I do appreciate this may be too long for some, but this man was very special and I found it difficult to edit and still pay a full tribute to, in my lifetime, the most influential captain we have had and, arguably, the greatest ambassador for the club. From the time he arrived he embraced the club and the city and gave a lot of his time to coaching in schools and youth clubs.
In early January 1960, Plymouth Argyle were in 20th place, just a point above the relegation places. Worse still, in two of their previous three League fixtures they had lost both Christmas games against Bristol City, one of the only two clubs below them in the table. The side clearly needed leadership - a player with the experience and mental strength to reverse the team’s fortunes. In short, they required a man in the ‘Chisholm mould’.
In the combative Johnny Newman, Jack Rowley believed he had found the perfect player. Having survived two intense relegation battles with Leicester, his CV fitted the relegation job description. The Plymouth boss had an extensive knowledge of First Division reserve players, but in this case, he had ‘inside information’. Jack’s brother Arthur was still at Leicester when Newman was recruited from Birmingham, though they only played three of four games together. However, Arthur would have been able to confirm key aspects about the player’s character, particularly his attitude to training and his off-the-field habits.
Jack Rowley, immensely popular and well known in the game, had an array of former colleagues who would keep him informed of the latest developments at each top tier club. This was the way Rowley had discovered Geoff Barnsley, Bryce Fulton, Gordon Fincham (also from Leicester), Tommy Barrett, John ‘Cardiff’ Williams, Wilf Carter and Harry Penk. Seven signings, and not a single dud amongst them. Now he needed to try and repeat that kind of successful recruitment drive.
Despite the favourable impression he was getting about the club, Newman, at the time just a few days past his 26th birthday, turned down Plymouth’s initial approach. But by New Year’s Day 1960 he was ready to travel to Devon to see Plymouth and the club for himself, promising Rowley that he would discuss terms and look at club houses. “It was a huge move for me. Although the mileage between the two places hasn’t changed, it seemed much farther away in those days. There were no motorways. When I did agree to go down there, I remember sitting on the train for hours, wondering when on earth I was going to reach the place.”
He had already been promised that if he signed, he would be captain, and that he could remain living in Leicester until his wife gave birth. He laughs as he tells me about Jack Rowley’s persistence. “I had listened to Plymouth’s offer but I was happy enough at Leicester. I was still confident that I had something to offer at Filbert Street, but Jack was very persuasive when he talked about Plymouth. The chairman, Mr Blindell, was too.
“Whenever he spoke to me, I could tell he was passionate about the club. Whilst I know he had his critics, I liked Ron Blindell and I have to say that I always got on extremely well with him. Jean was expecting our Tina and I didn’t think it was a good time to move. The Leicester people had accepted Argyle’s offer but (Leicester manager) Matt Gilles knew how I felt. The Leicester chairman, who was a big noise with the FA too, was telling me I should go, saying it was a good move for me. I wasn’t daft enough to think that his main concern was my welfare, more likely it was the fee and getting someone off the wages. I left training and went home thinking that was that as far as Plymouth Argyle was concerned. Imagine my surprise when I found Jack at my house, busy selling the delights of living in Plymouth to Jean. It was a good strategy though, because by the time he had left he had me agreeing to go down and have a look at the place.”
John Newman spoke very fondly of Jack Rowley. “He was a very pleasant man and I liked him a lot. It was something of a surprise when he was sacked; I thought at the time that it was a shocking decision. You must remember that George (Kirby), Jim (McAnearney) and me had not even moved to Plymouth when he went. Personally, I think we had turned the corner and that the Sunderland defeat that cost him his job was just a blip. We had been pretty tight at the back until then. It was unfortunate, but as I came to learn over the years, that’s football for you.”
Newman made his Home Park debut on 16 January 1960, against a strong Middlesbrough side that was fourth in the table. In goal for the visitors was Peter Taylor, who had also been between the posts for Coventry City when Newman made his Football League debut for Birmingham in March 1952. The new skipper played in all of the remaining 17 League games that season. He went on to stay at Home Park for nearly eight years and accumulated 298 League appearances (out of a possible 325), all in the Second Division. In addition, he made 30 appearances in the FA and Football League Cups.
