaid, but then turned into an argument about their reputation.

In fact, the story has it that at the start of the 1925-26 season, when United were at last back in the top division, Frank received a good luck letter from the brothers, who at the time were in the condemned cell at Armley Prison, Leeds. On Wednesday 2 September, Barson scored the opening goal in United’s second game of the season, a 3-0 victory over his old club Villa at Old Trafford. After three years with the club, it was his first goal for United. Over the following two days, on the Thursday and Friday of that same week, first William Fowler and then Lawrence Fowler went to the gallows.

Walker claimed that Barson did more to make him the great footballer he became than did anyone else. However, that didn't stop Frank from behaving in his usual style when they were in opposition. When playing against Manchester United, Walker once laid on a goal and the latest of all late tackles then put him out of action for three weeks. In September 1925, on his first return to Villa Park, Barson unceremoniously dumped his friend Walker onto the cinder track. The United player commiserated with Walker in the dressing-room. “You know I would never hurt a hair on your head, lad,” he said. Certainly, off the field, Barson is always portrayed as a placid sort of man.

It is towards the end of his career that legend suggests Barson attended negotiations for a pay rise at one of his clubs carrying a gun, probably a shotgun, but the story isn’t precise even about which club. Some other sources even suggest this was whilst he was Villa, which would place it much earlier in his career.

There are records of at least 12 suspensions during Barson's career, although these seem to include club-imposed suspensions such as those at Villa.

Frank died in Winson Green, Birmingham on 13th September 1968. There are those who argue that returning to Birmingham to die shows that Barson’s true loyalty always remained with Villa.

In November 2004 Barson’s only tangible trophy, the medal presented to him after he helped Aston Villa win the FA Cup in 1920 was put up for sale at Christie's in London, valued at between £5,000 and £7,000. The 15 carat gold medal FA Cup winners' medal was up for sale again in March 2007, this time was expected to fetch up to £6,000.

Sources :

The Independent, (London), Sep 20, 1997
Wigan website
The Times, various
The Star (South Yorkshire) Mar 10 2007
The Hardest Man in History, Dave Woodhall (website)
Don Davies, An Old International, Jack Cox
Sport and the British, Richard Holt
Manchester United, Percy Young

Anxious Listeners in Manchester : Episode Nine *

It was almost predictable. The only thing that didn't happen was our getting caught on the break by a muggins goal.

Coppell decided to use man-markers, certainly on our forwards and to some extent all over the pitch. But this sort of thing really shouldn't surprise us; one version or another of a massed defence is something we have been used to for years.

Of course, the loss of Rooney is much more serious than the loss of two points. He had had a decent summer rest for once and was looking in prime condition. He was injured in a nothing clash with Duberry, when he just managed to get in front of him, falling a bit awkwardly as he stretched. I am still convinced the number of foot injuries must be related to the boots one way or another.

He hobbled around until half-time, which could have been a mistake in itself, but that was it. It was later confirmed he had suffered a hairline fracture of his left foot : cue much reference to "the England striker" and the Euro 2008 qualifiers in September.

SAF bemoaned his loss as the reason we didn't finish it in the second half, which is probably true but hardly the point. We should be able to break down this sort of defence - we are going to get enough practice; we shouldn't need to be bringing on O'Shea as a striker. Mutter mutter.

Even though we appeared more threatening after half-time, it was largely illusory. Most of the attempts were from longish range, and born partly of desperation.

Kitson came on for Doyle towards the end, only to be sent off within a minute of his introduction for clattering Paddy into touch. It was an overdose of adrenalin from time on the bench and red hair, more than malice, but Rob Styles is rarely charitable in those situations.

And why have Sky decided to put the score and time-clock in the bottom corner of the screen, rather than the top?

United 0 Reading 0


Manchester United: Van der Sar; Brown (Fletcher, 78), Vidic, Ferdinand, Silvestre (O’Shea, 57); Carrick, Scholes, Evra; Ronaldo, Rooney (Nani, 46), Giggs.

Substitutes not used: Kuszczak, Pique.

Booked : None

Red shirts, white shorts, black stockings.

Reading: Hahnemann; Murty, Gunnarsson, Duberry, Shorey; Hunt (Bikey, 87), Harper, Ingimarsson, De la Cruz; Seol (Oster, 57), Doyle (Kitson, 72).

Substitutes not used: Federici, Cisse.

Sent Off: Kitson (73).

