Gordon Milne

[kushiro]

This is my first post on here. I've been researching the career of Gordon Milne and his father Jimmy, a truly remarkable tale that stretches across seven decades. Many of you will remember Gordon being at Blackpool in the late 60s, a part of his career that is often overlooked. And while it's true that the peaks of his career were with other clubs, that period was fascinating in its own way. I want to share a few highlights here, both of that time in the late 60s, as well as the rest of his career, especially where there is a Blackpool connection. I hope you enjoy it.

I know there's a fine appreciation of history on this forum, having spent a few hours yesterday going through every single page of the 'Old Pictures of Blackpool FC' thread, clicking the 'like' button until my index finger hurt. What an amazing collection. And it's with one of those pictures that this story begins.


Remember this one? It's from the opening game of the 1933/34 season - Blackpool 1 Preston 2.



Jimmy Hampson scored Blackpool's goal that day, and reading through the comments about this photo, it wasn't definitively established whether or not that's the moment we see. If you zoom in, it certainly looks like the ball is in the net, rather than on top of it:



But that's not the most important question here. What I'm really interested in is the player you can see in that zoom-in shot. That's obviously a Preston shirt he's wearing, and if you look closely, it's unmistakable. To paraphrase that famous line from The Bourne Ultimatum:

'Jesus Christ - that's Jimmy Milne'.

Here's a clearer shot of those distinctive features:



He was then 22, and this was his first game against Blackpool.

As that game was taking place, the two clubs' reserve sides were also in action - in the Central League. It was the same scoreline at Deepdale - Preston Reserves 2 Blackpool Reserves 1. There was a fair crowd at that game too. As the Lancashire Evening Post reported, 'Interest centred on the performance of Shankley'.

They couldn't spell his name, but they correctly identified the occasion's most significant actor - Bill Shankly, who was making his first appearance, having joined the club a month earlier.

So quite a momentous day, August 26th 1933.

Thirty four years later, the Milne story and the Blackpool story truly intersected for the first time. Jimmy's son Gordon made his debut in a tangerine shirt after Bill Shankly, now Liverpool manager, had allowed him to leave Anfield. This too was the first game of the season - and Blackpool's opponents? It was Preston North End, the two meeting on the opening day for the first time since that game pictured above.

And who was now the Preston manager? None other than Jimmy Milne - in his fourth decade at the club. The son triumphed over the father that day at Deepdale, with Blackpool winning 2-0.


Fast forward to November 6th 2023 and those three characters are still inseperable. They're together in the title of a long awaited book published on that day. It's Gordon Milne's autobiography, 'Shankly, My Dad and Me'.

When I heard the book was coming out I felt a mixture of delight and disappointment. After researching the Milne story for so long, and discovering just how fascinating it is, I was thinking of contacting him and suggesting we write a book together. Little did I know...

That research won't go to waste, though. Let's have a look at those career highlights:


1) 1930-1932

Jimmy Milne started his career at Dundee United in Scottish League Division Two. Back in the early 1930s, they weren't known as the Tangerines. At that time they wore a striking black and white outfit, which you can see Jimmy wearing here:




2) October 1932

Jimmy was a star of the side that won promotion to Division One in 1931, and the following year, two English clubs were fighting for his signature. One was Preston North End, the other Charlton Athetic, managed by future Blackpool boss Sandy MacFarlane. In the end he chose Lancashire over London, and came south in October 1932. He broke into the side at the end of that campaign, and the first game of the following season is the one pictured above.

Jimmy Milne and Bill Shankly moved into club-owned houses very close to the ground. Shortly after that, there was a new arrival in the Milne family - a boy called Gordon. The place where he grew up is marked on the map below. The Shankly house was directly opposite:



There's a wonderful story in Gordon's book about how Shankly used to play football with him in the street when he was a toddler.


3) May 1954

A year after the Matthews final of 1953 came the Finney final - except it's not known by that name these days because Preston could not repeat Blackpool's Wembley success. Jimmy Milne was now trainer at Deepdale, and Gordon, aged 17, was about to join him by signing as a part-time player (while he completed his apprenticeship as a joiner).

Here he is in a Preston shirt:





4) August 1962

Bill Shankly signed Gordon for Liverpool in August 1960, and the following season they won promotion back to Division One. And here we come to another memorable opening game of the season. Liverpool's first game back in the top flight for eight years was at home to Blackpool, for whom Alan Ball was making his debut at 17. Blackpool spoilt their big day by winning 2-1. You can see Gordon at number four in the Reds' line-up:




5) May 1963

Gordon broke into the England side in 1963. The first time that Alf Ramsey was allowed to pick the team himself (without interference from the famous committee), it was Gordon he chose to fill the right half position. You can see what was almost a sensational start to his international career here:

Gordon must have been dreaming of World Cup glory in 1966, and he was one of seven Liverpool players chosen by Ramsey for the preliminary squad of 40, two months before the tournament began (there were three Blackpool players there too - Alan Ball, Jimmy Armfield and Tony Waiters).

When the final squad of 22 was chosen, though, Gordon (and Tony Waiters) missed out.

It may be some consolation that Gordon's subsequent managerial career was more successful than any of the 22 players Alf selected.


6) May 1967

The mid-60s were the Golden Years for Shankly's Liverpool, but Blackpool were never overawed by the trip to Anfield. A year after that surprise win on opening day in 1962/63, they repeated the feat, and then in May 1967 they won there again - the third time in five seasons. That was quite a feat - the only other side to match that in the mid 60s was Leicester City - known as the Reds' bogey side (and another club that Gordon would later join).

That third Anfield victory was significant in several other ways. It was Blackpool's last game in Division One after 30 years as a top flight football club - relegation had already been confirmed. It was Tony Green's debut for Blackpool. And it was also Gordon's last game for Liverpool. After the final whistle, Shankly told him that Stan Mortensen was waiting to talk to him. A couple of days later he completed his move to Bloomfield Road.


Well that's part one of this necessarily brief overview of the Milne career highlights. Part two is coming up shortly - the Bloomfield Road years.

 

[Brazil]

This is my first post on here. I've been researching the career of Gordon Milne and his father Jimmy, a truly remarkable tale that stretches across seven decades. Many of you will remember Gordon being at Blackpool in the late 60s, a part of his career that is often overlooked. And while it's true that the peaks of his career were with other clubs, that period was fascinating in its own way. I want to share a few highlights here, both of that time in the late 60s, as well as the rest of his career, especially where there is a Blackpool connection. I hope you enjoy it.

I know there's a fine appreciation for history on this forum, as I spent a few hours yesterday going through every single page of the 'Old Pictures of Blackpool FC' thread, clicking the 'like' button until my index finger hurt. What an amazing collection. And it's with one of those pictures that this story begins.


Remember this one? It's from the opening game of the 1933/34 season - Blackpool 1 Preston 2.

View attachment 17335

Jimmy Hampson scored Blackpool's goal that day, and reading through the comments about this photo, it wasn't definitively established whether or not it is that moment that we see. If you zoom in, it certainly looks like the ball is in the net, rather than on top of it:

View attachment 17333

But it's something else in the photo that is the real concern here. Look at the player in that zoom-in shot. That's obviously a Preston shirt he's wearing, and if you look closely, it's unmistakable - it's their left half, Jimmy Milne.

