I’ve covered Workington Reds for the local paper since 1967 but how I was given the job had rather unpleasant overtones.
Dan Richardson had covered Reds for years. His family had been steeped in the club’s history and he loved the job.
He was a great bloke, with a fund of football stories – but his Achilles’ heel was a love of Guinness!
He regularly spent his dinner hours at the Cons Club in the town, with a game of snooker and two or three pints. Sadly the hour crept into 90 minutes and then two hours.
One day, after two hours he returned to the office, was summoned by the editor and the next we, in the newsroom saw, was Dan grabbing his coat and heading out the door.
That was the last time he was in the office. I was asked to cover the next Reds game and it’s been virtually a lifetime ever since of covering the team I started supporting as a seven-year-old in 1953.
It wasn’t the way I would have liked to be handed the reins but there is a happy ending.
Subsequently Dan and his family moved to Stoke and he went to work for the Sentinel. Part of his weekly duties was interviewing Gordon Banks for his regular column in the paper.
The first time I saw Dan after he left for the Potteries was when Reds played Port Vale in an FA Cup tie.
Reds stayed overnight ahead of the tie and after meeting up at the hotel we had a good session on the infamous black stuff – and Dan spent the night on two chairs in my bedroom!
My first Reds game that I covered had been before Dan’s departure when I reported on the FA Youth Cup tie with Carlisle United at Borough Park.
I’d actually been approached by Ken Furphy to play for his side in that competition (I still have the letter in my scrapbook) but there was some confusion over availability.
My Deer Orchard team-mate Tom Allen did play, though, along with a number of players who became more familiar around the local scene when they passed the Under-18s stage.
As you can probably imagine, my report figures prominently in the old scrapbook which I occasionally hunt out for a reminisce.
Mike Rogan, Peter Rushforth, Stan Herbert and Brian Tinnion were all playing and all four later made the first team – Rogan and Tinnion becoming regulars in their time at the club.
Herbert, who I occasionally see around town, claimed a hat-trick and the fourth was added by Airey (no forename).
Now that’s a black mark as full names should have been included. I can only assume it was one of the Keswick/Threlkeld/Braithwaite Aireys of which there have seemed a lot over the years.
Just for interest the line-ups were as follows: Workington – Rogan, Richardson, Allen, Irving, Kerr, Armellino, Barclay, Rushforth, Tinnion, Herbert, Airey.
Carlisle – Gorstridge, Graham, Robinson, English, Hickie, Heslop, Reay, Gourlay, Wilson, Green, Maxwell.
Referee: A Stamper of Penrith.
Reds went out of the competition in the next round, beaten 2-0 at home by Wigan Athletic.
