Former EADT and Ipswich Star sports editor Tony Garnett reported on Ipswich Town for more than 40 years, from the 1960s until he retired in 2007. In the latest of a new series, he shares some of his memories from his time covering the Blues.
Alf Ramsey was a Dagenham boy who reckoned that his career would be helped by discarding his East End accent. It was a sensible decision which may have helped him secure the England job.
Alf always denied that he had elocution lessons. I think he improved his accent by listening to the Ipswich directors. Football journalist Brian Glanville described Alf’s accent as "sergeant-major posh".
There were problems though. He was by no means word perfect. No-one, certainly not the Ipswich directors, were prepared to put him right when he repeatedly spoke of “customs and exercises” when arranging the end of season trip to the Continent in 1962 after winning the championship.
The first match was against Alemannia Aachen. No telephone arrangements had been made and I knew no German. It presented me with an interesting challenge as to how to phone my report back to the East Anglian Daily Times. I watched the match from behind one of the goals.
Luckily it was an afternoon kick-off so time was on my side. I used a public phone box in a cafe near the ground, having enough German coins to get the East Anglian Daily Times to ring me back.
The next stop was Hamburg. Tour organiser Gunther Bachmann had booked the Town party into a hotel a stone’s throw from the notorious Reeperbahn. The hotel, one imagines, allowed rooms to be booked by the hour. John Cobbold thought it was hilarious. Ramsey did not.
I joined in training before the match at Holstein Kiel which gave me the chance to settle a wager. I had bragged for months that I could beat Roy Bailey three times in succession from the penalty spot. Now I was ready to be put to the test.
I won my money. Reserve goalkeeper Wilf Hall said: “I bet you can’t beat me three times.” Why I took him on I cannot imagine. I was not psyched up for this second challenge. My first spot kick cleared the bar. Hall picked up my winnings. We watched matches at Hamburg and St Pauli.
-----
Ipswich Town’s first taste of European Cup football was against Floriana in Malta in 1962. We stayed in the famous Phoenicia Hotel in Valletta. The facilities at the Floriana ground were basic. The pitch had been re-laid with sand and lime. There were sharp stones and rusty nails on the surface. Sliding tackles were dangerous. I brought home samples of items I picked up for photographic evidence.
Floriana were the stars of Malta but they were no match for Ipswich. The trip was the first time I had met such respected writers as Geoffrey Green of The Times, Laurie Pignon of the Daily Mail and Bernard Joy of the Evening Standard. Joy was England captain in the 1936 Olympics, won the FA Amateur Cup with Casuals and later played for Arsenal. How charming and helpful they all turned out to be to a young reporter on his first European assignment.
My next European adventure was in Milan. Shortly before the visit to the San Siro I broke bones in my ankle playing Sunday League football.
Referee Gordon Blake, later a top official with the Suffolk FA, thought I was acting. When I took my boot off my ankle swelled up. I assumed it was just a bruise. I was wrong but it took me three days to find out.
The next day I drove my father, who was suffering from cancer, to Manchester to see the family accountants whom he wanted me to meet. There was no way I could put my foot on the ground. I stayed in the car.
This model of Sunbeam Talbot had the dip-switch on the floor. I drove home without full beam. The doctor confirmed that I had multiple broken bones and was put in a plaster up to my thigh and given crutches. That was how I flew to Milan.
It was a big challenge to make my way to the Italian newspaper offices to secure prints of the match for use both in the EADT and the Ipswich Town club programme.
Ipswich, with no experience of the underhand Italian tactics being used in those days, were well beaten. Milan went on to win the trophy with stars like Cesare Maldini, Dino Sani, “golden boy” Gianni Rivera and Giovanni Trapattoni, who was later to manage the Republic of Ireland. Crack marksman Altafini was a Brazilian who scored 14 goals in Europe that season, a figure matched by Ipswich’s John Wark in 1981.
-----
Rivalry between Ipswich Town and Norwich City has always been intense but I have always enjoyed my trips to Carrow Road.
The first was to cover the FA Cup sixth round replay between the Canaries and Sheffield United. I was deputising for George Lockett, second in command at the East Anglian Daily Times, who covered the draw at Bramall Lane when goalkeeper Ken Nethercott dislocated his shoulder.
I drove up the A140 on my Vespa motor scooter. The press box was crammed. My allocated seat was next to Sam Leitch of the Daily Herald. He later became head of football at the BBC. He was a big fellow who occupied half my seat as well as his own. With my arms almost pinned to my side and only a few inches of desk to write on it was a testing baptism to covering professional football for a morning paper.
I had been promised the use of a phone at the end. There were more reporters than available phones so I had to fight my corner with the boys from Fleet Street. It was fortunate that EADT deadlines were late.
It was a heady time for the Canaries who won 3-2 against Sheffield United and went on to meet Luton Town in the semi-final. After drawing 1-1 at White Hart Lane, they lost 1-0 at St Andrews. It was during that cup run that a victory over Manchester United in the third round led to the inspired Pink’Un heading “Bly Bly Babes” after Terry Bly scored twice.
I came across several of the Norwich players of that era in later years either on the cricket field or at greyhound tracks.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here