FAN ARTICLES

An Afternoon with Alex Young at Radio Merseyside

By Ian  Macdonald :  12/09/2008 :  Comments (19) :

Editor's note: You can currently hear the Alex Young interview with Billy Butler via the Listen Again facility on Radio Merseyside. There will also be interviews with Alan Jackson and The Golden Vision on Radio Merseyside this week

Over the years I get lucky and get invited to Everton-related functions and events. Such an event took place this afternoon at Radio Merseyside in Hanover Street. It was another unforgettable time meeting a past icon and hero to so many ? the great Alex Young. As an added bonus, the man who has brought so much to the Everton cause, David France, invited that classy left back Alex Parker.

BBC Merseyside's new home is both friendly and efficient. Alex was a guest on the popular Billy Butler show, a fellow Blue, to talk about in new book ?The Golden Vision? ? what else could it be called? But before the Sixties darling was interviewed, a book signing opportunity was given to the fans within the building.

The two Alex's walked in to huge applause like all-conquering gladiators. Some fans threw petals at their feet, and others knelt down wanting a blessing from this Greek God.

The lines of young and old went outside the doors. After forty years his adoration to so many had not diminished or wilted. I had to laugh at some of the fans' articles also wanting to be autographed, from old shirts to family photos. I recognised so many of the older Everton extended family, some I?ve not seen or talked to in years.

Looking at Young he could be a late out-of-contract signing for us. Alex Parker still had the looks of Frankie Vaughan and Victor Mature.

Time was edging closer to the opening of Billy?s show. I sprayed some more WD40 on Alex's signing hand to hurry him up.
At the side of the foyer there is room for an audience to gather, the last time I was here was for a celebration of Dixie with Alan Jackson as the host.

An appropriate Nat King Cole song piped into the room, which one? You guessed it ?Unforgettable'! Billy introduced Alex in as royalty, a king amongst men in the Sixties. Alex sat down for his interview with Billy and both he and Alex P were again met with thunderous applause, all the pigeons and seagulls in Liverpool One flew up and the new Liverpool merchandise shop was showered with their fertilizer.

Then that mellow Scottish accent was heard to the waiting audience; a silence like a graveyard came, each fan in almost disbelief that their hero was amongst them again just feet away.

Billy checked to see if Alex had wings on his feet because fans thought he had with his jumping prowess and ability to hang in the air. There was bewilderment on Alex's face again as this worship poured towards him.

Billy asked why the look. ?Well I played well at times and sometimes really well, that's all?

As Billy said, Alex came from an era where fans could identify with them, they were not aloof or in a different world. Alex told us of the five years he spent playing part-time football and working down the mine. Many lads went down the mine rather than join up but the army caught him, unlike so many defenders who could not, and he was sent to Aldershot for his national service.

He won a championship with Hearts, breaking the Old Firm grip, then he had to choose between Everton and Proud Preston. Alex always heard of Everton up North and knew he had to go to the bigger club under the then Everton manager John Carey, who was infamously sacked in the back of a taxi by Sir John Moore's for finishing... fourth! Such were the demands at Everton then.

At the beginning of his Everton career Alex admitted to being not very good, hampered by injury. ?When are you going to be fit Young?? Sir John would say abruptly.

In his later days at Everton, Alex played with Michael Owen's dad, Terry. I think Terry watched Alex intently and passed some of that wisdom to his young son. Just were our Everton are scouts in the Eighties and Nineties? Thankfully, we have turned the corner with our local scouting taking young Jose Baxter off the reds and a host of clubs for Rooney.

Billy asked, "How did you learn to jump so high"? Alex responded by saying he leapt from one leg rather than together, he hung in the air due to some magic powder his wife Nancy gave him from the Scottish highlands heather ? the blue type, of course.

Questions were then asked from the floor, one fan asking how did he have such a telepathic relationship between him and Roy Vernon? Alex says they practiced in the training ground with one-twos and flicking the ball over defenders, we knew where to run for each other. Talking about Vernon, Alex told us he could hit the ball like a cannon shot, hardly ever missing a penalty. Unsy was the closet I think with an unblemished penalty-taking record for Everton, although I believe he did miss one the other week for his new club Huddersfield. Vernon was a terrible smoker even lighting up in the showers after the game and hiding the cigarette in his mouth.

