When Shorts Were Short S2 E13 - Lindsay Jelley

January 17, 2022

When Shorts Were Short concerns itself solely with what was actually a very narrow window in football history when teams wore, well, short shorts. The podcast takes 1954 as its starting point, when Umbro made their first England kit with shorter shorts, to 1992, when short shorts were all but finished as Umbro's baggy shorts for Tottenham's new kit, ahead of the '91 FA Cup Final, quickly caught on.

If the shorts weren't short, we don't talk about it.

My guest this week is artist and landscape painter Lindsay Jelley who in another life was a designer and not just a designer, but the designer who through her work with Admiral from the mid-seventies to early eighties, whom she joined as a nineteen-year-old just out of art college, transformed the football replica kits market.

Plus Twitter’s unofficial bookshop @Biggreenbooks are giving away a book. To enter, listen out for the competition details towards the end of the episode.

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When Shorts Were Short - S2 E05 Bob Wilson (Part 2 of 2)

October 15, 2021

If the shorts weren't short, we don't talk about it.

Part 2 of our comprehensive interview with Arsenal’s ’71 double-winning ‘keeper Bob Wilson, also, of course, for an entire generation, the presenter of what was during his time with the show, the formidable Football Focus, the Saturday lunchtime preview show that existed within the BBC’s Grandstand.

This week, plenty of ground covered with Bob now established as Arsenal’s new number one ‘keeper from the late sixties. We discuss the shock League Cup defeat to third division Swindon in 1969 on a terrible Wembley pitch, and how that second consecutive League Cup final loss triggered the wave of big success that followed under Bertie Mee and Don Howe in the next couple of seasons.

Bob tells us about Liverpool boss Bill Shankly singling him out for mind games on the eve of the ’71 FA Cup Final. We also look at Bob finally playing for his beloved Scotland in the early seventies, the early end to his career through injury, the switch to TV and the launch of Football Focus, the Match of the Day years with the one and only Jimmy Hill, , coaching the great Pat Jennings at Arsenal as he pioneered the goalkeeping coaching that’s now a big part of the British game, the shock move to ITV and the sad loss of his daughter that led to the creation of the Willow Foundation, the only national charity working with seriously ill young adults aged 16 to 40 to give them unforgettable Special Days. All that and more.

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SHOW NOTES

Twitter Bob Wilson

Willow Foundation

Twitter @Willow_Fdn

Arsenal v Liverpool 1971 FA Cup Final

Arsenal v Stoke 1972 FA Cup semi-final

Football Focus 1986-87

Match of the Day

Bob Wilson – Left sock first

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And please subscribe, rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or any other platform you may be using to listen to the show.

When Shorts Were Short - S2: E01: Paul Davis

August 27, 2021

If the shorts weren't short, we just don't talk about it.

With guest Paul Davis.

Paul Davis was a mainstay of the Arsenal side for 15 seasons. In this interview, we discuss his breaking through under Terry Neill at the start of the 80s, a side in transition after losing its two outstanding Irish internationals, Liam Brady and Frank Stapleton in the space of a year. We look at the Don Howe era, the bridge between Terry Neill and George Graham, a quiet period for the club in many ways but an important one too as Howe was the man who blooded many of the youngsters who would go onto help Arsenal re-establish themselves as the country’s leading club, albeit intermittently, for several seasons under Graham. And we look too at why that hugely gifted George Graham team, despite knocking Liverpool off that perch despite Alex Ferguson’s largely unchallenged claims to the contrary, couldn’t stay at the top for longer.

Why did Arsenal go from that outstanding title success of ’91 that should have made it the team of the nineties to morphing into a very successful cup side that played dull football but had an incredible get out in the form of the talismanic Ian Wright up front, and we also look at Paul's complex relationship with the hard taskmaster that was George Graham. Paul was one of the few senior players at the club to challenge the Scot, but he would pay a heavy price at times.

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SHOW LINKS

Paul Davis Testimonial

1987 Littlewoods Cup Final

Paul Davis goals

The podcast can be supported with a donation via Paypal.

This work can also be supported via Ko-Fi, a tip jar for creators where you can buy them a digital coffee.

And please subscribe, rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or any other platform you may be using to listen to the show