That coracle, a bottle of port and winning the title
It’s easy to think football rivalry doesn’t really exist outside the world’s big cities.
But one of the games’ most-intense fixtures takes place today when Swansea take on Cardiff City in the South Wales derby.
A man who knows all about the passion in that part of the country is Jake King.
The Scot is best known for playing and managing Shrewsbury Town.
But he has never been far from the Welsh fervour for football since he left Glasgow 51 years ago.
He said: “I’d been with Shrewsbury for 11 years, and had captained them for quite a lengthy spell when I left and joined Wrexham.
“The fans hated one another and the first time I ran out as a Wrexham player, I was booed.
“I then left them after making a decent impression on the supporters, and joined Cardiff City. That was another big rivalry.
“I always seemed to be unpopular when I arrived at a new club.
“When I stopped playing, I managed Telford United. That’s only 11 miles away from Shrewsbury, and there’s a rivalry there.
“I first came to Shrewsbury when five of us came for a trial at the age of 15.
“One of the others was Gregor Stevens, who went on to play for Motherwell and Rangers.
“I was in the same school team as Andy Gray, and was spotted by Shrewsbury’s Scottish scout, Jock Fulton. He recruited lots of Scots.
“Harry Gregg, the former Manchester United
goalkeeper, was the manager and I very quickly felt at home.”
You can’t discuss Shrewsbury without mentioning the quirky aspect of their former ground, Gay Meadow.
One side of the stadium was bordered by the River Severn, and balls were often booted into the water by defenders like Jake.
The job of retrieving them fell to local man Fred Davies. He used a tiny boat – a coracle – to fish them out.
Jake said: “Fred was a great character. He went out into a pretty dangerous, swirling river and got 50p for every ball he rescued.
“He was a painter & decorator by trade, most of the players had him round doing work in their houses.
“There’s a story that one night he was chasing a white object in the river. When it started making a noise, Fred eventually realised it was a swan!”
A stand-out game from Jake’s career involves a famous victory in Europe, but he ranks it only in second place.
He said: “Probably my best time, and it’s because I was at Shrewsbury so long, was when we went up to the Second Division in 1979.
“We were vying with John Toshack’s Swansea City, and Graham Taylor’s Watford.
“I scored two in a 4-1 win against Exeter as we were crowned champions.
“The celebrations were quite something.” Everyone loves a giant-killing and Jake had one to remember with Wrexham.
He recalled: “We played Porto in the CupWinners’ Cup. They had been in the Final the year before, so were hot favourites.
“We did well to win the home leg 1-0, but were quickly 3-0 down in Portugal.
“I scored two goals before half-time, then they got a fourth from Paulo Futre.
“There was just two minutes left when Barry Horne scored to put us through on away goals.
“Porto wouldn’t give us a drink after the match but we’d each been given a big bottle of port.
“We wanted a pint of lager, but port had to do on the coach to the airport.
“It was a great boost because the club was absolutely skint at the time.
“We played Roma in the next round. Although we went out, the money kept things going.”
Now 66, Jake – who still lives in Shrewsbury – became a qualified chef and ran successful restaurants.
He’s now retired but is on hand to help his son, Ryan, with a new rock’n’roll-themed mobile fish and chip business.