Potters’ survival is perfect ending for Marvellous story
STOKE CITY’S survival in the Championship relegation dogfight was just ‘Marvellous’ news for Potters fanatic Neil Baldwin.
And it comes at a time when the BAFTA winning film about how former manager Lou Macari made Baldwin – who has learning difficulties – his kitman, is being re-run by the BBC during July.
The last thing on current boss Michael O’Neill’s mind as he conjured up a rescue act for a club rooted at the foot of the table when he took over in November was to have someone sitting alongside him in the dug-out dressed as a chicken.
But that’s what happened to Macari for one game when Baldwin thought the Stoke players needed cheering up.
“I’ve just spoken to him,” said former Manchester United and Celtic star Macari on his way to the homeless centre he runs in Hanley.
“The lockdown didn’t affect him because he told me he was able to watch Marvellous whenever he wanted to.
“He says he has now seen it 285 times!”
Moved by his affection for the club – often standing out in the pouring rain for a glimpse of his heroes – Macari invited Baldwin, who had left home at the age of 16 to become a circus clown, to look after the players’ kit.
And he quickly won them over with his fun and frivolity.
In addition to his chicken impersonation he also dressed up for a game as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
Another time the players came back from training to find their eccentric kitman wearing all their underwear. It was an atmosphere which helped Macari lift Stoke out of football’s third tier in the early 90s. Now the pair are just glad they are not about to return there.
The heart-warming story was later made into a film which touched the nation and has been watched again on BBC over the last few weeks.
It won a BAFTA, although Macari was more concerned about Stoke’s current plight.
Maybe he should have listened to his former faithful sidekick.
“You won’t be surprised to hear that Neil was always confident they would stay up,” said Macari.
“Nothing gets him down. He’s just desperate to get back to watching games at the stadium again.
“When I first invited him to come to the club I really didn’t know what I was taking on.
“I had a good gut feeling. I often laugh to myself that a circus clown who got the sack won a BAFTA.
“It’s great because he is just a one-off, a warm person. He’s never nasty or aggressive. He is everything people saw in the film. He is always happy.” There might not be any statues of the pair but they are warmly remembered – in the middle of a roundabout close
to the ground.
“We’re on a board. A local artist has drawn us,” said Macari. O’Neill (left) and his staff have a long way to go before they are commemorated – but staying in the Championship is a start.
As Neil Baldwin would say… Marvellous.
LEEDS UNITED’S last promotion hero Jermaine Beckford has told Marcelo Bielsa’s Championship title-winners, ‘Going to the Premier League will change your life’.
Beckford, 36, enjoys cult status at Elland Road after famous goals which dumped Manchester United out of the FA Cup and sealed promotion from League One in 2010.
His winner against Bristol Rovers lifted Leeds into the Championship a decade ago in his final appearance before he joined Everton on a free transfer.
It capped a remarkable rise from his days as an RAC windscreen fitter playing non-league for Wealdstone before joining Leeds and scoring 85 goals in 152 appearances. Beckford, now retired and working as a pundit, said: “The money in the Premier League is obviously a major factor but Leeds’ players will be so excited at facing the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool.
“It can be life-changing but what this current Leeds side have achieved will put them in the history books forever. When we got promoted to the Championship, Simon Grayson made me captain against Bristol Rovers and the roar when we came out before kick-off was phenomenal.
“When I scored, the noise was deafening and going up ended the pain and heartache of three years in League One, but getting back to the Premier League after 16 years away is obviously much bigger.
“Huge credit must go to Andrea Radrizzani for bringing in Marcelo Bielsa because the club has been completely transformed on and off the pitch. I think Leeds will really take off now.”
Beckford was on Chelsea’s books as a teenager before a serious injury saw him