Memories of the 1940's - and the "comeback king"

“This is the tale of the man who came back When everyone said he was finished
He was getting too old and getting too fat And the force of his football diminished.

Yes, now he’s come home, let’s welcome him back He’s always a fine opportunist
With the wave in his hair and a bend in his nose
He was ideal to draw for cartoonists.

‘The Quakers are back to their best once again’
A director was heard to remark
They’ve got cash in the bank and the man they can thank
Is the man who came back, Harry Clarke.”

HARRY CLARKE, Darlington’s “comeback king” was immortalised in verse on his return to Feethams for a third spell in 1952. The locally-born striker, now 82, has the poem framed in the hallway of his neat semi-detached home in Darlington. "They used to have gala evenings each year to celebrate the founding of the club, you’d get dinner and entertainment and that poem was performed by a big friend of mine, Vince Gilligan." As his best football was uncannily with his hometown club, it’s no real surprise he always "came back to my roots."

Although he’d scored 17 times in 19 matches, Harry’s first departure in early 1947, for £4,000 to Leeds United, was unexpected: “We were all going on the train to Tranmere and Billy Forrest was the manager,” he said. “He came down the passageway of the coach and told me, ‘We’re getting off at Leeds.’ I said, what are we doing, going for a dance or something? Something daft. They were bottom on the league then and they hoped I’d get them out of it and I was talked into it and signed at 4.30 on the Saturday morning – I was playing against Wolverhampton that afternoon!"

His time there was to be short and not so sweet. "I failed so miserably," he says. "I only scored one goal for them and just didn’t enjoy it, Leeds were relegated at the end of the season and I was back again." His second spell back at Feethams was short-lived when he was transferred to Hartlepools in 1949, but his only goal there was a penalty - against Darlington! He later returned again via Stockton to his home town, where he scored nearly half his career goals, to inspire the rhyme. Six more goals in 14 games.

What made Harry stand out, apart from a proud record of 50 goals in 73 games for the Quakers, was his feat of being the only man known to play both football and cricket professionally at Feethams. Cricket remains his first love. "My father was a cricketer, he captained Darlington RA Seconds and he took me from the age of nine or 10, home and away. I started to play for them and I played football eventually for Stanley United and only went to Feethams when I signed for Darlington." Harry’s Summer career over 18 years took him to clubs including Darlington, Blackhall and Bishop Auckland. He also scored more than 1,000 runs in minor counties matches for Durham, including a match against New Zealand. "I used to be glad when the football season was over to be honest, Cricket was my love, football was a longer season. Not that it was easier for me, I used to open the batting and the bowling, so I had responsibilities."

Harry's other claim to fame is that he is said to have originated the phrase, "It's looking black over Bill's mother's", which has been a favourite of cricketers and commentators, such as Richie Benaud.

He admits his memory isn't what it was but who better to sum up Feethams' twin appeal as football and cricket ground? "I hadn’t been to a professional football club before, but the dressing rooms were quite acceptable, they weren’t to blame if we lost. During the War we’d train there on Tuesday and Thursday nights. In the cricket season, I’d play one-day games for the county. I’d take half an hour for lunch at work to make up for the day I had off. Feethams for cricket was without doubt the finest ground in the whole of the North Yorkshire and South Durham leagues. With the nice pavilion as well, you couldn’t ask for anything better.”

After the passing of the Reynolds regime, Harry was invited to be a guest of the club on match days, as the oldest known living player. He's often seen cheering on the team.

Q&A: FIRST FEETHAMS MATCH? I can’t remember now, I joined the club in about 1942. During the War you only played local sides like Newcastle, Gateshead and Middlesbrough. We’d get crowds of 10 or 12,000. I used to get 30 bob a week and was still working with the railway company because the War was on. It was a hell of a side, the likes of Jimmy Mullen and Tommy Varty, a lot of them with the Army at Catterick. MOST MEMORABLE FEETHAMS MATCH: I scored five goals twice at home (against Rotherham in 1945) including once for a FA Select XI at Feethams. BEST PLAYER YOU PLAYED WITH: Guy Wharton, he’d played for Portsmouth against Wolverhampton in the 1939 Cup Final. He was the finest footballer I played with at Feethams – he shone like a bright light. He could dribble, head the ball, he could run and kick. He played for us while he was with the Army at Barnard Castle. TOUGHEST OPPONENT: When I was at Leeds, I came up against Stan Cullis, the great Wolverhampton centre half. He was tough him, he’d walk right across you. There were two brothers at Gateshead, the Callenders, one was a centre half and he always looked for me and gave me a right kicking! FEETHAMS CHARACTER: George Catterick, the trainer, a brilliant fellow. He wasn’t a well educated man, and if someone was having a bad game he’d give them hell. It didn’t matter about the manager at the club, Bill Forrest, George Catterick more than made up for him. CURRENT PLAYER YOU ADMIRE: David Beckham, he’s a cool, useful player. WHAT DID YOU DO AFTER YOU RETIRED FROM PLAYING? I played cricket professionally until about 1960. I was also working as an engineering draughtsman at Darlington Forge, until I was made redundant in 1968. I then got a job as a draughtsman for Northumberland county council. I enjoy racing – I like a bet – and watching football and cricket, although only on the television. Steve Duffy

