Forest boss did not know he’d signed George
Players who moved during the January transfer window are now doing their best to get a game for their new clubs.
That isn’t always easy.
It’s often made more difficult when a transfer is done at the behest of an owner or director of football.
It can be hard to convince a manager of your worth, if he had nothing to do with the signing.
That might seem like a modern phenomenon, but it’s something that’s always been happening in one way or another.
It’s fifty years since George Grimshaw set off for a new start in English football.
First Division Nottingham Forest came north to buy two players from Forfar Athletic at the start of 1969.
Full-back George was signed along with striker Bobby Davis.
The pair’s move to England was dictated by a chain of events triggered by the resignation of the Leicester City manager.
George recalled: “We were supposed to be going to Luton Town at the end of 1968.
“The move was agreed and we played a final game for Forfar on the Saturday.
“We were all set to travel down south the following day, but got news that it was all off.
“It turned out that Luton manager Allan Brown had been sacked because the club found out about his application for the Leicester job.
“They didn’t want to go ahead and sign player she had identified.
“It wasn’t long before an acceptable offer arrived from Nottingham Forest.
“I was working as a wood machinist at McIntosh furniture in Kirkcaldy, so the chance of going full-time in the English First Division was too good to turn down.
“But the first day at Forest didn’t really do us any favours.
“We arrived and signed on the same day as a new manager was being hired.
“Matt Gillies was taking over as boss – he was the man who’d resigned at Leicester, causing Allan Brown to lose his job at Luton.
“I’m not saying I got a raw deal at Forest, but I’m not sure my face ever fitted there.
“It was the club that signed us, not the manager. He probably preferred his own men.”
However, George has no regrets about his time at the City ground.
He got the chance to be at the same club as one of his boyhood heroes.
He said: “My father, John, was the groundsman at Raith Rovers for many years.
“My uncle, Rankin Grimshaw, was the club chairman and president of the SFA.
“That meant I spent a lot of time watching Rovers at Stark’s Park and I would wait for my dad after the games.
“The players would come out and pat me on the head.
“One of them was Jim Baxter. We became team-mates at Forest and he was great with us when we arrived.
“He was a wonderful player but, unfortunately, he spent most of his time on the treatment table.
“There were other great talents like Joe Baker, England striker Ian Storey-Moore and Terry Hennessey, who captained Wales.
“Scotland winger John Robertson came to the club as an apprentice while I was there.”
George came back to his native Fife after being released by Forest.
He went on: “George Farm offered me a trial at Dunfermline and I spent a short time there.
“I remember playing against Willie Henderson – that was quite a challenge!
“Bob Shankly then took me to Stirling Albion, before I went back to Forfar and then Brechin.
“After that I got itchy feet and decided to move back to England.
“I played for Fleetwood Town for a number of years while Tom White, the former Hearts and Aberdeen striker, was manager.”
George, now 72, lives in Lytham St Annes, where he enjoys a game of golf and still does some work fitting kitchens.