The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Liverpool, lock-ins, Wembley and Souness
Ask Steve Welsh about his Posh career and you wouldn’t need to ask another question for the length of a football match.
The popular Scottish centreback is a great raconteur, one possessed with a phenomenal memory - ideal for these selfisolating and, let’s be honest, pretty boring times.
Welsh was the former soldier who turned his back on Cambridge United to join Posh (big merit marks for that) in time to help beat Liverpool on that famous December 3 night in 1991 at London Road before playing a starring role in the Third Division play-offs which ended with Chris Turner’s club playing in the second tier of English football for the first time in their history.
Welsh, who is now 51 and head of the Academy at Doncaster Rovers, tells a tale of innocent bungs, chasing after Graeme Souness and abusing him badly but proudly, regular lock ins in city pubs and how his Posh career ended, rather bizarrely, on the day of a transfer tribunal which had met to decide how much Barry Fry’s side would have to pay to sign him!
We’ll let Welsh tell the stories.
THE SOUNESS INCIDENT
“As soon as the final whistle went, Souness did his handshakes and headed off down the tunnel and I charged after him calling him all sorts of names.
“He turned round and started wagging his fingers at me, but I didn’t care at all. I just didn’t like the man.
“Looking back I did lose it a bit! But he was a big Rangers man and I was a Celtic fanatic so that was enough for me not to like him.
“My neighbour used to stand near the players’ tunnel back then and he watched all this happen with his mouth wide open. ‘Are you okay Steve?’ He eventually said.
“And of course I was. We’d just beaten Liverpool and we’d just beaten Graeme Souness. I couldn’t be any happier!”
POSH 1, LIVERPOOL 0 (LOCK IN 1)
“We’d beaten Aldershot, Wimbledon and Ossie Ardiles’s Newcastle before we drew Liverpool and the whole town was buzzing.
“The players fancied it, but ‘Turns’ told us we all had to play at 100% and hope that a few of theirs had off nights and that’s exactly how it panned out.
“Of course Liverpool had a goalkeeper (Bruce Grobbelaar) who used to make mistakes and sure enough he dropped a cross early in the game and Garry Kimble scored. Grobbelaar than made an unbelievable save to keep out Ken Charlery, but the LIverpool onslaught that everyone probably expected never came.
“We were pretty comfortable throughout and I can only remember Fred Barber making one save and that was late on when Steve Staunton took a pot shot from outside the area.
“I was up against Steve McManaman and Dean Saunders andsometimesRayHoughton, but we all played well.
“It wasn’t a vintage Liverpool side by any means, certainly nowhere near as good as the current side, but they still had class players like Jan Molby, Mark Wright and Steve Nichol so they should have been good enough to see us off.
“The players then piled over to the Wag & Bone pub and the landlord organised a lock-in so we stayed all night before heading to Mannings Cafe near the market the next morning and waiting for the Evening Telegraph to come out.
“It was just the greatest time in the company of some outstanding team-mates.”
ONTO THE PLAY OFFS (LOCK IN 2)
“We already had a lot of confidence, but beating Liverpool was a huge boost.
“We went on to lose to Middlesbrough in a quarter-final replay when the winners were due to meet Manchester United in the semi-final so that was a rare disappointment for us.
“Turns’ picked young Hamish Curtis for that game as he felt he was the only one quick enough to keep up with dangerman Stuart Ripley and he did a good job until Ripley curled home a wonder goal late on.
“‘Turns’ had signed Bobby Barnes and Tony Adcock from Northampton in January and we took off in the league winning nine in a row and ending up in the play-offs.
“We were a top side now with a top manager. ‘Turns’ was the best man manager I played for. He knew you had to put your arm round Worrell Sterling and be careful what you said to Bobby Barnes. He used to rollock me and Dave Robinson as he knew we would react well.
“Two moments won us the play-off final against
Stockport at Wembley as Lee Howarth’s unbelievable late goal-saving block was quickly followed by Ken Charlery’s winning goal.
“It was a poor game in blistering heat, but no-one cared. Lee had come on for me as I suffered a dead leg about 20 minutes from time.
