Just came across an old newspaper in an antique shop in Norfolk and headlines on back page!

I remember Suart being appointed towards the end of the 50's but looking at that headline I'm wondering why Harry Johnston wasn't given the job.
Him and Morty would have been the dream team at that point just to give us some continuity after the glory years.
 
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I remember Suart being appointed towards the end of the 50's but looking at that headline I'm wondering why Harry Johnston wasn't given the job.
Him and Morty would have been the dream team at that point just to give us some continuity after the glory years.
Johnston was appointed assistant to Morty and the duo almost achieved promotion in 67/68 losing out on goal average.
 
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I remember Ron Suart taking over from Joe Smith who had taken `pool up to the first division and given them their great years. Under Suart decline steadily set in, we deteriorated and Suart left us when Morty took over after nine years, in the season we were finally relegated after 30 years, including the war years, in which we had remained in the top flight. We`ve had our moments since but nothing compared to the late 30`s, 40`s and particularly the 50`s ,the decade in which I was lucky enough to first see them and quickly learned to love them . When I lay in bed as a young boy I would repeat the team to myself many times Farm ,Shimwell, Garrett, Fenton, Johnston, Kelly, Matthews, Taylor, Mortensen, Brown , Perry .What a team with ten internationals .

As a boy it had always seemed to me that we were a top club by right and would always remain one, so the gradual decline after those marvellous years, which was also influenced by the abolition of the maximum wage in about 1961, was hard to come to terms with but once the connection is made no matter what are the results, that`s it, they remain in your heart for the rest of your life.
 
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Johnston was appointed assistant to Morty and the duo almost achieved promotion in 67/68 losing out on goal average.

Intriguing to think what might have happened if they had been appointed 10 years earlier then.
The Suart years did coincide with the slow drip of decline after the greatness of the fifties but it was no longer a level playing field after the abolition of the maximum wage in 1961.
Even then though we saw the emergence of Alan Ball and Emlyn Hughes and Jimmy Armfield was an ever present throughout.
Suart also brought Alan Suddick in so that should never be forgotten.
 
Intriguing to think what might have happened if they had been appointed 10 years earlier then.
The Suart years did coincide with the slow drip of decline after the greatness of the fifties but it was no longer a level playing field after the abolition of the maximum wage in 1961.
Even then though we saw the emergence of Alan Ball and Emlyn Hughes and Jimmy Armfield was an ever present throughout.
Suart also brought Alan Suddick in so that should never be forgotten.
Yes he did bring Suddick in but 4 months too late. By the time he made his debut on Boxing Day 1966 we were as good as down.
With the Alan Ball money we signed Alan Skirton who did ok but had injury problems that first seaspn and Suddick. Ball had been
fantastic the previous 2 seasons and had almost singlehandedly kept us in the first division. We never addressed his loss until it
was too late and even with Skirton and Suddick in the team we struggled in the second half of the season.
 
I was one of the few hundred who sat down and demonstrated outside the South Stand in late 1966.
”Sack Suart” was the chant. First crowd trouble ever caused by the Pool fans and was back page national headlines.
 
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