You’ll Never Walsh Alone

In the dark days of Division Four, life as a City fan was grim. But salvation came in the form of an £18,000 signing from Darlington. Alan Walsh was a key figure in the team which Terry Cooper assembled to begin the recovery. His left foot free-kick piledrivers were legendary, as was his trademark stepover – known as the Walshie Shuffle – which made defenders nationwide look like ludicrous, jelly-legged halfwits. He eventually left for a lucrative deal with Turkish side Besiktas. We quizzed him about his time as a player at the Gate, his memories of City’s first ever Wembley appearance in the 1986 Freight Rover Trophy Final, his new role coaching the City stars of tomorrow – and got a low-down on some of the youngsters rated most likely to make it into City’s first team in the coming years.

For those fans who never saw you play, can you describe what sort of a player you were.

My strengths were my left foot and my fitness. I was quite fit. I don’t think I had blistering place. I wasn’t slow but my style of running looked a bit slow and cumbersome. That’s why I did these little moves like the step-over to beat the man and get that yard and that little bit of space. Heading wasn’t my strongest point but fitness was, and I liked to score goals. That was the biggest thing. If I was playing left wing or left midfield I liked to get in the box, get on the end of things and score goals.

Who was the best manager you played under?

I played here for five years and played under Terry Cooper and Joe Jordan. They both had their plus points. Terry Cooper signed me. I did play a while with Terry Cooper at Middlesbrough when he was coming towards the end of his career and I was just starting out. That was just before he moved down to Bristol. Terry was a bit of a laid-back manager. If everything was going well, everything ticked over nicely. In the three or four years that Terry was here I only saw him angry once. We hadn’t played the way he wanted. He came in at half time and threw this Vaseline pot at the wall. The Vaseline pot smashed against the wall and all the Vaseline went all over our clothes. That was the only time I ever saw him really angry. His view was that you had your say after the game, but after that then it was all finished and over with. At that time it rubbed off on the players who were there - the likes of Glyn Riley, Bobby Hutchinson, Rob Newman and David Moyes. There was a good camaraderie. Everybody got on well off the pitch as well as on the pitch.

It’s very similar with the lads at the moment, but to tell the truth I don’t see too much of the first team. They train at the same time as the Academy lads but I think there’s a good relationship between all the lads now. Football when I was playing was a different era. A lot of the players had come from lower league clubs. Terry arrived just after the 1982 situation and had picked up a lot of players who had come on free transfers, like Alan Crawford, Glyn Riley and Trevor Morgan. I’m not 100 per cent sure but I think I was probably the first one they payed money for. It was £18,000 at tribunal. It’s amazing when you look at the transfer fees these days - you couldn’t get a player’s toenail for £18,000!

After Terry, Joe Jordan took over. Joe was totally different to Terry. He was a disciplinarian. You knew where you stood with him. Whereas Terry was more laid-back, Joe was more forceful in his ways. It was a time when Terry had just signed John Pender, Steve Galliers and a few others like Steve McClaren. He spent a lot of money. I think on those players he spent about £400,000, which was a hell of a lot for Bristol City and it just didn’t click at that time. It happened that after Terry went, Joe took over and it just started to click. That season that Joe took over we started off mid-table and we ended up in the play-offs. We had a run of about 15 games where we won about 13 and drew two. It was a hell of a run and we got into the play-offs.

They were the only two managers I played under at Ashton Gate. At the time, I didn’t really want to leave City. They had offered me a three year contract but I was about 31 or 32. I wasn’t quite satisfied with what they offered me. My contract was up and I was effectively a free agent. It was the same as when I came down to Bristol from Darlington – my contract was up.

How did the transfer to City come about?

City had just been promoted from the old Fourth Division to the Third Division. I was with Darlington in the old Fourth. I had played at Ashton Gate a couple of times for Darlington and I obviously knew it was a big club with good potential. It was it was unfair to my wife and the two kids we had at the time to move down straight away. It was our first move away from where we lived because we were brought up in Hartlepool. I spent about six months in digs before my family moved down. We settled in pretty well. We lived in Clevedon. Quite a few of the lads lived there. You get a feel for a place when you first come into a club, first impressions. My first impressions were good. We had good support. Terry Cooper was there, Clive Middlemass too who was a great chap and Tom Ritchie, who I had known when he was up at Sunderland. As soon as you walked through the door, you were made to feel welcome. That makes a difference, it’s a big thing. Tom and Trevor Morgan lived in Clevedon, and they let me know where the best place to buy a place was and where to go and what to do. It was a great atmosphere at the club.

Where did you learn the famous “Walshie shuffle”?

