Posts Tagged With : 1970
Chivers has a Big Task
Spurs: Chivers has a big task
The responsibility of putting Spurs back into the fall of first division football will rest heavily on £120,000 striker Martin Chivers this season.
Manager Bill Nicholson made it clear recently that Chivers will be expected to convert chances created by winger Roger Morgan and Alan Gilzean. But Roger Morgan now has a groin injury and Cyril Knowles and Martin Peters may face suspensions early in the season, after being sent off during matches in Majorca. This could mean Chivers may have to create chances and score from them.
Nicholson highlighted this problem when commenting on the Majorca games “they were ideal preparation for the season. I am not disappointed with their general play only with the fact that we missed chances and had players sent off.”
Neill Faces a Challenge
Terry Neill, the Irish international and former Arsenal centre half, start the new season under even more pressure than a new manager usually suffers. For he holds the key to the success or failure of a club which has promised for several years to make a big breakthrough.
Hull city finished 13th in the second division last season, a ridiculous position for such an attractive team, boasting one of the most effective forward lines in the country.
They scored 72 goals, four more than Huddersfield, who topped the division. And no wonder, Ken Houghton, Chris Chilton, Ian Butler and Ken Wagstaff are fast, skilful and determined enough to test any defence.
But the defence conceded 70, and that was seven more than Preston North end, who finished bottom, allowed their opponents.
Hull’s fine forwards get a great service from Chris Simpkin, tall, powerful midfield player who has the talent to grace any level of football. Add to all this Hull’s excellent ground, and the only question is why have why they have not risen to greater heights.
The answer is that defence, and this is where Neill comes in. Hull paid Arsenal £44,000 for his services as player manager, and not unnaturally the home supporters will expect him to do something fast.
Neill is never a man to make rash promises. But he is a determined and intelligent footballer, and it would be rash to ignore the possibilities of this Yorkshire side. It could take Neill a season or two to bring his defence into line, but on the other hand if there is a man who could work a miracle that man is Terry Neill.
Another manager at a new club is Freddie Goodwin, who almost took Brighton to promotion from the third division last year. He moved to Birmingham, a team who have known greatness, and always seem to be out of place struggling in the second division.
But Birmingham are quick to lose patience with a manager who doesn’t obtain overnight success. Goodwin is a splendid member of the footballing fraternity, if there is some luck going he needs it and deserves it.
Goodwin’s successor Brighton, Pat Saward, faces a different problem. Within two seasons since the advent of Goodwin, Brighton sprang from near disaster to almost promotion.
Saward has to keep the pot boiling, fifth place in the third division last season whetted the fans appetite for success. They will be looking for second division football very soon.
And its problems, problems, problems for Theo Foley. Promoted to manager of Charlton since Eddie Firmani’s departure towards the end of last season, a season in which the dreadful drop was only just averted. Foley has a lot of work to do with a team whose morale needs a big uplift.
A footballing family who occupy opposite poles are the Balls. Alan Ball Jr, World Cup hero and Everton captain, has the world at his feet. Alan Ball senior, has a long, hard road in front of him.
Possessed of as fiery temperament as his son, the elder Ball starts the season as manager of Preston, now down in the Third Division. His experience at Halifax should stand him in good stead, he is used to a struggle.
Darlington, re-elected after a bad season, now have Len Richley in charge from useful Third Division side Rochdale.
A New Face to Lead England
Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton are two names that mean English soccer. But question marks must hang over both during the 1970/71 international season, which leads up to the home countries championship in May.
The bigger question mark is that against Charlton’s name. The first gentleman of football has a shot or two left in his locker yet, but the time must come when he steps aside for a younger man.
With Inside Football columnist Brian Kidd for a place a striker, and Colin Bell surely destined to become the automatic choice in midfield, this could be Charlton’s last fling for England.
The case of Moore is different. He had a great World Cup, as a defender. To ask whether it is time to start looking for a more mobile, dynamic man to captain England might set the pulses racing around Upton Park, but it must be asked.
Room will soon have to be found for young players like Roy McFarland and David Sadler, and the aggressive Emlyn Hughes must capture a regular place in the very near future. Moore could find himself under pressure.
On the subject of the captaincy, a Alan Ball, now skippering Everton, might seem an obvious choice. But there are still doubts about his temperament.
Colin Bell has the intelligence to fill the post, but he might be better left free to use his skills without the added worries of captaincy.
The man who could come through, in fact, is Hughes. This great multipurpose Liverpool player is a constant inspiration to his fellow players, and his infectious enthusiasm and determination, allied to great natural skill, make him a reasonable bet to lead England onto the playing field of Germany for World Cup 74.
