Author: knebfc

The football club committee always sat on a Monday evening at the pavilion to select team(s) for the following Saturday. There was no such thing as a manager or coach at this level.

Not only did I get to train with the players on that August evening (mentioned in memories number 12), but I was also invited to join the club. Naturally I jumped at the opportunity.

I got to play a few games for the reserves that season, when they were short of players. The first of these was the very first game of the season, when many regular players were away on holiday. It was against Leggatts Way Old Boys Reserves, for whom this would be their very first game in the County league. Leggatts Way Old Boys first team had joined the league the previous season and won Division Two at their first attempt. This fixture was to be a double header with both Knebworth teams visiting. Leggatts played on an enclosed piece of grass on the corner of Courtlands Drive, Watford, and the A41, which has now been developed on. Their changing rooms were at the old Leggatts School and once changed you had to walk along the service road adjacent to the A41 and in front of a row of houses to the pitch.

Knebworth first team played first and lost 3-1, the reserves then played and lost 10-1. I played left back that day and spent most of the afternoon chasing shadows. Leggatts Way Old Boys would become arguably the most successful team in the post war history of the Herts. County League, winning 7 Premier Division titles and 4 Aubrey Cups.

The 1961/62 season concluded with Leavesden Hospital winning the Herts. County League Premier Division and their reserves Division One. Longwell (Stevenage) won Division Two and Leggatts Way Old Boys Reserves Division Three. Knebworth first team finished a very creditable fourth in Division One and the reserves finished third from bottom in Division Three. St.Albans City Reserves defeated Leavesden Hospital 2-1 in the Aubrey Cup final.

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In the August of 1961 I started work at the age of 15 and felt like an adult. Like many boys of my age I was now smoking and drinking alcohol. There was no knowledge at this time of the damage smoking could do to your health.

One evening during August I went up Knebworth Rec. and sat on the brick wall at the entrance to the old pavilion changing rooms, puffing on a cigarette and waiting for players to turn up for training, as I wanted to join in.

At that time the layout of the recreation ground was a bit different to what it is like today. The first team pitch was in much the same position as it is today, a little shorter (more about that in about ten years time) and the only pitch available for the football club’s use. Next to that was a cricket table and next to that, parallel to the football pitch, was a hockey pitch. Every Boxing Day the football club played the hockey club in a friendly football match, before retiring to the Station Hotel to socialise. The only other football pitch was the one at the north end of the rec., adjacent to the swings and that was used for school football only.

The old pavilion had two changing rooms, one on either side of the building at the front, which had wooden floors. The entrance to them was partially enclosed by 4ft high brick walls. There was a large glass double door at the centre front of the building, which was opened up on match days and where you were able to get a cup of tea. At the rear of the building there was a rather basic shower room and a very small referee’s room. There were 2 toilets (a ladies and a gents) externally at the rear of the building. The pavilion was situated further east than the current building and the centre of it was directly in line with the bottom goal. Where the equipment is stored today was a wooden building which housed the local fire engine.

The main access to the recreation ground was from the Stevenage Road, which was the main A1 as the Stevenage by-pass (A1(M)) had not yet been built.

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In the Herts. County League at the conclusion of the 1960/61 season Leavesden Hospital won the Premier Division, St.Helens Division One, Leggatts Way Old Boys Division Two and Redbourn Reserves Division Three. Knebworth finished a very respectable fourth in Division One, with the reserves again finishing lower mid table in Division Three. The Aubrey Cup was won by Borehamwood Saints.

In the Amateur Cup Hitchin Town reached the semi-finals, losing to the eventual winners, Walthamstow Avenue by a controversial goal. Walthamstow went on to win the final defeating West Auckland Town 2-1.

In 1961 a new name appeared on the European Cup as Benfica led by Eusebio beat Barcelona by 3 goals to 2 in the final.

That same year I was up the rec. on a Saturday afternoon watching Knebworth and listening to my transistor radio, which was a very new invention. On the radio was the commentary of a Home International match between England and Scotland, the final score of which was England 9 Scotland 3. This was at a time when league matches were not postponed if clubs had players on international duty, no matter how many players were selected from any one club.