Booked: Ki-Hyeon, Oster.

Attendance: 75,655 Referee : Rob Styles

Roy of the Rovers

I think the point at which I became disillusioned with Roy of the Rovers can be pinned down quite easily. It was in 1973 that Melchester Rovers changed from their traditional strip (red jersey with yellow sleeves and trim, blue shorts, red and yellow socks) to some "modern" red and yellow concoction.

It was also the year that Ben Galloway was pushed upstairs to become "general manager" (a device that I am convinced was based on Matt Busby's transformation, but which was rather more successdul).

I'm afraid it was never really the same again.

George Livingstone : Both Ends of All the Roads

A remarkable character, George Livingstone not only played for both Manchester City and Manchester United but, like Peter Beardsley and John Gidman, he was also on the books of both Everton and Liverpool. However, Livingstone capped this by also playing for both Glasgow Rangers and for Celtic.

George Turner Livingstone

Born : 5 May 1876
Birthplace: Dumbarton, Scotland
Height: 5' 10"
Weight: 11st 6lbs / 12 st

Dumbarton-born Livingstone started out with local sides Sinclair Swifts and Artizan Thistle before joining Parkhead FC. Over his career, he proved to be an adaptable player, at home as an inside-forward on either side of the field and also at right-half. From Parkhead he moved on to Dumbarton in 1895 and then to Hearts the following year.

He played for Hearts for four seasons, making 23 starts in all in competitive games (19 in the league and 4 in the Scottish Cup). His goal scoring seems to have been fairly prolific, with 28 goals in competitive games and a fair few more in friendlies, including four goals in one game, a 6-2 victory over Leith Athletic. In a public practice match, playing at centre-forward, at the beginning of his first season, he was singled out by the Edinburgh Athletic Times as the best player on the field. At the end of that season, Hearts were champions, but with only three league appearances, there was no medal for Livingstone. In 1898-99, he made more appearances, but Hearts were only runners-up, to a Rangers team that didn't drop a point all season. In April 1900, Livingstone played his last game for Hearts.

From Hearts he "crossed the Border" to Everton, but he didn't feature in the first team there, and it is possible he was only there on loan or trial. Certainly, it seems Hearts received a fee of £175 when he moved on to become a regular at Sunderland as they rebuilt the “Team of All the Talents” which had won the championship three times in the club's first decade. Prior to the start of the 1900-01 season, players such as Jimmy Millar and Livingstone (described as an "excellent acquisition" at the club's AGM) were bought to spice up the attack, along with defender Jim Watson, who would help the team only concede 26 goals in 34 league games. But if Roker Park was a fortress, the team were not as good on their travels and drew a lot of games. A home defeat against Liverpool in the run in ultimately cost Sunderland the title and they finished 2nd despite beating Newcastle 2-0 on the final day of the season. Livingstone was their top scorer with 11 league goals.

After that solitary season, Livingstone moved on to Celtic in 1901, where he played in the losing Scottish Cup Final side of 1902 before being transferred to Liverpool a week later on 30 May 1902.

He scored on his debut for Liverpool on the opening day of the season, 6 September 1902, in a 5-2 win against Blackburn Rovers. However, he only stayed at Anfield for the one season, playing 32 times and scoring three more goals. He also played in one cup match, a first round defeat at Manchester United in February 1903. George was said to have been a joker in the dressing room, but it isn’t clear if this had anything to do with the speed with which he changed from club to club (three clubs in three seasons at this point). At the end of the season, he moved to Manchester City, where he first linked up with the "Welsh Wizard", Billy Meredith.

Around the time he arrived at City the Athletic News said of him, “George Livingstone disdains style. He is all utility and a resolute thrusting forward who not only creates openings for Meredith but opens out the game by playing passes to the other wing …. He makes himself the hub of the game when he is on the ball.”

A report from the Bolton Evening News, Monday November 10, 1903, shows that press interest in football players’ off the field activities is not an entirely modern phenomenon. “Sam Frost, George Livingstone and John M'Mahon, three members of the Manchester City football team, were each fined five shillings and costs at the Manchester City Police Court this morning for behaving in a disorderly manner in Oxford Road last night. The evidence of police constables was to the effect that defendants were shouting and jostling passers-by. Frost explained to the Magistrates that it was "only a bit of fun." The Chairman, Mr W. J. Crossley, pointed out that it was at the expense of the public.”

In 1904, the City team reached their first FA Cup final, against Bolton Wanderers, at Crystal Palace.

