Western Daily Press (Saturday)
THE LEGEND WHO COST JUST £18K
IT is doubtful that the Ashton Gate faithful have ever cheered on a sweeter left foot than that belonging to Alan Walsh,
Certainly, Richard Latham, who has covered Bristol City as a journalist for four decades and was a boyhood fan growing up in Weston-super-Mare, can’t remember a better one.
Meeting the pair – and Walsh’s wife Sue – at a pub in their mutual home town of Portishead, one could have been forgiven, such is the banter and repartee, for thinking they were old teammates rather than adversaries as reporter and footballer.
But then Latham might just have spent more time at Ashton Gate and on the City team bus than he did in the Temple Way offices...
The relationship between professional football and the Press was very different in the 1980s to today.
It was an era before the internet, television money and football clubs having slick media operations of their own.
In short, the clubs needed exposure to help sell tickets and consequently were a lot more open with the Press than they are today.
It helped foster enduring relationships and listening to Walsh and Latham share memories of Wembley over a pint it is immediately clear that day in May 1986 was a career highlight for both.
Walsh, who later won two titles in Turkey for Besiktas, shared the dream of all footballers of playing at Wembley.
He was lucky enough to play there three times (the following year in the same trophy for City against Mansfield and in 1994 for Taunton Town in the FA Vase), but this was his first and the only one where he emerged as a winner.
It was footballing royalty in the shape of Saint and Greavsie present in the Royal Box, he said, to present the trophy amid jubilant scenes.
However City very nearly didn’t make it to Wembley at all, as overcoming Fourth Division Hereford in the Southern Area semi-final was arduous work after losing the first leg at Edgar Street 2-0.
It took extra-time in the second leg before City’s class eventually told.
Latham says Walsh’s arrival for a fee of only £18,000 was one of the great transfer coups in Bristol City’s history, with Terry Cooper convincing a tribunal to slash Darlington’s asking price.
Walsh was Darlington’s record scorer and his left-foot thunderbolts have lived long in the memory for City fans.
He retained his links to the club, for whom he scored 99 goals, after the end of his playing career, working with the youth team and as a community officer.
In his acknowledgments at the start of Latham credits Walsh with being one of the main instigators and inspirations for the book.
And Walsh himself is looking forward to catching up with his old team-mates on Thursday night.
They, no doubt, will be more than fascinated in hearing of his life too.
After all, even those who have had high-profile football roles such as David Moyes, probably haven’t had the brushes with stardom that Walsh has had in recent years.
For Walsh and wife Sue intersperse their ordinary life in Portishead with the occasional dose of Hollywood glamour.
Their daughter Kayte met Kelsey Grammer, star of and the voice of character Sideshow Bob, while working as an air stewardess.
They later wed and the Walsh’s life took an unusual and exciting twist, that brought with it some of the trappings of celebrity life.
Grammer has made several visits to Portishead – indeed his photograph is on the wall of the local Chinese takeaway – and the stays at Claridge’s when he is in London are certainly a little different from the hotels Walsh and his City team-mates were accustomed to.
Reminiscing about meeting celebrities Sue’s eyes get as starry when discussing meeting Alfie Boe as a footballer such as Alan’s would if meeting Sir Alf Ramsey. And the private plane Grammer lays on for trips to Los Angeles is somewhat removed from a football final where a minibus was the prize.
But then, as ‘Greavsie’ used to tell ‘Saint’, ‘it’s a funny old game’...