Bruce Millington: golden memories from the last 50 years of football

Right, looking into the future is a daft enough pastime even in normal circumstances but especially now. The future does not exist so how do we know what is going to happen?

So let’s look backwards rather than forwards and cheer ourselves up with some golden memories from the last half-century of football, which is basically the period in which my memory has been functional.

Best player

You may have seen that 'four favourite players' thing doing the rounds on Twitter as people try to pass the time of day. My four were Kevin Keegan, Glenn Hoddle, Lionel Messi and Wilfried Zaha because they are the ones who, through various parts of my life, have captivated me most. But of those, Messi is the king.

Best match

Crystal Palace 4 Liverpool 3 in the 1990 FA Cup semi-final, but I probably wouldn’t go for that if I didn’t support Palace so I’ll go for West Germany’s World Cup semi-final victory on pens against France in 1982.

It was a gripping match that had more drama, suspense and controversy than any other I have watched.

Best team

The Spain outfit who won three successive tournaments between 2008 and 2012 was about as close to the perfect team as mankind has so far managed. Casillas, Puyol, Ramos, Pique, Busquets, Iniesta and Xavi were the bedrocks of this incredible squad that conquered Europe twice and the world in 2010, spectacularly destroying the theory they were a bunch of talented chokers.

Best goal

Carlos Alberto versus Italy in the 1970 World Cup final is widely regarded as the ultimate goal and that is still a valid claim. It had everything a perfect team goal should have and has yet to be usurped.

Best strike

I have still not seen anything to match Ronnie Radford’s epic thunderbolt for non-league Hereford against top-flight Newcastle in 1972. It was the moment I realised football was the most wonderful thing in the world.

Best save

It is hard to dispute Gordon Banks’ phenomenal stop to deny Pele in 1970 was the greatest ever, but the double save by Sunderland’s Jim Montgomery against Leeds in the 1973 FA Cup final whisks me back to those magical May Saturdays in the 1970s when three families in our street would crowd around the TV for our annual live fix of football (a concept that suddenly doesn’t seem so weird).

Leeds were the kings in those days but Montgomery was not going to hand them the trophy. His first save was actually not that good but the second was ridiculous.

Best manager

Fergie. You only have to see how United have slumped since he retired to understand how amazing he was. The master motivator and a canny recruiter who was always quick and right to get rid of stars when they started to regress.

Best hat-trick

The two candidates are Dennis Bergkamp and Rivaldo. Bergkamp, who would win best touch if I was going to include such a niche category, scored three crackers in Arsenal's sizzling 3-3 draw against Leicester in 1997, but four years later the Brazilian trumped that with three extraordinary strikes against Valencia that single-handedly secured Barcelona a Champions League place on the last day of the Spanish season.

Here’s hoping the coronavirus relents as quickly as possible, primarily of course so that loss of life is minimised, but also so we can once again wallow in wall-to-wall sport and see more magical moments.

They say you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone and the only thing worse than missing football this much is the realisation that a resumption is unlikely to happen for quite a while.

Clock ticking on terrestrial horse racing rights

The negotiations for the next set of terrestrial racing rights have been going on so long it is believed the initial sticking point was whether Dickie Davies or Frank Bough was going to present the coverage, followed by the issue of whether the broadcaster was planning to use the newly invented colour TV facility.

It has taken more than 18 months to get from the first attempts to agree a renewal of the ITV deal to where we are now, which might be slightly closer to an agreement but not enough for racing and the biggest commercial broadcaster to be ready to touch elbows or whatever we are doing instead of handshakes these days.

I have been following with a degree of intrigue colleague Lee Mottershead’s excellent narration of the increasingly drawn out negotiations but have always assumed, as is the case with virtually every standoff in racing, that the two sides would find common ground in the end.

But when you think back to how it was expected a renewal would be announced to smiles all round on the first day of 2019, fully two years before the old deal elapses, and then we were told it would be done and dusted by Cheltenham, it becomes apparent that the clock is now ticking a little more loudly and that perhaps the assumption it would all work out just fine might not be as safe as it was.

Racing’s negotiating team, headed by recently appointed Jockey Club chief executive Delia Bushell, is keen to maintain the partnership with ITV, which is understandable as it would mean racing being the only sport blessed with regular terrestrial coverage.

But they are apparently unhappy over ITV’s demands on peripheral elements of the package such as social media picture rights and a guarantee the Crown Jewels will always be on the main channel rather than shunted across to ITV4 if there is a clash with, for example, an England football match.

Quite what alternatives there are to ITV is unclear, but if such options exist the time is nearly here to give them the green light to press on with their plans given the last day of the current deal is December 31 and you cannot simply click your fingers and start broadcasting.

I believe ITV covers racing superbly and in a way that allows the sport to build a lasting audience, but they do not do it just because they want racing’s future to be as prosperous as possible. They make decent money out of sponsorship and adverts and it is understandable that the rights-holders are not prepared to give them away too cheaply.

History tells us these things usually get over the line in the end, but the fact these negotiations have been going on for more than half the duration of the proposed contract itself means there is now a scent of concern in the air.

Be wary of turning to online casino games

Of course if we had anything about us we would all just take a betting break until things return to normal, and if that’s exactly what you have done I salute you.

But plenty of us enjoy a punt, especially when working from home or having reduced commitments means we may have more time on our hands and a limited desire to watch the horrors of the coronavirus spread unfold on 24-hour news channels.

But punters who would rather not pack it in completely should tread extremely carefully because the landscape is treacherous and being aware of the risks is vitally important.

For a start, you could be betting to make the time pass, which is not a sin but can lead to bad, ill-informed decisions being made.

Additionally, you are choosing from a vastly reduced range of options, with almost all the things we feel comfortable betting on having been withdrawn until it is safe to stage them again.

This is a time either for no betting or sensible, small-stakes activity, but above all it is not a time to start flirting with online casino games if you have not already proved beyond doubt to yourself that you can play them safely.

I was always uncomfortable with FOBTs being effectively neutered in betting shops without similar measures simultaneously being introduced to curb the threat of equivalent online games.

In a betting shop if you were getting into distress on roulette or whatever there was the likelihood a member of staff would step in so you took a break and cooled off.

The same gambling activities on a phone or computer have no such safety net and operators have no way of knowing whether customers are uninhibited through drink, in a destructively bad mood or risking money they cannot afford.

If you can find a way of betting enjoyably and without undue risk during this awful period that’s fine. But if you are sufficiently honest with yourself to accept you are prone to bouts of wild punting activity this is not the moment to sample the world of online casinos, slots and other games of chance.

This is a hugely uncertain time for everyone and creating additional stress by succumbing to the perils that lurk in your mobile or laptop is something to avoid.

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