It is difficult to recall any player since who has commanded such absolute respect, something which seemed to happen from the moment he walked into Home Park. Early in his stay there was little or no radio or television coverage, so our opinions of our new skipper had to be formed from not much more than his displays on the field, and his demeanour when leaving the players' entrance at the back of the stand prior to the game and walking to his car.
I can remember the first time I asked him for his autograph. His appearance was immaculate. He was wearing a stone-coloured mac and a yellow silk scarf. He was very approachable and found time to chat to everyone. He looked what he was, a leader of men. I was certainly in awe, and little had changed 51 years later when I called on him at his detached home in a quiet Derby cul de sac.
From a club point of view, Newman’s time at Home Park was probably less successful than it might have been. It began excellently with him leading the team away from the relegation trap-door. Then in his first full-season, 1960-61, the side started well but faded. The following campaign saw an ordinary start before a fantastic run took the side to third in the table, only for them to collapse in the final six games. 1962-63 was a similar story of early success, laced with ultimate failure. Well-placed at Christmas, as the winter of 1963 took a grip, so the team slithered into free-fall. Summing up those three seasons, Newman told me: “I think we were always two or three decent players short of a promotion side. We needed to have done what Malcolm did later, going for top, top players like Barrie Jones. That was the kind of money that should have been spent earlier. When Ellis brought lads like Micky Lill, Alan O’Neill and Peter McParland, they were good players right enough, but none of them was going to get any better.”
John Newman was very competitive. Not only did he never shirk a challenge – I got the distinct impression that he really relished one. Despite the great physicality of his game, his record of availability at Argyle shows that he was rarely injured. There was a school of thought in the 50s and 60s that a tackle did not count unless your opponent ended on the ground. Newman was definitely a graduate from such an academy. I joked with John that after each tackle he made, I always looked back to see if his opponent’s legs were still attached to the rest of their body. He had impeccable timing and went in very low. Certainly, he tried to ensure that any man he tackled was not able to mount any immediate danger. He freely admitted that he played on the very edge of the rules, and at times would transgress. Certainly, when the opposition looked at the Argyle team sheet, they would have known that Newman would not be slowed by taking prisoners.
During the era he played in, there was a tremendous mutual respect in the game. No matter what went on during the 90 minutes battle, it was all forgotten over a handshake and a beer, and sometimes a cigarette too. In John Newman’s case, this was never better illustrated than during Johnny Hore’s fifth game in the first team. In September 1965, at Deepdale the 18 years old Hore was getting some unpleasant treatment from the experienced Preston forward Brian Godfrey. Newman had a word with Godfrey and warned the Welshman, “If you want to play it rough, then try it on me kidder.” Minutes later Godfrey was in the crowd, despatched there by a classic Newman blockbuster tackle. After the game Newman was told that Godfrey was at the dressing room door looking for him. “Tell him we don’t want any trouble; what happened out there stays out there.” But it transpired that all Godfrey wanted to say was, “Tell John there is a pint on the bar in the players’ lounge for him”.
On the other side of the scale he talks about a game at Stoke in 1962. “Stan Matthews was in their side. He had the ball in the corner, by the flag. In those days that was where the players came on at the old Victoria Ground. I had already said to Bryce that I would have Stan when he got penned in. We hadn’t lost for ages and when we went behind, I wasn’t at all happy. I was determined to get him and the ball. Nothing looked easier to me. I mean, he wasn’t far off 50 and yet we were getting chased. I chose my moment and went in hard and low. Somehow, he seemed to move his feet, as quick as anything I had ever seen. Before I knew it, I was on my arse, sliding up the concrete floor of the players’ tunnel. Needless to say, Bryce was wetting himself.”
We talked about some of the managers he served at Home Park. I was interested in what it was that Ellis Stuttard had brought to the dressing room, especially in that fascinating 1961-62 campaign. “We started the season with Neil Dougall, a lovely man. But he was more of a coach than a manager. He loved his time on the training field and was a very good coach. He was a man I liked a lot. Although he left St Andrews just before I arrived there, I had met him from and time to time when he was in Brum – he married a lass from there and he would visit some weekends. Then Ellis came in. He was such a nice bloke that you simply couldn’t let him down. That said, he was tactically astute and he could read the weaknesses in a team. He also demanded fight and made us a harder and more aggressive team. He encouraged us to make sure the opposition knew they were in a game. That certainly suited me. Had a real eye for a player too, did our Ellis.”
