Western Daily Press (Saturday)
The Bristol City stalwart who starred for PSG
Richard Latham catches up with former Ashton Gate favourite Jantzen Derrick, who crossed the Channel to sign for Paris St Germain for the 1971-72 campaign
WHEN illustrious French football club Paris St Germain began planning their 50th anniversary celebrations this year, they were quick to contact their first-ever English signing.
But it was not Ray Wilkins or David Beckham, two of the countless star names to have pulled on a PSG shirt since the club was formed in 1970.
The player concerned was the former Bristol City favourite Jantzen Derrick, who, when his 13 years at Ashton Gate came to an end, crossed the Channel to spend the 1971-72 season in France.
Now 77, Bedminster-born Jantzen, who lives a stone’s throw from City’s ground, just as he did as a boy, was ready to be visited at his home by PSG representatives before the coronavirus struck.
“The club contacted me, initially via Facebook, about their 50th anniversary,” he told me. “They had arranged for their women’s side to have a game over here against Arsenal’s women’s team and wanted to interview me at my house.
“I’m not sure whether it will happen now, but hopefully it will be possible later in the year. It was nice to be remembered as their first English player.”
Jantzen was reaching the end of his playing career when an unexpected opportunity came to ply his trade in a different country.
He recalled: “I had been made redundant by City when Alan Dicks was manager, so I was open to offers.
“I had a phone call from Arsenal, who had a close relationship with Paris St Germain, which still exists. Prior to that, the relationship was with Racing Club of Paris, but they folded.
“Paris St Germain had only just been formed and asked Arsenal to recommend some players capable of doing well in the French First Division. My name cropped up and I went over to speak to them.
“They offered me a deal and I moved over, staying first in a hotel and then a flat where my wife and children joined me at Christmas.
“It was in a lovely area and I enjoyed my season over there. The standard of football was very good and the French were a bit ahead of us in terms of nutrition and what food to eat before games.
“The training was also different. While at City, footballs were considered expensive items, Paris St Germain gave every player his own ball with his name on to train with.
“Concentration was on the skill factor, which suited me, but I found there were lots of players over there as skilful or even more so than me.”
Jantzen is still regarded by many long-standing City fans as one of the most naturally talented players ever to have represented the club.
He represented England schoolboys after helping the Bristol Boys team win the national cup in 1958 and became the youngest player at the time to ever play for City’s first team when making his League debut at the age of 16 a year later.
“I played for my school, a little club called Ashton Wanderers and a very successful Bristol Boys team,” he said. “We won the national cup against Swansea in a two-legged affair. A crowd of more than 20,000 watched the first leg at Ashton Gate where we won quite comfortably. Then we went to the Vetch Field at Swansea and were losing early on before recovering to win again.
“I managed to get into the England side in 1958 and it turned out that five of the players I lined up with went on to become professionals, including Terry Venables, Ron Harris’s brother Alan and my City colleague Adrian Williams.
“It was when I left school at the age of 15 that I signed at Ashton Gate and went onto the ground staff for two years.
“My City debut came away at Lincoln in November 1959 and I played quite a few games in the Second Division that season. My first manager was Peter Doherty, but he didn’t stay long after my debut because we were relegated. After Les Bardsley took charge for a short spell, Fred Ford was appointed.
“As well as playing, I was doing all the jobs apprentices were expected to do, like cleaning the stands and dressing rooms and looking after the boots of the full-time professionals.
“In those days they had leather studs, which were banged in with nails, and we had to ensure that was done, as well as keeping the boots clean. I loved every minute of it because I lived by the ground and it was always my ambition to pull on the red and white shirt.”
While City supporters soon came to appreciate Jantzen’s silky skills, there was also criticism that he was not brave or consistent enough, even though he went on to make over 250 League appearances.
“I suppose there was some truth in that,” he says modestly. “My fighting weight was only ten stone and there were some big, ugly players in opposing teams at the time.
“The rules were not as restrictive on tackling as they are today and I got kicked a lot. Back then I would say you had labourers and craftsmen in football teams and, without sounding arrogant, I was definitely the latter.
“Wingers are expected to do something positive with the ball when they get it and go past full-backs, rather than make a simple pass. It is not easy to do that match after match, particularly if the team are not playing well.
