Way back in the mid seventies I started to play with some outstanding defenders alongside me. Partnerships were easily formed with your fellow centre half, usually a player with very similar attributes, but full backs were different. Even in those days you had to be a good footballer to be a good full back, not just a defender or tackler, but someone who could pass the ball well, long and short, could join in attacks and put good crosses into the penalty box, but who could also do the leg work of chasing up the wing to join in attacks and yet not go missing when needed to defend. At Ipswich we had George Burley at right back and Mick Mills at left back, when George got injured the Mick would swap over to right back and either Terry Butcher would move over to left back or Steve McCall would play. Steve went on to make the position his own in the early eighties, notably during the 80/81 season. At Leicester City I played alongside Bobby Smith (RIP) at left back and Andy Feeley at right back, both were real characters both on and off the pitch. Sadly Bobby died of cancer in 1990. Gerry Forrest was a great right back at the Dell but I just missed the pleasure of playing with Mark Dennis at Southampton, he had just left the club for QPR after a bit of an altercation with the manager Chris Nichol. In his place was a magnificent replacement, Derek Statham, who had played nearly 300 games for West Brom. A very good all round player, not the biggest but very skilful and extremely funny. In fact I think all left backs have a querky character to say the least, well all the ones that I have played with anyway. I think it makes them a better player, more able to play with a bit of extra flair. This point could not be confirmed better than by the next player I am going to mention. Kenny Sansom kept Derek Statham out of the England team, both at U21 level and at full international level. Kenny started out at Crystal Palace before moving to Arsenal and making over 300 league appearances for the Gunners and many more cup appearances. He also won 86 full England caps, a great achievement. When I first met Kenny, probably playing for England U18's and U21's, he was teetotal, never touching alcohol then and yet such a funny guy. It is common knowledge that Kenny is not in the best of health at the moment and I do really wish him all the best for the future. Kenny was the best left back that I ever played with, a super left foot, and he was quick and clever. Always wanted the ball, always prepared to take the responsibility of having possession. So Kenny Sansom goes in at left back and my old team mate George Burley would be my right back. Both players were out and out full backs, happy to be full backs, knowing when it is right to play and when it is right to clear the ball into row Z. Both great defenders who possessed great speed, balance, bravery and very good footballing brains. They knew their position and how to play it well under all different types of situations. It was a privilege to play alongside both of them.
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Thoughout my career I was lucky to play with some fantastic goal keepers both at Club and International level. From Paul Cooper and Laurie Sivell at Ipswich Town, Ian Andrews at Leicester City, John Burridge and Tim Flowers at Southampton and Ray Clemence, Peter Shilton and Joe Corrigan for England. Obviously there were one or two others that I played a few games with but these guys were the main ones. I would like to think that playing behind me wasn't a scary experience for any of the GKs and that I helped them out, along with the rest of the back four defenders, as much as they had to help me out, which was pretty regular. Every time I scored an own goal though, I thought the keeper should've done better, every time I lost a header and conceded a goal, the keeper should've done better. If the back pass was too short then it was because the keeper was too slow off his line to come for it. If possible I would blame the keeper for everything, every goal we conceded was, in my eyes, stoppable. That was until I had to play for in goal for 40 minutes to replace the injured Paul Cooper against WBA at Portman Rd, but I kept a clean sheet and as I alluded to earlier, it was all down to the back four defenders!! At international level there were always mixed opinions as to who was the best keeper, was it Shilton the best shot stopper or was it Clemence the better all round goalkeeper, by that I mean Clem was a better distributor of the ball, better kicker of the ball and better on crosses. If the two of them played today then Ray would be very comfortable with the back pass rule where as Shilts would always struggle with his footwork. But Brian Clough saw in the Peter the chance that one player could save his side eight or maybe ten points a season and how correct was Mr Clough,,,again. For me though Ray would get my vote, I always felt more comfortable with Ray behind me between the sticks. Joe Corrigan was very unlucky to play in the same era as Peter and Ray and in his own right was a fantastic keeper as well. I have to say that otherwise Joe will beat me up again when I see home next. At club level, Ipswich Town's Paul Cooper made a name for himself as a expert penalty saver and was a damn decent outfield player. Laurie Sivell, brave as any player that I ever