We moved on to the time in 1963 when Ellis Stuttard stepped aside and Andy Beattie took over. “He was a real disciplinarian and I suppose you would say he was aloof; you could never have got close to him. He took over when we were bottom or next bottom. I remember him calling me in on a Monday morning, and explaining the system he thought we needed. Basically, he was saying to me that if he could sell it to me then he should then be able to sell it to the rest of them. I had played centre-half a lot so going back there wasn’t new to me. He would hold practice match after practice match, stopping it from time to time to make a point or explain where people should be. Nothing was left to chance. He brought in Doug Baird and Billy Cobb from Forest, where he had been before coming to us. He knew Bill would be able to play the way he wanted. That was why the club were able to sell Jimmy Mac. Beattie didn’t feel Jim, superb player that he was, could play that role in the same way as Billy could. It wasn’t working at first and I think we were bottom for a lot of the time between November and February. But, fair play to him, he persevered and tweaked his system until it did work. And what can you say, we finished with four draws and stayed up on the final day in 20th place; nought point something of a goal wasn’t it?”
After the battle against relegation in 1963-64, it looked as if the bold appointment of Malcolm Allison was finally going to take the club somewhere. Although the new manager already had a reputation as something of a maverick, Newman told Allison’s biographer: “I had a great deal of admiration for Malcolm Allison. He dominated every room he walked into and when he spoke, your head went back and you listened.” When we met, he expanded on that previous interview. “Everything he did was pretty new to us. Pre-season training was fantastic. He would take us to the beach over at Whitsands, and our families joined us later in the day. We had proper training kit and he brought in that brilliant white playing strip. I know it upset a few diehards, but that wasn’t going to bother Malcolm. He told us he wanted us to look like Real Madrid. It was a superb time in my life and I learned a great deal from Malcolm.”
History shows that Allison took time to get the team playing his way, but decent results during October and early November saw the side move into third place in the Second Division. It was the fourth time in five seasons that Newman had led his team to the top three or four in the table. In addition, another decent League Cup run was underway. Allison’s side had already beaten First Division sides Sheffield United and Stoke before Northampton arrived for a fifth-round tie, on 27 November 1964. The Cobblers were leading the Second Division by three points, the final stage of their amazing five season march from the Fourth to the First Division. Nearly 22,000 packed into Home Park to see a tough game, which finished with the sides separated by a single Johnny Newman goal. Throughout the game, the visitors had played a spoiling kind of game, using a well-rehearsed offside trap that often operated just yards from the half way line. Tony Book chipped a long ball over their defence and it found Newman, well clear of every opponent but still on-side. He kept his head to run through and beat goalkeeper Bryan Harvey.
Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for Allison and Plymouth Argyle. The next 13 games produced just a single win, a 4-2 home success in an FA Cup 3rd round tie famous for the fact that Argyle turned out in blue. That tie, against Derby, was also our first sight of young centre-forward Richard Reynolds, still three weeks away from his 17th birthday. Despite the fact that the season under Allison descended into acrimony, and a disappointing 15th place in the table, Newman recalls it as an exciting time.
“If nothing else Malcolm gave youth a chance. For my first three years at the club the side, and the type of player we used, did not change much. All of the players were pretty much seasoned pros. Towards the end of the 1962-63 season Ellis threw in a few young lads; Mike Reeves, Richard Davis, Colin Buckingham and Mike Trebilcock were all given a run and Dave Roberts and Stuart Brace played a few games too. But the next season, after a bad start they brought Andy Beattie in and he went back to experience. The lad Rounsevell had a decent run but eventually the manager recalled the older and more experienced Reg Wyatt – what a good player Reg was, by the way. But Malcolm had been keen to blood youngsters. In that season we saw the likes of Johnny Hore, Norman Piper, Richard Reynolds and Nicky Jennings break into the side, plus Trebs (Trebilcock) established himself as first choice up front. I think Trebs benefited playing with Lordy – he was another good player was Frank. That was a good signing by Beattie. Maybe if the club had hung on to that group of youngsters, who knows? They could have had a terrific side.”