Memories of the 1950's - from Polam Lane to Pele

An enjoyable hour talking to KEN FURPHY can only scratch the surface of a fascinating involvement in football that started more than 50 years ago.

His 349 games for Darlington, spanning the 1950s to early ‘60s, are often overlooked after managerial globetrotting, which took him from Workington to New York. Once upon a time at Sheffield United he was England’s highest paid club manager (£13,000 a year was a lot in the mid 70s), he coached the England Under 23 squad under Sir Alf Ramsey and, was one of the first FA coaches to work in Africa. And then he had to deal with Pele when he was late for the team bus.

The teenager who had interested Everton returned to his native North East in 1952 while in National Service with the RAF. Darlington were the only club to offer him a trial and after getting a second chance in a Probables v Possibles game he was asked if he could play right back, as they had enough wing halves. Ken was on £1 a week and £3 a match, while a serviceman and in the post-War era there were only five full-time professionals.

“The club never had any money, but it changed when the supporters had a Lotto and gave money to manager Bobby Gurney to sign some players,” recalls Ken.

Stockton-born Furphy’s nine seasons at Feethams are closely associated with Darlington’s Cup exploits, including famous victories over the likes of Chelsea and West Ham. “I think I held some sort of record for playing in 20 Cup wins. They used to say of me, 'if every game was a Cup match, Furphy would play for England!'” “I wasn’t a great header of the ball, but I knew how to work all the time and I was pretty fast although Darlington had looked at me playing for Evenwood and thought I had no stamina. I told them I’d been second in the local cross country championships at the time!

"I was always quick, even at 38. When I was player-manager at Watford, we signed a young lad from Cardiff called Lewis, a Welsh under 21 international. He was 21 and they all bet that I could run faster. I said I’m not going to race him, but they said there was all this money riding on it. The groundsman was at one end with a hankerchief – it was a dead heat. We ran again and this time I beat him by a couple of yards. Next thing I remember was waking up in the dressing room – I’d blacked out! Luckily there was nothing wrong, it was just lack of oxygen to the blood.”

Ken earmed his FA coaching badge at 25, under the encouragement of England manager Walter Winterbottom and he'd already been abroad working in the Summer while at still Feethams.

He eventually left Darlington, a little reluctantly, after first having his money cut under threat of losing his testimonial and then being told the directors would let him go in a year’s time. He applied for the player-manager’s job at Workington, while what had originally been a free transfer suddenly saw Darlington demanding a fee. “Looking back it must have been mad, I’d a family, a brand new council house – a real palace – a job, I played every week and I was going to take the same money to go there. They asked me two questions – 'can I play right back' and 'what would you do for training when it rains?' They were asking the same questions in interviews seven years later.”

It must have been a whole world away from Cumbria so I had to ask him about his spell as New York Cosmos manager in 1976. Ken was asked to make the club “the biggest in the world” by an ambitious club president at his 34th floor office. Pele had signed a few months before, on a huge salary and also had his own office in the block – bigger than Furphy’s. So how do you tell Pele what to do? “Well, you don’t tell him how to pass a football! You had to let him know what other players are capable of, those not as gifted and recognising their different strengths. He was a nice man and became a good friend, but he had a bodyguard and a Brazilian agent who was a bit of a pain. We were on a pre-season tour and the team coach was 15 minutes late waiting for one player – Pele, The same happened the next day, so I called a meeting and said this couldn’t go on. His English wasn’t very good then, but it turned out that he was 15 minutes late because he stepped out of his hotel room and the waiter, the maids, everyone wanted his autograph and he signed them all. So I advised that he try and leave his room 15 minutes earlier. There was never any trouble after that.”

