Part 5 (1/2)

The First Division was hard, and it was i every week Terry was still doing so at boardroo into the team's performances We finished the season 13th, which was a bit of a disappointhts in the early months I was involved in another pay dispute at the start of the 1980/81 season, and ed further when the club let Kenny Sanso Clive Allen and a rival keeper, Paul Barron, in exchange a terrible bit of business

Thewas our chairman Raymond Bloye, a butcher fro what a good thing he had at that ti for more money to allow the club to realise its true potential, and ruet disillusioned with the lack of encourage was in place for Palace to beplayers who had o FA Youth Cups a couple of years earlier but it all started to turn sour The 1980/81 season started badly and we chalked up a run of seven successive losses

One day I picked up the newspaper and Terry had gone he was going to take over froer of QPR in west London You , but it was all very sudden Soer is there and then, without the slightest warning, you turn up at training the next day and he's gone I was gutted to see hie of the teaa to be high-profile enough to become Venables' permanent replacement The man they eventually chose to fill Terry's shoes was a faer of the club between 1973 and 1976 before Terry had started his four-year reign 'Big Mal' was a good er, but was a bit flash for me and wasn't as dedicated as Terry I had et on with them under Terry, but Malcolm was a little bit old-fashi+oned and he would start to question my methods a little bit and this made me feel a little bit insecure I beca ot a call fro to QPR with Terry Venables?' The thought of working with Terry again appealed to me, and I said I would love to

A few days later at training, Malcolm Allison called me over and said Terry had asked to see oalkeeper was Chris Woods, the England under-21 international, so I wondered why they would wantworked with me and trusted ht as a straight replaceht me for a second time it showed that he valued n er of Tottenham and I was at Southampton, but that was one deal that couldn't be finalised

When I met Terry to thrash out the QPR deal, I quickly sorted out -on fee, in cash, before I signed Again, it was a case ofto make as much money as I could from my career not only for me, but for Janet and the family Terry said he had to speak to the chairman, which would be no picnic because the owner of QPR at that ti a man you didn't mess with He remindedGood Friday! Terry fixed up abetween the three of us to sort it out, so I headed to Loftus Road to see hiory wasn't a very tallmassive swivel chair, which I think he used to etting down to business

'There's your contract and there's your signing-on fee,' he said, as he laid a bag down in front of ory, no disrespect, but I had agreed on an amount with Terry' 'Take it or leave it,' he said 'Okay then, I'll leave it'

So I got up and started to walk towards the door of his office, withafteralready if I'd made a massiveface, though I couldn't turn round, I would have looked pathetic As soon as I put my hand on the door handle, he said: 'John, come back' He opened the drawer and chucked another bundle of cash on the table He had been testing ing ned the contract there and then in his office, took my money and off I ith h the season and QPR were near the bottoic the uiding QPR up to eighth by the end of the 1980/81 season nothing short of reiven the dire position they had been in before he was appointed He already had guys like Glenn Roeder and Siht players of the calibre of Terry Fenwick and Gerry Francis and started to put a very useful side together

But for some unknown reason that summer QPR decided to rip up their turf and put a plastic pitch down in its place I couldn't understand it They grabbed all the headlines for being innovative and at the cutting edge of technology, but it didn'tnew season and hopefully a proood players through the doors for the season ahead including John Gregory froan froood tea looked set up for us to have a brilliant season But then they put down that synthetic surface becoland to put down an artificial pitch I wasn't keen on the idea, but I tried to keep an openbefore h, because the first time I went out onto the pitch I found it was like concrete I was thinking to myself: 'They've turned the pitch into an airport runway and they expect us to play on that?'

The ru to put a roof over the pitch Loftus Road was a beautiful stadiuround Ji an arena that could host big concerts featuring all the big acts at that ti bouts Instead of the stadiua in continuous use, with aet planning per

There was a whole lot of talk about how good the artificial pitch was, but forspouted for Loftus Road were turning the club into a bit of a circus and for a while it felt like football was playing second fiddle Jiory rand plans, but I didn't like that side of it whatsoever I just wanted to concentrate on the football club, get theave it a go on the artificial pitch for about sixone week on the plastic pitch and then the next away fro difficult to adjust froe where I used to hate playing at horass The plastic pitch of 1981 was light years away from the artificial surfaces we have today Those types of pitches have now come on in leaps and bounds, and a lot of therass But in 1981 it was an altogether different story a plastic pitch was just a thin carpet plonked down on concrete

