OTD (11/11/1959): International Football Comes to Roker Park
On a cold, wet night in Sunderland, a very credible crowd of more than 26,000 gathered at Roker Park to get a first-hand look at some of the best young players in the country.
Key points
- (Swan would miss the 1962 tournament through illness and, in 1964, was banned from football for life for his part in an illegal betting scandal.) There was local interest in George Eastham of Newcastle at inside-forward and Middlesbrough full-back Mick McNeil.
- Greenwood famously instituted what became known as the “Academy of Football” philosophy at West Ham and developed 1966 World Cup heroes Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst.
- England’s team contained Fulham goalkeeper Tony Macedo (a great favourite of Greenwood’s), who would go on to compete with Jimmy Montgomery within the international set-up.
Greenwood had selected a young squad, with a couple of surprise inclusions, for the game against France (whom they had never defeated at this level) at Roker Park.
Additional details
- From a very early stage in his coaching career, he was a teacher rather than a dictator, striving to produce open, attacking football and always liking to win beautifully.
- The forthcoming 1962 World Cup tournament in Chile was occupying the minds of the England coaching team as they laid their plans in 1959.
- The 19-year-old Baker’s inclusion in this squad was seen as putting pressure on all the existing strikers in the England set-up, but in particular, 24-year-old Brian Clough, who was a Middlesbrough player at this time.
- Captain Maurice Setters (who would go on to become Jackie Charlton’s assistant with Ireland from 1986-1995) then pinged a 30-yard cross-field pass to winger Jim Sydenham, whose cross was only just missed by Baker.
- Even though he had been raised in Scotland by his Scottish mother, the strict qualifying criteria of the era meant he had to play for England, having been born in Liverpool to an English father.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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