McHard was a flying machine, not a hard man
English football fans are spending the weekend hoping for a shock in the Third Round of the FA Cup.
Chelsea start their campaign against Championship side Nottingham Forest this afternoon.
Although both sides are former European Cup winners, it would still be a major surprise if Frank Lampard’s side lost at home to the Reds.
This weekend sixty years ago, the Blues’ cuptie was against a team that contained six Scots.
Bradford Park Avenue of the Fourth Division were the visitors to Stamford Bridge.
In their ranks was one of the quickest players in the game.
Archie McHard didn’t hang around when it came to hitting the net.
He scored the quickest goal in Bradford’s history – beating the Southport keeper after only 12 seconds in a 3-0 win on Boxing Day, 1959.
But just a few days later, Chelsea defeated them 5-1, with Jimmy Greaves scoring one, and the consolation from another Scot, John Allan.
Archie made his professional debut in a League Cup tie for Clyde against Dunfermline and was an immediate hit.
He recalled: “I was always a right-winger who hugged the touchline. But I got into the Clyde first team when the centre-forward, Bassie Keogh, was injured.
“I should have scored from point-blank range early on, but I made up for it by scoring twice in a 3-2 victory.
“Getting two goals in my first game was a great start. It certainly helped with getting the crowd on my side.
“Mind you, some of them probably thought I should have got a hat-trick.
“I used to play on the right, and Tommy Ring was on the opposite wing.
“He only had one foot – his left – but what a left foot it was. He could beat a man on the inside or the outside and get the ball into the box.
“We got on really well. Tommy would always be last off the team bus so that he could have a cigarette before we made it into the ground.
“The manager wouldn’t let anyone smoke on the bus.”
Archie kept his place in the Bully Wee side and was part of the team that flew to London for a challenge match against Arsenal, beating the Gunners 2-1 under floodlights.
A Glasgow Cup winner’s medal came Archie’s way, along with winning the Second Division.
There was a rare headed goal that helped to knock Dundee out of the Scottish Cup in 1957.
The following year, he was in the squad – but not stripped – when Clyde beat Hibs to win the Cup.
In 1959, Archie headed south when he was signed for Bradford Park Avenue by Scottish manager, Walter Galbraith.
He said: “I was made an offer from Hartlepool but I saw there were two teams in Bradford – Park Avenue and City.
“It seemed a better bet to go there. It was the chance to try life as a full-time footballer.
“I’d worked as a plumber’s mate in a shipyard when I was at Clyde.
“It helped that we had 12 Scots in the squad at Bradford. We were all in digs in the same street.
“The landlady would give us bread and lard to keep our strength up, and I’d have a raw egg before games.”
The name is McHard, but Archie was no hard man.
He said: “I didn’t do much tackling, but I was used to getting hit by the full-backs.
“I was so quick, they normally didn’t catch me, but you couldn’t help but go down if you were whacked at speed.”
Family was put before football when he returned to his native Dumbarton, where he still lives, in 1961.
Bradford held on to his registration, meaning Archie, now 85, only played a few Highland League matches and charity games.
He did some scouting for Hibs while working at a distillery and became a champion bowler.