played with but would not get a game today being only about 5'7'' tall. Ian Andrews at Leicester City was again a fab lad to play infront of, a great personal friend still, joined us on our ride from Wembley to La Manga in Spain, and did all the Physio stuff on the way down, top top top man. At Southampton it was John Burridge in goal to start with and then Tim Flowers. John 'Budgie' Burridge had many clubs, was a fitness freak and a perfectionist. He also had a wild side to him which came out one Christmas lunchtime when Louise had invited him to lunch as John's wife and kids had gone away on holiday over the festive break. I suppose it was partly my fault in suggesting a couple of pints of Guinness after training, back in Beaulieu village, before lunch. When we arrived at home Louise suggested a glass of champagne and a game of charades before eating along with our other 'guests'. My mother, sister, sister in law, father and brother were also staying with us, so a game of charades should break the ice nicely! Budgie jumped up first just infront of the girls on the sofa, 4 words, film, and then he dropped his jeans bent over with his backside just inches from my Mum's face and then dropped his boxer shorts as well. Oh my God, what a loony, after the shock of seeing his arse we were still none the wiser for the title of the film, it was 'Man in the Moon' and my Mum and the other girls will never forget the sight or the moment. Budgie once tackled me and the man I was marking, Alan McInally of Aston Villa and Sky Sports, the only problem was that we were just outside the centre circle!! The tackle put Alan out of the rest of the game and nearly broke me in half, Budgie must have been 40 yards out of his goal, I think he got bored. Boredom would explain him sitting on the crossbar half way though a league game at the Dell, and same when he went hand stand walking across the 18 yard box while the game was down the other end of the pitch. Anyway he kept the crowds amused, which reminds me of a pre season game against Carl Zeiss Jena in Germany. They had a gymnastics display on the pitch before the game and as we had arrived quite early we were all sitting on the running track watching the gymnasts vaulting and bouncing off the pommel horse with magnificent grace. Next thing we new our GK was sprinting down the runway, track suit top off, bouncing off the trampete and completing, to our amazement a perfect somersault vault and landing. Well that was it, he was vaulting here there and everywhere for the next hour, as he said, a perfect warm up for a keeper. If you doubt anything about this character read his book, 'Budgie' it is all in there and more, you won't believe half the stuff but it's all true! So in answer to the question 'Who Was The Best Goalkeeper I Ever Played With?' It has to be the fella from Skegness, Ray Clemence MBE, Scunthorpe Utd, Liverpool, Spurs and England. (758 league games). i wish that I had a pound for every time I have been asked the question ' who is the best player that you ever played with or against'? It is a very hard question to answer when the game has changed so much over the last few decades. I played from the mid seventies to the mid nineties and played for 6 different league clubs and I came across a great deal of fantastic players. I was fortunate to play with George Best in Sir Bobby's testimonial and with Pele, Bobby Moore and Ossie Ardiles in 'Escape to Victory'. During my international career, of only 11 caps, (a story for another day) I played with Keegan, Brooking, Shilton, Clemence, Sansom, Hoddle, Bryan Robson OBE to name a few. Maybe it is going to be easier to choose a best player in each position, GK, defender, midfield and striker? My brain is now going overtime, was Mariner better than Shearer, at club level or at international level? Sorry Paul, I think Alan comes out in front on the international scene. But to put things into context, and I'll use these two as an example, was Paul Mariner's role for Ipswich Town leading them to winning the FA Cup in 1978 and the UEFA Cup in 1981, and with two runners up places in the league in 1980-81 and 81-82 more important than Alan Shearer's for Blackburn when they won the Premier League under Kenny Dalglish in 1994-95? One thing is for sure, Alan was a truly great player scoring a hat- trick on his debut for Southampton against Arsenal in 1988. Whilst thinking about Mariner and Shearer, another couple of names appear boldly in my mind, the previously mentioned Kenny Dalglish and his Liverpool team mate Ian Rush. I never played with Gary Lineker, apart from on the golf course, but again what a goal scoring record he has, both here in the UK at Leicester City and Everton then Barcelona in Spain before coming back to Spurs and then Grampus Eight in Japan. I did play against Gary a few times, notably on his league debut for Everton after leaving Leicester City. I had just joined Leicester City from Ipswich and Everton was the opening game of the 85-86 season at Filbert Street and Leicester won 3-1, in fact we did the double over Everton that year by winning at Goodison Park 2-1 thanks to a Gary McAllister penalty. I am going to spend a few hours thinking how to answer this question accurately, one player only or one player per position? Don't mind some input if anyone fancies making a comment before I get back to this later?
