Bill Nicholson. Brian Scovell
weird ‘celebration’ of a hat-trick in April 2011.
After yet another instance in 2009 – when Tottenham’s Ledley King was charged with assaulting a 22-year-old bouncer – Harry Redknapp said he was in favour of a ban at White Hart Lane. He condemned David Bentley’s latest car crash (luckily, no one was injured) and he told the Mail on Sunday: ‘Just ask anyone who has lost someone in an accident. In 1990, I lost my best mate [Bournemouth’s Brian Tiler] and four people got killed because a young kid was drunk and driving the other car.’
Bill Nicholson drank, but always in moderation. He entertained his many relatives and friends at home, not in pubs or clubs. As an essentially private person, he preferred to spend his time at home rather than being in the limelight. Foreign players are taught at a young age to avoid alcohol and most of them follow this advice but there is still a big drinking culture in English football and the Premiership continues to give out bottles of champagne to their Men of the Match. A better idea would be a cheque, which the Man of the Match would be asked to present to a hospice or school. Not everyone drinks in football, though. One exception is Owen Coyle, the Scots manager of Bolton. ‘I’ve never had a drop,’ he admits.
Many millions watch Premiership matches around the world and it is the most-watched league of any country. Bill would certainly agree with Harry Redknapp about the decline in the number of English footballers available to be selected for their country, which is reflected in the international side’s results. In 2007/8 the top clubs had debts of £3 billion and Michel Platini, the UEFA President, talked sense when he said: ‘There is anarchy and I want to save many clubs from bankruptcy because when the TV rights stop in England, what happens?’
Throughout his life Bill was known as a perfectionist and his daughter Linda confirmed this: ‘Definitely. He never deflected from that. He wanted us to do our very best and when I started to learn to drive a car, I sometimes parked the car six inches or so from the kerb. He told me it should be two inches, not six, and I had to do it.
‘His lawn was immaculate and he put a lot of care and love into it, and it was like a putting green. We had a beautiful garden and it was his pride and joy. He had our putters close to hand so we could practise our putting skills. You couldn’t blame the lawn for a bad shot as Dad spent a lot of time nurturing it to perfection. He had one of those old push lawn mowers that cut the grass beautifully and it was probably his way of relaxing.
‘He was a loving father who brought us up the right way and we were very proud of him. There were things he expected from us, like giving a hand in the house. He was a real Yorkshireman and believed that certain things were the women’s responsibility, although he nearly always did the washing up. He used to whistle or sing when he was washing the dishes and we’d be drying them with the best tea towels. Sometimes we’d all sing along together, which made it a lot of fun.
‘He really was a very happy person at home. I failed my GCE in English one year and that disappointed him, and he said he wouldn’t pay for driving lessons until I did it. When I passed, he always came out with me until I passed the driving test. He gave us a time for coming home at night and he was very fair about it. He expected us to take a Saturday and summer job to teach us the value of money. He didn’t give us pocket money as such – we had to earn it. But if it was a special event and we told him about it, he would give us the money to go. When he came back from his football trips, he would bring back presents and we have lots of them still around. He certainly didn’t spoil us.
‘He took us to matches, particularly the big matches. We preferred sitting high in the back of the stand and we didn’t see him until he got home. Sometimes we went to Cheshunt, the training ground. Afterwards we would be talking about the game and giving our views, and sometimes he’d say, “You’re talking rubbish!” He didn’t take his worries home. If we won, the atmosphere was fantastic. He thought it was important to be playing sport. He didn’t mind what sport it was as long as you played something and he encouraged his grandchildren to play sport.
‘When Spurs lost he wouldn’t dwell on it. He’d get the cards out to play – he loved solo. Very often we would have ten or more people round for dinner and they were happy family occasions. If he was ill, he would go into the ground and I can only remember one occasion when he was really sick and had to stay in bed for a day. Even then, he was on the phone talking about his work. He was a very fit man and he liked walking home to and from the ground, and when people spoke to him, he would always have a chat – he never ignored anyone.’
Andrea Fraser, a fan, recalled: ‘My dad had a sweet shop near White Hart Lane in the late seventies and Bill was a regular customer. He would stand in the shop for ages, chatting to my dad about football. My dad felt his comments were valued by Bill and that gave him the biggest buzz, as you can imagine; he was my dad’s hero. Bill loved the club with all his heart. He is one of the few managers, past and present, who genuinely respected the fans’ views.’
One of the most-quoted of Bill’s remarks was uttered at Linda’s wedding in 1970, when he said: ‘I never saw her growing up.’ It seemed to suggest he was guilty of neglecting Jean and Linda. ‘He did say that and it was true,’ recalls Linda. ‘He had tears in his eyes when he said it to Mum and he was a pretty emotional man. I think we were both a bit anxious but I was so happy to have him beside me on the journey to the church, even though he told me not to fiddle with the flowers as I’d spoil them! His life revolved around football and football was always first. And he missed a number of events at our schools but living nearby, he sometimes popped home more than most football managers, like lunch times. He was a wonderful father.’
So how would Bill Nicholson fare today, managing one of the global clubs owned by corporation tycoons who know little of the game? One of his club’s best-known internationals from a previous generation, said: ‘He would have found it very difficult, basically because players today have great egos. You can’t speak to them the way Bill spoke to his players.’
Bill Nicholson was born and brought up in a house in Scarborough, next door to a garage where a woman was later murdered. It turned out to be one of the longest and most unsolvable crimes of the century, and no one was ever charged. On 26 March 1943, two brothers named Johnson – Tommy, aged 8 and his brother Jimmy, aged 7 – were playing in the deserted garage alongside the Nicholsons’ rented house when they discovered the body.
Tommy, who was a well-known boxer in the North and still works as a boxing coach, remembers: ‘We always used to sneak into the place and play football, and we used to swing on the pump across the pit. This time my hat fell in and I went to get it back.’
In the middle of the garage floor was a four-foot deep inspection pit, covered in oil. To the boys’ horror, a naked woman was lying inside it and Jimmy, a football coach, said, ‘We thought it was a dummy until we started poking it and I said, “That’s flesh!” We went home and told our Mum and she said, “Don’t take any notice, it’s a dummy.” But Tommy said, “The first thing I did was to run down to the police station and told them, and they came back to the garage and they confirmed that the woman had died in suspicious circumstances.’ As a reward, the boys were each given five shillings.
The victim was thought to be a prostitute but Tommy said: ‘Oh no, she was married to a soldier and they ran a grocery shop in Prospect Road. She must have been walking down the road and met this man in the War, and there were no lights showing so there were no witnesses. It was an offence to leave lights on because of the risk of bombing.
‘We were told that she was strangled in our road, Trafalgar Road West, and the murderer dragged the body to Vine Street and threw it into the pit. The Army parked their trucks in the garage, but a few days before they evacuated and the regiment, which was based at Berniston Barracks, went abroad. It was easy to get into the garage. I knew someone who told me that the murderer went off with his unit