When I was at Middlesbrough playing for the reserves there was a lad called Graeme Hedley who I saw do it in a game. I don’t know whether he did it intentionally but he sent the defender the wrong way and the defender was all over the place. I just sort of perfected it from there. I saw it once and practiced it, and if it works you stick with it. When I did it, it used to amaze me how often it sent people the wrong way. My game was such that if I could just get that yard of space to cross the ball or have a shot, then I would do it. If I could do it with that technique then I was going to do it, and the majority of times it did work.

Do you remember the best goal you ever scored for City?

I scored a goal fairly early on in my first season against Brentford at Ashton Gate where I beat a couple of players, nearly got knocked over, got back up, got past the defence and I was probably about 18 yards out just on the angle a little bit. I hit a shot that flew in the top corner.

Also, I hit a great free-kick against Blackpool in my last season or second-to-last season. It was about 35 yards out. It bent and curled and went about two or three feet off the ground all the way and just nestled in the corner of the net. It’s goals like that I can remember.

Who was the best player you played alongside?

When you go through the time I was there, there were quite a few players you would want in your team. Rob Newman, who had just come up through the youth ranks, was a very good player. You had the likes of Bobby Hutchinson , who was captain at the time and was a 100 per cent player. Later on, Moyesey [David Moyes] was a good competitor and a good centre-half and there was Howard Pritchard, who never fulfilled his potential really. I don’t know why. Pritch was a good player technically. He moved away and went to Swindon and then Terry Cooper brought him back, and I think Terry Cooper got the best we saw out of him. He got a Welsh cap too.

What was your best game in City colours?

The Bolton final in the Freight Rover Trophy. It would have been nice to score on the day. Obviously it didn’t happen but it was one of those games where you didn’t want it to end. I think the two semi-final games against Forest, particularly the game at their place where we got the goal and held them until about five minutes from the end, when they got the own goal. Then there was the return at Ashton Gate.

You hit the post in that game and came within inches of putting us into a major Wembley final, didn’t you?

Yes. It was from a corner. Steve McClaren took the corner. Steve would get it to the near post, hoping for a flick-on, and then we had runners going in behind. It was John Pender who flicked it on. I was on the penalty spot, but as I was going in the flick-on went behind me instead of in the six-yard box. So I’m facing my own goal now. I just turned and hit it. By the time I had hit it and turned round I saw it going through the players. Steve Hodges was stood on the line. But although he was holding the post his feet were about a foot off the line. He missed the ball, I don’t know whether he was thinking it was going wide, and it hit the post and came right across the six yard box. I think the keeper went for it, and it went through the keeper’s legs and Rob Newman was coming in but their full-back just beat him to it and cleared it out for a corner. I just turned and hit it, really. The trouble is that whenever I’m walking in Bristol now people always mention it and say, ‘Oh, you hit the post against Forest’, and over the years it seems I’ve got closer and closer. The way they talk now, it’s as if it was an absolute sitter that I missed!

If you were to pick one special game, what would it be?

I think I played three or four hundred games for City in five years and obviously it’s sometimes difficult to pick out the biggest ones, but the Wembley game in 1986 was special. I thought I did okay on the day but I wasn’t exceptional, which you would like in a cup final. It’s every kid’s dream to play at Wembley and be the star man and score the winning goal. It wasn’t to be but I was part of the team. The moment that sticks in your mind is when you’re walking out. You get a lump in your throat, and because it was Bolton as well the ground was about two thirds full. We came out at the Tunnel End where all the City supporters were and that end was just full. To come out of the tunnel and to hear the roar as you come out just sticks in your mind.

Do you have one regret about your time at Ashton Gate?

Yes, I would have liked to have got that hundredth goal but it wasn’t to be. I was stuck on 99 for my last few games on the run-in to the end of the season. Mind you, I did miss four penalties in one season.

What was the rivalry like in the dressing room when you were playing in derbies? Did it filter through from the fans?

It definitely rubbed off. When you’re a player and you’re not from Bristol and you play your first one or two derbies you don’t really appreciate what it means to both sets of supporters. But if you are there for any length of time, then as you play in more and more derbies you get to know what it means. The more derbies you played, the more it meant to you. The trouble is we didn’t win many. It was a lean time on that front. We used to play them off the park and then their keeper would play a blinder and then someone would go and hit a 30-yard shot in the last minute.

What was it like to swap to the other side of the city and work at Bristol Rovers?

Obviously there’s a lot of rivalry between City and Rovers. There was a minority, mainly Rovers supporters, that didn’t want me there and would say: “What are you doing working at Rovers?” I never got any hassle about working there from City supporters when I came back. I was welcomed here. The majority of Rovers supporters and staff there were absolutely superb. I’ve got a big affection for both clubs really. I obviously worked for four and a half years for Rovers in a community-based job going round the schools, doing soccer fun days and soccer camps. I had a great four and a half years there. I worked with good lads there and at the end of the day they gave me a job.