Here's a clearer shot of those distinctive features:

View attachment 17334

Milne was then 22, and this was his first game against Blackpool.

As that game was taking place, the two clubs' reserve sides were also in action - in the Central League. It was the same scoreline at Deepdale - Preston Reserves 2 Blackpool Reserves 1. There was a fair crowd at that game too. As the Lancashire Evening Post reported, 'Interest centred on the performance of Shankley'.

They couldn't spell his name, but they correctly identified the occasion's most significant actor - Bill Shankly, who was making his first appearance, having joined the club a month earlier.

So quite a momentous day, August 26th 1933.

Thirty four years later, the Milne story and the Blackpool story truly intersected for the first time. Jimmy's son Gordon made his debut in a tangerine shirt after Bill Shankly, now Liverpool manager, had allowed him to leave Anfield. This too was the first game of the season - and Blackpool's opponents? It was Preston North End, the two meeting on the opening day for the first time since that game pictured above.

And who was now the Preston manager? None other than Jimmy Milne - in his fourth decade at the club. The son triumphed over the father that day at Deepdale, with Blackpool winning 2-0.


Fast forward to November 6th 2023 and those three characters are still inseperable. They're together in the title of a long awaited book published on that day. It's Gordon Milne's autobiography, and it's called 'Shankly, My Dad and Me'.

When I heard the book was coming out I felt a mixture of delight and disappointment. After researching the Milne story for so long, and discovering just how fascinating it is, I was thinking of contacting him and suggesting we write a book together. Little did I know...

That research won't go to waste, though. Let's have a look at those career highlights:


1) 1930-1932

Jimmy Milne started his career at Dundee United in Scottish League Division Two. Back in the early 1930s, they weren't known as the Tangerines. At that time they wore a striking black and white outfit, which you can see Jimmy wearing here:

View attachment 17328


2) October 1932

Jimmy was a star of the side that won promotion to Division One in 1931, and the following year, two English clubs were fighting for his signature. One was Preston North End, the other Charlton Athetic, managed by future Blackpool boss Sandy MacFarlane. In the end he chose Lancashire over London, and came south in October 1932. He broke into the side at the end of that campaign, and the first game of the following season is the one pictured above.

Jimmy Milne and Bill Shankly moved into club-owned houses very close to the ground. Shortly after that, there was a new arrival in the Milne family - a boy called Gordon. The place where he grew up is marked on the map below. The Shankly house was directly opposite:

View attachment 17329

There's a wonderful story in Gordon's book about how Shankly used to play football with him in the street when he was a toddler.


3) May 1954

A year after the Matthews final of 1953 came the Finney final - except it's not known by that name these days because Preston could not repeat Blackpool's Wembley success. Jimmy Milne was now trainer at Deepdale, and Gordon, aged 17, was about to join him by signing as a part-time player (while he completed his apprenticeship as a joiner).

Here he is in a Preston shirt:

View attachment 17336



4) August 1962

Bill Shankly signed Gordon for Liverpool in August 1960, and the following season they won promotion back to Division One. And here we come to another memorable opening game of the season. Liverpool's first game back in the top flight for eight years was at home to Blackpool, for whom Alan Ball was making his debut at 17. Blackpool spoilt their big day by winning 2-1. You can see Gordon at number four in the Reds' line-up:

View attachment 17337


5) May 1963

Gordon broke into the England side in 1963. The first time that Alf Ramsey was allowed to pick the team himself (without interference from the famous committee), it was Gordon he chose to fill the right half position. You can see what was almost a sensational start to his international career here:

Gordon must have been dreaming of World Cup glory in 1966, and he was one of seven Liverpool players chosen by Ramsey for the preliminary squad of 40, two months before the tournament began (there were three Blackpool players there too - Alan Ball, Jimmy Armfield and Tony Waiters).

When the final squad 22 was chosen, though, Gordon (and Tony Waiters) missed out.

It may be some consolation that Gordon's subsequent managerial career was more successful than any of the 22 players Alf selected.


6) May 1967

The mid-60s were the Golden Years for Shankly's Liverpool, but Blackpool were never overawed by the trip to Anfield. A year after that surprise win on opening day in 1962/63, they repeated the feat, and then in May 1967 they won there again - the third time in five seasons. That was quite a feat - the only other side to match that in the mid 60s was Leicester City - known as the Reds' bogey side (and another club that Gordon would later join).

That third Anfield victory was significant in several other ways. It was Blackpool's last game in Division One after 30 years as a top flight football club - relegation had already been confirmed. It was Tony Green's debut for Blackpool. And it was also Gordon's last game for Liverpool. After the final whistle, Shankly told him that Stan Mortensen was waiting to talk to him. A couple of days later he completed his move to Bloomfield Road.


Well that's part one of this necessarily brief overview of the Milne career highlights. Part two is coming up shortly - the Bloomfield Road years.

Thanks very much! Great stuff, that!

 

[philmus]

Wonderful stuff-
Thank you so much

 

[tango94]

Thanks very much for that...a great read.
Gordon Milne was a very cultured player and was seen as a top signing for us.
From memory it took him a little while to adjust after coming from Liverpool under Shankly but when he did settle in he just oozed class.

 

[kushiro]

Let's get straight on with part two:


1) July 1967

Two months after signing for Blackpool, Gordon reported for pre-season training at Squires Gate. He got a bit of a shock. Wilf Dixon was in charge of the sessions, and they were very different to those he'd known at Melwood in Liverpool. As he recalls in his new book, there was just endless running. 'Whole mornings passed without seeing a football'.

Wilf Dixon seems to have made quite an impression, but in fact, Gordon had to put up with him for only a month. At the end of August, Dixon quit to become head trainer at Everton.

As we've seen, Gordon's Blackpool career got off to a flyer with that 2-0 win at Deepdale. After spending 30 years in the top flight, they were determined to go straight back up, and in the early weeks of the season that looked a real possibility.



Not a bad first couple of months (those games against Newport and Man City were in the League Cup - City won the replay 2-0).

At that point, Blackpool were top of the League, and Milne was settling in very nicely. The report on that Palace game said: 'Milne was outstanding. He prodded and probed to find the weaknesses in the wall that Palace set up in front of their goal'. Here he is setting up the first goal in that win at Bristol City on September 16th:

As Blackpool were winning at Ashton Gate, Preston were losing 2-0 at home again - this time to QPR, and there were chants of 'Milne Out!' from the terraces. Jimmy's time at the club was drawing to a close. He would shortly move to a General Manager position, and then at the end of the season, aged 57, he stepped down from full time football, continuing in a scouting role.


2) December 16th 1967

Four months after that opening day win at Deepdale, Blackpool completed the double with a 4-1 home win. That left them in third place - and that was where they would finish the season - agonizingly short of an immediate return to the top flight, behind QPR on goal average (only two went up back then, of course, and there were no play-offs).

Here's a shot of Gordon in action in a crucial 3-1 defeat at Selhurst Park in March:



Reading through that 'Old Pictures of Blackpool' thread there are a few comments about Gordon's time at the club - some feeling he was a disappointment, others recalling his time more positively. He was actually out of the side for the last seven games of that 67/68 season - it seems he was injured, rather than dropped (can anyone confirm which?) but without him, the side reeled off seven straight victories, which still wasn't quite enough. That run must have left Gordon feeling unsure of his place in the side for the following season, but come August 1968, he was there in the line up again.