“If that game had gone to extra time I had no doubt we would have won as were very fit. We played 65 games that season and we were still strong at the end of it.
“‘Turns’ had made fitness a priority. I joined after the club had won promotion from Division Four the previous season and he drummed into us that no team would be fitter than us. They might have better players, but we would be stronger and better organised.
“Wembley was another great occasion, but winning at Huddersfield in the playoff semi-final topped it for me.
“I didn’t miss many games that season, but I missed the firstlegathomewhenwedrew 2-2 so I was up for the second leg and what a performance we put on despite conceding an early goal.
“Worrell and Steve Cooper scored the goals as we won 2-1 and there was bedlam on the the final whistle with a pitch invasion and all sorts going on. The atmosphere had been incredible all night. It was a wonderful experience.
“It was a Thursday night so we headed back to L’Aristos in the middle of an industrial estate in Peterborough thinking it would be buzzing, but there was no-one there. It was a tumbleweed experience so we had to head over to the Wag & Bone again for another lock-in!”
GOODBYE BECK, HELLO TURNER
“I joined Cambridge straight after leaving the army and I felt I did well in pre-season and friendlies, but I couldn’t get a look-in in the first team.
“In fact my first game for Cambridge Reserves was against Barnet and their manager Barry Fry signed me that night on loan for the rest of the season. We went on to finish second in the Conference.
“I performed well the following summer, but again I was loaned to Barnet so the
following season when Beck offered me a contract on the same terms I told him to ‘do one’.
“I was quite pally with Graham Scarff at Cambridge and he knew Chris Turner well so I reckon he told him about me as Chris rang me and invited me over.
“I went to see him on a Friday with my wife and after a brief discussion he threw a £50 note at me, told me to take her out for lunch and come back and see him on Monday.
“He was such a clever operator and he clrearly wanted me so I signed that morning even though we only went to Mannings Cafe for our lunch!
“It turned out to be one my better decisions.”
BARRY BREAKS BAD NEWS
“That first season in Division One was brilliant.
“We had a good side and we were used to winning. We enjoyed some excellent results beating Derby twice for a start and playing against big clubs like West Ham and Wolves.
“Lil Fuccillo took over from Turner who moved upstairs and did well at first, but the following season quickly became tough and we went down.
“I stayed for the following season under John Still and started well, but I picked up an injury and couldn’t get back in ahead of Greg Heald and Gary Breen, two players Stilly had signed.
“‘Turns’ then pulled me and told me he’d had offers from Bournemouth and Partick Thistle which the club had accepted. I’d spent time in Dorset when I was in the army and I didn’t fancy dropping down a division to go back down there so I went to play in the Scottish top flight with Partick.
“I enjoyed it, but after a couple of seasons Mick Halsall,
who was now Posh manager, asked me to come back. I said of course, partly because we’d struggled to sell our house in Peterborough, but the day before I was due to sign Barry Fry bought the club and installed himself as manager.
“He still signed me and when I looked on the training pitch before the season started I saw the likes of Martin O’Connor and Scott Houghton out there and I felt we had a hell of a chance of being successful.
“But it wasn’t long before rumours of financial problems surfaced and sure enough it all came to a head when I was with Barry at my transfer fee tribunal.
“He turned to me and said I’m going to have to sell you. Bloody hell I thought you’ve only just paid £50k for me. That’s a bit quick, but he said the bank had been on the phone while we were in the meeting and told him the club was broke.
“I was bothered as I was owed a signing on fee and the Spalding branch manager of Barclays rang me direct to say I’d be getting no money without his say-so!
“It was such a shame and I’m just glad for the club’s sake that Peter Boizot came along. By then I’d moved back to Scotland with Dunfermline.”
BITS AND PIECES
Steve scored two goals in
• 196 appearances for Posh. His first arrived at Bristol City 24 hours after Chris Turner had bought the club. Andy Cole was on loan at City at the time.
Steve worked alongside
• former Posh boss Steve Evans at Boston United as head of youth football. He described the time as ‘interesting’
Steve was inducted to the
• Posh Hall of Fame in August.