Cod Almighty | Postbag
Remember you must have your hopes dashed
16 August 2015
New season, new letters. Well new-ish. Some are beginning to stink the place out, to be honest.
The first Harry Clifton
I am surprised, except that you are all so young, that no-one has mentioned an earlier Harry Clifton.
Just go to Charles Ekberg and Sid Woodhead's 1983 book The Mariners. On page 4 there is a photo/cigarette card (do you remember those?) of Harry. On page 71 they write: "Harry Clifton, a great inside man signed from Newcastle United."
Sadly, Harry was a regular in 1947-48 when we were relegated from the First Division: "Clifton was getting too old," say Ekberg and Woodhead on page 73. The average gate that season was 15,000 and the highest 25,000!
Is young Harry related to old Harry?
from Antony Chapman
Letters Ed responds: Richard Bedwell also drew our attention to this first Harry Clifton (In The Mariner Men, the entry is for Henry Clifton), noting that, as a Newcastle player, he featured in three England squads, including the notorious match at which the team gave the Nazi salute, against Germany in 1938.
Harry Haddock
Any guy who was an international, played for the Bully Wee, was never booked or sent off should surely have been on Town's radar in the day.
Especially with his name.
from Jaime Graham
Unromantic Wakering
Your 10 August diarist seemed to romanticise Great Wakering Rovers. Sorry to disillusion him but neither the place nor the ground (which is four miles from my house) have any pretensions to romanticism. In fact they are as drab and prosaic as it gets! However, the club chairman is called Tony Butcher... one tenuous reason for continuing to follow their fortunes?
from Steve Lang
Letters Ed responds: Your letters editor once spent a week in the west of Ireland. Amid the glorious scenery, the one dull point was the fly-blown town with the euphonic name Tralee.
All donations gratefully received
Prior to working at Reuters and the Guardian, I used to work on the Kentish Times, where one of my jobs was to cover Bromley in the Isthmian League.
Mr Big man was the chairman Charlie K who, prior to the war, had been a painter/decorator of no great wealth. As well as the 90,000 plus at Wembley, Bromley used to get fairly big crowds, and on what I shall call the far side there was an entrance with no turnstile but a large bucket(s) which Charlie often manned.
Post-war, he became an extremely wealthy man. It was always supposed that the Charlie K entrance had helped immensely!
UTM
from Steve Bierley
Paul Hurst's transfer deadline target
After writing this, I seem to have started something. I retweeted this image, adding that the fish 'n' chips might tempt him.
Such a cliché I know.
from Phil Ball
Thanks to everyone who has written, except the chap (no names, no pack drill, but you know who you are and you know what to do) who wrote before the Altrincham game predicting a swinging of the Grimsby Reaper's scythe. Use our feedback form, unless you are intent on hubris.