The Postbag

Cod Almighty | Postbag

Bumper catch-up Postbag

15 December 2024

Town's continuing patchy home form has been mirrored by our email service and postbag. But here we are, with a bumper crop of reader's emails and contributions bringing us up to date. See this week's Telegraph for an exclusive CA interview titled, we know we were bad last time out but we promise we're going to be better next week.

Jeff Whitefoot...

I attach the article on Jeff below written a few seasons ago. Hope you find it of interest.

Best wishes
Neville Butt

Jeff Whitefoot – Busby Babe. If he'd stayed longer?

"Town must buy to avoid trouble" was the Monday headline in the Grimsby Telegraph on the 11th November 57 after a damp squib display against West Ham. I was stationed in Germany but kept informed of Town's progress throughout the campaign. The Town Chairman and Town Manager Allenby Chilton failed to sign John Evans from Liverpool. The following day they visited Old Trafford for talks about England U23 international Jeff Whitefoot. Terms were agreed. By Friday afternoon Whitefoot was in Grimsby viewing houses. "Late News" showed he had signed and would play at Barnsley the following day. His impact was immediate for, after being 3-1 in arrears, we fought back to draw 3-3 thanks to a Ron Rafferty double. Jeff was the most prominent player to sign for Town and he was Daily Mail front page news when he made his League début at the age of 16 years 105 days before earning a First Division championship medal in 55/56.

A transfer deal with Nottingham Forest fell through and fortunately one of his mentors, Allenby Chilton, was willing to take blond haired 5’7”, 11st 4 lbs Jeff on board. "A gigantic success when he pulled on a Town shirt for the first time to play at left half. He was the master tactician. He played football all the time; sensing and making openings and displaying a positional sense one expects from a top-tanking First Division player" eulogised the Grimsby Telegraph. From his debut up to Jan 18th Town won seven games, drew two and lost two. That was promotion form. Goals galore with 34 goals in 11 fixtures and immediately we plotted a course towards the top of Division 2 if not in 57/58 then in 58/59.

Our victories were significant. We defeated Fulham who included the Players Union supremo Jimmy Hill and England star Johnny Haynes. The celebrated 7-0 victory at Bristol Rovers was broadcast nationally and on BFN in Germany. On Christmas day we enjoyed a 3-2 success over Liverpool with a superb volley on the turn by Jeff’s former Man Utd colleague Johnny Scott from one of Gerry Priestley’s renowned low, hard hit corner kicks to the edge of the penalty area. We walloped Charlton Ath 4-2 with Rafferty making it 10 goals in 11 games that included one when Town beat Rotherham 3-1. This was the only chance I had to see Whitefoot “live” but his ball control was immediate, his passing was with slide rule accuracy and his presence gave the team an air of superiority. After a 1-0 defeat at Huddersfield, and a delicious 4-0 crushing of Lincoln City two days after the Munich Air Disaster, the team fell apart. We lost six consecutive games and went four without scoring.

Our dreams were shattered but of minor significance as the Munich tragedy unfolded. Jeff Whitefoot had been "brought up" with Manchester Utd. He lost his right half place to one of the victims, Eddie Coleman. Whitefoot will have been traumatised by the deaths of his former colleagues and it is easy to understand why his wife failed to settle away from her Manchester friends. Both Manager Allenby Chilton and our right winger Johnny Scott will have played with many former Man Utd colleagues. Those early days with Jeff Whitefoot were some of the most exciting ever seen at Blundell Park? How good was Jeff? He was a brilliant footballer and the CD of the Nottingham Forest and Luton FA Cup Final of 59/60 endorses that opinion.

from Neville Butt

...and Jeff again

What a shame there has been no mention of the death of one of best and most graceful players ever to play for Town. He joined us from Manchester United in 1957 and was the last of the Busby Babes. His partnership with the equally but differently gifted Johnny Scott, also from United, was one of the best memories I have.

