When I was a child an elderly neighbour lent me his copy of Thomas Keates's book. He'd have seen all of those players!

Every time I'm in a second-hand book, or charity shop, I look out for it but I suppose the chances of coming across a copy are virtually nil.

My grandfather, himself a good player, used to speak of John Taylor as a brilliant player who he had the pleasure of meeting when they both worked on the docks. Loved the description of a winger... get the ball and go, forward, then into the middle... you never see that now.

Used to always put the defence on the back foot, give the attacker the edge. Many years later, Sir Alf Ramsey put paid to wingers, a rare breed now... makes you wonder, if you could find a Jack Taylor, a Dave Thomas, then Calvert-Lewin would excel.

Can just imagine how hard the footy was then – bad enough in the 50s & 60s! Quagmire pitches, dubbined boots and cassey footballs – sore when you headed the lace! Throat-high tackles!

I would loved to have met some of these greats and seen some of these games. Just shows where we are now with these overpaid poseurs.