When one talks to John it is noticeable that he tends to say good things about people, or he says nothing at all. Whenever I mentioned someone that he clearly wasn’t keen on, he is very diplomatic. Rather than say anything critical, he simply moves the conversation on. Although the most amiable of men, I quickly learned that it was pointless to press him on topics he did not wish to discuss.
Unfortunately, the period from when he joined to the end of 1964-65 campaign under Allison was as good as it would get for Newman. In terms of League position both 1965-66 (18th) and 1966-67(16th) were mediocre seasons, with the latter of the two rather akin to sitting in a condemned cell. Too many players came and went as the best were sold. Replacements were rarely of the same standard. Newman watched as first Mike Trebilcock, in December 1965, was sold. Over the next year or so there were regular departures including Frank Lord, Tony Book, Cliff Jackson, Nicky Jennings, a big, big loss, and Barrie Jones. Davie Corbett, according to Newman ‘a brave little lad who never knew when he was beat’, had to retire through injury. By the beginning of 1967, the last link with the playing staff John Newman had joined in early 1960 was gone, with Johnny Williams leaving in December 1966 for Bristol Rovers. “I remember him going. You could see from his demeanour that he did not want to leave the club. I do remember feeling really sorry for him. What a player John was.” For the record, Johnny Williams and Newman played together nearly 250 times in the Plymouth Argyle first team.
There is no doubt that from Newman’s arrival in January 1960 there had been some exciting times at the club, but from August 1965 things seemed to change. Derek Ufton had taken over from Allison and he either decided, or was forced, to sell off the better players. The team never got higher than 11th place in the Division during the 1965-66 season, but it was a campaign that delivered glimpses of what may have been. One of the highlights was on 11 October 1965, a marvellous 6-1 victory over Birmingham which featured Mike Trebilcock’s only hat-trick for Argyle. It was a sparkling display from the whole side. But the young Cornishman was off to Everton within three months, with Lord following him north a month later to join Stockport.
After his hat-trick against Birmingham, who had Winston Foster at centre half, it would be five years, almost to the day, before Trebilcock scored another. It was for Portsmouth, in a 5-0 home win over Watford on 3 October 1970. The other scorers at Fratton Park were Norman Piper and Nicky Jennings, both of whom had been in the Argyle front line for Trebilcock’s hat-trick against Birmingham in 1965. Indeed, Jennings scored that day too.
The next major excitement of that 1965-66 term was the emergence of Mike Bickle, a local lad who showed it was possible to go from the South Western League and hold your own in the Second Division of the Football League. In only his second game, at home to Rotherham United on 8 January 1966, Bickle’s two goals helped turned defeat into victory and a cult hero was born. He scored nine times in 12 games in his first season, a perfect example that sheer weight of goals in non-League football would eventually get you noticed.
The season ended just as the 1961-62 one had, with a 3-2 home defeat at the hands of a team that was about to be promoted. This time it was Southampton, who were about to embark on a journey that would see them spend 37 out of the next 41 seasons in the top tier. Argyle, meanwhile, were setting a course that would take them in the opposite direction. Our only celebration that day was the presentation of the inaugural Player Of The Year Award, fittingly won by John Newman.
1966-67 started reasonably and a four-goal show from Bickle in a 7-1 victory over Cardiff on 15 October 1966 saw the team rise to sixth in the table. But a run of just two wins in the next 12 games soon saw another promotion dream fade into disappointment. However, despite results being nothing to write home about, that 1966-67 season provided two remarkable events for both Newman and the club.
The first came on 21 September 1966. Home Park was the chosen venue for a Football League fixture against the Irish League, a select XI drawn from Northern Ireland. That was just 53 days after England’s 1966 triumph at Wembley, and six of those World Cup winners and the trophy came to Home Park. For a few years in the early 60s the Football League representative side had included players who were ineligible for England. Bert Trautmann is one of the famous examples, and Arsenal’s great Welsh international goalkeeper Jack Kelsey was another. Several of the non-English members of the Spurs double winning side represented the Football League, as did Denis Law and the Northern Ireland internationals Jimmy McIlroy and Peter McParland. However, from the time leading up to the World Cup in 1962, it reverted to being exclusively composed of England qualified players. It was an understandable move, designed to give the coaching staff more opportunities to see the England side in action, plus an additional chance to look at one or two fringe players in battle conditions. There was a bonus for supporters too. It gave people in different parts of the country the chance to see what, to all intents and purposes, was the first choice England international side.