Now 71 and living near the coast in south Devon, Ken still visits Feethams occasionally in his work for BBC Radio Devon, although Torquay’s promotion push could mean he has other commitments today. He still has fond memories of where it started and where he spent so many years as a player. “It kick-started my career – Bobby Gurney gave me a chance and there aren’t many places in the world I haven’t been to. Keith Morton and I even helped build the terraces at Feethams, helping the supporters, the two of us were lifting the bricks. “

Q&A: FIRST FEETHAMS MATCH: Against Crewe at the end of 1953 (lost 1-0). I’d played 13 games for the reserves at right back and they put me in at wing half in place of Jimmy French. MOST MEMORABLE FEETHAMS MATCH: The 4-1 FA Cup replay win over Chelsea in 1958. It was wonderful match. A terrific goal by Ron Harbertson, I played a ball down the right for him, he cut inside and hit a cross shot – he was a great kicker of the ball. In the first game, I was given the No6 shirt and told to mark a young lad who was “flash in the pan” called Jimy Greaves. He didn’t play in the replay. BEST PLAYER YOU PLAYED WITH: Ron Greener and Brian Henderson, I can’t separate them, for service to the club. Ron was great in the air and I think I was the only player on his own side that Brian never managed to clobber at some point – it was something if he crashed into you…! TOUGHEST OPPONENT: Ex-Newcastle player Ivor Broadis. He was an England international and I faced him when he was player-coach for Carlisle in the second FA Cup replay, which was played at Newcastle – the first match under floodlights in 1955 (Furphy scored in Darlington’s 3-1 win in front of more than 34,000 fans). He had some lovely moves and was a glider of a player. FEETHAMS CHARACTER: It would have to be Ron Greener, who with Keith Morton liked a prank – he used to have a trick when you were staying overnight, especially with a new player, of hiding in the wardrobe and when he came in the room, Ron fell out of it. CURRENT PLAYER YOU ADMIRE: Michael Owen WHAT HAVE YOU DONE SINCE YOU RETIRED FROM FOOTBALL? Ken’s never really retired and has been a co-commentator for BBC Radio Devon for the last 20 years. “It pays enough to keep my Merc going.” Steve Duffy

Memories of the 1970's - and a touch of Frost

Darlington attacking midfielder DON BURLURAUX talked to TED BLAIR about his time at Feethams in the 1970s - and when TV personality David Frost came to town. Don was signed from Middlesbrough on a free transfer in 1972, aged 20, and scored 13 goals in two seasons.

I think we all remember our early years supporting Darlo and have a special regard for the players we saw in those first Quakers line-ups. In my case this goes back almost 30 years to 1973 when we were what could be diplomatically called 'under achievers', the Seventies being a decade known mainly for the numerous applications made to the Football League for re-election and endless seasons playing the likes of Southport, Workington and Rochdale - so some things never change.

All the same, to a young impressionable lad the players were all stars - untouchable and infallible (ah…the innocence of youth). I can still look at the old team pictures and remember all but a few of the players. The names slip off the tongue in true Barnstoneworth United fashion - Owers, Nattress, Jones, Cattrell, Barker, Blant, Holbrook, Webb, Sinclair, Young and one of my early favourites, Don Burluraux. As was often the case in those days, Don came to the Quakers from one of our regular sources, Middlesbrough, who also provided the likes of Gordon Jones, Stan Webb and Jimmy Cochrane around that time - none of your fancy-dan foreign stars in those days.

Don had joined the Boro' as a full-time pro in 1968 at the tender age of 17 and remembers how different things were in the Fourth Division.

"The facilities at Feethams were a lot worse than what I’d been used to but the lads were a great bunch," said Don. "We made the best of what we had. I spent the best part of my last year at Darlo with an ankle injury – the ‘treatment kit’ was a bucket of hot water to dip it in followed by spraying it with a cold hosepipe!".

Predictably the wages were quite a lot different from today as well, which Don recalls as being £30 a week with a bonus of £4 for a win and £2 for a draw. "In my final season I’d risen to the dizzy heights of £35 a week basic (I don’t think the win bonus changed though). I remember at the end of each season if you went in the office and got a Cup Final ticket you knew you were being kept on! If you didn’t it was as good as saying ‘bye-bye'"

Those who lived through the Seventies will remember that the fashion at the time had a rather 'distinctive' look and I suspect many of us have got photos from those days hidden well away from public view. The first team squad also had their share of fashion victims: "Long hair and sideburns were the fashion in the mid-70’s along with flares and ‘Cuban’ heeled shoes and we all had ‘em! Stevie Holbrook’s took some beating though – he spent more time in front of the bloody mirror brushing his hair than a woman! It seems to have worked for him though – at least he’s still got his hair – not me!"