The 1904 Cup Final

Saturday April 23rd 1904 dawned with a downpour and the prospects for a traditional sunny day for the final looked bleak but by the time the bulk of the fans arrived to do the early morning tours of London, the sun had burst through for an excellent spring day. The crowd was thought to be disappointing as fans found the cost of travel to London from the North West too much, but it’s estimated that 16.000 arrived by football specials during the night and eventually 61,000 did make the journey. It was a novelty for the two teams , as Bolton’s only previous final was held in Liverpool while Manchester City had never been beyond round two prior to this famous run. The players were also new to the occasion as, for the first time since the first ever final, none of the twenty-two players had previously played in the showpiece event of the season.

There was heartbreak for Bolton’s left half Boyd who failed a fitness test and was ruled out but things were even more dramatic in the Manchester dressing room where Doc Holmes threw a tantrum on being told that his place in the team was going to the amateur Sam Ashworth. Holmes threw his boots through a window.

Teams

Manchester City : Jack Hillman; John Mcmahon, Herbert Burgess; Sammy Frost, Tom Hynds, Sam Ashworth; Billy Meredith (Captain), George Livingstone, Billy Gillespie, Sandy Turnbull, Frank Booth

Bolton Wanderers : D Davies; W Brown, R Struthers; Robert Clifford, S Greenhalgh, A Freebairn; D Stokes, Sam Marsh, W Yenson, W White. R Taylor

The teams came out with City wearing royal blue as opposed to their customary sky blue to avoid a clash with Bolton’s white shirts in the sunshine.

Among the dignitaries in the stands were Prime Minister Balfour (an early patron of City in their Ardwick days), his colonial secretary the Honourable Alfred Lyttleton, himself a cup finalist in 1876, and the famous cricketer W G Grace, accompanied by his England colleagues, CB Fry, Rhodes and Jessop. Harry Lauder and George Robey represented the world of entertainment.

The winning (and only) goal of the game from Meredith was included in the PFA 100 goals to celebrate their centary (No.42) and described thus : "In keeping with much of the rest of his career, Meredith's goal that saw the Cup arrive in Manchester for the Cotton city's first major success was a controversial one and was argued about in Bolton for years afterwards. It was also rather eerily prefigured in a railway poster advertising trips to the capital to see the match. At the end of 20 minutes, George Livingstone, the City inside left, sent a long swinging pass out to the right where Meredith was lurking. There was a pause, as Bolton appeared to think the Welsh Wizard was offside but Meredith wasn't waiting to find out. A report of the day described the score thus 'Full back Struthers was left and Meredith forged ahead and scored practically without opposition. With only keeper Davis to beat, the deed was done quietly but effectively.' "

Billy Meredith duly collected the cup from the Colonial Secretary.

Later, Meredith was quite clear, “What was the secret of success of the Manchester City team? In my opinion the fact that the club put aside the rule that no player should receive more than £4 a week. From 1902 I had been paid £6 a week and Livingstone was paid ten shillings more than that in wages.” So Livingstone must have been some player, to be worth ten shillings more than the great Billy Meredith.

Later career

Livingstone was with City for over three seasons - a long time for him - before signing for Rangers in January 1907, in the great sell-off of the City team which followed their financial scandals. At the same time, of course, Meredith crossed town, together with Bannister and Turnbull, to play their parts in the first, great United team.

After two years at Ibrox, in January 1909, it was on to Manchester United for Livingstone as well, to rejoin Meredith and his other ex-City team-mates, and it was here he spent the remainder of his playing career.

His debut for United came on 23 January 1909 at Bank Street against his old club City, when Livingstone scored twice in United’s 3-1 victory. He played 11 league games, that season, scoring one more goal, and in two cup games. After that first season, most of Livingstone’s appearances were at half-back, rather than inside forward, which may partly account for the scarcity of goals.

The following season he played 16 league matches, without scoring. In the United championship season of 1910-11, Livingstone played 10 league games, again without a goal. These days, that would qualify him for a medal, but it wasn’t the case then and after that season, his appearances for United were no more than occasional.

In 1911-12, he played only once; in 1912-13, he played 2 games, scoring his last United goal against West Brom; in his final season 1913-14, he played 3 league matches and one in the cup, retiring in 1914 shortly before his 38th birthday. In all, he played 46 games for United, scoring the 4 goals.

