Category: Brian Greenhalgh

These I have loved

1/19/2019

It’s a daunting task but a hugely rewarding one: since Andrew Bennett died last February, Coconutters have been wading through the vast amount of stuff he left us.

Words are not adequate to convey the size of our beloved club historian’s archive of writings, stats, reports, photographs … you name it, Andrew saved it.

It will take many a year to explore, sort, catalogue and communicate the contents of the entire hoard of treasure. The best we can do at the moment is to nibble away at the edges of the digital pile.

As we do so, we regularly unearth priceless examples of Bennettiana, and we’re happy to bring one to your attention today.

Around 2010, Andrew described his favourite U’s players from the 40-odd years that he’d been making his regular pilgrimages to the Abbey. He wrote:

My name is Andrew Bennett, I am 51 years of age and for the last 35 of those years I have been a resident of the village of Histon. I first nagged my Dad into taking me to the Abbey Stadium on 13 April 1970, for a 3-0 win over Gloucester City. It is well-nigh impossible to pick out just five players who have sported the black and amber over the last 40-plus years, but here goes …

Brian Greenhalgh. Peter Leggett was my very first U’s hero, due to his resemblance to my all-time footballing idol, George Best. But Greenhalgh stood out as something special: a graceful, flaxen-haired goal machine whose United career climaxed in the unforgettable 3-2 win over Mansfield on the last day of the 1972/73 season that clinched promotion to Division Three.

I can still hear the chants of ‘Greeeeen-halgh! Greeeeen-halgh!’ echoing around the old place as the crowd celebrated on the pitch with the players, then chairing them off. For a 13-year-old, four-eyed geek, life did not get any better than this. I never got to touch the hem of the great man’s garment, though.

Steve Fallon. It is my theory that as far as favourite players go, we eventually gravitate towards one with whom we identify most readily. Once I realised that I would never be another Best, or even another Leggett, I grew to admire a man with different qualities: consistency, stoicism, reliability, strength, loyalty, courage.

Just occasionally, very occasionally, Fallon would produce something quite extraordinary, a 25-yard wonder goal such as he scored against Grimsby on a sunny afternoon in May 1981.

He was there throughout the great days of the late 1970s/early 1980s, and he was one of the few who stayed when it all turned sour later on; if injury had not curtailed his career, he’d probably still be playing for us now.

Steve Claridge. You only have to look at certain players for their personality to all but jump off the pitch and rugby-tackle you to the ground. Claridge was a rebel: scruffy, insolent, a shambling maverick with rolled-down socks in a marvellous team that John Beck did his best to turn into dead-eyed robots, but did not quite succeed.

But what I liked most about him was his absolute joy when he scored a goal – an infectious, unbridled expression of the sheer fun of football at its best that he shared with us, lighting up the whole stadium.

He even came back after leaving us once, before going on to the even greater fame and fortune he deserved. Then he shared it all with us in a cracking autobiography.

Dave Kitson. As a ‘ginger’ myself, I always tried to look on myself as one of the chosen few, someone special who stood out from the crowd despite all evidence to the contrary. Then came Kits, the coolest man in town, an intelligent, articulate, supremely gifted footballer who managed to be simultaneously United’s best striker, midfielder, defender and passer of the ball whenever he played, and came across as even more Fonz-like off the pitch.

The most talented player I have ever seen in a United shirt, he was sold from under our noses by an incompetent board and he should have played for England. I still harbour a faint hope that he will.

Robbie Simpson. My most self-indulgent pick, I suppose. I have never wanted to talk to or get to know United players, for fear that they would turn out to be the self-obsessed, dim-witted, objectionable ninnies that so many higher level players really are. But when I presented Robbie with his player of the season trophy in 2007, he not only knew who I was but told me he loved my match reports and always got his dad to print them off for him.

