Frank Worthington was deadly and he designed the suits!
As Huddersfield stand on the brink of the top flight, Sportsmail looks back at their last stint in the big time
HUDDERSFIELD TOWN were top-flight material and amid the excitement some bright spark thought it was a good idea to let Frank Worthington loose designing the club suits.
‘A sort of pale blue, very light, silvery blue,’ explained left back Geoff Hutt, who still has the offending garment, 45 years on. ‘Shiny, like you might wear in a stage act. Really heavy, too, red hot.
‘We looked like comedians. I don’t know how we dared wear it to the matches. These days they come in with their tracksuits and headphones, don’t they? We thought we were the bee’s knees.’
Worthington was the showman and extrovert who added swagger to the young and industrious Huddersfield side built by Ian Greaves. ‘ Frank was in a Ford Mustang when the rest of us were still in Morris Minors,’ recalled Trevor Cherry, a young defender compared to Bobby Moore as he came through the ranks looking destined for big things.
Cherry was partnered at the back by Roy Ellam. ‘We had a 13th commandment: thou shalt not pass,’ said Ellam. ‘I laugh today when I see some of the so-called tackles. There’s a real lack of toughness in the game. The pitches are like bowling greens and the ball is like a balloon.
‘God knows what they’d find if they cut my head open because every day in training Ian Greaves would smack 30 or 40 long balls to me on the edge of the area and I’d head them all away.’
Seven players started all 42 games in Huddersfield’s 1970 promotion season. With no major signings, Greaves worked mainly with the same core of players for the next two years.
The boss was popular, his team was strong at the back. Hutt and Dennis Clarke were full backs with Terry Poole in goal until he missed two years with a broken leg and David Lawson took over.
There was Northern Ireland midfielder Jimmy Nicholson, Steve Smith, Jimmy McGill, Jimmy Lawson, Les Chapman and Bobby Hoy, who also found time to play in a folk band with his sister. Spirit was generated by friendship, common ambition and social activities which modern footballers rarely get away with.
One boozy night in Italy for an Anglo-Italian Cup tie ended with Ellam picking up Colin Dobson, an inside forward who didn’t normally drink, slinging him over his shoulder and carrying him back to the hotel. ‘I was responsible for making sure everyone got back,’ said Ellam, who at 75 still runs two gyms and trains three times a week.
His daughter Jeannie is a world champion body-builder.
Dobson was soon tucked into bed only for his room- mate Nicholson to decide the bed should go in the lift!
Cherry had grown up watching Ray Wilson and Denis Law at Leeds Road, listening to tales of Herbert Chapman and three titles won in the 1920s.
Hutt was at the FA Cup tie against Wolves when floodlights, bought with the £55,000 British record transfer fee from selling Law to Manchester City, were first turned on. In Greaves’s team, Worthington supplied the stardust.
‘Frank was ahead of his time when it came to dress and style,’ said Chapman. ‘As a footballer, he had a remarkable left foot, incredible awareness and an eye for goal.’
Worthington scored 18 on the way up and nine as they finished 15th in Division One, but then opponents nullified the threat.
‘Everybody knew where our goals came from,’ said Ellam. ‘They marked Frank out of games and we were done for.’ They beat Derby in November, but did not win another league game. In the last 16 games they scored four times. Two were own goals. ‘They kept promising to sign a centre forward,’ said Cherry. ‘Derek Dougan and Fred Pickering came for talks. None of them signed. It was down to the money.’
As captain, Cherry went to see Greaves and a four- player delegation took their case to chairman Frank Drabble and the board.
When they suggested a survival bonus of £1,000 per man, to go with their £60-a-week basic and £20-apoint bonuses, the board went public, accusing the players of greed — and trying to break Football League rules.
Worthington was dropped for the last two games for disciplinary reasons and Huddersfield finished bottom. It was a sad end to a fabulous journey. The team fell apart. Keeper Lawson moved to Everton for £80,000. Worthington joined Leicester after a £150,000 move to Liverpool collapsed when he failed a medical with high blood pressure.
Cherry and Ellam joined Leeds. ‘My father wasn’t happy,’ said Cherry. ‘He didn’t want me to go to Leeds, but he was pacified when I got my first England cap.’
Three years after relegation from the top flight and Huddersfield had crashed into Division Four.
The legends of the early 1970s are often at the John Smith’s Stadium and share the same bond as frailties take hold. McGill died two years ago. Greaves, their mentor, died in 2009. Worthington has dementia. ‘He still comes to the games,’ said Ellam. ‘Every time he grabs me in a bear-hug and says: “Hey, Big Roy”. He’s such a wonderful guy.’
They are thrilled by the success of David Wagner’s team, who stand one win from promotion to the Premier League. ‘Chairman Dean Hoyle deserves all the credit,’ said Cherry. ‘He’s not just in it for the money. Huddersfield Town means everything to Dean.’
Win at Wembley and they will emulate the heroes of Greaves’s team. But they will never match