Friday 18th March was the ITFC Ex Players Golf Day and Dinner with golf at Hintlesham Golf courtesy of Henry Robbin and the dinner in the Sir Bobby Robson suite at Portman Road. Terry won the individual with 41 points, beating David Johnson who had 39 on his first appearance. It is always good to catch up with some of the lads who were jointly responsible for helping me establish myself as a first team regular at Ipswich. The dinner in the evening is always very well supported with ex players from all different eras turning up for what is always a great night! Sharing a table with Eric Gates,Paul Cooper and Johnny Wark was always going to be lively and with the proceedings starting at 6.30pm it wasn't long before the banter started flowing! Amongst the squad were Tony Mowbray, George Burley, Kevin Beattie, Tommy O'Neill, Kevin Steggles, Chis Kiwomya, Arnold Muhren, Frans Thijssen to name just a few.
The Dutch lads spoke wonderfully as did Tony Mowbray who was inducted into the Ex Players Hall of Fame. Plenty of great wines were made available thanks to the support of Holly Bellingham and Sumaridge Wine Estate and come midnight it was time to make a swift exit as bodies started to stumble left right and centre. Today it is the turn of the current first team lads to get the job done at Portman Road against struggling Rotherham who have recently strung a couple of decent recent together. Roll on 4.45 pmand 3 points. It was a very fresh morning at Henbury Golf Club when I rolled up to play in the Bristol City Golf Day, at 9.00am in the morning! Team mates Dave Fear, Mike Holt and Willie were already on site and ready to tee off at 9.30 from the 11th tee. It's a funny old game golf, let me explain. The 11th hole is par 3 and we all missed the green, I chipped on poorly but holed a twenty foot putt for my par. Mike Holt had already been put off by having to play with a pink ball as part of the Charity Day. He didn't score on this first hole. Dave made a 4 with a shot so we walked off with 4 points and no damage done. I missed the green on the 12th hole and only made 5, not a great start to the round. But all was to change rather suddenly on the 13th. Another par 3 playing about 135 yards into a cold head on breeze. With only one team mate on the target, and being last to tee off, there was a need for me to get this on the green. Anyway a little easy 8 iron shot suited the eye and sure enough it looked good in the air, getting better as it dropped out of the sky, even better when it landed close to the flag, and better still when it disappeared from view. Quietly I thought it had gone in for a hole in one but I wasn't a 100% sure, neither were any of my playing partners but we all thought it could be very close. Mike Holt was first onto the green and soon confirmed that yes it was in the bottom of the cup, my third hole in one and 4 points for the team. We had just had our team photo back on the tee and the photographer and his media assistant had walked down to the green with us. A compulsory photo taken picking the ball out of the hole and then a quick interview on video for the Club website. The interviewer came out with a comment which made me think that maybe he didn't play a lot of golf. He said 'congratulations on the first hole in one of the day' !!!! He must have thought that it was a pretty regular occurrence and was pretty non plused at all the excitement. That's life and that is golf I suppose. Anyway that was the highlight of our round of golf on our third hole of the Bristol City FC Golf Day, and thank you Henbury Golf Club for your hospitality today, and the cheap bottle of Famous Grouse. Yesterday I was part of the Orsom Ltd team, driving Mrs O down to the Jurrasic Coast to check on a job that is nearing completion. I was the driver yesterday for two reasons, one is that Toby, Mrs O's business partner, has slipped off to Venice for a few days with his girlfriend Rosie,,, and the second reason was that we were going to catch up with some friends who we had not seen for at least 15 years. It was a lovely day to be down on the beach again with great views to where David Tennant and company filmed Broadchurch back in 2013.
