I don't enjoy watching football as much these days as I did in the past. Often I avoid watching Premier League games altogether, with their hordes of over-paid players, some of whom are not of the highest standard, their tantrums, their cheating [diving] and all their off-filed antics. All too many of them are concerned most about their pay-cheques and the next Ferrari than giving their best for their team. It is hardly surprising when many of them are playing a long way from home and have little local loyalty.
These days we hear many stories of people in the public eye declaring their loyal support for this, that or the other football team. Almost always they are premier league clubs and the alleged supporter is merely trying to garner support for themselves and to burnish their own image in the eyes of Joe Public. I think it was Danny Baker who said that you did not choose the football team that you would support; you were born together. I have always supported Bolton Wanderers — through thick and thin — and there has been lots of thin in recent years — they have been my team. I would no more think of supporting Arsenal or Tottenham Hotspur than I would Barcelona of Bayern Munich. The arts guru, writer and TV man of the South Bank Show, Melyn Bragg, told us once that he supported one of the London clubs — I forget which one — when, having been born in or near Cockermouth, his team should have been Carlisle United; a considerably less glamorous team, currently languishing in the bottom half of League One. There have been times when Carlisle has been on the edge of falling from the football league and it's then that they need their supporters cheering them on — not migrating to some remote club in London. But what is the great difference between a rich London club and Carlisle United? The answer is money. If a Russian oligarch or an Arab sheik were to buy Carlisle United and chuck money at the ground and the buying of a manager and players, they could become a Premier League side but they would lose their heart.
It didn't used to be like this. Money has polluted the game on a massive scale. Many great players from the past earned sod-all money and often played as part-timers. That was an under-estimate of the true value of the players but now £¼ million per week?? That is nonsense. I stopped going to football grounds many years ago when the behaviour of crowds deteriorated to the point where attending matches could be a threat to life and limb. And I didn't want to listen loud-mouthed. mindless thugs screaming obscenities non-stop throughout the game. Before that crowds of home and away supporters could mix with no risk of fights breaking out.
It was in that era that Tom Finney — who died yesterday, aged 91 — thrived. Tom Finney signed on at Preston North End as a teenager and never played for any other club. Many others did the same. Nat Lofthouse only ever played for Bolton Wanderers. Even Stanley Matthews — who probably had the longest playing career of any player in the UK — only played for two clubs — Stoke City and Blackpool — apart from a short time at Port Vale when he was near fifty years old. Great player that Stanley Matthews was, I think that Tom Finney had the edge. He was probably the greatest footballer that I ever saw play in the flesh. I am by no means the only person who thought so highly of his abilities as a player. Bill Shankly — and who would argue with him — once said that "Tom Finney would have been great in any team, in any match, in any age .... even if he had been wearing an overcoat." Praise indeed. And Stanley Matthews said of him "To dictate the pace and course of a game a player has to be blessed with awesome qualities. Those who have accomplished it on a regular basis can be counted on the fingers of one hand — Pele, Best, di Stefano and Tom Finney."
Tom Finney played in an era that has become known as the golden era for British football. A time for players like Matthews, Lofthouse, Billy Wright, Len Shackleton, et al. At Bolton I remember Malcolm "Matt" Barrass who played there for 12 years from 1944 to 1956 — he died in August 2013, making Tom Finney the oldest surviving former England player; Willie Moir, who also played at Bolton for ten years — he was captain of the ill-fated team that lost to Blackpool at Wembley in the 1953 FA Cup Final, giving Stanley Matthews his only cup winners medal. Stan Hanson was Bolton's goalkeeper on that occasion; he never played for any other club but Bolton and he carried on until he was 40, when he became a coach and manager of a post office near Burnden Park. Tom Finney's Preston North End was never quite good enough to take the top prizes and in his era they never won either the league cup of teh FA Cup. They were runners up more than once. Throughout his playing career Tom Finney never gave up his trade as a plumber and he carried on the business after his football career ended.
For a time, one of Tom Finney's team mates at Preston was Tommy Docherty. He told a story on a chat show of what used to happen to players during the summer months when no-one played football — in those days. Clubs would pay players that they wished to retain for the next season, a retainer, and it was up to each player to negotiate this payment with the manager at the end of every season. On one occasion Tom Finney went in to see the manager and when he came out, he was asked by Docherty what sum he had negotiated. "£15 per week," he was told. When it came for Docherty to see the manager, he went into the boss's office and was offered £12 10s [£12.50] per week. "But you offered Finney £15 per week," he protested. "Ah," said the manager, "Finney is a better player than you." "Not in the summer he's not," retorted Docherty. But he still only got £12 10s.
Tom Finney was a great player, a lovely man; a gentleman who was liked by friend and foe alike. He became President of Preston in 1976 and supported them to the end. He could, of course, have transferred his support to some more glamorous club. But Tom Finney was too good for that. He was one of the all-time greats.
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