A gentleman player

With today’s Premier League footballers paid mind-boggling salaries (the Chilean Alexis Sanchez is set to earn £600,000 a week with Manchester United) it is appropriate to remember a star of yesteryear who played when pay was capped at £20. Jimmy Armfield, capped by England 43 times – 15 as captain – was the epitome of the genuine, decent player who only ever represented one club, Blackpool, and was admired and respected by his fellow footballers and fans alike. Far from arriving in a Ferrari, Armfield used to cycle to the ground. A BBC radio pundit for 40 years, he became known to generations of fans who never saw him play but who benefited from his insights. His death at the age of 82 is a reminder of another era – of packed terraces, flat caps and football rattles. It now seems long, long ago.