Saturday 1 JuNE 1985

The Day I Played At Wembley

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Introduction

On 1 June 1985, I played in a football match at Wembley Stadium. I played for LBC Radio against the England side (or at least, many of them) that had won the World Cup in 1966. The match was being organised to raise money for the Bradford Disaster Appeal Fund, established after the fire at […]

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You’re going to play at Wembley!

This is the letter I got to confirm I would play at Wembley. I must have got a phone call first to tell me the news. I can’t imagine that they would have just written to me. Thinking about it – that seems right. I think I was both amazed and thrilled to be told […]

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The Football League letter

This letter was I think sent alongside the LBC letter in the same envelope.  Certainly it has not been personalised so was probably provided by the Football League to LBC to send on regarding the day’s itinerary. It is interesting to see that the players provisionally down to play, at that stage also included Rod […]

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At the hotel

All players had been told to meet at the Holiday Inn in Swiss Cottage. I’d been asked to do a short interview for the radio station and had been asked if there was a player I would like to join me for the interview. I chose George Best and so when we were heading off […]

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A word from the sponsor

“There’s some sponsors on the pitch. They think it’s Freight Rover. It is now!” On the day, on arrival the hotel, we were given an soft-cardboard folder with various bits and bobs in it: a match programme, a letter from George Simpson, the managing director of Freight Rover, and some information about Sherpa vans. I […]

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Pre-match walkabout

We were a little late in arriving at the Stadium, as the coach journey was very slow going through Harlesden on the way. I remember thinking, “I could have told you it would be busy if you go this way” and worrying that if we didn’t get there soon, our match might get knocked off […]

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Pre-match in the dressing room

These photos – like many of the others on this site – were ones taken with my Kodak Disc camera, so not great quality. Nice idea, but terribly grainy results because of the tiny sized negatives. This photo anyhow appears to have Steve Tongue (holding perhaps a team-sheet) and Graham Rix briefing me on where […]

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Bobby Moore & George Best lead the teams out

This is one of the photos I got from the offices of the Sunday People. A tightly cropped shot of these two iconic football legends. I have no idea how often they played against each other previously, in the 60s and 70s – although as the picture below shows, they did play against each other […]

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The England 1966 team

This photo – also from the Sunday People archive – shows Martin Peters and Bobby Moore lining up for the England side, before kick-off. I am not sure the exact line-up of the team – perhaps I should look a little closer at the list of autographs I have, most notably in the inside back […]

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Our team – the LBC Line-up

Here we are – the LBC Radio team – on the pitch before the kick-off, about to have our names announced over the tannoy. I was wearing the number four shirt, but don’t think whoever was calling out the team names was following any set sequence. I am pretty sure my name was called out […]

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Goal!

This is me powering the ball past Peter Bonetti in the England goal. This was the second of two consecutive corners. From the first one, I had again met the corner ahead of anyone else. My header, though firm and on target, was saved by Bonetti. I can’t quite remember how close it was to beating […]

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They think it’s all over. It was.

        The photo above is surely a post-match one: I look a little worn-out for one thing, and Stan Bowles certainly has a healthy glow about him too. To my right-hand side, are sitting Geoff Hurst and also Bobby Charlton. This is the only photo I think I have of him from […]

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Autographs

I had completely forgotten I had these autographs – but found them inside the back cover of one of the two copies of the match programme that I have. These were in the ‘other one’ – good job I checked. I’ve had a go at identifying them all – but don’t think I have it […]

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Post Match

It was nearly a case of Access All Areas. This pass shows where we did have access to go – both before and after the match – and during it too, though I don’t actually remember being asked to show this in order to get out on to the pitch! I suppose once we got […]

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My medal

As a memento of our participation in the day’s proceedings, we were each given a commemorative medal. I can’t remember at what stage in the day we got them, I can only guess it was at some point afterwards – perhaps they were handed out in the dressing room. I have no idea if these […]

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The match ticket

My ticket for the main match – the 1985 Freight Rover Trophy Final. After our curtain-raiser game, we were given complimentary tickets to watch the main match from the restaurant overlooking the centre circle of the pitch. I remember going up to the restaurant with Ray Harford, who at the time was Fulham manager, who congratulated […]

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The match programme

I have just scanned the cover of the programme here for now. The back cover – ad advert for the sponsor – can be seen in the autographs section, adorned with what looks like Rick Wakeman‘s autograph. To see the full-line up and details of the match see the entry on Wikipedia for the 1985 Football […]

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Brentford v Wigan – TV footage

You can watch – YouTube permitting – full coverage of the 1985 Freight Rover Trophy Final, via the videos below. The first three videos are around 30 minutes each, and the last one is around 15 minutes. If you just want to quickly skim the footage, rather than watch it all, then the first few minutes […]

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Friends and family

I’d been offered extra tickets for friends and family who might want to come and watch the match. The bunch you see here all came to watch – they include school friends, music student who was lodging with us, and two of my brothers. Also pictured here is my mum – seems odd now, that neither […]

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What the Papers Said

The photo above was on the back page of the Sunday People, published the day after. I remember being somewhat gutted that I can almost be seen – but not quite! I am fourth in the right hand line, but just blocked by the guy in front – I think fellow competition winner, John Colson […]

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