Perhaps, George was unlucky, given the teams he played for, not to have accumulated more medals. Hearts won the title in 1896-97 and United won the League in 1910-11 but it seems he didn't play enough games to qualify for a medal in either season. And oddly enough the Old Firm teams won nothing during George's time with them.

His solitary FA Cup winner's medal with City seems scant reward for a player who served with the giants of Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester as well as with Hearts and Sunderland, when those clubs were successful.

George made his Scotland debut in the ill-fated game against England on 5 April 1902, whilst he was still at Celtic. This was the first Ibrox disaster when 26 spectators lost their lives after a part of the wooden terracing collapsed. Although, following a delay of 18 minutes, the match was restarted and played to a conclusion (a 1-1 draw), both football associations later declared it unofficial. For the latter part of the game, several of the players were clearly upset and, on occasion, impeded by the closeness of the crowd, The match for the British Championship was replayed later in the year.

So, for years George Livingstone's "international debut" was ignored and not shown in any official records. However, in 2000, following a debate with the recently-formed International Federation of Football History and Statistics, FIFA decided to acknowledge the official international status of the match, 98 years after it was played.

The IFFHS stated: "If a full international - for whatever reasons - was interrupted it will be registered as an official full international. No national football association [has] the right to liquidate such full internationals (category 'A') and to consider [them] as non-existent.... Under these circumstances the match of April 5th, 1902 between Scotland and England is registered as an official full international."

It is unclear, however, whether any other historical body, or either football association has followed that lead.

Livingstone was also unfortunate to receive just two official caps for Scotland - against England in 1906 (on 7 April Scotland won 2-1 at Hampden ) whilst he was playing for City, and against Wales the following year (4 March 07 , when Wales won 1-0) after he had moved to Rangers.

After retiring from playing, George set up a plumbing and gas-fitting business but he didn't sever his connections with the game. Following a brief spell as Dumbarton manager at the end of World War One he took up the Trainer's role with Rangers from 1920-27 then performed a similar task at Bradford City 1928-35.

George Livingstone died in January 1950, aged 73.

Sources :

Football Wizard, The Story of Billy Meredith, John Harding
red11.com
londonhearts.com
scottishleague.net
lfchistory.net
englandfootballonline.com

A Murderer out on Bail

Neil Warnock has always had a way with words. "I felt really let down," Warnock apparently writes in his new book. "I've so much time for Sir Alex but he had said he'd play his best side against West Ham. And this was nowhere near his best side. And then Carlos Tevez, football's equivalent of a murderer out on bail, had scored the goal that kept West Ham up and put us down. So much for the integrity of the Premier League. So much for fairness and justice in English football."

Ghost written, no doubt, but that phrase "football's equivalent of a murderer out on bail" shines through as pure Warnock. And certainly Tevez, like Maradona, does look as if he could easily have turned out as a hitman for some drug cartel, if he hadn't had a talent for football.

Warnock's conversation with SAF the day Sheffield United went down is reported thus, "He [Ferguson] said he was sorry about what had happened at Old Trafford. 'We battered them, Neil,' he said. 'We had 25 shots. And the stats would back me up on that. The team was good enough to win'," Warnock writes. "'I know, Alex,' I said. 'It's just the psychological boost the other team gets when they see all those names not on your team sheet.' 'I can't tell you how sorry I am,' he said. He was quoted the next day saying everything was all right between us. But it's still difficult for me to digest what happened."

It is now clear that West Ham cleared Tevez for those last three games by this unilateral tearing up of contracts. The Premier League has said they offered West Ham various options for dealing with the situation, but that is the only option that freed the player for immediate appearances. And as part of the deal, West Ham were obliged to promise to defend their position if challenged legally, hence the current Court case. In due course, I fully expect the West Ham position to be proved untenable (although I'm intrigued by these current allegations of forgery they're making). When it is proved that West Ham couldn't unilaterally tear up the contract, it will presumably establish that Tevez shouldn't have been free to play the games. But by fighting the Court battle, they will presumably be held to have demonstrated "good faith" and will be let off. If good faith has to involve going to the Appeal Court if they lose the first time around, then we will certainly not see our new murderer until the New Year, at best. Unless, of course, the Court holds that he is a free agent, and not registered with any club, in which case I believe we are allowed to sign him outside any "window", because it wouldn't be a transfer.

Or, to adapt The Godfather, a man with a briefcase can steal much more money than a man with a football.

Source : The Guardian, Wednesday August 1, 2007