“I may have had two good games in every three and when I think back now, I probably didn’t fulfil my full potential.
“On the ball I was a good player, but if I had my time again I would have tried to be a midfielder, rather than a winger, because I could see a pass early and would have been involved in games more.”
Waiting in the middle for Jantzen’s crosses for much of his time with City was club legend John Atyeo, whose statue stands at the Winterstoke Road end of Ashton Gate.
“John was phenomenal,” he said. “He was over six foot tall and very good in the air, but he also had a lot of skill for a big guy and was very cool in front of goal. I knew where he was going to be when I got the ball out wide. It wasn’t rocket science and if I produced a decent cross there was a good chance he would get on the end of it.”
Off the pitch, Jantzen says he learned a lot from the great man and grew to admire him even more, even though he was unlikely to be first to the bar.
“John lived at Dilton Marsh, near Warminster, and drove to the ground every day. Each year he would get a new Hillman car – I think it was a Hawk or a Hunter – but he wouldn’t pay the extra to have a heater fitted so he used to arrive wearing a big heavy coat and scarf.
“It’s fair to say he was careful with money, but he was a great guy and I loved him dearly. We had a decent team in the Third Division after being relegated and managed to win promotion back to what is now the Championship in the mid 1960s.”
One thing missing from Bristol football in recent years has been local derbies, with City and Rovers in different divisions. Jantzen rues their absence, having played in many.
“There was at least one every year because back then the Gloucestershire Cup final was played annually between City and Rovers and it was a major game for both clubs and the supporters,” he said.
“I remember watching one at Ashton Gate at the age of around 14, which Rovers won. But during my playing career we beat them more often than they beat us.
“There were a lot of local players in both sides, which ensured they were
blood and thunder games. But off the field we socialised with the Rovers lads and I even worked with a quite a few. The wage structure in football when I started was very different to today. If you were paid £12 a week during the season, you dropped to £8 in the summer break and also lost the opportunity to earn win bonuses.
“So, we used to get jobs outside the game for five or six weeks in the summer. These days I watch City a lot, rarely missing a home game, and it makes me smile to see the players’ cars lined up outside the stadium.
“My first car at the age of 17 was a 1936 Ford 8. Most of the lads travelled to the ground by bus.”
Who were the best players Jantzen came up against? He only has to think for second before one name springs to mind.
“The best I watched and played against was John Charles, who was an absolute colossus at either centre-half or centre-forward,” he said.
“I remember the first time I saw him was when I was in my early teens and he played at Ashton Gate for Leeds. He started at centre-half that day and, if memory serves me right, they switched him to centreforward in the second half and he scored the only goal of the game.
“I had the privilege of being in the same side as George Best in a charity game at back in the 1970s. Bridgwater Town were bankrupt and a match was arranged there to raise funds to keep the club going.
“George arrived with girlfriend Mary Stavin, a former Miss World, and was brilliant on the day, signing all the autographs and chatting with people. He seemed a lovely guy and he did what he had to do in the game, scoring a couple of goals and making some mesmerising runs, which I could only stand back and admire.”
Recently retired, Jantzen rarely misses a City home game at a plush stadium he barely recognises from the one he graced during an era when skilful football was made difficult by inferior playing surfaces.
“I would have enjoyed the pitches now. When I was playing there were only two or three grounds I looked forward to visiting.
“One was Ipswich and another
Middlesbrough, but if you watch film of football in the Sixties you will get an idea of how awful the pitches were. The game has advanced in so many ways. Players wear vests that allow coaches on the touchline to monitor how much ground they cover and whether their energy levels are flagging. I wouldn’t have fancied that so much!
“Ashton Gate is a fantastic stadium now and Steve Lansdown deserves huge credit for City being where they are. I like the fact that a new training ground is being built and I feel confident that I will live to see the club in the Premier League.”
A final question has to be about his name. How did a Bedminster boy come to be called Jantzen?
“My mum was with her sister in a sports shop one day when she was carrying me and, as they were browsing, she spotted the name Jantzen on a pair of swimming trunks,” he revealed.
“It was a well known swimwear brand in America and she took a liking to the name, which is how I got it. It could have been worse. She could have called me Speedo!”