3) August / September 1968

Another impressive start to the season. A 2-0 home win v Hull City on opening day, then a 1-1 draw at Clough's Derby County, with Milne once again described as 'outstanding'. I love this picture of him from early September - a 1-0 win v Bolton Wanderers:



That's another one from the old pictures thread. Then a week later came yet another significant game against Preston - a 1-1 draw that takes Blackpool top of the table.

Once again, however, the early season promise was unfulfilled. Blackpool faded and finished down in 8th place.

At the end of the 68/69 season Stan Mortensen stood down and was replaced by Les Shannon, with new coach Jimmy Meadows. It was Meadows who tried to convince Gordon that he could extend his playing career at the top level by giving up the box to box game of his younger years, and switching to a deeper role, relying on passing the ball rather than running with it. It was advice Gordon didn't want to hear, and we'll see how his Bloomfield Road career ended in part three, coming up soon (and if any of you Blackpool experts who know far more about the club than me have spotted any factual or contextual errors here, please tell me).

For now, here's the 68/69 squad, Gordon bottom left:

 

[Gerry Ingrams Blonde Hair]

Great memories and tribute to the man. Gordon had a fantastic time at Pool (though short) running the midfield and pulling all the strings for Tony Green to weave his magic. Particularly remember that 2- 0 opening day win at PNE in 1967 in the packed Town End stand behind the goal.

 

[FessParker]

Very interesting read , thank you.
If I could nit pick , Tony Green made his debut against West Brom the week before the Liverpool game in May 67.
Green did not play in the Liverpool game.

 

[kushiro]

Very interesting read , thank you.
If I could nit pick , Tony Green made his debut against West Brom the week before the Liverpool game in May 67.
Green did not play in the Liverpool game.

Not nit-picking, important correction. Cheers.

 

[Blackpool Are Back!]

Very good

 

[voyeur]

Great read thank you, takes me back to my beginnings, first game September 67, only young but I recall Milne being a classy player, calm in possession and yes, cultured. Seems surprising he came to us at the age of thirty. We had the basis of a really good side in his three years with us, I think. Why did Shankly let him go when he was really still in his prime for a defender?

Perhaps the position he held
paid his way but corroded his soul?
Wanted to leave
They would not miss him
Wanted to go down in tangerine history. Fame. It can play hideous tricks on the brain.

I didn't realise I wrote such bloody awful poetry.

 

[Davepick]

Great stuff.
I see that in 1967 we had 8 wins on the trot,

 

[TSSeasider]

Thank you for this; easy before my time, but I appreciate we stand on the shoulders of giants at this club.

Why did you become so invested in his story?

 

[eatmygoal]

really good stuff that, thanks for taking the time and effort. a must read for any student of the pool, the power-house that was lancashire football (and its scottish influence), or indeed the beautiful game itself.

and you're very welcome to the forum. please feel free to post at will.

 

[Matesrates]

This is brilliant stuff, thanks for posting it

 

[Wizaard]

Let's get straight on with part two:


1) July 1967

Two months after signing for Blackpool, Gordon reported for pre-season training at Squires Gate. He got a bit of a shock. Wilf Dixon was in charge of the sessions, and they were very different to those he'd known at Melwood in Liverpool. As he recalls in his new book, there was just endless running. 'Whole mornings passed without seeing a football'.

Wilf Dixon seems to have made quite an impression, but in fact, Gordon had to put up with him for only a month. At the end of August, Dixon quit to become head trainer at Everton.

As we've seen, Gordon's Blackpool career got off to a flyer with that 2-0 win at Deepdale. After spending 30 years in the top flight, they were determined to go straight back up, and in the early weeks of the season that looked a real possibility.

View attachment 17338

Not a bad first couple of months (those games against Newport and Man City were in the League Cup - City won the replay 2-0).

At that point, Blackpool were top of the League, and Milne was settling in very nicely. The report on that Palace game said: 'Milne was outstanding. He prodded and probed to find the weaknesses in the wall that Palace set up in front of their goal'. Here he is setting up the first goal in that win at Bristol City on September 16th:

As Blackpool were winning at Ashton Gate, Preston were losing 2-0 at home again - this time to QPR, and there were chants of 'Milne Out!' from the terraces. Jimmy's time at the club was drawing to a close. He would shortly move to a General Manager position, and then at the end of the season, aged 57, he stepped down from full time football, continuing in a coaching role.


2) December 16th 1967

Four months after that opening day win at Deepdale, Blackpool completed the double with a 4-1 home win. That left them in third place - and that was where they would finish the season - agonizingly short of an immediate return to the top flight, behind QPR on goal average (only two went up back then, of course, and there were no play-offs).

Here's a shot of Gordon in action in a crucial 3-1 defeat at Selhurst Park in March:

View attachment 17340

Reading through that 'Old Pictures of Blackpool' thread there are a few comments about Gordon's time at the club - some feeling he was a disappointment, others recalling his time more positively. He was actually out of the side for the last seven games of that 67/68 season - it seems he was injured, rather than dropped (can anyone confirm which?) but without him, the side reeled off seven straight victories, which still wasn't quite enough. That run must have left Gordon feeling unsure of his place in the side for the following season, but come August 1968, he was there in the line up again.


3) August / September 1968

Another impressive start to the season. A 2-0 home win v Hull City on opening day, then a 1-1 draw at Clough's Derby County, with Milne once again described as 'outstanding'. I love this picture of him from early September - a 1-0 win v Bolton Wanderers:

View attachment 17342

That's another one from the old pictures thread. Then a week later came yet another significant game against Preston - a 1-1 draw that takes Blackpool top of the table.

Once again, however, the early season promise was unfulfilled. Blackpool faded and finished down in 8th place.

At the end of the 68/69 season Stan Mortensen stood down and was replaced by Les Shannon, with new coach Jimmy Meadows. It was Meadows who tried to convince Gordon that he could extend his playing career at the top level by giving up the box to box game of his younger years, and switching to a deeper role, relying on passing the ball rather than running with it. It was advice Gordon didn't want to hear, and we'll see how his Bloomfield Road career ended in part three, coming up soon (and if any of you Blackpool experts who know far more about the club than me have spotted any factual or contextual errors here, please tell me).

For now, here's the 68/69 squad, Gordon bottom left:

View attachment 17339

I'd have more chance of naming all that squad than our current one

 

[Wizaard]

Brilliant stuff taking me back to my youth.

 

[kushiro]

Why did you become so invested in his story?

My father was a Scouser - he watched Gordon Milne in the early 60s. Then he moved to Leicester, where I was born. I watched Leicester when Gordon was manager in the 80s, not really as a supporter, as I'd inherited my father's support for Liverpool, but gradually the pull of the place I was brought up became stronger, and I started to care more about Leicester City. I now write historical articles for the Leicester fans' site foxestalk.co,uk.

I hate to admit it but the level of historical awareness on this forum is at a higher level than that on the Leicester site. I realised that yesterday when I went through the Old Pictures thread. It makes me want to come back here and write a lot more - I'm already thinking of a Jock Wallace thread - Jock Sr. was Blackpool keeper in the 30s. That too is an amazing father and son story (Jock Jr was Leicester manager 78-82 - his successor was Gordon Milne).

