NOBBY STILES - HERO

Last updated : 30 September 2002 By Editor

From The Times:

‘I FIND myself broadcasting with Nobby Stiles. Has there ever been a more affable athlete produced by these islands? I lose no time in telling him that the public’s clamour to cement his career as little more than the wild thrashings of a human scythe is not only a gross distortion of talent and events, but surely responsible for the sort of mental anguish from which a clever lawyer might secure a mountain of ready compensatory cash.

Dismissing the idea with a veritable bray of a laugh, His Nobs — now touring to raise the profile of the British Heart Foundation — says he is happy to let his video legacy speak for itself, while fully aware that nobody ever will. "Two things I’d ask for looking at in particular," he quietly suggests after a moment’s reflection. "That third goal in the final is one." And I swear I almost said "Which final?", but thankfully pulled back from the abyss.

"You know that goal, it’s all about the goalline and Roger Hunt’s reaction and the Russian linesman and Geoff and da-da-da. But you know what got lost in all that? Me. Typical! But next time, look at how Bally gets the ball to cross it in the first place. Fifty yards I hit that — bang to his toe cap. Fifty yards right across the field. Beautiful, beautiful ball. No one remembers."

So what’s the other thing you’re most proud of? "Well," and now his eyes are really on fire, "do you know we played West Germany only a couple of months before that match? Had another game against them, in the . . . the February. Wembley. We beat them 1-0 and that was a massive result too — that’s when we thought we could win the whole thing, in the February. Anyway, only one goal, and who scored it?"

No, Nobby, surely . . . "I’ll give you a clue. It was the No 9." Number nine? So that would’ve been . . . "Me! I was the No 9 in that game. Don’t ask — I haven’t got a clue why I was wearing that shirt, we didn’t mix ’em up then like they do now. But you have a look. I was England’s centre forward. And I scored — bang! — against Germany in 1966. That’s one for the pub quiz, eh? Which No 9 scored the winner against West Germany in ’66? See who says Nobby Stiles. And what a goal!"