Adding in Ron Rafferty as the centre forward, and you had one of the greatest partnerships I can remember. The Player/Manager responsible for bringing Whitefoot and Scott to the club was Allenby Chilton, himself a commanding presence in the Manchester United central defence in the late 40s. Only with us for a year - we all knew Whitefoot was too good to stay - he had a hugely successful career at Nottingham Forest.

RIP Jeff Whitefoot

from Malcolm Carson

Letters Ed responds: Thank you Neville and Malcolm for your words on Jeff. Great memories to share with the generations of fans not lucky enough to see him play for Town.

David Burns

Another cracking interview from TB.
Thank you to him and all of you involved at CA Towers. Keep up the good work!

from Philip Storr

Letters Ed responds: Thank you Philip, we've all enjoyed Tony's excellent interviews with Burnsy and Jason Stockwood. Watch this space for more.

Barrow beaters

Please inform your diarist we beat Barrow at BP last season 2-1! Rest of his column is pretty much spot on though.

It is another question on how we managed to get the win that night. Barrow arguably provided the best football performance at BP last season but could not score though. If memory serves me correct Pete Wild (their manager at the time) threw a wobbly in front of the away dug out.

from Philip Storr

Iceland 1986 Tour Part 1

Hi guys,
I am an English supporter of ÍA who Grimsby played in Iceland (1986)
I have the ÍA line up if its something you require for your records.
I am a collector of all stats/souvenirs of ÍA.

I'm a Tranmere Rovers supporter (so I wont mention last week)

SkagamennUK is my Twitter and Facebook pages

from Mike Morgan

Letters Ed responds: Absolutely Mike, we'd love to see them was of course the reply

Iceland 1986 Tour Part 2

Hi CA

Here is the link to the game on the ÍA history page:

ÍA - Grimsby Town F.C. 2 : 5 - 1986 - Leikur - Á sigurslóð

I'm assuming the tour to Iceland was fishing companies related. ÍA only had five league games left until the end of the season. They finished in 3rd place. In the Iceland Cup Final that year, ÍA won the final 2-1 against Fram.
ÍA also played in the UEFA Cup that season, they lost 15-0 on aggregate against Sporting Lisbon.

06/08/86
Akranesvöllur
ÍA - GRIMSBY TOWN 2-5
Pétur Pétursson'5, Valgeir Barðason'20

ÍA TEAM.
Birkir Kristinsson (Rúnar Sígriksson)
Heimir Guðmundsson (Guðjón Þórðarson'46), Sigurður Lárusson (Einar Jóhannesson'46), Sigurður Bjarni Jónsson (Jakob Halldórsson'46), Hafliði Guðjónsson.
Júlíus Pétur Ingólfsson (Árni Sveinsson'46), Ólafur Þórðarson, Guðbjörn Tryggvason (Aðalsteinn Víglundsson'46), Sveinbjörn Hákonarson.
Pétur Pétursson (Hörður Kári Jóhannesson'46), Valgeir Barðason.

Iceland Tour 1986

Mike
SkagamennUK

from Mike Morgan

Town are ace?

How the duck are we eighth in the league...... Anybody??

from Elvis Hamster

Letters Ed responds: We're not sure if Elvis was happy or annoyed to be 8th, any guesses?

No grudge against Tranmere?

No grudge against Tranmere suggests Newbegin Diary? 28th December 1991, to some of us of a longer memory disposition? Paul Futcher and John Aldridge sent off. Blood drawn.

Tranmere v Town 1991

from Ian Jackson

The missing corners of Blundell Park

Hi there chaps,

I'm enthused, in my dotage, by the campaign to restore the corners, or something resembling them. It seems a no-brainer, and indeed it always has seemed thus. I'd like to help in any way I can but first, being an exile I'm not sure what the arguments are for retaining the status quo. They can't be aesthetic, so I'm assuming they're structural or financial. Our men in charge seem like sharp chaps, and must both share the nostalgia-plus-aesthetic reasons for restoring them. But I'm guessing there are obstacles. What are they, exactly?

from Phil Ball

Letters Ed responds: We're with you on this Phil, as are many Town fans we suspect:

We're guessing it's just a question of money and priorities. It would be good to hear if some sort of plan, no matter how modest, has been considered.