 

[Westby]

This is my first post on here. I've been researching the career of Gordon Milne and his father Jimmy, a truly remarkable tale that stretches across seven decades. Many of you will remember Gordon being at Blackpool in the late 60s, a part of his career that is often overlooked. And while it's true that the peaks of his career were with other clubs, that period was fascinating in its own way. I want to share a few highlights here, both of that time in the late 60s, as well as the rest of his career, especially where there is a Blackpool connection. I hope you enjoy it.

I know there's a fine appreciation of history on this forum, having spent a few hours yesterday going through every single page of the 'Old Pictures of Blackpool FC' thread, clicking the 'like' button until my index finger hurt. What an amazing collection. And it's with one of those pictures that this story begins.


Remember this one? It's from the opening game of the 1933/34 season - Blackpool 1 Preston 2.

View attachment 17335

Jimmy Hampson scored Blackpool's goal that day, and reading through the comments about this photo, it wasn't definitively established whether or not it is that moment that we see. If you zoom in, it certainly looks like the ball is in the net, rather than on top of it:

View attachment 17333

But it's something else in the photo that is the real concern here. Look at the player in that zoom-in shot. That's obviously a Preston shirt he's wearing, and if you look closely, it's unmistakable - it's their left half, Jimmy Milne.

Here's a clearer shot of those distinctive features:

View attachment 17334

Milne was then 22, and this was his first game against Blackpool.

As that game was taking place, the two clubs' reserve sides were also in action - in the Central League. It was the same scoreline at Deepdale - Preston Reserves 2 Blackpool Reserves 1. There was a fair crowd at that game too. As the Lancashire Evening Post reported, 'Interest centred on the performance of Shankley'.

They couldn't spell his name, but they correctly identified the occasion's most significant actor - Bill Shankly, who was making his first appearance, having joined the club a month earlier.

So quite a momentous day, August 26th 1933.

Thirty four years later, the Milne story and the Blackpool story truly intersected for the first time. Jimmy's son Gordon made his debut in a tangerine shirt after Bill Shankly, now Liverpool manager, had allowed him to leave Anfield. This too was the first game of the season - and Blackpool's opponents? It was Preston North End, the two meeting on the opening day for the first time since that game pictured above.

And who was now the Preston manager? None other than Jimmy Milne - in his fourth decade at the club. The son triumphed over the father that day at Deepdale, with Blackpool winning 2-0.


Fast forward to November 6th 2023 and those three characters are still inseperable. They're together in the title of a long awaited book published on that day. It's Gordon Milne's autobiography, 'Shankly, My Dad and Me'.

When I heard the book was coming out I felt a mixture of delight and disappointment. After researching the Milne story for so long, and discovering just how fascinating it is, I was thinking of contacting him and suggesting we write a book together. Little did I know...

That research won't go to waste, though. Let's have a look at those career highlights:


1) 1930-1932

Jimmy Milne started his career at Dundee United in Scottish League Division Two. Back in the early 1930s, they weren't known as the Tangerines. At that time they wore a striking black and white outfit, which you can see Jimmy wearing here:

View attachment 17328


2) October 1932

Jimmy was a star of the side that won promotion to Division One in 1931, and the following year, two English clubs were fighting for his signature. One was Preston North End, the other Charlton Athetic, managed by future Blackpool boss Sandy MacFarlane. In the end he chose Lancashire over London, and came south in October 1932. He broke into the side at the end of that campaign, and the first game of the following season is the one pictured above.

Jimmy Milne and Bill Shankly moved into club-owned houses very close to the ground. Shortly after that, there was a new arrival in the Milne family - a boy called Gordon. The place where he grew up is marked on the map below. The Shankly house was directly opposite:

View attachment 17329

There's a wonderful story in Gordon's book about how Shankly used to play football with him in the street when he was a toddler.


3) May 1954

A year after the Matthews final of 1953 came the Finney final - except it's not known by that name these days because Preston could not repeat Blackpool's Wembley success. Jimmy Milne was now trainer at Deepdale, and Gordon, aged 17, was about to join him by signing as a part-time player (while he completed his apprenticeship as a joiner).

Here he is in a Preston shirt:

View attachment 17336



4) August 1962

Bill Shankly signed Gordon for Liverpool in August 1960, and the following season they won promotion back to Division One. And here we come to another memorable opening game of the season. Liverpool's first game back in the top flight for eight years was at home to Blackpool, for whom Alan Ball was making his debut at 17. Blackpool spoilt their big day by winning 2-1. You can see Gordon at number four in the Reds' line-up:

View attachment 17337


5) May 1963

Gordon broke into the England side in 1963. The first time that Alf Ramsey was allowed to pick the team himself (without interference from the famous committee), it was Gordon he chose to fill the right half position. You can see what was almost a sensational start to his international career here:

Gordon must have been dreaming of World Cup glory in 1966, and he was one of seven Liverpool players chosen by Ramsey for the preliminary squad of 40, two months before the tournament began (there were three Blackpool players there too - Alan Ball, Jimmy Armfield and Tony Waiters).

When the final squad of 22 was chosen, though, Gordon (and Tony Waiters) missed out.

It may be some consolation that Gordon's subsequent managerial career was more successful than any of the 22 players Alf selected.


6) May 1967

The mid-60s were the Golden Years for Shankly's Liverpool, but Blackpool were never overawed by the trip to Anfield. A year after that surprise win on opening day in 1962/63, they repeated the feat, and then in May 1967 they won there again - the third time in five seasons. That was quite a feat - the only other side to match that in the mid 60s was Leicester City - known as the Reds' bogey side (and another club that Gordon would later join).

That third Anfield victory was significant in several other ways. It was Blackpool's last game in Division One after 30 years as a top flight football club - relegation had already been confirmed. It was Tony Green's debut for Blackpool. And it was also Gordon's last game for Liverpool. After the final whistle, Shankly told him that Stan Mortensen was waiting to talk to him. A couple of days later he completed his move to Bloomfield Road.


Well that's part one of this necessarily brief overview of the Milne career highlights. Part two is coming up shortly - the Bloomfield Road years.

Enjoyed reading this - I started watching Pool in 62/63

 

[Memphisboy]

Got an autobiography out just now. Saw it in Waterstones looks a decent read. Only came out this month

 

[eatmygoal]

My father was a Scouser - he watched Gordon Milne in the early 60s. Then he moved to Leicester, where I was born. I watched Leicester when Gordon was manager in the 80s, not really as a supporter, as I'd inherited my father's support for Liverpool, but gradually the pull of the place I was brought up became stronger, and I started to care more about Leicester City. I now write historical articles for the Leicester fans' site foxestalk.co,uk.

I hate to admit it but the level of historical awareness on this forum is at a higher level than that on the Leicester site. I realised that yesterday when I went through the Old Pictures thread. It makes me want to come back here and write a lot more - I'm already thinking of a Jock Wallace thread - Jock Sr. was Blackpool keeper in the 30s. That too is an amazing father and son story (Jock Jr was Leicester manager 78-82 - his successor was Gordon Milne).

that's interesting too - i always expect other clubs' forums to be just as clued up and celebratory of their heritage (the good, bad and sometimes ugly included), and am somewhat disappointed when there is little or no historical info, or its just flag-waving, sepia-tinted nostalgia. context is everything - the past always informs the present.

many of us like to believe that us pool fans (and blackpool people) are just that little bit different (in a good way), but one thing is clear: our recent football history has taught us to cherish every moment - past, present and future - because you never know how easily it can be stolen from you. thanks again and we look forward to more nuggets from you.

