They certainly should not pay. When I read Nat's post it instantly reminded me of the West Ham story - It was from Harry Redknapp's book. And after hearing the story I found it shocking as I would if I found out the same thing happened to any of our previous players.
The story about Bobby Moore is here:
When I go to Upton Park these days there are two gigantic portraits in the corners at each end. One is of Sir Trevor Brooking, the other of Bobby Moore.
Think about that. Sir Trevor Brooking; plain old Bobby Moore. No disrespect to Trevor, he was a great footballer and remains a fine ambassador for the game but it doesn’t seem right.
How was Trevor knighted and Bobby ignored?
Now he’s dead you can’t move for pictures of him around the place. It disgusts me.
How was the greatest footballer and one of the greatest sportsmen this country ever produced reduced to living his final years as a commentator on Capital Radio and a columnist in the downmarket Sunday Sport newspaper - rejected by his club, his country, and those who should have placed him at the heart of the game?
The hypocrisy that followed his tragically premature death in 1993 sickens me. Bob’s got it all now. The old South Bank named after him at Upton Park, statues outside the ground and at Wembley Stadium. They even use his name to sell West Ham United merchandise these days. ‘Moore than a football club’ is the slogan.
When he was alive they didn’t want to know him. I saw him get slung out of there for not having a ticket.
It was the 1979–80 season and I had just returned from four years playing and coaching in America with Seattle Sounders and Phoenix Fire. I went to watch West Ham, who were in the Second Division at the time. I can’t remember who they were playing, but I know I sat next to Frank Lampard Snr’s mum.
Frank was still playing but West Ham were struggling that season and it was quite a poor gate.
It was a mid-table, middle-of-the-road, nothing match.
The players’ families and guests used to sit in E block and Bobby would often come to watch.
He didn’t want to cause a big commotion walking through the crowd or hanging around before the game so he would wait until after kick-off, go up to one of the old turnstiles with the wooden doors and knock.
The bloke would open up and, blimey, it’s Bobby Moore. ‘Come in, Bob, there’s plenty of seats upstairs,’ and up he would go. I can see him now. He would sit over in the corner, right out of the way, on these rotten old wooden benches that they used to have and watch the match on his own.
This day I was sitting in E block next to Frank’s mum, Hilda, when from behind me I heard, ‘Harry.’ I turned around and it was Bobby. We were about 15 minutes into the game. ‘Fancy a cup of tea at half-time?’ I said, and he gave me the thumbs-up.
Next thing I knew, a steward was marching up the steps towards him. ‘Excuse me, Bob’ - he looked almost ashamed - ‘it’s not me, but the secretary wants to know if you’ve got a ticket.’
Bob said he hadn’t. ‘Then I’m afraid I’ve been told to ask you to leave.’
And he went. Bobby Moore. The Bobby Moore. Thrown out of a half-empty stand at West Ham because he didn’t have a ticket. I don’t think he ever went back after that.
Not just to watch a game casually, anyway.
If he had a ticket as a press man he would go, obviously, and sit in the press box with the writers but I don’t think he returned to the club seats.
They should have been phoning him to attend their matches.
‘Come and be our guest, Bob. Front row in the directors’ box every week, Bob.’ They should have treated him like he owned the place. Nothing should have been too good for Bobby.
Can you imagine if you were a promising young footballer and Bobby Moore, England’s only World Cup-winning captain, came around your house to persuade you to sign for West Ham? Game over.
Arsenal and Tottenham wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Instead, West Ham were turfing him out of the ground like a hooligan. It still upsets me to think about it.
Bobby was made an OBE after England won the World Cup, but that’s not as grand as it sounds. John Motson is an OBE. So are Des Lynam, Garth Crooks and Jimmy Hill.
Craig Brown, the former manager of Scotland, has a higher award, a CBE, as does Paul Elliott, the former Chelsea defender, and Pele, who is Brazilian.
And don’t get me started on those who have received knighthoods for running football. Sir Dave Richards, Sir Bert Millichip.
Bobby might not have cared where his name went on any honours list — but I do.
To me, it sums up the way he was shunned by the game in the years before his death.
Sir Trevor Brooking is the Football Association’s cup of tea. He’s their type of person. Bobby was a player’s player.
What a man. I mean it. What a man. The straightest, most honest bloke you could meet in your life. Not an ounce of aggression in him, not a hint of nastiness. Won the World Cup, and even the opposition loved him.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2449196/HARRY-REDKNAPP-BOOK-EXCLUSIVE-How-Bobby-Moore-betrayed-West-Ham.html
Home
[/quote]
