A recent visit to Compton Care uncovered a startling revelation about two of our well-travelled former players.
The occasion was one of the regular Living Well sessions for patients who are able to be treated at home and who come into the centre for social and medical get-togethers. Joining them for the session this time were Phil Parkes, Steve Daley and John Richards.
There was a general round-the-table discussion about Wolves current fortunes, and there was plenty of optimism about the team’s position – the latest performance against Liverpool giving some hope. There was also a definite feeling from those present that we needed to get the ball into the box more often rather than knocking it about at the back!
The former players promised to pass on the message to Gary O’Neil when they saw him.
A question was posed – other than all playing for Wolves, what do the three former players have in common?
“A full head of hair” was one response. Observant and true, but not what we were looking for. Football related was the clue.
“We all played abroad,” said Steve. “Myself and Lofty in America, and John in Madeira.”
Each of the former players then gave a chat about their overseas experiences. Between them, Steve and Phil had appeared for seven different American teams playing with, and against, the likes of Pele, George Best and Franz Beckenbauer. In fact, Steve revealed that he became quite pally with the Kaiser, who gave him one of his match shirts.
All the footballing stories were well received, but a post-match event was of more interest, as Phil explained, “We were in Chicago and me and Steve were having a couple of beers in the local bar when, for some reason, a guy took offence at what we were saying and left. We didn’t think anything about it until the barman, who I knew, came over and had a few words. ‘It might be best if you leave Big Man,’ he said. ‘The guy who just left, he’s got a bit of a short fuse, and there’s a good chance he’ll come back with a gun and shoot you.’
“I hadn’t seen Dales move so fast in his life, even when he was playing! And I was right behind him!”
The rest of the session was a lot less startling, and we finished off with a nice cup of tea and biscuits. The perfect end to a very enjoyable afternoon.
By John Richards