Matty Lyons, as in Mick the fan, asked about Bobby Collins, the little general, and should he have been sold after demolishing Cardiff 8-3. No, and all the players agreed at the time. He was a hard man, an angry man at times. Telling the tale that he went mad because he could not reach his coat as he was so small,jumping up and down. But what a winner.

Another fan asked did Alex float home to Mount Olympus as he was a Greek God! Alex had golden hair which seemed never out of place.

?How do you spend your time now, Alex?

Alex: ?I babysit a lot, it's wonderful. Oh, and my gardening. I will do my garden then the other children's."

?So you don't have trouble with blisters on your feet now?? Billy threw in. Alex suffered terribly with them and fans would write in with all kinds of remedies.

During the break an old favourite "Amore," a Dean Martin song fluted through, but Frank Sinatra was his all time favourite singer. Alex starts singing along, he felt at home again amongst his people.

"What was life like in the sixties for a professional footballer at Everton?"

"Well I was left alone when I went to the shops, etc. I had a nice car with a record player in it, and very chic at the time it was. We would go for a meal at the Lord Nelson with Nancy, then to the Royal Tiger, a haunt for both sets of players on Merseyside.

Catterick and Young... Alex gave the impression that has been echoed to me by so many that he was not the most likable man. He would knock your confidence, why I don't know. He was not a tracksuit manager and distanced himself from the team on many occasions. He was a strict disciplinarian. Right from he word go they never got on, one fellow teammate telling Alex that the Cat was out to get him. It was Carey who signed Alex, so maybe that came into it; he wanted his team. Remember the anger when a young Joe Royle replaced Alex at Blackpool away?

Alex thought that Catterick never liked Scotsmen. One report by the manager stated that Alex did a parcel of tricks with no effect on the team. Alex got on better with Shankly, seeing his fellow Scot at Bellfield where Shanks lived. The Liverpool manager would shout, "Hows it going, Sandy??

George Orr gave a glowing tribute to Alex, telling us of the time the police would grab them off the field by their hair when running to their hero. George took a piece of the turf home to show his Dad where Alex had trod. His dad said, well that's two stupid sods in front of me now! If Alex was playing now Flymo would sponsor him.

Alan Ball was the best player he played with, he was awesome. He took all the kicks that Liverpool could muster but still scored every time he played against them. He turned Everton in the late Sixties into winners again. Alex would spend a lot of time with Bally at the races and socializing in general.

Talking of Labby, he was frustrated by the big man as he would help opponents up when his teammates wanted him to kick them as they did to Alex and co. He was not a skilful player but a great defender and tackler.

Matty6 asked about his old Hearts teammate, Don McKay, and in comparison to Tony Kay. Alex said that they were both hard men but Tony should have been the next England captain but for a mad judge, a terrible decision to ban him at such an age. But would that not have affected the Holy Trinity if Kay had been around? "No," said Alex, "We would have had to have played four in midfield!"

Alex revealed he was into the Mersey beat at the time knowing the Searchers, the Undertakers and the Swinging Blue Jeans to name just a few. Alex started to become deaf at 23 and had trouble hearing his fellow team mates' shouts, I suppose that's why he seemed a one-man team at times.

Such was the bond between Alex and the Evertonians many went to see Alex's debut at Stockport when he left Everton. He retired at the age of 31 but will never be retired in the masses of the older generations of Evertonians.

Time flew like Alex and Billy ended this afternoon delight with the words, ?Alex will always remain a Golden Vision.?

After the show the two Alex's and David France did an interview with Alan Jackson. Its' a busy life being an icon at times, always in demand when you come back to your football home. Evertonians have a home for Alex and co always in their hearts.

I did an interview for Tabacula and told them I never saw Alex play I was too young but I saw him play in my Dad's eyes and hundreds of other Evertonians when they told the tales of the Golden Vision.

Reader Comments (19)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

About these ads