It was September 14, 1963 I was just over a fortnight away from starting work at the Star office.
Workington Reds had played at home on the Friday night which was a feature of that season which was to end in promotion.
I was asked if a trip to Manchester the following day to watch West Bromwich sounded good and although it wasn’t to Maine Road, but to Old Trafford, I accepted.
My pal Stuart Mander and his dad Harold, headmaster of Workington Grammar School, were big West Brom fans. The family had moved from Halesowen to Maryport when Mr Mander landed the heads job at the new school.
So off we went, duly arrived at the ground and took our seats, programme in hand when the team changes were announced. A certain G Best was to make his debut for United while C Crawford came in for his first senior game for the Baggies.
Talk among supporters around us was that young Best was an Irishman who was showing promise with the Reserves, while it was a pretty similar assessment from Albion fans about their new lad.
Both had decent games and the only goal was scored at the Stretford End, a header by David Sadler, fairly late in the game if I recall.
I never saw Best play in the flesh again, although obviously countless times on TV, so I suppose it was a bit special to be there when it all started.
When he died I remember thinking the other story would be in tracking down Campbell Crawford and compare the two careers – players who made their debuts against each other on the same day.
Well I couldn’t find him anywhere, until last week, when nosing around a few football websites I happened on Geoff Snape, secretary of the West Brom Former Players Association – and his phone number was listed.
I rang him and told him what I was after and he was able to pass on Campbell’s number – now 79, living in Walsall, still attending West Brom matches and a good friend for many years.
Needless to say I have spoken to Campbell and got enough to put together a feature for a football nostalgia magazine.
He couldn’t remember but I had actually spoken to him at Borough Park when his subsequent team Exeter City were playing Reds here in the 1970s.
Many of his team-mates over the years will have had stories to tell but none made their debut on the same day and in the same game as football legend George Best as Campbell Crawford did.