The ball used to bounce ridiculously high When you dived on it your body used to ache I would be scarred and gashed to pieces I had carpet burns all over the place from the synthetic surface and it would take me days at a time to recover fully It wasn't oalkeepers it was brutal Your elbows had to be padded, your thighs had to be padded; you ran out looking like Robocop because you had so ear stuffed under your shi+rt and tracksuit bottoot knocked over, you came down hard Because it was the 1980s, and there seemed to be a new invention every week, I think a lot of fans embraced it at first But after they had watched a fewall over the place, with the players running about in trainers and struggling to control the ball, they started to have soht in as a way of copying the A in enclosed arenas in the Florida heat A wet and windy day in west London wasn't quite the saerous to play on, and I wasn't happy on it at all A lot of the lads suffered in silence, but keeping my mouth shut was never my style and I started to voice my concerns to Terry I told him that a pitch like that would take years of the life expectancy of a player, and especially a keeper I reckoned if you played on that week-in week-out it would take five or six years off your career You had players co of bad backs, bad knees and bad ankles because of the pounding their bodies took on it and I can't reot to the stage where I'd had enough, and I told Terry I couldn't keep playing on it I launched into a tirade against plastic pitches Terry told o saying that in the papers' But I had the bit between the teeth and I said: 'I can and I will' And I did

I started being heavily critical publically, airing my views in no uncertain terms to the press whenever the opportunity presented itself Isession a keeper would be co a battering, but the board were happy enough to keep the dreaded plastic because other teams hated it too and we rarely lost at home After I'd had my say in the papers, I then asked to be put on the transfer list It was tough in a football sense to walk away fro a losing battle I could slate the surface as h to persuade the Queens Park Rangers board to change their rass pitch The directors saw me as a troubleht that because they paid et on with it They clearly didn't know et away from the artificial turf as quick as I possibly could, so I could enjoymatters to a head I refused to play on it any more My relationshi+p with Terry suffered over that, because I had gone against his wishes and voiced my opinion to the press after he had advisedthe truth and trying to stand up for the players What I said hat every other player was thinking

I eventually got ot a move away from QPR but on loan first of all, to Wolves Ironically, in o all the way to the FA Cup final that year,my former club Crystal Palace on the ith oal

CHAPTER 13

IS IT A BUDGIE? IS IT A PLANE?

'I told theto play in a Super noises that I wanted out of QPR and away from their horrendous plastic pitch, it wasn't just Wolves anted to sign me I had a couple of options Gerry Francis had just left the club to go to Coventry City in the First Division, and he kept ringing o on loan to Wolves was already in place, and it turned out to be a brilliant move for me

I had a fantastic start at Molineux and we never lost a ga my first month there I settled in really well and while I was keen to secure a per about and waving the carrot of First Division football under et reed to sellto pay 225,000 forabout Wolves, waiting to see what sort of offer Coventry would cooing to be allowed to just slip away fro shot from the chairman, who I had really rattled with my criticis over round, when Jirel!' he snapped 'You took that signing-on cash froot the nerve to coo to Wolves like I tell you, I willfor the reserves on the plastic every week!'

He slaain I was panicking; I was out ory They ot back to ie,' Terry added, 'I think you'd better go to Wolves like he says'

So I signed for Wolves and although my salary came down a bit, I wasn't bothered because I was just there to play football, and to play it on grass like it should be played! I had to start looking for a house in Wolverhaian mansion I also found that, all of a sudden, I had a lot of free ties just to drive to training in the traffic In Wolverharound in fivefrom the hustle-bustle and banter of London to the peace and quiet of my new home city Wolverhampton isn't exactly a backwater, and its football teaest clubs in the Midlands, but after London it was still very different

The football was going very well and we had a fantastic team at Wolves in front of me in defence were Geoff Palmer, John Pender, Alan Dodd and John Huuys like Kenny Hibbitt, Peter Daniel and Micky Matthehile -time pal from Villa Andy Gray, Wayne Clarke and Mel Eves were up front scoring goals for fun Wolves had just coht to help get the of a reputation for helping teams win promotion, so I fitted the bill

For Wolves, it was seen rather naively as it turned out as the dawning of a new era, because not only had they been relegated the season before, but they had been in receivershi+p and threeout of business before the Bhatti brothers stepped in to save the and people were full of optiht point It would have been tragic if a club like Wolves went to the wall, and fans still talk about how close it calooation and the brush with extinction lifted, and we soon had a great at to Molineux in the firet back to the First Division We were able to fuel their optimism as we made a solid start to the 1982/83 season