Over the next few years my area of interest in football would change considerably and there were numerous reasons for this. The decline of my beloved Wolves, most of the players I had been watching over many years were retiring or had moved on. Violence was starting to creep in on the terraces at league grounds, which would eventually lead to segregation of supporters and fencing erected around the perimeter of pitches.

I started work and was playing football on a more regular basis but there would still be the odd trip to Molineux or Highbury if I was not playing. Highbury was very easy to get to by train and I would come home from work on a Saturday lunchtime, jump on a train to Finsbury Park and enter the ground via the turnstiles. This was to change and access to grounds would become more difficult if not planned in advance. I would never have the same intensity of interest in league football again.

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In May 1960 I watched arguably the best match I have ever seen on television. It was the European Cup Final between Real Madrid, including DiStefano and Puskas and the German champions Eintract Frankfurt. The game was played at Scotland’s Hampden Park in front of a crowd of 135,000, which I believe is still a record for a European club competition and is unlikely ever to be beaten. Real Madrid won 7-3, literally at a canter, securing their fifth successive victory in the competition.

For the 1959/60 season the Herts. County League had reconstituted it’s divisions into a Premier Division, Division One, Division Two, and Division Three, absorbing reserve sides into this structure and abolishing the Reserve Section. The only stipulation being that no two teams from the same club could play in the same division. At the conclusion of the season London Colney won the Premier Division, Marconi Instruments Division One, Leavesden Hospital Reserves Division Two and St.Helens Reserves Division Three. Knebworth finished in mid table in Division One and the reserves lower mid table in Division Three. The Aubrey Cup was won by Colney Heath.

In the Amateur Cup Hendon beat Kingstonian by 2 goals to 1.

The 1960/61 season was much less eventful. In my last year at school I continued to play for the school team and North Herts. Schools. I had started to think about what I wanted to do as a career after I left school and had decided I wanted to join the ground staff at Molineux. Sadly this was never going to be a reality, although one school mate did join the Luton Town ground staff. Wolves were to finish third in the Football League, behind champions Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham had an excellent team and achieved what Manchester United and Wolves had failed to do and became the first team this century to achieve the league and FA Cup double. This was to be the beginning of the demise of the great Wolves team and players who had given me so many happy memories.

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The 1959/60 season was one of an emotional rollercoaster. I had recovered from bronchitis and was again selected to play for the school team. As the season progressed, much to my surprise, I was selected to play for North Herts Schools, together with two other boys from Heathcote School. This was a wonderful experience, playing most of our home games at Hitchin Town’s Top Field ground. We also had opportunity to play at St.Albans City’s Clarence Park and Cambridge City’s old Milton Road ground, which was huge.

Wolves did much better in the European Cup, reaching the Quarter-Finals, where they met Barcelona. I then watched on what was now a much larger fifteen inch television screen as Barcelona destroyed them 9-2 on aggregate, winning the first leg in Spain 4-0 and the return leg at Molineux 5-2. I watched both matches and screamed at the television, blaming the referee and anyone else I could think of for the devastating defeat.

Wolves did however reach the FA Cup Final and were to play Blackburn Rovers at Wembley. I managed to obtain a ticket and as a fourteen year old boy travelled alone by train to Wembley Stadium. Just as I was now travelling from Knebworth to Molineux, unaccompanied, and regularly by bus to Hitchin Town. I never felt in any danger or vulnerable, as people were generally happy and there was virtually zero violence. My, how times have changed.

When I arrived at Wembley Stadium that day I saw Wolves beat Blackburn Rovers 3-0, in a very one-sided match. It was not the best game to watch, littered with offsides but all that mattered to me was the result and I came home very happy.

That day Wolves sat at the top of the Division One league table, having finished their league program a point and a better goal average ahead of Burnley, who had one game to play. Just like Manchester United who failed three years earlier, if Wolves won the league they would be the first team to complete the league and cup double this century and would also achieve a hat trick of league championships. Burnley played their remaining league match on the following Monday evening and won it, hence clinching the league title and denying Wolves the double. I was distraught and thought there was not much left to live for.
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