Sir Alf, a man of few words but a winner with England
IF England had beaten Italy in Sunday night’s Euro 2020 final at Wembley, Gareth Southgate would have been our first boss to win a major championship since Sir Alf Ramsey at the 1966 World Cup final in the same Wembley venue.
They are different personalities and Southgate is certainly more approachable and media savvy. I know because I had close-up professional and personal experiences with both.
When Southgate was playing for Aston Villa, I used him as a studio pundit on Central’s Sports Special midweek TV show and also attended his 1997 wedding. He is a top person.
Earlier in 1974, ITV signed the recently sacked England manager Sir Alf for their World Cup finals coverage in the then West Germany and I was his interviewer and ‘chaperone’ besides my other reporting and interviewing duties.
I did travel the length and breath of West Germany in a chauffeur-driven car with Sir Alf and Lady Vicky Ramsey in the back.
The only words I can recall spoken were when occasionally I would turn round from my front seat and say: “Alf, we are approaching an autobahn service station,would you like to stop?”
I was always greeted with “No, thank you!”
I liked him but found him inscrutable at times.
Ramsey did a great job in the main for England. He was a highly respected, ruthless manager with tremendous tactical knowledge.
His England also obtained third place in the 1968 European Championship and reached the quarterfinals of both the 1970 World Cup and 1972 Euros. He was knighted in 1967 after England had won the World Cup the previous year.
A former England right back himself with 32 caps, he was a member of the 1950-51 Spurs title-winning team before managing Ipswich from the third tier of English football to Division One champions in six years.
But after England drew 1-1 with Poland in the 1974 World Cup
qualifiers, his team field to qualify and the FA sacked him... and ITV moved in.
Sir Alf was always polite and courteous to me. At the end of the tournament, he thanked me and spoke highly of me to my bosses about the way I had treated him.
I did get to talk to him more on our live interviews than I did socially, but fair enough. That was his way but I do have plenty of memories of our times together.
The first one was entering one stadium we spotted his England successor, Don Revie. Sir Alf asked me: “Gary, let us walk another way, please. I do not wish to speak to that man!”
Then there was dinner in a Dusseldorf restaurant on the night of the Greyhound Derby final at London’s White City one June 29. We were in Dusseldorf for the West
Germany-sweden match the next day.
The Derby favourite Jimsun was trained by Geoffrey De Mulder in Meriden and the owners saw me as the lucky charm in charge of placing the bets. They tried to fly me back to the race, but ITV said no!
So they visited my wife Katie in the ATV newsroom and gave the money to fly out to join Sir Alf and myself, figuring that would make sure the dog won. We all had good money riding on trap one winning. Strange logic, though!
Anyway during dinner, I rang Fleet Street for the result, reacted with my arms up in the air and ordered champagne.
Sir Alf simply said: “I take it the dog won!”
We went out for lunch in Munich at the famous Haxnbauer restaurant.
The speciality of the house was pork. The waiter bought a tray of joints.
“Why is he showing us these?” Sir Alf enquired.
“You have to pick one.”
“What, a whole one?”
I explained: “Yes. Afraid so!” We were in Munich for the final when West Germany beat the Netherlands 2-1. I sat behind Sir Alf and my great friend Hugh Johns in the commentary positions. A memorable experience.
That night the ITV outside broadcast lads asked Sir Alf, Lady Vicky and myself to join them at a rowdy, large and packed beer garden marquee with an oompah band playing.
Soon bottles were flying everywhere – at times just missing us. Amazingly, not one person recognised Sir Alf.
I was worried but need not have been. He said: “It’s a bit different, ain’t it, but Vicky and I are quite enjoying it.”
At the end of the trip, Sir Alf said to me: “I had no idea how difficult your job is and if I became a manager again – which I won’t – I would treat you differently.”
Well three years later, he did become manager of Birmingham
City for a year.
In what proved to be his last match was a 4-0 defeat at Coventry in front of the ATV Star Soccer cameras.
Afterwards, I knocked on the Blues dressing room door – it was so much easier in those days! – and Sir Alf answered it “Hello, Gary what do you want?”
“An interview with you please.” He responded: “No thank you” and shut the door... that was my last conversation with him. He had referred to type, bless him.