Before the game with the Irish there was community singing, while Moore and his team mates paraded the Jules Rimet trophy around the ground. It was a wonderful atmosphere, with an estimated 7,000 juveniles amongst a huge crowd drawn by England’s latest heroes. Forget the great Spurs match nearly four years earlier, or the subsequent 1973 game against Santos, this was undoubtedly the biggest galaxy of star names in a single team that Home Park had (or has) ever seen.
The six World Cup winners brought by Alf (still not quite Sir Alf at that time) Ramsey were George Cohen, Ramon ‘Ray’ Wilson, Jack Charlton, Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst. Peter Bonetti, Terry Paine, George Eastham and John Connelly of Manchester United filled four of the other five places. Both Paine and Connelly had each played a single game in the group stages in London, but missed out on the final stages of the tournament. For the game at Home Park, the England boss had originally selected Jimmy Greaves in place of Roger Hunt, but the Tottenham man cried off early in the week. West Ham’s Johnny Byrne, the only player present who had not been in the 1966 World Cup 22, was originally destined to be a substitute but was promoted to replace Greaves.
Ramsey then turned to Argyle for a stand-in and chose John Newman to wear the number 12 shirt. It was a well-deserved honour for the Argyle skipper, and his presence in the squad did no harm to the attendance. The Irish League side, which included a player who wore spectacles throughout the match, were destroyed by six goals in each half. Byrne with four and a brace each from George Eastham, Terry Paine, John Connelly and Geoff Hurst did the damage. The match drew 35,458 to the ground, with published gate receipts of £8,800.
The memory can play tricks with history and many reference documents I came across claim that John Newman played some part in the game. The man himself confirmed to me that he did not, but he did say what a thrill it was to even get to train with these people. “Even though I did not make an appearance, it was still a marvellous experience for me, taking part in the training sessions and five a sides with such marvellous players.” One locally based man did get into the action that evening. Popular Plymouth-based referee Charlie Nicholls was one of the linesmen. My favourite referee, Mr DW Smith (Stonehouse, Gloucestershire) was the referee, with Exminster based Mr FJ (Jack) Bricknell on the other line.
That John Newman did not get on that night perhaps tells us two things about Ramsey. With the score at 12-0 and with 35,000 people willing him to give our captain a few minutes on the pitch, Alf’s legendary single-mindedness meant that we were disappointed. But could it also be seen as an early example of his enduring dilemma with substitutions? For all his brilliance as England manager, Alf Ramsey never really got to grips with the use of replacements. As we would see in the 1970 World Cup quarter final defeat against West Germany in Mexico, his decision to replace Charlton at a time England were coasting backfired. Then, on that amazing Wembley night in October 1973, when Poland’s goalkeeper Tomaszewski repelled England on his own, Ramsey sent on Hector for Chivers when it was too late to save the game.
It is interesting to note that all of the side that Ramsey fielded against the Irish had played at Home Park at least once before. Bonetti (Chelsea and England under 23s), Cohen (for Fulham in a friendly), Wilson (Huddersfield), Peters (England under 23s), Charlton (Leeds), Moore and Hurst (West Ham in the 1962 FA Cup tie), Connelly (for Burnley in Neil Dougall’s testimonial), Paine (Southampton), Byrne (for Crystal Palace in 1957 and for the British Army in 1959) and Eastham (for Newcastle in an FA Cup tie in January 1958). Connelly returned to Home Park less than a year later, when on 15 April 1967 Argyle recorded their first win in 12 games, a 4-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers. Amongst his team-mates for Blackburn that day was Mike Ferguson. He was a former Argyle apprentice who had joined Blackburn after Accrington Stanley, the club he walked out from Argyle to join, resigned from the Football League in March 1962.
