When We Were Very Young

I have been talking to Michael S. who is member of the FB group Michael has been gooner since 1947 and remembers the likes of Nutt and Tiddy and remembers when we had George Swindon as manager. This what he said in a brief chat on a post of the group page with other members. I was intrigued by this and decide to ask him some question about post war gooners.

 Why Do You Follow Follow?

 I had no choice in the matter when it came to football teams, my Dad and all his large family were all Arsenal mad my Dad took me to Highbury for the first time in 1947 to see a friendly against the Scottish side Hibernian, i think it was 7-1 to us ,I remember my Dad and his mate Jim sat me on the half time score box ,that used to be in two corners opposite one an other ,My brothers and me were among the crowd calling for Billy Wright to be sacked , yet if we had given him a while longer he probably would have done the double, the Players that achieved that were nearly all his signings. We take it for granted in the age of internet and Sky that we will be able to keep in touch with Arsenal.

 How did you manage to ‘feed your habit’ as a youth?

 We used to go to the ground as often as we could , the players used to have a red cinder type pitch at the back of the clock end which we were able to watch them play on, even some times try to get involved.

 How different was football at that time?

 The football seemed to be slower but more robust ,the boots, they wore had like reinforced toe caps, and the ball was all leather that needed some power to kick

 What was the atmosphere like at matches?

 the atmosphere was great the crowds were friendlier with rattles and scarves , unfortunately I did not see many games during the 1948 Season, when we did go we were helped to go down the front so we could see better, they had players like Jimmy Logie Leslie Compton , Joe Mercer unfortunately we could not go to the 1950 cup final we never had the money or ticket.

 Did you see the babe's play before they went off to munich?

 I think the game against Arsenal at Highbury was the last game Manchester United played before the Munich tragedy what a cracker, United were 3-1 up at half time but ran out winners 5-4 The ground was packed we had to stand sideways on at the start of the game.

 What Do you remember of Gordon Nutt and Mike Tiddy?

 I cant remember a lot about Gordon Nutt and Mike Tiddy I remember one playing on the wing ,they were bought together i know ,not certain I think they came from the same club , Mike Tiddy had avery light grey streak in the front of his dark hair , not very successful though dont think they stayed too long.