The guy on the left of the above photo is none other than Tony Kay.For those who seen him play,he was one of the best players ever to wear the shirt and destined to become England captain for the 1966 World Cup.Bought from Sheffield Wednesday for a then record fee of £60,000 back in 1962.It all came unstuck when a certain Kelvin Mc Kenzie,then a fledgling reporter with the Sunday People,broke the story in 1964, that Tony had bet on a Sheff Wed game to lose, while he was playing for them.They lost.However,Tony was given the man of the match award for that game!! Guess he must have been trying too hard to lose.Tony was one of the first people to be convicted by taped evidence,even though it was impossible to hear what was on the tape! There was also no evidence that he had bet on any other game.Yet,he was convicted and sent to jug for 4 months.Following this he was declared 'sine die' by the FA,never to play professional football again.Everton,the innocent party in all this received no compensation for loss of his services.Strange then that only last week, Accrington Stanley player Peter Cavanagh received only an 8 month ban and a paltry fine for the same offence, while Tony Kay was convicted of 'conspiracy to defraud' and ultimately to lose his livelihood.As an aside; the Kray twins were particularly concerned about this new method of gathering evidence by tape recorder and duly 'requested' Tonys presence in the The Blind Beggar.Initially he resisted, but the Krays eventually got their man.Unlike Everton who lost theirs forever.
3 comments:
Now thats what I call a post...I feel a tv special script in the air...plus post title is of course the ttle of one of the greatet tunes ever.
I remember that Lord Roby.
We used to go with friends to the Guiness Club in Lydiate where tony kay used to work behind the bar. my friend was going out with Alan Bermingham a pro, he had connections with Everton but I don't think he played for them, he played for Bangor and then Altringham. he was always 'flashing the cash'.
I've put a new post up on my site about Liverpool in the sixties, The Beatles etc.
Di.x
Trubes,I never got to see Tony play and there's no footage of him that I am aware of.The name name Alan Bermingham does ring a bell albeit a very faint one.I'll have to wiki him!
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