The other notable event that same season took place on 14 January 1967. The place was Millwall, when The Den was an even more forbidding venue than the New Den is today. The home team had gone a record 59 home games unbeaten, a run stretching back to late April 1964. To borrow Bill Shankly’s phrase, The Den was a bastion. Our men in Green arrived having not won on away soil since March 1966, with just two draws to show from their 12 away fixtures. They had scored only six times while conceding 20. It was odds-on that the Lions would increase their unbeaten run to 60.
But this was Plymouth Argyle, for years a club whose supporters had come to expect the unexpected. Goals from Mike Bickle and Alan Banks, and a fantastic display from goalkeeper Peter Shearing, gave Argyle an improbable 2-1 victory. John Newman will never forget it. Not a man given to being frightened, he was certainly greatly concerned not only for his own welfare but also for the safety of all of the travelling party. “I have never seen anything like it. The crowd were all round the touchline and just before he blew, the ref told John Sillett to get ready to run for it. After what seemed an eternity, we got out of the dressing rooms and on to the bus. We were all down the centre of the bus as missiles rained in – stones, bits of brick, anything they could lay their hands on.”
Within ten months of that dreadful day in Bermondsey, John Newman felt the time was right for him to move on. There was talk of a role on the coaching staff at Home Park, though the offer did not come from anyone directly involved in the selection process. John told me: “There were people there at the time wanting me to stay, but my mind was made up. I knew it was time I moved on.”
Although his FA Cup appearances for the Greens included the famous victory over West Ham, and the valiant defeat at the hands of Spurs during January 1962, it was a competition in which neither the player nor the club enjoyed much success. In seven attempts during his time with Argyle, the team only reached the fourth round twice – having not entered the competition until the third round.
The League Cup was better. At different times he came up against both his former clubs. In the 1960-61 competition, the trophy’s inaugural season, he featured in a hard-fought draw at his old stamping ground, St Andrews. Two days later he celebrated a fine 3-1 replay victory at Home Park, with another ex-Birmingham player, Alex Jackson, scoring one of the goals. Having overcome Birmingham the next obstacle was Aston Villa, a tie which went to three games before it was resolved. The 3-3 draw at Villa Park in December 1960 is acknowledged to be one of the bravest performances ever by an Argyle side. Newman gave some magnificent displays in a green shirt, but in this match all of the eye-witness reports show that he went to another level. The side was at one time down to nine men with an outfield player in goal. Newman drew on every ounce of his strength and experience to keep his team in the game.
Then came the unusual abandoned 0-0 draw, a talking point because it was halted after 90 minutes because the pitch had become too bad to play extra-time. It required a ruling from the Football League, which meant Villa had to return to Home Park for a second time. The third game finished in a 5-3 reverse for our men in green. It was in this game, played on 6 February 1961, where we first saw the sensational two-man penalty, where Carter tapped the ball forward for Newman to run in and score.
A few seasons later, in a 5th round tie John scored a never-to-be-forgotten solo goal as he ran through the Cobblers' offside trap. He then featured in the two 1965 League Cup semis against his other former club, Leicester City. City were the holders, having beaten Stoke City over two legs to win the 1964 trophy. For Argyle the first leg, on 20 January, could not have come at a worse time. The Home Park treatment room was as busy as Charing Cross station in the rush-hour, with the club ravaged by injuries. Flamboyant manager Malcolm Allison was forced to take a very young and inexperienced side to Filbert Street. Apart from the injuries, the match also came during a poor run of results. Although the evening ended in defeat, Argyle summoned up one of their iconic performances, going down 3-2. Allison fielded a side containing three teenagers in Richard Reynolds, Norman Piper and debutant Glyn Nicholas.
Only Newman and Johnny Williams remained from the swashbuckling side of 1961-62. Both gave outstanding performances on the night. Newman, back in the familiar Filbert Street surroundings he had left five years earlier, was superb in marshalling a defence that saw Norman Piper excel in a continental-style sweeper role. Johnny Williams, by this time no longer guaranteed a regular slot in the first team, opened the scoring with what many believe to be the very best of his many long-range shots. Who better to score your best-ever goal against than Gordon Banks, who was by that time firmly established as Alf Ramsey’s first choice England custodian?