What does your role involve now?

My official title is Assistant Academy Director. We start them at the Under-9s and we take them through to Under-17s, so I look after the schoolboy programme. I oversee it and coach to the Under-17s. The Under-17s are in on a morning and afternoon most days, though they have to do college work as well. The schoolboys train every evening. I do the Under-16s and we have got a coach or a manager who coaches each age group. The younger they are, the more you concentrate on their technique rather than fitness. We start them with a development group for Under-8s ready for the following season’s Under-9s. With the Under-9s and Under-11s it’s more technical work, and then you go on as the ages progress to deal with things like phases of play and patterns of play while still doing the technical work. The Under-9s to Under-11s train twice a week in the evening. There are about 130 to 140 boys aged from nine to 16, with about 15 in the Under-9s.

How can you tell at that age if they are going to become good players?

Our Under-9s this year is a very good group. We have got three or four players in there who are outstanding. You can just pick it out. It sticks out a mile. They have got technique and it’s just natural ability really. Obviously all the players are good players or they wouldn’t be here. But among them you have got a selected few that are a little bit better than the rest.

So give us some names for people to look at who could make it big at Ashton Gate.

In the Under-15s we have got a lad called called Scott Golbourne. He is a 14-year-old left sided player. He can play left back and left midfield but probably his best position would be left back. His is a cousin of Matt Hill. He has got good technique, he has got a great attitude. He is a fit lad. He’s a good runner. He is a good athlete. He has just been in the trials for the Gloucestershire schools and he won the 400 metres. We also have Dave Cotterell, who is a Welsh lad in the Under-15s. He is a centre forward. He’s quite tall for his age, he’s got good technique and he scores goals.

As you go down to the Under-14s, we’ve got a good group there. We’ve got a lad called Frankie Artus. He’s a left midfield player. He’s a tall lad, quick with very good technique and scores goals from midfield. There’s another lad called Joe Parker in the Under-14s who is a central midfield player. His natural ability is probably the best in that schoolboy age group. He’s small at this moment in time. He’s not a big lad but on his natural ability he’s very good.

Obviously not every player makes it from the youth set-up, but how confident are you that some of those coming through the ranks could provide the core of City team’s in the future?

Hopefully these players will develop. They have got their basic technique and ability now. We’ve got to be careful that we don’t knock it out of them, and try to improve them in other ways instead. They are good players but we obviously want to make them better players and eventually we want them to play for the first team. I’m very confident we’ve got players in every age group that will probably go through to the first team, but we haven’t got a magic wand so we can’t say that any one lad is going to go through from the Under-13s to play for the first team.

You are always looking to improve and bring in the better players at other ages and try to bring in other players. The first team are doing brilliantly at the moment and there are a lot of players who have come through the Academy and the youth system who are in the first team squad at this moment at time. Obviously, you are going to get years where you might not get anybody. Or instance, there might not be any next year but the year after that there might be two or three. But the future is bright.

Are there problems associated with having so much money in the game and young players getting cosseted and earning big bucks at such a young age? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I think society is a little softer now than when I was at school. If you did something wrong you got the cane or you got a good hiding. I’m not saying that’s the right way to go but I think society is a bit more lenient these days and I think it rubs off. On the money side of it with the young lads, we’ve got the PFA who have certain rules and regulations now. For instance, Wayne Rooney at Everton is in the first team, but until he’s 18 he can’t go onto big money. If these players are offered this money they are not going to turn it down. At the end of the day, the clubs sanction the money side of it. Sometimes it’s a good thing and sometimes it’s a bad thing. Everybody would like a lot of money, whether you’re young or old. If they can get as much as they can, then great. But the football league is changing now. The bubble has burst.

Are there any little Walshies on the way up playing football?

Well one of my little Walshies is six foot four! My eldest lad has just turned 24, I’ve got a daughter who is 21 and another son who is 18. He sometimes comes to training. He’s not bad. He plays for Almonsdbury Town, which is a good standard and he’s enjoying it there.

Do you ever still pull your boots on?

On the odd occasion I join in the training if we’ve got a game and we’re a player short.

And do they still fall for the old “Walshie shuffle”?

I can’t do it now – I fall over!

*Thanks to Alan Walsh for talking to The Incider. Do YOU have a favourite memory of Alan or his time at Ashton Gate? If so, we want to hear from you and share it with other City fans – many of whom are too young to have enjoyed that period. Email us at editor@theincider.com and you could win the Christmas gift to kill for – an Incider T-shirt.