That was the week that was

Don was part of the squad that was featured in a Frost Programme documentary made by London Weekend Television and presented by David Frost - certainly an unusual choice for TV coverage in those days when lower division teams got fewer headlines than today. Cynics suggested that the programme would belittle the Quakers but Don is not convinced.

"Many regard the Frost Programme as a mickey-take but I’m not so sure – he was genuinely enthusiastic about us doing well that week," remembers Don. "The first interviews were to be done at my own home in Newton Aycliffe. Being a bit nervous, a few of us – me, Steve Holbrook, Colin Sinclair, Peter Graham and Ernie Adams – went down to the Southern Club for a bit of Dutch courage - we only intended to have a pint or two. It was about 6.30pm and quiet in there - we decided to have a game of darts.

"During the game an old chap came across and asked us if we were the Darlington players. I said we were and he asked me to follow him. He took me to the table by the entrance door and said, “Sign these lot in will you?” When I looked up I couldn’t believe it – there was David Frost and some of his film crew including the producer and director! And the old doorman wanted them ‘signed in’ – he hadn’t a clue who they were! "I ‘signed’ them in and apologised saying we didn’t expect them until 8pm at my house and that we would drink up our pints. “No! Carry on lads,” Frostie said, “and have another drink on us! I want to try a pint of that ‘Newcastle Brown Ale’ I’ve heard so much about but never tasted!

"Well, he went on to have a couple and bought us all some more drinks before he and the crew bought and filled their pockets with bottles of Newcastle and spirits. He’d had an idea and decided it would be a good idea to do the players’ interviews as an informal party get together with our wives – this was two nights before the game but the rules were different then! By the time we were on camera we were half sloshed!"

David Frost certainly got involved as we can see from the pictures of him training with the Darlo squad. Unfortunately in the first game covered by the documentary team, Darlo lost 5-0 at Chester. However a little pride was restored in the home match with Cambridge when we drew 3-3, Don appearing on the scoresheet with Norman Lees and Ian Hopkinson.

Don was also involved in another interesting episode in Darlington's history. Paul Trevillion, a predecessor of Uri Geller (but without the spoon bending talent) arrived at Darlington and proceeded to tell everyone that Darlington just needed the sort of confidence he could instill and they could beat any opponents put in front of them. He even went so far as to predict that Darlington would beat their next opponents, Cambridge, 5-0l at home!

"It was a strange week when Paul Trevillion came to Darlo. He was there to ‘psych’ us up but some of thought he was a weirdo! He got all the TV cameras to Feethams and asked one of us, Gordon Cattrell (who drew the short straw) to take a penalty and try to knock a top hat off its leather case holder in front of the cameras. Paul Trevillion said it was all about’ psychology’ - Catty hit it first time. It wouldn’t have mattered if he’d missed because Trevillion had a piece of string tied to it and would have pulled it off anyway!"

As ever at Darlo, virtually no one thought we could do as well as Trevillion had predicted. But how wrong we all were. "He must have had some ‘influence’ because we really turned it on against Cambridge, and I think it’s the best we ever played whil I was there. I scored the best goal of my career that day and have a photo of me hitting the ball into the bottom corner (pictured left)– I beat about four men from the halfway line and a couple of them are still on the floor in the photo after missing their tackles on me!"

The fun didn't end there either. "He brought the singer Kathy Kirby (a Sixties version of Kylie Minogue for those too young to remember) into the dressing room after the game – we were all in the bath and I don’t know who enjoyed it the most – us or her! She lost a valuable ring that day – she thought it fell on the floor in the grandstand and went through a gap in the floorboards and under the stand."

A different pair of boots and over the hills

Unfortunately these were the highlights of Don's career at Feethams and his persistent ankle injury was to prove too much for the professional game. "It wouldn’t stand up to full-time training. I managed to play for three more seasons for Whitby Town in the Rothman’s Northern League. Several ex-Darlo players eventually joined me there including Stan Webb, Eric Young, Micky Bloor and Alex Smith."

Don has continued to remain active and he now indulges in another outdor activity - walking - although this wasn't always the case: "I used to run up and down the NY Moors & Cleveland Hills in my days at the Boro, but I didn’t appreciate their outstanding natural beauty in those days – in fact, I was too knackered to look! The hills were more of an ‘enemy’ then than a friend! I only took up walking seriously in about 1994 – after that, I soon got the ‘bug’.

