25/09/57: Crystal Palace (H)

thanks dave r for reproducing the 1957 programme of utd v crystal palace.
it was particularly interesting to read that the then chairman, mr arthur miler was scouting at the spursv birmingham game.
milner was an industrialist from the midlands and had kept up his connections with the blues.
it seems probable that the outcome of him attending that game led to geoff cox signing for utd shortly after.
geoff had come as a winger but it was obvious very early that he didn/t have the pace for a wingman.
however he was turned into originally a number 8, then called inside right, followed in the coming seasons as wing half, a slightly deeper midfield player.
geoff played for many seasons and was a great servant to the gulls.

i believe he is still residing in torquay.
that 57/58 season was a tough season, particularly after the previous season when we just lost out on goal average t ipswich town who subsequently went on to win the 2nd div, and the following season win the old 1st div,all under the management of sir alf ramsey.
we finished that season in the bottom half and unfortunatley became one of the former members of the fourth division.
one of the main reason for the slump was the ageing of a few of the players around the same time.
the incomparable don mills,arguably the greatest of all united players,
sammy collins and ronnie shaw.
all thes wonderful players were now in their thirties.

Interesting to read the reference to Peter Wakeham and his giving a goal away......................here was a young local keeper who was allowed to develop without the crowd on his back and went on to play at the highest level with Sunderland and England Under 23s.

Could not Martin Rice be afforded the same tolerance by those who seemed to be trying hard to destroy the lad as soon as he arrived here from Exeter City? His treatment reminded me of the similar stick handed out to Vince O'Keefe when he arrived from the same source back in the eighties, yet he too went onto bigger and better things with Blackburn Rovers.

It seems more important to these morons that slagging off former Exeter City players (Carlisle and Bucks too) is more important than supporting their own side and gaining the pleasure to be derived from seeing OUR own lads develop and mature into fine players.

Such idiots really are the enemy within!