 

[1966_and_all_that]

Great read thank you, takes me back to my beginnings, first game September 67, only young but I recall Milne being a classy player, calm in possession and yes, cultured. Seems surprising he came to us at the age of thirty. We had the basis of a really good side in his three years with us, I think. Why did Shankly let him go when he was really still in his prime for a defender?

Perhaps the position he held
paid his way but corroded his soul?
Wanted to leave
They would not miss him
Wanted to go down in tangerine history. Fame. It can play hideous tricks on the brain.

I didn't realise I wrote such bloody awful poetry.

What was your first game? I did Sheff Utd in April 67 but didn't go again until the start of the 67-68 season. In that context my first 'proper' game (ie. when I paid attention), was the 4-1 defeat to Millwall.

 

[kushiro]

Part 3 is a Squires Gate special.

A week ago, I didn't know anything about the Blackpool training ground, but then I was fascinated by a section of this wonderful Gordon Milne documantary, made by a Turkish company. Here's the part that deals with Blackpool:

It took an outsider like me a while to confirm that it was indeed Squires Gate (the houses in the background are pretty much the same now as they were in August 1969 when this was filmed, so it was easy to check Google maps and confirm that it's Martin Avenue, on the north side of the training ground).



To someone from Leicester, which is so far from the coast, there is always a magic about seaside venues, and I was intrigued by how close Squires Gate is to the beach. There are some great old aerial shots on the Historic Englad website. Many of the Bloomfield Road pictures have been posted on the Old Pictures thread - but not this one, from 1951, showing Squires Gate lower right (and those Martin Avenue houses)



You can probably spot Bloomfiled Road there too, but just in case, here's the same picture with the ground circled:



If you zoom in, it's like this:



Those twin peaks on the South Stand just about visible.

And just before we leave Squires Gate, does anyone know who this is, on the right?



That's from a part of the footage not in the Turkish documantary, but in the original Pathe video (one that, once again, has been posted on the Old Pictures thread). I noticed the thread about Blackpool's first black player, and I thought of this guy. It could be his was just a member of the youth team, or an apprentice.

That video was filmed on August 7th 1969, two days before the opening game of the season - Blackpool 2 Portsmouth 1. Gordon Milne was playing in that game, but his time at the club was coming to an end. His last game was two months later, a 0-0 home draw v Norwich City.

Gordon joined Wigan Athletic, then an ambitious Northern Premier League Club. It was the start of over three decades in management. The final part of this story will look at the highlights of those years, including a look at the players he went back to Bloomfield Road to sign.

 

[haggertyf]

Lovely read,thanks

 

[Camberwell1]

Stunning research and write ups
Thanks for sharing - I saw him play a few times

 

[ansdellmafia]

Thanks for that , great memories.

 

[Mark_GT]

Great OP. Thanks for that

 

[King Suddick]

That's really really interesting. Thank you so much.

Milne was playing for Blackpool as I started watching them in earnest as a kid. My memory tells (which of course could be well wrong seeing as it's nearly 60 years ago!) that his lack of game time in 68/69 was down to niggling injuries. I'm sure there will be someone on here with a better memory than mine who will be able to give you a definitive reason. We had a pretty strong midfield in those days and, in particular, local lad John Craven had come of age and became a permanent fixture there.

 

[HappyasLarry]

Would love to jump in to a Time Machine and go and stand on the old Kop - I bet they're not the whinging tarts we have on there today!

 

[kushiro]

I've finally written up the interview with Gordon and posted it on the Liverpool fans' forum redandwhitekop. Here's a copy and paste:


The quiet man has spoken at last. It was Ron Yeats, talking to the Echo in 1961, who gave Gordon Milne that name: 'Whether training or playing, you hardly hear a word', he said. Now, at the age of 86, Milne has published his autobiography, 'Shankly, My Dad and Me'. It's surely the final word on the great team of the 60s - and it may be much more than that.

Gordon is far too modest to make this kind of claim himself, but having talked to him about his life and the book over the past few weeks, I'm going to make it on his behalf. With this book, he has provided a new and compelling answer to an old question - 'When did the 1960s really start?'

You won't find it in any history textbooks, but from the perspective Gordon's career provides, October 25th 1962 stands out as a pivotal moment, not just for him, but for all of us. It was on that day that two long-standing arguments were finally resolved, setting British culture on a course from which it would never turn back.

Appropriately, with Gordon finally telling his story, the issue in common to both of those arguments was 'authorship'.

We are all authors now, of course. All 'content creators', nurturing our social media streams. 60 years ago, things were very different, and it's not just advances in technology that are responsible. We also need to thank those who kicked down the walls, removing the remnants of the old class system in which we were all supposed to know our place.

Alf's Red Line:

For many years, the argument about who should select the England football team had continued, with members of the FA International Committee clinging desperately to the privileges they had held since the 19th century. Walter Winterbottom, England manager from 1946 to 1962, had repeatedly tried to convince the FA that if he had the responsibility of molding the players into a winning team, he should have the right to select them in the first place. The FA weren't having it, and the ancient ritual continued. The nine members of the committee would get together in a posh hotel, share a couple of bottles of port, and through an exchange of opinions such as 'Burgess of the Rovers seems like a decent chap', an England XI would be selected.

But then on October 25th, a new man arrived and swept all that away. Alf Ramsey took the manager's job on one condition - that he, and he alone, would pick the team. When he got the chance to exercise that right for the first time, he gave debuts to two players - George Eastham of Arsenal, and Liverpool's Gordon Milne. Three years later, of course, Alf's insistence on doing things his way was to be thoroughly vindicated.

George Holds His Hands Up:

The same morning that Ramsey was handed those powers at the FA's Lancaster Gate headquarters, two miles away, another argument was resolved. This one had been running for months not years, but it had been even more heated. As George Martin opened the latest issue of the New Musical Express at Abbey Road studios, he realised that they had been right all along. For several months he had told John Lennon and Paul McCartney that the songs they wrote were simply not good enough to be released on the A-side of a single. The Beatles' first record would be a cover version, he insisted. 'How Do You Do It?' was the track he tried to foist on them. 'That's just the way the industry works', he said. 'Our job, as producers, is to find the material that you, the artists, record'.

But John and Paul weren't like other artists. They insisted on their own composition, 'Love Me Do', which George Martin didn't rate at all. After much to-ing and fro-ing, George reluctantly agreed to put it out as their debut 45 on Parlophone. Just watch this disappear quickly into oblivion, he thought to himself.

Now, as he looked at the chart in the NME, it was there - a new entry at number 29. It was a hit.

Paul McCartney, 200 miles away in Liverpool, saw the chart that same morning, and always remembered it as the moment he thought they'd made it. They'd made the charts, and they'd made their point. The argument was settled, not just for the Beatles, but for every artist that came after them. Never again would they have to plead for the right to release their own songs, and within a very short space of time, those who didn't write their own material would struggle to attain any artistic credibility.

