May 3rd 1958 of course was the date of the FA Cup Final between Bolton Wanderers and Manchester United. My family in England were divided in their loyalty, for although most lived in Bolton, others lived in the greater metropolitan area and supported the famous Manchester United.
But my loyalties were divided on that day because Manchester’s 25 year old goalkeeper was Harry Gregg, now 78 years young and living in Articlave and one of my heroes.
Nat Lofthouse had scored the first goal against the Reds who were fighting back magnificently when the Wanderers launched a rapid counter attack. Harry Gregg parried a long reach shot into the air but as he turned to collect the ball he was pushed into the back of the net by Lofthouse and the referee allowed the goal to stand. For me, the win was a triumph.
I was sad to hear of the recent death of Nat Lofthouse at the age of 85. We knew him as the Lion of Vienna because of his great performance in England’s 3-2 win over Austria in 1952. He had scored 30 goals in 33 international appearances playing 450 games for the Trotters between 1946 and 1960, and scoring 255 goals. He must surely be one of the top 10 of English footballing heroes and was awarded an OBE at Buckingham Palace in 1994.
I accompanied my friend Eddie Irvine to George Best’s funeral and remember that Harry Gregg, Derek Dougan, Peter McFarland, Gerry Armstrong, Billy Bingham and Dennis Law were the first to carry his coffin to the base of the Stormont steps. Eddie was a friend of Calum Best and I knew George’s sister Barbara and her husband Norman McNarry because of their long standing support for the Somme Association. I have tried to reciprocate this by helping The George Best Foundation at Eddie Irvine Sports, Bangor.
My other Granny, Isabelle, Martha’s sister, had gone to Ayrshire where she had married Robert Kerr, a miner like Nat Lofthouse. One of Granny Isabelle’s daughters Mattie, named after my other Granny Martha, married David Caldow from Cumnock in Ayrshire and his brother was Eric Caldow. Eric attended Cumnock Academy with his brother David and started his footballing career with the local juniors team as a full back. He signed for Rangers in 1952 and made his debut at Ibrox on 12th September 1953.
In his first professional season with Glasgow Rangers he made a total of 13 appearances and the following season played in 12 of their 41 matches. Very few men can claim to have played in a truly great Rangers side but Eric Caldow played in two. He was a brilliant full back who played 40 times for Scotland, 29 at left back and 11 at right and captained them for three years. However, his international career was ended in horrific circumstances at Wembley in 1963, breaking his leg in three places after only six minutes of the game, when being tackled by the England centre forward Bobby Smith. I’m sure the great Harry Gregg would understand how he felt.
From my own point of view he obtained for me signatures of the Scottish team when they beat Czechoslovakia 3-2 at Hampden Park on 26th September 1961. One of those signatures was Dennis Law who scored twice to make the final score 3-2 to Scotland with seven minutes remaining, and so the wheel had turned full circle when I saw Dennis Law and Harry Gregg carrying George’s coffin that day.