"I’m told I inherited my love of the Moors through my Grandad, Matty Pearson. He used to have a horse & cart – he lived at Castleton and used to supply the remote farms and villages on the Moors with fish & fruit. I would have loved to have spent a day with him on his travels over the rough moorland tracks – those same tracks I now tramp regularly." Not content with simply walking, Don has taken to recording his walks through another of his early interests - photography: "I’ve always had an interest in photography since the day my Mam & Dad bought me a Brownie 127 on holiday in Manchester when I was about nine years old. I think I was lucky enough to be born with an eye for taking a good photograph – that and being able to kick a ball. "

Even better, these photographs are available to admire on his own-web site, North York Moors CAM . This has proved to be a source of inspiration for many people around the world, exiled Yorkshire folk such as myself as well as tourists from far and wide:

"I get a tremendous amount of feedback from visitors to my website – hundreds of e-mails and Guestbook entries have come in from all around the world, many from ex-pats who miss their ‘roots’. I’ve met some lovely new friends from as far away as America, Australia, Canada, etc and taken them on some of my walks – they absolutely love the countryside and the people over here!"

Despite his football career ending as it did, Don has few regrets "I had chances to travel and play for teams abroad in countries such as America, Australia, South Africa and Belgium. But I never really wanted to leave the North-East and my family far behind so I chose to stay. I just want to see my family remain happy and healthy and keep enjoying my walks in the countryside for as long as I’m fit enough to do so. The day I do dread is when I have to finally hang up my ‘boots’ once and for all."

* Don's pictorial guide to the Cleveland Way is also available on CD-ROM for £12 - see his website for details.

Very few old photos seem to exist of Feethams in the "old days" - including the 1970s. It seems apart from team photos, there's not a lot around behind the scenes, with many from the club lost or destroyed. The Northern Echo has few and the ones they had, they kindly allowed us to display. The Trust has some reproductions which we have for safe keeping, hopefully for future generations. We've added these in 2005 as we acquired this set off eBay. They included a few of the David Frost visit - which we were familiar with- and others showing former trainer Dickie Deacon. He was known as a real character, who took players on runs from the ground into outlying villages, following on his bicycle. As John Peverell recalled, he told the lads not to run too fast, or he couldn't keep up.

Memories of the 1980's - and born again

To score the winning goal against a neighbouring 'big' club in the FA Cup is one way to ensure your place in Darlo folklore but to do it against the team that released you must make it all the sweeter. And so it was for PHIL LLOYD.

"I was released from Boro by Big Mal (Malcolm Allison) and went onto the dole, worked on the markets and played for local sides. Then out of the blue, Knowlesey rang and invited me to train with them,” recalls Lloyd. "Dave Barton had to retire and Cyril needed a replacement quickly and cheaply. He remembered me from his days as a coach at Middlesbrough. I quickly fitted in with his team and methods and signed after just a few games”.

For some players coming to Darlington meant a down-turn in their fortunes but for Phil, coming to Feethams was like being born-again “Having spent over 12 months on the football scrapheap, Feethams was like Wembley to me. The staff were great and I remember Tommo as a kid with his mum at most games. After all these years I can't remember all the names but I can picture the faces, and everyone made you feel very welcome.

“ Phil remembers one person in particular “Martin Deans (tunnel steward since the mid 1980s) was great, what a fan - I still catch up with him when Darlo play Torquay”. ,The haircuts were a little bit different in those days. Asked what else he remembers of those days, Phil suggests it was far from glamorous: “You washed your own kit then and mine turned out pink after putting in a red sock”. “And then we had to sweep snow off the pitch to get a match on when we should have been training”.

Returning to that game in 1985 which was voted No.1 in an all time Darlington Top Ten, what does Phil remember of it all? “I loved being back at the Boro where we managed a draw. Boro thought they would win the replay hands down but enter various Boro old boys – Lloyd, Knowles, Angus and McDonald!”. “We gave them a right game and we won it fair and square. That result will stay with me for the rest of my life”. Cyril Knowles eventually left Darlo and headed to Torquay. Phil followed fairly shortly afterwards. “Cyril phoned pre-season and offered me a chance at Torquay. I didn't want to sound too pleased but deep down I was elated”. After a few seasons of success – reaching the play-offs and a Sherpa Van Trophy win at Wembley - Phil suffered an injury that ended his career.

“I played more games for Torquay than Darlo and probably achieved more with them, but I can honestly say that my time at Darlo was more enjoyable” Phil is now settled for good in the south-west. “ I’m very happily married , have a wonderful son, two dogs, sea views and I don't think there's much will move me from Sunny Devon” “I may not be able to see the old place again but believe me, my heart will be saying goodbye to Feethams. Farewell to the stadium that kicked-started my career”. Ted Blair