Wednesday 6 June 2018

ENGLAND FOOTIE PROGRAMMES

With the World Cup rapidly approaching I've dug out a random selection of retro England programmes I'm selling.
They give a little insight into the ups and downs of my country's team!


Here we have a friendly with Sweden that England won 3-1. World Cup winning heroes Martin Peters, Bobby Charlton and Roger Hunt got the goals that night. But one interesting fact stands out about this match; not only was this goalkeeper Alex Stepney's one and only appearance for England, but it was exactly a week before Stepney turned out at Wembley again to win the European Cup with Manchester United, beating Benfica 4-1. What an amazing week that must have been for him!



Another friendly match, this time from 1969, saw England and Rumania play out a 1-1 draw. 80,000 people turned up to see Jack Charlton grab England's goal. 




This match with Wales was part of the long-forgotten British Home Championships that were played at the end of each season. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland played each other in a mini tournament. It ended 0-0, with England fielding a bit of an experimental side. It was Liverpool's stalwart defender Tommy Smith and West Brom's legendary striker, Tony Brown's only caps for England, but England went onto win the title that year, with Wales finishing third.



A bit of a rematch of the 1966 World Cup Final here! But West Germany ended the day victorious in this qualifier for the 1972 European Championships. Weirdly only 4 teams ended up competing in the tournament, with the Germans beating the Soviet Union 3-0 in the final.


England lost this 1981 friendly with Spain 1-2. Glenn Hoddle got our goal in front of 71,840 at Wembley. The two teams would again do battle in a year's time at the World Cup Finals in Spain. It would end 0-0, but England would be knocked out. The cover star on this programme, Kevin Keegan, endured a miserable finals, being injured throughout and only making a heartbreakingly brief appearance in that match, desperately trying to get the goal England needed to go through.


This qualifier in March 1983, for the 1984 European Championships, ended in a frustrating 0-0 draw. England would fail to qualify for the finals, finishing 2nd in their group behind Denmark.


Good news at last! England saw off Finland comfortably with a 5-0 victory, on their way to qualifying for the World Cup in 1986. Striker Mark Hateley grabbed two goals, with Tony Woodcock and Bryan Robson also on the scoresheet, but there was a more significant goal that night. Kenny Sansom scored his one and only goal for England in all his 86 appearances!


This is an England 'Away' programme, when they took on Scotland at Hampden Park. It was at an exciting time as this was just before Scotland would jet off to Argentina for the 1978 World Cup Finals. With their exuberant manager Ally McLeod proclaiming Scotland would bag the trophy, the country was riding on the crest of a wave. It seemed a little rude then for England to go up there and beat them 1-0!!



Here we have an England Under-23 programme. They don't play at that age-group anymore, but it was effectively the England reserve team. A healthy Wembley crowd of 34,381 saw England triumph 3-2. Noteable goalscorer was Jimmy Greaves, who got two that night, in what was his first season in League football. The striker would go on and get 22 goals for Chelsea that season, on the start of a glittering career. 



Something a bit different now, a programme for a youth football tournament in 1963, coinciding with the 100th Anniversary of the English Football Association. 
This was a youth equivalent of the European Championships, with the matches played in and around London, and guests staying at the Butlin's Holiday Camp in Bognor Regis!!
England enjoyed a fantastic time, beating Northern Ireland 4-0 in the final, after not conceding any goals in the five matches they played. 
Most of the England players involved were to go on and have very successful careers, including David Pleat, Ron Harris, John Sissons, Jon Sammels, David Sadler and Tommy Smith.

All these brilliant snapshots of England's footballing history will be for sale on my stall at the Shepton Mallet Giant Flea Market on June 10th!

* But please note, the pesky weather forecast doesn't look good, so as it'll be an outside pitch, I may not be able to go. Check the weather before you travel!!!

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