Re-name the Shield in Jimmy’s honour
Football paid its respects to Jimmy Armfield last week. The tributes were many, from every corner of the game and all struck exactly the right tone.
Jimmy was literally Mr Football – player, manager, journalist, radio pundit, advisor to both the FA and the PFA.
And he played a significant part in my own career. You always remember your first interview, and mine was with Jimmy.
He was manager of Bolton Wanderers, I was 18 years old, fresh out of school and six days into the job
My sports editor believed in throwing people in at the deep end, but he knew what he was doing sending me to cut my journalistic teeth on Jimmy.
I turned up unannounced at Burnden Park and a few minutes later I was sitting across his desk, he was lighting his pipe and requesting tea and biscuits.
After I ploughed through my list of pre-written questions, Jimmy said: “Do you want a good line?”
I didn’t know what a line was, never mind a good one, so I just said: “Yes please.”
He then told me about a young winger who had reported back for pre-season training with an unusual injury.
He’d apparently been on a family holiday cruise, got a splinter in his foot playing deck quoits in his bare feet and the wound had become infected.
“It’s an exclusive,” Jimmy said. “Take it back to your sports editor and see what he says.”
OK, it wasn’t earth-shattering but it was a nice tale and my sports editor was impressed.
Jimmy had trained to be a journalist and was giving a rookie a helping hand.
I’ve probably done 5000 interviews since and most of them have faded from my memory. Not that first one with Jim, though.
The announcement of his death came on the day Alexis Sanchez signed for Manchester United.
It struck me that the Chilean would probably have earned more money in his first week at Old Trafford than Jimmy did in his lifetime.
The danger is that men like Armfield, who worked in football for 65 years, will be forgotten once the obituaries and eulogies are over.
So let’s give him a lasting legacy. Something that would remind future generations that there once was a man who played for the same club, Blackpool, for 17 years, helped win a World Cup, managed at the highest level, worked tirelessly to help administrators and gave unique insight to readers and listeners.
I propose that the trophy presented to the winners of the annual curtain-raiser between the Premier League champions and the FA Cup winners – once the Charity Shield, now the Community Shield be re-named in his honour – The Jimmy Armfield Shield.
That wouldn’t impact on current sponsorship deals, and as it’s supposed to represent the game’s wider ‘community’ – something Jimmy always did – it couldn’t have a more apt title.