July 13th 1973

“Work. Went up Nigs. Mart P. came up, went to have a game of football. Mart R joined us”
2-a-side football eh?
Jumpers for goalposts?

May 5th 1973

“FA Cup Final – Sunderland 1 Leeds 0″ / “4.26 wages” / “In evng mormor gave me watch as early confirmation present, bludy smart watch – atomatic”
1973’s FA Cup Final has always been lauded as one of the best in the competition’s history.
Leeds United were (then) amongst English football’s ‘heirarchy’ (between 1965 and 1974, the team never finished [...]

May 1st 1973

“Gym – M + Dick bt Nob + Clodge. Play’d football in evng with Nig & Mal”
As someone who has just joined a proper gym – for the first time ever – at the ripe old age of 51, I feel somewhat amazed that I appeared to have expelled so much energy 36 years earlier.
No [...]

February 23rd 1973

“H-Term” / ” Went into Eastleigh and got new glasses frame – will cost £10.80 (Phew!)” / “Bort new record cloth in Rumbelows” / “had to go out on bike at work – Roger’s got flu”
Wow, specs were expensive even then! £10.80 is the cost of 4 or 5 albums in 1973. I secretly suspect, [...]

February 15th 1973

“Lost to Sned at table tennis 21-9, 21-9, 21-9″ / “Opticians Appointment 3pm, Dental Appointment” / “Got ‘ome early” / “GF3″
They say that the key to success in sport is “consistency”.
As you can see, I was terribly consistent in my ping-pong play against Sned, perfectly losing by the same score three times in a row.
I [...]

January 18th 1973

“Found out that I had passed mock by the jammy margin of ½% – PHEW!” / “games – didn’t score but set up 3″ / “Larst Monty Python – Funny – Charwoman – BOOM!”
Blimey! Talk about “skin of my teeth” result regarding my maths exam.
Thank heavens I was – *ahem* – a much better football [...]

December 14th 1972

“Monty Pyfon” / “Didn’t score in games but set up two and got muddy”
Oh no! Got muddy? Quelle horreur!
I bet when she saw my gym clothes my Mum used an inappropriate swear word or two.
36-years later and “set up two” is now described as “a pair of assists”

October 22nd 1972

“in morning dun typing, in afternoon plyd soccer + scored 10″ / “carried on with project”
TEN! (Sign me up Scolari!)
In “soccer” too. Shame it wasn’t in football?!
Why the hell, in 1972, would I have called it soccer all of a sudden?
In an ironic twist, I have spent my (so far) ten years in the USA trying [...]

May 14th 1972

“went to church (wattahero)” / “fell off bike” / “TIB at centre 66″ / “played football, good fun”
A comparatively busy diary entry for a change.
Quite the mix of things in there too.
Obviously, going to church was treated (*cough*) with dubious respect, going so far as ridiculing myself, maybe as something of a sarcastic riposte against [...]

May 8th 1972

“derby county win football league div 1. Man City end up fourth”
So, ‘my’ team’s dream was shattered as the season came to a close, thanks mainly to a few crappy losses, but mostly as the result of a fan coming to see them play at Southampton.
I suppose that I must have been excited for a [...]

March 15th 1972

“X-ray at winchester hospital. nufin wrong. stayed home”
Ah, soooooo proud of my crappy spelling back then.
Words like “Nufin” that appear from time to time occurred not because I couldn’t spell – indeed I think I was a pretty damned good speler – but due to being overly-influenced by Geoffrey Willans & Ronald Searle’s funny “Molesworth [...]

March 8th 1972 (1)

“City sign Rodney Marsh for an estimated fee of 200,000 pounds”
Rodney Marsh was something of a maverick football star in his prime. He’d been constantly hitting the back of the net for the past six years with Queen’s Park Rangers, having an enviable ratio of almost 1 goal every two appearances. He had also been [...]

February 5th 1972

“Surprise of Day Hereford 2 Newcastle 1. Cup”
… and this was a surprise back then. I think it would still be a surprise if it happened now.
Newcastle were Division One (now “Premiership”) high-fliers, regarded as one of the best teams in the country. They had tough Scot Bobby Moncur captaining them, and upfront one of [...]

January 20th 1972

“Man City picture arrived”
I suspect this ‘City’ embarrassment will live with for some time during these early diary entries. The fact that I have dutifully written in EVERY match result on the day it took place some kind of peculiar testament to how much I ‘loved’ them.
It’s somewhat weird to consider that for most of the 80’s [...]