Mrs O checked the job, all was ok, so we could go visiting. Back in the early 80's Paul Mariner introduced me to a friend of his, a man with hair longer than Paul's and mine put together. This extremely pleasant long haired rocker was infact a true hard rocker. Lead singer and lyricists for Deep Purple, Jesus in the original recording of Jesus Christ Superstar, lead singer with Black Sabbath for a while,,the list goes on. Ian Gillan and his fabulous wife Bron welcomed us into their home like it was only a week ago that we last met, not 15 years or so. The next three to four hours flew by, reminiscing of late night swims in Ipswich docks, not to be recommended to anyone might I add, ordering 50 portions of fish chips mushy peas and a gallon jar of pickled gherkins! We talked about the all night rock festival at Knebworth back in 1984, when Mariner, Osman and Butcher were invited into Ian's hospitality motorhome for a few pre performance glasses of Bell's Whisky!! The muddiest event that I have ever attended but Terry and myself found a great dry area to watch from, until the safety officers founds us sitting on £100,000 worth of fireworks and thought it best if we moved on! Ian used to come along to Portman Road to watch Ipswich play in the early eighties and he enjoyed watching us perform as much as we enjoyed watching him. The difference nowadays is that we ex footballers are far too old to play any more but Ian and Deep Purple are still touring and still performing a heavy schedule year after year. In fact Ian feels that his voice is in as good a condition as it's ever been. It was a pleasure to spend a few hours with Ian and Bron again, today Ian is off on tour once more, this time through to November!! Obviously you are never to old to Rock and Roll. At the end of the 1980-81 season, after 66 first class club appearances and a few games for England, Bobby Robson called a meeting in the Portman Road home changing room and asked if anyone fancied spending the summer playing more football to help make a feature film. I had nothing planned for the summer so it immediately appealed to me. As it turned out I spent 5 weeks of the summer in Budapest making the film Escape to Victory, directed by the great John Huston. To the right of John Huston is Freddie Fields, the producer, also of Dallas and Dynasty fame. When myself, Johnny Wark, Kevin O'Callaghan, Robin Turner, Laurie Sivell, Paul Cooper and Kevin Beattie arrived in Budapest we were all in for a bit of a surprise. We hadn't really been told what we were going to be doing apart from playing the football scenes. That evening we met up with some of the other footballers, Mike Summerbee and Bobby Moore, and had a pretty heavy night. We soon realised the following morning the roles that we were expected to play! Kevin Beattie was to 'double' for Michael Caine in the football scenes, Paul Cooper was to help Sylvester Stallone hone his goalkeeping skills, Robin Turner and Laurie Sivell were to play for the German team and myself, Warkie and Kevin had speaking roles and a script to learn. And learn it quickly too as we were filming the next day as soon as we had been to the barbers! My character had dialogue with Michael Caine the following morning, only a couple of lines but Michael was a massive Hollywood film star by now, so I didn't sleep too well that night. Anyway Michael was brilliant, he made all the lads feel at home on set by telling a few funny stories and taking all the tension out of the situation. I managed to deliver my lines and we were off and running, literally. We were based in a constructed PoW camp, built just outside Budapest, and we had to shoot training sessions and fitness drills on the dry dust bowl of a pitch in the middle of the compound. The filming schedule chopped and changed from PoW camp to Stadium, football filming to proper acting, Sly Stallone pretending to be a goalkeeper to Michael Caine pretending to be fit and healthy. The were a couple of other decent players in our squad, Pele and Ossie Ardiles to name just a couple. Pele was great fun, especially in the evenings. We would all go out for dinner somewhere in Budapest, Ossie, Pele, Summerbee, Bobby Moore and the Ipswich lads. We all liked a drink in those days but these evenings were ridiculous. Beer, gin and tonics, wine and a bottle of Johnny Walker Black just for Pele. After a few glasses of scotch the guitar would come out and Pele would be singing and playing to his 'team mates'. It was an honour to be in his company both on and off the football pitch. There is so much to write about regarding the making of Escape to Victory. The people behind it, the