BITTER?NO,WE WERE A BAND OF BROTHERS

RON FLOWERS made 515 appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers, won 49 England caps, and was a member of Sir Alf Ramsey’s World Cup-winning squad.

He scored 10 times for his country. When he retired from playing, Ron ran a sportswear shop in the town. That is what they did in those days.

The trappings of the profession, the trappings of fame, were meagre.

Not that it mattered to giants of the game such as Flowers (above), who has passed away, aged 87.

Having served his country in the RAF, Flowers signed for Wolves in 1952 (top) and the midfielder was a cornerstone of the club’s golden era, winning three league titles and an FA Cup.

He is fifth on Wolves’ all-time appearance list.

And Flowers served his country on the football field, scoring England’s first-ever European Championship goal, in a qualifier against France in 1962.

He scored two more in the World

Cup in Chile that year, and of those 49 appearances, 40 of them came in succession.

By the time the 1966 World Cup came along, Flowers was an elder statesman of the squad and did not play a minute of the tournament, although, on the eve of the final, Ramsey had told him he would be in if Jack Charlton had not recovered from a cold.

Big Jack woke up feeling fine and the rest is history. Not that Flowers (in 1963, above) ever felt a twinge of bitterness.

“We were a band of brothers,” Flowers would say when, in 2009, he eventually received his World Cup winners’ medal.

“I was just happy to be part of one of the greatest days in English football.”

No. Not one of the greatest days in English football – THE greatest day in English football.

And every man in that squad of 22 played his part in it. As mortality takes them away from us – only six are still alive – we are reminded of their immortality.

Their achievements, Flowers’ achievements, will live forever.