Montford memories: Best of times when George & Angie let the train take the strain

INTERVIEWING sporting folk who have achieved great things (I hate the word "personalities") can be a daunting business, but can also produce surprises. During the 1974 World Cup in Germany I had arranged to meet our film crew at the Press Centre in Frankfurt; a busy place with journalists, radio reporters and TV folk gathered in their various areas. Amidst the hustle and bustle I notice two chaps having a coffee in a quiet corner... Pele and Bobby Moore. My guys hadn't

Pele was there to do a promo for his soft drinks company, Bobby Moore to do an agreed interview with his namesake and a good friend of mine Brian Moore. We chatted a bit. My crew arrived first so I chanced it a bit and asked them both if I could do a quick interview with them, separately. The TV interview area was right beside us, lights on, the set ready. Pele chatted to me first – about previous World Cups, all the way back to Sweden 1958 and his scoring debut as a 17-year-old ... how good were the side which retained the Jules Rimet Trophy four years later ... yes the 1970 team which beat Italy 4-1 in the final in Mexico were probably the best of the lot, and so on. What joy!

With perfect timing we finished as his large entourage arrived. I swear there were at least a dozen crew, minders, make-up people, two directors. There were four in our lot.

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Luckily, too, there was time to talk to Bobby Moore – not just how captaining England in 1966 had changed his life but although he had a stab at football management he didn't really like it... his thoughts on Jimmy Greaves, the best player never to play in a World Cup final and, who did he think would win this time around. He thought Holland were a good bet because they had Johan Cruyff. He couldn't have been nicer. Neither mentioned payment, but that's what you'd expect from two big names with small egos.

And I was surprised in equal dimension when, five years later I invited George Best to come into the Scotsport studios to appear in our Sunday programme. Hibernian had caused a major sensation when they paid Fulham 25,000 for Best in November 1979. He made his debut in a 2-1 defeat at Love Street against St Mirren but the following Saturday a crowd of 20,622 turned out to see his home debut against Partick Thistle. Hibs' average attendances at that time were around 6,500. Average team wages were 170 ... Best got 2,000 a week.

George's arrival was a gift to the Scottish media, but I wasn't sure if he'd come through from Edinburgh to appear in our programme. The first surprise was when he returned my call. Then he said he would be delighted to come through. Did he and his wife Angie need a limo to come through? No, they'd take the train and walk up to Cowcaddens from Queen Street. We made room in the programme for a ten-minute spot with him and he filled it beautifully ... names, games, clips, the future. It was great stuff. Afterwards he stayed for a cup of tea and a blether. Taxi down to the station? No thanks, we'll walk. He turned down the offer of a fee...with the memorable quote, "Happy to help the club."

George, one of my all-time top 10 players, played 13 League games and three Scottish cup-ties for Hibs before heading for America to play for San Jose Earthquake. He came back to Hibs in season 80-81 but played only half a dozen games this time before going back to San Jose. His last game for the Hibees was on 14 October 1980.

I didn't think I'd bump into George again but the following summer I was in Los Angeles to do a series of interviews for my Meeting Place programme on Radio Clyde. I couldn't miss the chance however to watch the Los Angeles "soccer" team playing in the famous Coliseum and as luck would have it San Jose were the opposition. After the game when the players were showered and changed, both dressing room doors were opened and all players were available to talk to the press, radio and TV. In these early days of trying to sell football to the Americans (the World Cup held in the USA was still 13 years away) post-match interviews were obligatory.

We had a general chat and I told him (name dropper) that I was interviewing Charlton Heston the next morning. He was suitably impressed when I mentioned that I had already talked to Jack Lemon and Johnny Mathis and told me to be sure to ask the star of Ben Hur about the chariot race. That was my last contact with the flawed genius who was George Best. And true to my promise got Charlton Heston to tell me that, yes, he did drive the chariot himself, it took two years to plan, three months to set up and five weeks to shoot. It required 15,000 extras and 18 acres of set.

There were only 6,000 present when I met George but by the time the World Cup arrived in the States, 94,194 saw the Brazil v Italy final.

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