Call for investment

ENGLAND was in the grip of World Cup fever with Jonny Wilkinson kicking Clive Woodward’s men to glory in Australia.

But over at the Reebok, the alarm bells were ringing. Sam Allardyce’s Wanderers had survived their first two seasons in the Premiership and were doing okay in their third, but okay was not good enough for the ambitious management team.

Not only were they concerned about the depth of their squad but they were worried that a lack of investment was undermining their plans to take the club to the next level.

Big Sam, who had repeated called for the board to loosen the purse strings, took advantage of the international break to enjoy a break in the sun, leaving his assistant Phil Brown, pictured, to take charge of the friendly against Brazilian side Sao Paulo.

But there was to be no respite for chairman Phil Gartside and his directors as Brown took the opportunity to warn there would be trouble if the club didn’t invest in new players.

Describing the current squad as “very, very weak” after the 6-3 Reebok drubbing by the Samba stars, Brown said: “We are concerned, we understand, we are realists; we understand the strength of the squad.

“If the chairman and directors are watching they’ve got to understand that as well and, hopefully, they will back the manager and his judgment in bringing in three or four players over Christmas.”

A weakened Wanderers led 3-2 at one stage but were rocked as the Brazilians showed their class to run out comfortable winners – and they didn’t need their star striker, the £11million-rated Luis Fabiano, as converted defender Gustav Bery scored five – four in the space of just eight second-half minutes.

Mario Jardel scored against his fellow countrymen, but his unhappy time at the Reebok appeared to be coming to a disappointing end with strong rumours that he was set to be loaned out to the Spanish club Espanyol, although Allardyce was playing down the speculation.

“People want to write him off as a misfit,” the manager said of the two-time winner of Europe’s Golden Boot, “but it’s far too early to come to that conclusion.”

Problems or not, Wanderers still managed to take advantage of the crisis at Elland Road to beat Leeds United 2-0 with first-half goals from Kevin Davies and Stelios.

Wilkinson, meanwhile, was claiming his place in sporting history, landing the dramatic extra-time drop-goal as England claimed a glorious 20-17 triumph over Australia to lift their first ever World Cup.

Great Britian’s rugby league side surrendered a 20-8 lead before going down 23-20 to a below-strength Australia at Hull, leading Wigan’s Kris Radlinksi to draw the unpalatable conclusion: “We are losers.”

25 Years Ago

GERRY McElhinney marked his international debut with a stunningly impressive performance, helping Northern Ireland to a shock 1-0 win in West Germany.

The big, brave Wanderers centre-half was singled out for special praise by Northern Ireland manager, Billy Bingham, much to the delight of everyone at Burnden Park – apart from the bank manager.

McElhinney’s rise to the international ranks meant Wanderers had to pay Irish club Distillery an additional £25,000 on top of the £25,000 that changed hands three years earlier.

And while the cash was a welcome windfall for Distillery, who built a new stand with the original £25,000, it was a payout Wanderers simply hadn’t budgeted for.

Manager John McGovern saluted McElhinney – a former Gaelic Football star – as a shining example of the commitment he was looking for from the rest of his players as they prepared to take on Tranmere Rovers in the first round of the FA Cup.

“We must let Gerry be the standard-bearer for us to rally round,” McGovern said. “He is the only current international in the side so he sets an example for the rest to follow. We should all consider the reasons why Gerry won his international cap and try to follow suit.”

Wanderers needed all the experience they could muster as no fewer than eight of McGovern’s squad – Simon Rudge, Steve Saunders, Warren Joyce, Steve Thompson, Simon Farnworth, Neil Redfearn, Neil Berry and Brian Borrows – were set to make their FA Cup debuts at Prenton Park.

They got through, though, drawing 2-2 at Tranmere then winning the replay at Burnden Park 4-1 after extra-time with goals from Jeff Chandler (two), Simon Rudge and Tony Caldwell.

Bobby Robson was having to deal with two familiar problems as he tried to make his mark as England manager.

Failure to qualify for the European Championships in France re-opened the club v country argument with the Football League coming under increasing pressure to leave their fixture lists free before important international dates and to back the release of players for special training get-togethers.

As if he didn’t have enough on his plate, Robson was embarrassed by the behaviour of England followers in Luxembourg. England won the game 4-0 but other results meant they failed to qualify for the European Championships – a result that triggered violence in the Grand Duchy.

“Some were behaving quite disgracefully,” Robson said on his return to England. “I don’t know what we can do – but we don’t want them.”

Locally, Bolton’s Commonwealth Games wrestling champion, Brian Aspen, was lined up for his second Olympics after being granted elite status by the sport’s governing body.

Aspen, whose father and coach Albert competed in two Olympics, was a finalist at Moscow in 1980 and now had Los Angeles in his sights.

50 Years Ago

INJURY cost Nat Lofthouse his place in the Wanderers attack at Wolves, but there was no question of the Lion of Vienna missing England’s international against Wales at Villa Park four days later.

That was the assurance from Burnden Park when Lotfhouse, who retained his place in the England forward line after an impressive performance against Russia, pulled out of the Molineux clash with a thigh injury.

Ralph Gubbins, two-goal hero of Wanderers’ FA Cup semi-final victory over Blackburn the previous spring, stepped in for his third game of the season.

He’d done well standing in for Lofthouse the previous week when Wanderers beat Manchester United 5-3 in dense fog that left most visitors to Burnden Park at a loss to know who had played well and who had scored the goals.

Gubbins, Bryan Edwards and Ray Parry scored one apiece and Dennis Stevens scored twice as Wanderers maintained the upper-hand against their local rivals, having beaten them 2-0 at Wembley in May.

Supporters of Leigh Rugby League Club were relieved to hear the club’s dispute with Mick Martyn – the club’s international second-row forward – had been settled.

The club’s directors emerged from lengthy discussions to end speculation that the Great Britain forward was unhappy at Hilton Park.