He had had a great season, saving us almost single-handedly from relegation to the Conference South with goals of grace, skill and power, including a dramatic late

winner at Aldershot, and to discover that he was a humble, well-spoken, thoroughly nice guy as well made it all the more bittersweet that he had to leave us so soon. But then, don’t they all …

Honourable mentions: Dion Dublin, David Crown, Ian Measham, Wayne Hatswell, Martin Butler, Lionel Perez, Tom Finney, Alan Biley, Willie Watson.

Cheerio
Harry

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Corona moments

10/2/2018

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An edited version of this article appeared in the Cambridge United match day programme for the game against Forest Green Rovers on 2 October 2018.

When you glug a Corona nowadays, you’re drinking a disappointingly thin lager brewed in Mexico. There may be a chunk of lemon or lime wedged in the neck of the bottle, presumably to make it taste of something.

But to those of us who grew up before the drinks industry went daft, Corona means something very different.

Corona was the pop that came in bottles delivered by the Corona man in his big yellow lorry: lemonade, limeade, cherryade and loads of other flavours including my favourite, dandelion and burdock.

There were Corona depots all over the country and one of them was in front of the Abbey, on the site now occupied by the car hire people. That’s why all right-thinking people call that end of the ground the Corona End.

And that’s also why the next volume of the late, great Andrew Bennett’s history of our club, Celery & Coconuts, is called Champagne & Corona.

If you want to know where the ‘Champagne’ bit comes from, you’ll just have to buy a copy of the book, and I can help you out with that.

The Coconuts mob are taking pre-orders for the book, which will be out in plenty of time for Christmas. To reserve your copy, head, with credit card handy, to the CFU online store at cambridgefansunited.org/store, or to CFU's Caravan of Love in the front car park on a match day .

I’ve been allowed a glimpse and, I tell you what, Champagne & Corona is up to Andrew’s usual brilliant standard. It tells the story of the 1970s: an amazing decade that saw the U’s embark on their Football League adventure and climb all the way up to what is today called the Championship – the old Second Division.

They were (mostly) fantastic days, when we could feast on the skills of blokes like Brendon Batson, Steve Spriggs, Tom Finney, Dave Stringer, Willy Watson, Steve Fallon, Alan Biley and Brian Greenhalgh.

Brian Greenhalgh (left in amber) and Dave Lill during a 2-0 Third Division win at Rochdale on 5 February 1974

Brian and his striking pal Dave Lill feature on the front cover of Champagne & Corona. Dave is watching Brian tussle with the Rochdale defence at Spotland, during a 2-0 win for the U’s. You can understand and forgive the Dale player's pained expression, although not his hairstyle.

As you can tell from the sparsely populated terrace visible in the background, Dave was one of very few people who witnessed that event.

The Third Division fixture, on 5 February 1974, attracted the grand total of 588 spectators – a record low League attendance for both clubs. Champagne & Corona reveals the main reason for the tiny crowd: the Three-Day Week.

History lesson for those who weren’t around: in early 1974, beset by industrial action, a global oil crisis, cripplingly high inflation and general discontent, the Tory government introduced measures to conserve electricity consumption. One of these was the Three-Day Week, which limited businesses’ use of electricity to three consecutive days in every seven.

Rochdale weren’t allowed to use their floodlights, and United travelled to Lancashire on a Tuesday morning in order to play in the afternoon.

So it was that fewer than 600 people were able to turn up and watch. ‘The atmosphere was absolutely shocking,’ observed United manager Bill Leivers.

Andrew’s typically entertaining account of United’s place in the history of industrial relations is just one of many delights to be found within the covers of Champagne & Corona. Please order your copy now so that Coconuts can afford to pay the printer's bill.

Cheerio
Harry

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Days in the sun

6/1/2017

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This article first appeared in the 24-30 May 2017 issue of the Cambridge Independent.

While some English footballers are currently seeking new employers or poring over contract offers, others are in a more relaxed state of mind. Those Cambridge United players whose futures at Newmarket Road are secure – at least for another season – may well be dreaming of a faraway beach, or perhaps getting down to a little light DIY. They won’t be pulling on the amber and black for a while.