footballers, sound and lighting guys and just the stories of the day to day, night to night events that made those five weeks so special. Pele's overhead kick, what Stallone was really like, actors Tim Piggott-Smith and Max von Sydow and all the assistant staff. I have just scratched the surface and will delve deeper over the next few days, bear with me it will be interesting! Nearly 35 years ago ITFC embarked on an epic season. I am going to put together a few reminders for everyone to see just what went on that season. All in all there were 66 games played, I played every one and Johnny Wark only missed one game. We had to play 7 games in December, including playing on Boxing Day beating Norwich 2-0 and the next day playing Arsenal at Highbury and getting a 1-1 draw there. You also have to remember that only one substitute was allowed in those days for league games . In January we played another 7 games, 5 in February, 7 more in March and 6 in April not including the UEFA Cup semi finals against Cologne. So that would make it 8 games in April. Looking at the fixtures from the programme it also states at the bottom that games against Aston Villa and Southampton were still to be arranged,, ha ha when!! It really was a back log of fixtures to the end of the season, not only was it mad at Christmas, with two games in two days, but it was similar at Easter if I remember correctly, with games on Saturday, Easter Monday, Wednesday in Cologne and back in time for a game on Saturday again. All through the season the one thing that kept everyone going was the team spirit, it was fun, the lads liked a laugh, played hard and worked even harder. And that went for the whole squad, not just these three pictured with me here in Ploand, in early December, prior to the Widzew Lodz second leg game in Poland. That was the night we played on the flattened snow with red lines for the markings! The fixture list came from this programme; Inside the programme it appears that the Youth Team were doing quite well also. This picture could surprise a few of them!! Quite a few of these lads soon made it into the first team squad, Frankie, Irvine, Mich, Trevor, Colin, Ian and Kevin. Apologies if I have missed anyone out.
A quick look back at some of the things that went on away from Portman Rd and off the football pitch. i am glad that I was this side of the camera, early days of one our little trips to Florida. Clive Woods, AB and Eric along the back with Keiron Baker, Robin Turner, The Beat, Tommy Parkin and Nigel Crouch. We had a few good trips away with Ipswich, pre season in Florida was hard work, honestly, all that running we had to do along the beach. Just going add a couple of pre season game pictures. This next picture was part of one of the best trips ever. In 1994 I took Bristol City to Zimbabwe at the the end of the season. We stayed in Harare for a few days and then moved up to Elephant Hills, next to Victoria Falls. The players in the photograph wanted to go bungee jumping, which I thought was too dangerous, so we compromised and myself and the senior players paid for all the playing staff to go White Water Rafting down the Zambezi River. Dangerous but not quite as dangerous as bungee jumping off Victoria Falls Bridge! Sorry about the poor quality of the photograph. Back in the late 70's, just after I became old enough to drink in a public house legally, I was introduced to a group of people who all became very good friends and very close to me.
Of all the characters that are part of The Ipswich Greyhound Regiment one person in particular was crazier than rest. I mean that in the nicest possible way because Brian Knights was a very nice man, a True Blue and a sporting officianardo. His choice of company could be questioned at times, any other member of the regiment qualified as questionable company, particularly the ones that partnered him at Purdis Heath as his golfing partner. You know who I mean Ray! The Lunatic new his sport, was passionate about his football, cricket and horse racing and was more than prepared to stand his corner to either defend his opinion or buy the next round of drinks. My wife, The Regimental Mata Hari, and myself, 2nd Lt Speedwagon ( officer in charge of latrines) send our condolences to Brian's family and friends, his regimental companions and all the people that Brian taught or influenced throughout his teaching career. He certainly taught me a few things in The Freston Boot. Gone but never forgotten, RIP The Lovely Lunatic. |
AuthorRussell Osman is a former England & Ipswich Footballer, 4 Handicap Golfer and Father of 3. Archives
April 2018
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