Some nostalgia for you. In the 1955/56 season Foxes beat us 6-1 at Filbert Street with Dai Thomas our RB getting a very rare goal for us. But in the return fixture at the Vetch, March 24 1956 in front of a 16,920 crowd, we exacted revenge by the exact same score of 6-1. Terry Medwin scored 3, Harry Griffiths 2 and Lenny Allchurch, And I was there!! (God I feel old!!!
). It was a miserable, cold day and a fine misty rain soaked everyone on the terraces. I was stood shivering and wet on the railway sleepers behind the goal on the open East terrace as it was in those days. I can't remember much about the game but I do remember feeling really chuffed that we'd stuffed them by the same score they'd put on us at their place.
That season Medwin top scored (League goals only) with 18, Harry Griffiths 16, Ivor 15 and Cliffy Jones 11 and the rest got 20 between them. For those who remember Harry as a Left Back #3 in the old WM formation used in those days, prior to that he played at Inside Right #8 and scored many goals. Of course he was a long-serving legend at the club and went on to manage us, very successfully, in the old 4th Division. He started us on our 'glory run' to the First Division before handing the reins to John Toshack who always credited Harry with laying the foundations for our run to the top.
I was absolutely gutted when I heard of his early death and recalled the last time we had spoken together. Ponty were playing a pre-season friendly against Morriston at The Dingle (what a cow patch that was!!!) and I was a sub standing on the touchline. Harry came over for a chat and, when we were talking, Ivor performed a piece of absolute magic before scoring a goal that would have graced any stadium in the world. Harry turned to me with a broad grin on his face and remarked, "Old Golden Bollocks still got it hasn't he!" Hell of a character was Harry.
When Harry dropped back into defence to see out his playing career, Mel Charles (brother of John) often moved up from his usual #4 position at Right Half to play at #8. What a forward line that was!! Money couldn't buy it in today's game and that's a fact!! The Fabulous Five were:
RW 7: Lenny Allchurch IR 8: Mel Charles CF 9: Terry Medwin IL 10: Ivor OL 11: Cliffy Jones
To give this some perspective, Medwin couldn't displace Lenny at RW yet he was good enough to play there for First Division Spurs who won the double a few years later. Mel went to Arsenal for the second highest British transfer fee. Lenny went to First Division Sheffield United and Cliffy also went to Spurs for a British record transfer fee and became a legend there. Real Madrid, THE glamour team of the day having won the first five European Cups with the likes of legendary players Ferenc Puskas, Alfredo Di Stefano and Francisco Gento, bust a gut to sign Cliffy to replace Gento. Cliffy then was regarded as the best winger in the world and scored some 170+ goals for Spurs playing out wide!! Ivor we all know about.
Looking at today's transfer fees and the amounts some quite decent but average players are fetching, I would argue that, in the
current market, the forward line listed above would fetch well over £400 million pounds, maybe approaching a HALF BILLION QUID. Jimmy Greaves touches on the subject in one of his books when he said that, if Swansea had held on to all the players they produced, they would have been one of the TOP teams in the country instead of being a perennial lower league team. That forward line above were all
local lads and many more would follow them.
Okay, reminiscing now over and on to Saturday's game against Foxes - a draw against one of the best teams in the Division would be a decent result but, if we beat them, then that for me would be proof positive of our resurgence. It's a tough ask but let's see if we can continue our momentum.