Twice in United’s history, however, the season has extended well beyond the usual mid-May finish and taken the players on punishing overseas tours that must have had them yearning for their deckchairs. On both occasions, those players had already endured long, hard seasons – and been rewarded with unprecedented success.

By the end of May 1970, the U’s had fulfilled more than 80 competitive fixtures, had secured the Southern League title for the second year running and were waiting to hear if the 92 Football League clubs would vote to admit them to the game’s elite. The all-important meeting was a day away when the squad set out for West Germany, to take part in a summer tournament.

The news of United’s election to the League, when it reached North Rhine-Westphalia, inspired the players to win all of their three group matches inside five searingly hot days. Bonner SC, captained by former Uruguay skipper Horacio Troche, were beaten 2-1, then Wesseling District were despatched 3-0 by a U’s side putting on a show: goalkeeper Rodney Slack played up front and winger John McKinven delighted the crowd when he flicked the ball up, caught it on the back of his neck and ran past a defender.

United then beat DJK Gütersloh 4-3 after falling behind three times, before, exhausted by the schedule and the heat, losing 2-1 in the final to Bayer 04 Leverkusen of German football’s second tier. Jubilant crowds awaited them on their return to Cambridge.

Cambridge United first-team squad 1972/73.

Three years later, United had just won promotion to League Division Three, thanks to a breathless 3-2 win over Mansfield at an overflowing Abbey Stadium, when they flew to Cyprus for a tournament organised by ASIL FC. One man who didn’t join them was manager Bill Leivers, who was enjoying a family holiday in the Spanish sun. Under the wing of trainer John Simpson, and in stifling heat, the U’s played three European teams in the space of four days.

First time out they lost 3-0 to Praionia of Romania but made a great start to their second game, against Brno-Moretz: Graham Smith became the only U’s goalkeeper to score a first-team goal when his monster clearance bounced off the rock-hard pitch and past the keeper to give his side the lead. The final score was 3-3.

The following day, the tiring U’s lost 2-1 after taking the lead against Cypriot champions Omonia Nicosia – and the capacity crowd of 10,000 included at least one United supporter. Seventeen-year-old Richard Harradine, who was based in Cyprus with the Royal Navy, walked 18 miles in low-30s heat to wave his scarf – that’s dedication. I bet the players sank a beer or two after the final whistle of an exhausting year.
Cheerio
Harry

Brian Greenhalgh: 1972/73 player of the year.

While the United players were toiling in the Cypriot sun in 1973, the supporters back home were celebrating promotion to Division Three and paying tribute to their player of the year: Brian Greenhalgh.

The 26-year-old striker had finished top of United’s 1972/73 goalscoring charts, notching 18 times in 47 games, but his tally of 19 the previous season had already established him as an Abbey favourite. The fans were certainly glad he had overcome his initial misgivings about dropping from the First Division to the Fourth when Bill Leivers came calling in August 1971.

Greenhalgh made his reputation with Preston North End and Aston Villa, but the goals dried up when he moved to Leicester and then, in 1969, to Huddersfield. Leivers was certain of his potential, but there were some grumbles on the terraces when he failed to score in his first six U’s games.

The moaners were silenced when his first goal came at Bury in September. Greenhalgh then married Annette the following Monday and, five days later, netted four times in a 6-0 drubbing of Darlington.

He drew a blank in his first eight games in 1972/73, but his class was plain to see and the goals soon began to flow again. The winner in a 1-0 win at Workington was a Greenhalgh classic: he allowed a Vic Akers cross to run through his legs at the near post, then flicked it in off a dumbfounded defender.

Eleven more goals followed in 1973/74, but his happy relationship with United fans came to an end in February when Leivers, declaring ‘every player has his price’, sold him to Bournemouth for £40,000.

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