In his book, Gordon describes how, inspired by the Beatles' breakthrough, supporters on the Kop at Anfield found their own voice. Their chants had just as much originality, energy and humour as the Beatles' records. He describes how Shankly used that energy to inspire the team to their great successes of the mid-60s. 'It was nigh-on impossible', he says 'to separate the two' (the music and the football). 'It was a magical time'.

So in both cases, authorship was the key issue. Does a person have the right to put his vision into practice, without interference from the likes of the FA International Committee, or the A&R departments of major record companies?

Gordon's book, the last word on Shankly's great side of the 60s, was published on November 6th, four days after Now and Then - 'the last Beatles single' - was released. Ironically, on the B-side is Love Me Do, re-mixed by Giles Martin. The B-side is where his father had wanted to put it all those years ago, before John and Paul put their foot down.

I spoke to Gordon that weekend:

(see below)

 

[kushiro]

Gordon, what do you think about the timing - the book and the single coming out together?


Well, when you cast your mind back to that time, the Beatles were a crucial part of it. The team took off at that time. Before that, the Kop never sang songs. They would make a noise at a corner but there was nothing like the chanting. It’s taken for granted now but it was a completely different atmosphere.

When I arrived in 1960 the Liverpool set up, the dressing rooms, the training ground was a dump, and the city was not in its best form. It was a whole different generation beginning. We used to talk about it later with the lads - most of them have now gone, sadly. It was a fantastic time to be in the city. With the Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers, the whole scene completely changed. Shankly was clever enough to mix that in with the atmosphere that was created and used the crowd in that way. At twenty to three with the crowd going mad he'd open the door and say 'Can you hear them? Can you hear them?'


Tell us where the idea for the book came from.


I’ve got an office outside the house with all my memorabilia, and there are four or five diaries that my father wrote about when he was a kid growing up, and going for a trial with Dundee Violet, and when he came to Preston, and when he was a manager, and talking about his daily life. To this day I still find them interesting, and I must have read them twenty times. I’ve got three sons myself, and I thought of the pleasure I’d got out of my dad’s diaries, and thought maybe I should do that as my sons may get the same pleasure later in their life. I don’t think it will come out as a diary but I found it easy to do in that way. I wrote it freehand, and spoke to Steve (Younger) about it and he put it all together. It’s taken me years, really. I’ve played at it and packed it in and started again.


Your father and Bill Shankly lived on the same street, didn't they?


Yes, opposite each other. We were at 6, Lowthorpe Road, with Bill on the other side. There’s a bit in the diary where Jimmy says "Shanks used to come across the road when he saw Gordon kicking the ball against the garage door. I’m sure he used to look through the window to see when he was doing that". And Shanks would come across and kick the ball with me.


Your father was nearly chosen for Scotland, then the war intervened. You later played for England. When you were growing up in Preston, did you feel Scottish or English?

Without a question, Scottish. It’s funny this. Before the war, my Auntie Grace came down to live with my parents in Preston. So there were four in the household, and three were Scottish. All my aunties and uncles were Scottish and most were football daft. The only noise I heard was Scottish noise. When that England-Scotland fixture was played my relatives were on the phone from Dundee saying we’re gonna do this and we’re gonna do that.


When your father was the trainer at Preston, he was chosen to do the same job for the Football League XI, wasn't he? And at that time those fixtures were quite prestigious - they were like a trial for the full England team. Did that make it easier for you when you were selected for England, that he'd already kind of moved away from that purely Scottish identity?

We should have had had this conversation 12 months ago - I could have put this in the book! Yes, he was very proud of being selected as trainer. I still have the photo of that game. Looking back now he missed the 1938 final through injury, then the war came along, then he studied physiotherapy and got the qualification he needed, then came the Football League job and taking Preston to the Cup Final in '54.


So your father was trainer at Preston, and you started your career there, but then you felt you needed to move away from him.

You didn’t want any of those complications. You wanted to stand on your own. When I was there with my father I was only part-time. For two years I was doing my apprenticeship. There would be odd occasions when I trained with the first team but that would be very rare. I felt the pressure then. Then I went into the army for two years. I knew that when I went full time I didn’t want to be in that scenario. It didn’t seem right for my dad and for me. I think it’s quite natural.


When you were a manager later, did you ask his advice?

I don't know if it was a different generation but the relationships of fathers to sons were - you just get on with it, learn from your mistakes. Trying to have long conversations with your father was a bit unusual. When we were younger, he’d been in the police force and had been through the war. I wouldn’t say fear, but it was respect. He was not an easy act to follow - there was always that in the background.


Tell us about that extraordinary moment when you and your wife Edith first met.

It was me and David Kerry, another young Preston player. We were playing tennis one night - two young footballers so we think we’re the bees’ knees, poncing around. We saw these two girls playing on another court, and as you do, we were having a look and saying ‘They look alright!’ and their names were Edith and Barbara. It led to two weddings. David and Barbara were still together until a few years ago when he sadly passed away.


Continued below:

 

[kushiro]

Reading interviews with you in the late 60s you said that your favourite game for Liverpool was Leicester away in 1964, in the League.

When people saw that Easter programme, no-one gave us a chance. We were going for the title - Shanks' first title - and United and who else was it, in the race? (Spurs and Everton) - and we had Spurs away on Good Friday, Leicester away the next day then Spurs again at home on Monday. No-one gave us a chance. I picked up an injury at Spurs and it was touch-and-go for Leicester. We were in the Grand Hotel in Leicester on Friday night and Bob Paisley was trying to get me fit. In those days you played a lot when you weren't 100%. It was 'Let's see how it goes, do your best'. And I played, and we won 2-0, then we beat Spurs again on the Monday.


And that season you were arguably our key player. A regular in the England team, and you got more votes than any other Liverpool player in the Footballer of the Year awards.

You could call it my peak season that, yeah.


When you made your England debut, you almost scored in the first twenty seconds when that shot was saved. What a start that would've been.

My son says it was a back pass!


You didn't make it into the final squad in ‘66, but you had so many great players competing for those positions in the mid-60s - Venables, Ball, Peters, Tony Kay of Everton...

Tony Kay to me personally was my biggest rival. He had the same style as me. He got into trouble later, didn't he. In 1966 I knew I wasn't at the level I had been. I got that injury before the Cup Final and it took me a long time to recover. Other players were emerging and I was standing still or going backwards a bit. I never felt I’d let myself down in an England shirt, but the recovery period after the injury – it took me longer to get back to where I was. What was more surprising was that Peter Thompson didn't make it. In my eyes, Peter was flying at that time. There was that drive back to Liverpool from Lilleshall after the squad was announced, with five Liverpool players in the car. Roger, Cally, Gerry Byrne - they were in, then me and Peter who were out. A report came on the car radio about the squad and Roger turns it off. After that, we hardly said a word. Then there was Jimmy Greaves. I wasn’t in the squad but for Jimmy it was worse. He was in the squad, and when he didn’t make the final, that killed him.


Do you remember where you were for the Final?

I watched it, but I can’t remember where I was. That could be the reason – not wanting to watch it, in a way. So sick that you’re not there.


You missed out then but I don’t think there’s any doubt that, as a manager, you had more success than any of those who were chosen in Ramsey’s final 22. You could look at Alan Ball maybe, and Jack Charlton of course, but in terms of trophies, no-one can rival you.

It’s never even crossed my mind that. Now that you mention it, it’s interesting. I can’t wish for any more from my career. Of course, there were disappointments, but the longevity of it all is something I look back on with pride.