The lads at Wolves lovedback, I did sos ofold-fashi+oned dressing rooround level Above the rail, there was a spaghetti-like cluster of wires leading up to the strip lights We had no gyed hts at the time I was forced to improvise to stay in shape, so I stuck an iron bar across the rail, over the angle at the corner, so I could do ot into a routine where I would do my press-ups on the floor, thenI was alorking on aet warmed up for theOldha hundreds of chins day after day the bar had completely worn down the wire above it and all of a sudden a shi+tload of volts cahthere, and I couldn't let go I was hanging there like a crazedat the top ofI was having a funny turn, but the truth was I was actually frying before their eyes! I eventually round, and when I looked at my hands they had turned blue But there was no question of ame, we didn't have anyone else, so I went out and played, probably still packed full of enough electricity to light up the city, and ed to keep a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw

We were especially strong in defence, and looked proue most of the season, but we had far too many draws, and my old team QPR knocked us off top spot It would have been nice to have won the cha already done it with Palace, but QPR helped by their plastic pitch ho, and we had to settle for second spot

We clinched proainst Charlton, which finished 3-3 after us being 3-0 up at half-tiaainst Newcastle United I had been voted the player of the year and was due to get ht I would collect it in style On the way to Molineux, I stopped at a fancy dress shop and I hired a Super around in the dressing roohts and red pants I decided to up the ante, and told the lads I was going to go out and do the warm-up with the costu from the tunnel with my fist out, Superman-style It was a full house of 22,500 and the croere pissing theather in the centre circle and I was presented with my player of the year aith my fancy dress suit on

As I war each other and pointing at an ca ie shaement I needed, and I shouted back: 'Just watchto play in it!'

When we got into the dressing roo to play in it and he got a bit upset about it The linesman would always come in about 245 to check the studs There was no sponsorshi+p in those days, so I didn't have any logo I had to display and I wasn't breaking any rules So I asked the lines as I didn't clash with the other teahts and the blue top and taped a number one onto hts and I ran out, half-Superaave me 100 for the bet and told me that was the best entertainment he had ever seen on a football pitch

Another costume prank I played at Wolves was at the players' Christ, with the dressing room split on e should wear half of them wanted dicky bows and dinner suits, while the rest of theo smart, but casual The smart but casual camp won, so I turned up in a dinner suit cut in half and sewn onto a tramp's outfit!

The Wolves supporters had been brilliant and I almost had a tear in reat season I got on really ith the local journalist Dave Harrison and his match report afterwards in the Wolverha: 'It was a very emotional moment for me The fans have been a 13th one and shaken every one of them by the hand'

That was true the Wolves fans were aood stead, because even though they'd just bounced back to the First Division there were some incredibly dark days ahead as the Bhatti brothers turned out to be Wolves in sheep's clothing

We went away to Majorca for an end-of-season trip to celebrate our promotion I was not a drinker but that didn't mean I couldn't still enjoy myself on these trips The rest of the lads had worked their arses off during the season and were entitled to get a few lagers down their necks and enjoy the sun, sea and sand, but I reime and I think that drove a few of the out, and I'd be fidgeting about, trying to get one of theh fitness levels, and it didn't matter where ere, I wanted to maintain them I wasn't the type of footballer who decided to spend the su then turn up for pre-season ready to sweat it all off But we had great team spirit at Wolves and it was a brilliant trip Irounds of drinks but I could still have soht the house dohen all the lads were standing at the bar in a club and I walked past them on my hands in just my underpants

Because it had been such a fantastic season and because I had played so well ain e came back for the new season in the First Division I felt that Wolves were going to ain, so I wanted a piece of the action

I went to see Graham Hawkins and explained to hies to come to the club in the first place, which was okay for the Second Division, but not noe'd gone up I told hies But he said there was nothing he could do I had signed a contract and I would be expected to honour it

The new season started, but because I hadn't been given what I wanted, I don't think my heart was really in it My mind wasn't as focused as it should have been Yes, I had a beautiful house and the kids were happy, but that es and I becaue, too, and ot worse in November 1983 when the club transferred my closest friend, Andy Gray, to Everton for a ridiculously cheap 250,000 Hawkins was struggling to get results and was trying anything to stop the rot, including dropping ot the newspaper round to ot my photo taken with all my player of the year trophies from the year before, to shoho should be the Wolves No1 I wasn't out of the tea after that stunt Grahah they sacked hi back to the Second Division and called for 'The Doc', To me and after my second year at Wolves I told them I didn't want to play for them anymore I had come to the end of my contract and it was time to move on I had been fantastic inhonest, I was no better than mediocre inI went in to see Toed that I'd been good for the club and asked me to write do much I wanted on a bit of paper The next day I scribbled a figure down on a bit of paper, stuck it in an envelope and left it on his desk When he saw me later that day, Tommy said: 'fuckin' hell, who do you think you are Gordon Banks?' It wasn't really Toh the owners of Wolves weremoney out to keep me happy