Ten days later Argyle returned to Filbert Street for an FA Cup third round tie. Eight of the heroes from the League Cup game played. Allison favourite Keith Sanderson was preferred to Richard Reynolds, allowing the manager to pack the midfield, while Barrie Jones replaced Dave Corbett and Nicky Jennings came in for Glyn Nicholas. Piper retained the sweeper role, but on this occasion got brushed aside. Leicester won 5-0.
Wednesday 10 February 1965 brought the second leg of the League Cup semi-final encounter. Home Park saw 20,780 turn out to see Allison’s strongest line-up lose to the only goal. It was lashed in from distance by John Sjoberg, one of that promising group of young players that Newman had left behind at Filbert Street. Despite the ‘Cinderella’ reputation of the League Cup, the matches with Northampton and Leicester had attracted around 43,000 supporters to Home Park, this at a time when attendances at League matches had dropped to less than 15,000. Leicester went on to lose the final to Chelsea, played over two legs. It would be another two seasons before the League Cup Final was switched to a single game at Wembley.
In all Newman played first team football for Argyle with 69 different players. An examination of the marvellous Greensonscreen database shows the level of consistency in selection during his first four years in Devon. Newman played 246 games alongside Johnny Williams, Bryce Fulton (156), Gordon Fincham (151), Wilf Carter (146), Dave Maclaren (140), Jim McAnearney (138), and George Kirby (101). Just outside that list, from the same period are stalwarts George Robertson (98) and Peter Anderson (95).
Of that group only Johnny Williams remained on the books beyond the end of the 1963-64 season. When I put the names and statistics to him, Newman recalled the 98th and final time he played alongside George Robertson. “George was probably the most consummate professional I ever played with, and let’s face it, I played with a few. It was in a 1-1 draw at Newcastle. He was centre-half that day and early in the game he fell awkwardly. You could see that he had broken his collar bone but we couldn’t afford to tell him. There were no subs in those days. George (Taylor) strapped him up as best he could and Robbo simply carried on winning tackles and headers. We kept telling him that the pain would pass and, unbelievably, he was brilliant. It was that bad that when he fell over, we would have to help him up. The air was blue at the end when we told him that we knew all the time it was broken. But believe me, he was incredibly brave that day. He was a wonderful lad was George – one of the very best.” In what we could call Newman’s ‘second phase,’ only Doug Baird (126), Barrie Jones (101) and Nicky Jennings (100) joined their skipper on a regular and prolonged basis.
With the club’s blessing, he decided to accept an offer to join Exeter City. He bowed out in on 28 October 1967 in a 3-0 defeat at Millwall, a much more peaceful visit than the season before. He and Alan Banks journeyed up the A38 in a joint deal valued at £8,000, a significant sum for the county town club. In some ways, when Newman departed the club it bore little or no resemblance to the one he had joined, seven years and ten months previously. I put it to him that there was a different spirit about the place after Allison’s departure, but he was unwilling to be drawn on that issue.
He played for four Football League clubs - Birmingham City, Leicester City, Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City. In all he made 565 first team appearances (and two as a substitute). He played for Birmingham in the 1956 FA Cup Final, the match famous for Manchester City goalkeeper playing on with a broken neck. He also led Argyle to two League Cup semi-finals and played in both our only Home Park victories over First Division clubs. (Birmingham City in the 1960-61 League Cup and West Ham in the 1962 FA Cup).
He also had over 800 games as a manager with four Football League clubs; Exeter City (with 44 as player-manager), Grimsby Town, Hereford (his home town) and Derby County. Although his final game as a manager came in January 1989 as caretaker at Notts County, he stayed in the game in some capacity until 2005 with stints at Burton Albion, Worcester City and Mansfield Town.
Not many could say that they played against both Duncan Edwards and George Best. The game he left was totally different to the one he entered; he was a player and manager who embraced the tactical change that continued throughout his long career.
I remember seeing a Time Magazine in the late 70s. The front cover had a picture a forlorn picture of Muhamad Ali, slumped on his stool after a one-sided defeat at the hands of Leon Spinks. In large letters at the top of the picture it read. “The Greatest Is Gone.” Try as I might, I cannot think of a better epitaph for John Newman’s time at Argyle.