Even the time at Coventry City. I mean, there were no trophies, but keeping them in Division One for nine seasons has to be counted as a success.

Well, that was the mandate. Produce kids, sell them and stay in Division One. It was a mandate you couldn’t really publicize to the fans because they don’t want to hear that. They want to hear that you’re going to go to the Cup Final and win the League.


I think one of those seasons, 1977/78, was really fascinating. It’s the year Forest shocked everyone by winning the League, but midway through the season you were right up there, in the title race, and playing thrilling, attacking football.

You know, I didn’t put this in the book but there was a TV programme then, when Cloughie received some award. I was sitting watching and he said, “This shouldn’t be coming to me” - you know how he talks - “It should be going to that young man in Coventry”.


Wow.

Yeah. Our form at the time was surprising because at the beginning of the season, when the newspapers chose the two teams to go down, one of them was always Coventry City. So that was an achievement, as you say, in a different way.

*********

I asked Gordon a lot about his time at Liverpool of course, but the key section of his book covers those years, so I haven’t repeated it here.

Talking to him was a really rewarding experience - listening to that stream of softly-spoken footballing wisdom. One of the best descriptions I read of him while researching his career was 'he's a brilliant game reader'. Well now we know he's also a fine author - and we can be the readers. His book is well worth getting hold of.

Finally, let’s go back to October 25th, 1962, the day that ‘set British culture on a course from which it would never turn back’.
It wasn’t just in football and popular music.

Two years later, on October 15th 1964, Harold Wilson secured an overall majority in the General Election by a wafer-thin margin. The swing to Labour wasn’t as high as he’d hoped for, and without the seats they captured in Liverpool, where the swing was higher than in any other city in England, it would have been a hung parliament. The Tory party were led by Alec Douglas-Home, a classic old-school Tory; a throwback to the age of deference. Had Labour not had that clear majority, the mid-60s in the UK would have been very different.

Wilson’s own constituency was Huyton, just outside the Liverpool city boundary. That was one reason for those key seats in the city falling Labour’s way. There were other factors too, such as the decline in the importance of religion in the political life of the city. But the main reason was that wave of working-class energy that put Liverpool at the top of the charts, Shankly’s team at the top of the League, and finally, a Labour man in 10, Downing Street.

 

[Nigel517]

Reading interviews with you in the late 60s you said that your favourite game for Liverpool was Leicester away in 1964, in the League.

When people saw that Easter programme, no-one gave us a chance. We were going for the title - Shanks' first title - and United and who else was it, in the race? (Spurs and Everton) - and we had Spurs away on Good Friday, Leicester away the next day then Spurs again at home on Monday. No-one gave us a chance. I picked up an injury at Spurs and it was touch-and-go for Leicester. We were in the Grand Hotel in Leicester on Friday night and Bob Paisley was trying to get me fit. In those days you played a lot when you weren't 100%. It was 'Let's see how it goes, do your best'. And I played, and we won 2-0, then we beat Spurs again on the Monday.


And that season you were arguably our key player. A regular in the England team, and you got more votes than any other Liverpool player in the Footballer of the Year awards.

You could call it my peak season that, yeah.


When you made your England debut, you almost scored in the first twenty seconds when that shot was saved. What a start that would've been.

My son says it was a back pass!


You didn't make it into the final squad in ‘66, but you had so many great players competing for those positions in the mid-60s - Venables, Ball, Peters, Tony Kay of Everton...

Tony Kay to me personally was my biggest rival. He had the same style as me. He got into trouble later, didn't he. In 1966 I knew I wasn't at the level I had been. I got that injury before the Cup Final and it took me a long time to recover. Other players were emerging and I was standing still or going backwards a bit. I never felt I’d let myself down in an England shirt, but the recovery period after the injury – it took me longer to get back to where I was. What was more surprising was that Peter Thompson didn't make it. In my eyes, Peter was flying at that time. There was that drive back to Liverpool from Lilleshall after the squad was announced, with five Liverpool players in the car. Roger, Cally, Gerry Byrne - they were in, then me and Peter who were out. A report came on the car radio about the squad and Roger turns it off. After that, we hardly said a word. Then there was Jimmy Greaves. I wasn’t in the squad but for Jimmy it was worse. He was in the squad, and when he didn’t make the final, that killed him.


Do you remember where you were for the Final?

I watched it, but I can’t remember where I was. That could be the reason – not wanting to watch it, in a way. So sick that you’re not there.


You missed out then but I don’t think there’s any doubt that, as a manager, you had more success than any of those who were chosen in Ramsey’s final 22. You could look at Alan Ball maybe, and Jack Charlton of course, but in terms of trophies, no-one can rival you.

It’s never even crossed my mind that. Now that you mention it, it’s interesting. I can’t wish for any more from my career. Of course, there were disappointments, but the longevity of it all is something I look back on with pride.


Even the time at Coventry City. I mean, there were no trophies, but keeping them in Division One for nine seasons has to be counted as a success.

Well, that was the mandate. Produce kids, sell them and stay in Division One. It was a mandate you couldn’t really publicize to the fans because they don’t want to hear that. They want to hear that you’re going to go to the Cup Final and win the League.


I think one of those seasons, 1977/78, was really fascinating. It’s the year Forest shocked everyone by winning the League, but midway through the season you were right up there, in the title race, and playing thrilling, attacking football.

You know, I didn’t put this in the book but there was a TV programme then, when Cloughie received some award. I was sitting watching and he said, “This shouldn’t be coming to me” - you know how he talks - “It should be going to that young man in Coventry”.


Wow.

Yeah. Our form at the time was surprising because at the beginning of the season, when the newspapers chose the two teams to go down, one of them was always Coventry City. So that was an achievement, as you say, in a different way.

*********

I asked Gordon a lot about his time at Liverpool of course, but the key section of his book covers those years, so I haven’t repeated it here.

Talking to him was a really rewarding experience - listening to that stream of softly-spoken footballing wisdom. One of the best descriptions I read of him while researching his career was 'he's a brilliant game reader'. Well now we know he's also a fine author - and we can be the readers. His book is well worth getting hold of.

Finally, let’s go back to October 25th, 1962, the day that ‘set British culture on a course from which it would never turn back’.
It wasn’t just in football and popular music.

Two years later, on October 15th 1964, Harold Wilson secured an overall majority in the General Election by a wafer-thin margin. The swing to Labour wasn’t as high as he’d hoped for, and without the seats they captured in Liverpool, where the swing was higher than in any other city in England, it would have been a hung parliament. The Tory party were led by Alec Douglas-Home, a classic old-school Tory; a throwback to the age of deference. Had Labour not had that clear majority, the mid-60s in the UK would have been very different.

Wilson’s own constituency was Huyton, just outside the Liverpool city boundary. That was one reason for those key seats in the city falling Labour’s way. There were other factors too, such as the decline in the importance of religion in the political life of the city. But the main reason was that wave of working-class energy that put Liverpool at the top of the charts, Shankly’s team at the top of the League, and finally, a Labour man in 10, Downing Street.

A very enjoyable read. Thanks for taking the time and posting.

