To Cap It All. Kenny Sansom
to a terrible storm with lightning that was frightening to watch at such close hand.
I roomed with Cyrille Regis – one of the ‘Three Degrees’, who was in no way, shape or form a woman. He was a giant of a man. The first time I met him I stood in awe as he removed his jacket. He just never stopped coming out of it. It was quite something.
Next we had to catch a train to where the first team were playing and most of the lads were drinking alcohol. Being teetotal, I stuck to my orange juice, and therefore remained sober while all around me were getting off their faces.
Russell Osmond had this joke pen with invisible ink and squirted it all over Big Joe Corrigan’s shirt. ‘What have you done?’ An over-the-top Joe ripped it off and threw it off the train. ‘Take your socks off everyone and throw them off the train.’ Everyone did it. Everyone did what Joe asked – I mean, demanded. He was far from being aggressive, though. Joe was known as the Gentle Giant. We referred to him as ‘Gentle Joe with a heart to show’. Mind you, if you chipped a ball over his head and scored during training, he’d run and give you a punch on the arm. It didn’t half bloody hurt. He could take it back, though – and in very good humour.
I remember another funny incident concerning Joe. We were at a PFA Awards dinner at the Hilton Hotel in London and everyone was having a good drink, when Steve Foster turned to him and asked him if wanted a small aperitif. Joe looked across menacingly and howled, ‘Now why would I want a small aperitif when I’ve got a bottle of champagne?’ So Steve throws back, ‘Not a small aperitif as in a drink Joe – I was wondering whether you’d like a smaller pair of teeth.’
Joe had little pearly teeth, you see. Funny bastards – funny times.
ENGLAND V BULGARIA
It was late November before I was selected to play my next match for my country, and again it was a home match.
For the first time ever, the game had to be postponed because of terrible dense fog and, although more than seventy thousand fans managed to make it for the match, the following day, poor old Kevin Keegan had to fly back to his Hamburg team for commitments over there. Norwich City’s Kevin Reeves was very happy though (one man’s misery is another man’s delight), since he got to win his first cap.
Ron revelled in giving new blood a chance, and his other choice that day was the man who was to become my ‘away’ roommate, Glenn Hoddle.
We were awesome from the first whistle – even if I say so myself. It took us 9 minutes to score. It came from a Tony Woodcock corner that was only half cleared from the edge of the box. Glenn curled the ball across to Dave Watson, who headed the ball home. Ray Clemence only had to make one save in the second half, whereas we kept the pressure on until our second, long-awaited goal came in the 70th minute when Glenn Hoddle side-footed the ball into the top corner from a 20-yard shot.
It had been a wonderful experience, and it was reported that all the other nations were taking note of our good form.
With the seventies coming to a close I had no doubt in my mind that I was going to win many more caps.
The seventies had been brilliant. Now what were the eighties going to bring?
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