Charlie George was a maverick, causer of mayhem and magician, all in the same body at Arsenal
Boyhood Gooner went from a fan on the terraces to helping his beloved club secure their first league and FA Cup double
Phil Thomas
The Sun - 17 Mar 2017
The Sun - 17 Mar 2017
HE was the original Cockney Rebel. The man whose name still brings a smile and a warm glow to Arsenal faces.
The guy who took laid back to new levels with his flat out celebration at hitting that famous 1971 FA Cup-winning goal, as he waited for his team-mates to haul him from the turf.
Yet the man who was anything but, whenever confronted by anything approaching authority.
Charlie George. Maverick, causer of mayhem and magician. All in the same body.
Charlie George was a rebel but
a magician at the same time
Credit: Getty Images
For every flash of genius there was a flash of temper. Like the time he headbutted Kevin Keegan or flicked the Vs at Derby fans after one goal at the Baseball Ground.
Keep up to date with ALL the Arsenal news, gossip, transfers and goals on our club page plus fixtures, results and live match commentary
George was the ultimate local boy made good. The rebel WITH a cause. Yet it’s surprising the lank-haired, skinny striker born a couple of miles from Highbury ever got a chance.
As a youngster he was actually expelled from Holloway Comprehensive - where Arsenal keeper Bob Wilson was a teacher – and was never a good follower of orders.
Indeed he once missed a reserve team game, supposedly ill, only to go and watch the first team in an away game that night.
Boss Bertie Mee was an old-school, hard-line type who was convinced George was worth the risk.
Even though he stuck him back in the reserves for three months after a taste of the first team to “avoid all the headlines sending him off the rails.” That worked well!
George was expelled as a kid from Holloway Comprehensive
Credit: Getty Images
George spoke to supporters at the Emirates in 2013
Credit: Getty Images
George’s breakthrough season came in 1969-70, which he ended with 15 goals and a Fairs Cup – now Europa League – winners’ medal.
The next campaign ended with that stunning Cup winner against Liverpool, yet in the mists of time it is forgotten that a broken ankle restricted him to 17 league games.
But it ended with THAT 20-yard Wembley winner – his defining moment in an Arsenal shirt – as his next campaign was more about ill discipline and run-ins than goals and glory.
George won the equivalent of the Europa
League in his breakthrough season
Credit: Getty Images
George scored in the fourth, fifth and sixth
round before netting in the final
Credit: Getty Images
His relationship with Mee sunk to such depths he was transfer listed in the summer of 1972 over a contract row and stuck back in the reserves.
He returned, after a simmering truce, a month into the campaign, but injuries and form struggles meant he never really came close to his earlier heights.
And in 1975 he left the club he had first watched from the terraces as a five-year-old to join Derby for £90,000 – not before horrifying Gunners fans by flirting with a move to Spurs.
The prospect of seeing him in a Tottenham shirt was too appalling for words for supporters he’d share a pint with in the boozer after matches. Many of whom knew him personally.
At Derby his career rocketed again, notably with a hat-trick in a 5-1 European Cup win over Real Madrid – a tie they ultimately lost on aggregate – and amazing was never once booked.
It was during his days at the Baseball Ground that Don Revie gave him his solitary England cap. After being shunted to the left wing and then taken off, he famously told the national boss to “go f*** himself.”
Even though Revie left soon after, George was now also on the international black list.
George helped Arsenal to their
first league and FA Cup double
Credit: PA:Press Association Archive
George and his Arsenal teammates recorded
the single 'Good Old Arsenal' in 1971
Credit: Getty Images
George didn't have a shirt number during a preseason
photo shoot after failing to agree a contract
Credit: Getty Images
A flirtation with America was then followed by the winding down of his career with spells at Southampton, Nottingham Forest, and latterly Bournemouth and Brighton.
For the man who once had the world at his feet – and his fists! - it was, in many ways, a career never totally fulfilled.
He made just 157 starts for Arsenal, and the fact he remains a legend says much about what he packed into them.
It’s worth a trip to the Emirates, where George now works as a tour guide and matchday host, just to chew the fat with him about those old days.
Commenti
Posta un commento