 

[Meliora]

Thanks very much for sharing this with us. I loved watching Gordon Milne in tangerine, hardly ever put a foot wrong. Not being picky but your sub-editor should have pointed out that Love Me Do was released on the 5th October

 

[Lytham_fy8]

What an excellent thread, thanks for taking the time

 

[Skye Charlie]

Let's get straight on with part two:


1) July 1967

Two months after signing for Blackpool, Gordon reported for pre-season training at Squires Gate. He got a bit of a shock. Wilf Dixon was in charge of the sessions, and they were very different to those he'd known at Melwood in Liverpool. As he recalls in his new book, there was just endless running. 'Whole mornings passed without seeing a football'.

Wilf Dixon seems to have made quite an impression, but in fact, Gordon had to put up with him for only a month. At the end of August, Dixon quit to become head trainer at Everton.

As we've seen, Gordon's Blackpool career got off to a flyer with that 2-0 win at Deepdale. After spending 30 years in the top flight, they were determined to go straight back up, and in the early weeks of the season that looked a real possibility.

View attachment 17338

Not a bad first couple of months (those games against Newport and Man City were in the League Cup - City won the replay 2-0).

At that point, Blackpool were top of the League, and Milne was settling in very nicely. The report on that Palace game said: 'Milne was outstanding. He prodded and probed to find the weaknesses in the wall that Palace set up in front of their goal'. Here he is setting up the first goal in that win at Bristol City on September 16th:

As Blackpool were winning at Ashton Gate, Preston were losing 2-0 at home again - this time to QPR, and there were chants of 'Milne Out!' from the terraces. Jimmy's time at the club was drawing to a close. He would shortly move to a General Manager position, and then at the end of the season, aged 57, he stepped down from full time football, continuing in a scouting role.


2) December 16th 1967

Four months after that opening day win at Deepdale, Blackpool completed the double with a 4-1 home win. That left them in third place - and that was where they would finish the season - agonizingly short of an immediate return to the top flight, behind QPR on goal average (only two went up back then, of course, and there were no play-offs).

Here's a shot of Gordon in action in a crucial 3-1 defeat at Selhurst Park in March:

View attachment 17340

Reading through that 'Old Pictures of Blackpool' thread there are a few comments about Gordon's time at the club - some feeling he was a disappointment, others recalling his time more positively. He was actually out of the side for the last seven games of that 67/68 season - it seems he was injured, rather than dropped (can anyone confirm which?) but without him, the side reeled off seven straight victories, which still wasn't quite enough. That run must have left Gordon feeling unsure of his place in the side for the following season, but come August 1968, he was there in the line up again.


3) August / September 1968

Another impressive start to the season. A 2-0 home win v Hull City on opening day, then a 1-1 draw at Clough's Derby County, with Milne once again described as 'outstanding'. I love this picture of him from early September - a 1-0 win v Bolton Wanderers:

View attachment 17342

That's another one from the old pictures thread. Then a week later came yet another significant game against Preston - a 1-1 draw that takes Blackpool top of the table.

Once again, however, the early season promise was unfulfilled. Blackpool faded and finished down in 8th place.

At the end of the 68/69 season Stan Mortensen stood down and was replaced by Les Shannon, with new coach Jimmy Meadows. It was Meadows who tried to convince Gordon that he could extend his playing career at the top level by giving up the box to box game of his younger years, and switching to a deeper role, relying on passing the ball rather than running with it. It was advice Gordon didn't want to hear, and we'll see how his Bloomfield Road career ended in part three, coming up soon (and if any of you Blackpool experts who know far more about the club than me have spotted any factual or contextual errors here, please tell me).

For now, here's the 68/69 squad, Gordon bottom left:

View attachment 17339

How

 

[Skye Charlie]

Let's get straight on with part two:


1) July 1967

Two months after signing for Blackpool, Gordon reported for pre-season training at Squires Gate. He got a bit of a shock. Wilf Dixon was in charge of the sessions, and they were very different to those he'd known at Melwood in Liverpool. As he recalls in his new book, there was just endless running. 'Whole mornings passed without seeing a football'.

Wilf Dixon seems to have made quite an impression, but in fact, Gordon had to put up with him for only a month. At the end of August, Dixon quit to become head trainer at Everton.

As we've seen, Gordon's Blackpool career got off to a flyer with that 2-0 win at Deepdale. After spending 30 years in the top flight, they were determined to go straight back up, and in the early weeks of the season that looked a real possibility.

View attachment 17338

Not a bad first couple of months (those games against Newport and Man City were in the League Cup - City won the replay 2-0).

At that point, Blackpool were top of the League, and Milne was settling in very nicely. The report on that Palace game said: 'Milne was outstanding. He prodded and probed to find the weaknesses in the wall that Palace set up in front of their goal'. Here he is setting up the first goal in that win at Bristol City on September 16th:

As Blackpool were winning at Ashton Gate, Preston were losing 2-0 at home again - this time to QPR, and there were chants of 'Milne Out!' from the terraces. Jimmy's time at the club was drawing to a close. He would shortly move to a General Manager position, and then at the end of the season, aged 57, he stepped down from full time football, continuing in a scouting role.


2) December 16th 1967

Four months after that opening day win at Deepdale, Blackpool completed the double with a 4-1 home win. That left them in third place - and that was where they would finish the season - agonizingly short of an immediate return to the top flight, behind QPR on goal average (only two went up back then, of course, and there were no play-offs).

Here's a shot of Gordon in action in a crucial 3-1 defeat at Selhurst Park in March:

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Reading through that 'Old Pictures of Blackpool' thread there are a few comments about Gordon's time at the club - some feeling he was a disappointment, others recalling his time more positively. He was actually out of the side for the last seven games of that 67/68 season - it seems he was injured, rather than dropped (can anyone confirm which?) but without him, the side reeled off seven straight victories, which still wasn't quite enough. That run must have left Gordon feeling unsure of his place in the side for the following season, but come August 1968, he was there in the line up again.


3) August / September 1968

Another impressive start to the season. A 2-0 home win v Hull City on opening day, then a 1-1 draw at Clough's Derby County, with Milne once again described as 'outstanding'. I love this picture of him from early September - a 1-0 win v Bolton Wanderers:

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That's another one from the old pictures thread. Then a week later came yet another significant game against Preston - a 1-1 draw that takes Blackpool top of the table.

Once again, however, the early season promise was unfulfilled. Blackpool faded and finished down in 8th place.

At the end of the 68/69 season Stan Mortensen stood down and was replaced by Les Shannon, with new coach Jimmy Meadows. It was Meadows who tried to convince Gordon that he could extend his playing career at the top level by giving up the box to box game of his younger years, and switching to a deeper role, relying on passing the ball rather than running with it. It was advice Gordon didn't want to hear, and we'll see how his Bloomfield Road career ended in part three, coming up soon (and if any of you Blackpool experts who know far more about the club than me have spotted any factual or contextual errors here, please tell me).

For now, here's the 68/69 squad, Gordon bottom left:

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How many of us would settle for that squad today?

 

[kushiro]

Your sub-editor should have pointed out that Love Me Do was released on the 5th October

I think you've misunderstood. The relevant date was not when it was released but when it made the NME chart. It was then that the argument with George Martin was settled.

 

[Meliora]

OK

 

[20togo]

not read the whole thread but that 2-0 win over Palace I seem to remember Armfield scored for us. Can still remember the goal at the Kop end. I know it was in a 2-0 win if it was that season.