Ipswich Town: Tony Garnett on breaking down with Alf Ramsey

Once I had switched from the reporters’ room to the sports desk I volunteered to write the weekly pools guide for the Evening Star rather than the company using syndicated copy.

It was over a cup of coffee with sports sub-editor Paddy Dawson in the Ritz Cinema (ABC) restaurant in the Buttermarket that we decided to call this new column Portman’s Pools and Fixed Odds guide

I never came anywhere near to guiding my readers to a big win on the pools. I did, however, enjoy one notable success on the fixed odds.

William Hill printed a fixed odds coupon in those days which included the Fair Four.

They were meant to be the four toughest matches to predict. On this occasion they all looked probable home wins. I highlighted this bet in the Evening Star. I wanted much more than the £2 limit per coupon.

I persuaded 15 of the Linotype compositors on the print floor to have a maximum wager on my behalf. I promised that I would buy them all a drink should the bet be successful.

All was well. Ipswich Town beat Birmingham City 4-1, Manchester United beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0, Leicester City beat Everton 2-0 and Huddersfield Town beat Newcastle United 2-1.

I was rubbing my hands anticipating a big payout. But the sharp-eyed employees of William Hill, or perhaps William Hill himself, had spotted that the hand-writing on the coupons was identical.

On the following Tuesday there was a message from the Front Office in Carr Street saying that two men wished to see me. I asked that they should be sent upstairs, the Sports room being on the top floor of the building.

Tony Garnett once won big money betting on Town

Both of them had the look and physique of night club bouncers. They must have been convinced that all the names used would be fictitious. 

We moved from one Linotype machine to the next to introduce the printers one by one. Eventually William Hill’s men reluctantly realised that they had made a wasted trip from London. Hills paid up.

Even after the lads on the floor had received their promised "drink" I cleared around £1,000.

I was able to buy a new MG Magnette. Why I chose a car that would have been better suited to a pensioner or a bank manager I have no idea.

It was not long before I had dented it. Then I swapped it for a dark green GT Ford Cortina that went like the wind. That was far more fun.

Tony says Sir Alf's pre-match talks were inspirational

- Ipswich Town’s First Division debut was against the rugged Bolton Wanderers at Burnden Park.

It turned out to be a bruising goalless stalemate. On the following Tuesday night Ipswich met Burnley at Turf Moor. This was a thriller.

Ipswich trained on Manchester City’s practice ground (now urban development) over the weekend.

Alf let me play in goal in the six-a-side so I heard his team talk while we were changing. It was inspirational. I believe that I could have run out at Turf Moor that night and played well.

Alf seldom raised his voice and never swore but he held players’ attention apart, perhaps, for prankster Ted Phillips for whom he made allowances. Phillips could be a match winner.

Ipswich lost 4-3 at Turf Moor and won 6-2 the following week at Portman Road.

Ipswich won the title. Burnley finished as runners-up. Few realised at the time that these classics were between the two best teams in the land that season.

It was at the return match against Bolton at Portman Road in December 1961 that visiting chairman, Alderman Jim Entwistle, was offered a drink by John Cobbold in the Town board room.

"Alcohol has never passed my lips," he was reputed to have said.

Then John tried another attempt to be a good host. "Would you care for a cigar?"  The Alderman, a former Mayor of Bolton, was a non-smoker. Cobbold, exasperated, then said: "It seems we have f*** all in common."

Alf used to watch matches from the directors’ box. He believed the higher vantage point was better than being at ground level in the dug-out.

John Cobbold, centre, used to distract Alf Ramsey with jokes during matches

A problem was sitting next to chairman Cobbold who would distract his concentration with juvenile jokes and puerile remarks. Alf would plead: “Please Mr John, I am trying to concentrate.”

Once Alf asked me for a lift. He was keen to get home early from the Midlands. The plan backfired.

We had reached the Minden Rose pub on the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds when we had a flat tyre.

Neither of us was any good with a wheel brace. We took refuge in the pub waiting for an RAC mechanic to arrive. Alf did not get home early as planned. He never travelled with me again!

Alf seldom announced his line-up in time for publication in the newspaper although his winning team usually picked itself. His playing staff was small. Basic tactics remained unaltered from August to the following May.

Ted Phillips was a prankster in Town's title-winning team (Image: Archant)

Once I spotted a team change for the weekend on the dressing room notice board.

My "inspired guess" in the East Anglian Daily Times match preview led to Alf’s prickly comment: “You have picked my team for me.” He never made an issue of it.

I did not let him know how I had found out although he must have guessed. In those days scouts hardly ever came to Ipswich so no harm was done.