In search of a safe pair of hands.....

After 168 years of publishing, the final edition of the News of the World, was distributed on Sunday July 10 2011.

Of course the British press have been ‘at it’ for years….probably for as long as the News of the World spoke for the people. And today’s electronic spying no more than a habit previously delivered by men in shabby raincoats.

Rupert Murdoch probably assembled his News International team in a manner similar to Alf Ramsey in 1970 - energy and enthusiasm balanced with experience and security. But sometimes events follow a different course than expected. It was therefore just a little bit unfortunate that Rupert had Andy Coulson in goal and Rebekah Brooks on the bench when the reported phone hacking took place….he really had no chance. At least Sir Alf had ‘Banks of England’ between the sticks until the stomach upset that gave Peter Bonetti the chance to destroy our hopes in the 1970 Mexico World Cup Quarter Final..

My lifetime connection with football in Aldershot started on Saturday October 15th 1960.

I remember getting to The Recreation Ground quite early. The streets around the stadium were full with supporters; most of them were wearing blue and white hats, with scarves wrapped tightly around their necks ('Posh' fans). Peterborough United, in their first League season, brought thousands of fans to the game.

The crowd was massive, about 12500. I gripped my Dad’s coat not wanting to get separated from him in this big and exciting new world. And the noise of the fans was deafening as we queued up at the historic turnstiles.

Steam trains rumbled over the bridge, just behind the ground, covering the High Street in a blanket of sulphurous smoke. The carriages packed with even more supporters on their way to the game………

I can’t really remember much about the game, and as for the names of the players who pulled on the red and blue that day….well I have to admit, I just couldn’t say. But I do have a complete recall of the Spurs team that achieved the ‘double’ that same season……Brown, Baker, Blanchflower, Norman, Mackay, Jones, White, Smith, Allen and Dyson…..now that was a great team.


And it took Ron Fogg’s return of 21 League goals and three in the FA Cup in the 1963/4 season, including the winner against Aston Villa, to convince me that Spurs were simply no more than a club in north London……

And as I look back over the history of our club it is somewhat surprising to note, given our ‘basement’ status, that of the 20 teams who will start this season in the Barclays Premier League only six clubs have missed the opportunity to take on the Shots in a competitive fixture……but I suppose I really should say three clubs – Manchester City, Newcastle Utd and West Bromwich Albion.

Britain declared war on Germany on September 3rd 1939…..and that same day Aldershot drew 2v2 with Swindon Town. The outbreak of the Second World War bringing our Div 3 (South) campaign to a close after just three games.

But it wasn’t long before the Football Association organised regional Leagues and with the added dimension that Clubs were allowed to use ‘guest players’. And so it was that Aldershot, ‘home of the British Army’ – signed up Joe Mercer, Stan Cullis, Tommy Lawton….and so many more great players.

And with that, Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea found their way to the Rec, leaving just the three absentees.

Chelsea made the short journey south on March 6th 1940 and were summarily squashed 5v1 thanks to a Tommy Lawton hat-trick and a defence secured by perhaps the greatest ‘keeper ever to pull on an England jersey – Frank Swift.

Frank was big…..in fact Raich Carter (Sunderland and England) once said of Frank that he looked so big in goal that as a forward it often seemed that trying to score against him was like trying to put the ball into a match box.

And Swift had big….very big….safe hands.
David Mellor was the Member of Parliament for Putney from 1979 to 1997. He was born in Dorset and educated at Swanage Grammar School, followed by Christ’s College, Cambridge. He should be a Bournemouth fan….but he isn’t. Perhaps it was the swinging sixties and Peter Osgood, Charlie Cooke and Bobby Tambling that turned him ‘blue’….

I first met Mellor in 1990 when he was very briefly Arts Minister and just before he entered John Major’s new Cabinet, as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, in the November of the same year.

The encounter was memorable. I was introduced and purposefully offered my hand in response, only to be subjected to a ‘parental guidance’ classification ‘Bush Tucker Trial’……a handful of limp lettuce leaves.
So when David was caught in a steamy affair with the actress Antonia de Sancha in July 1992 I was shocked. In fact when the events were undressed in public I was deeply offended..
I know Antonia sold her story to the press. And of course it did turn out that her telephone in the flat where she lived and where David frequently visited her had been bugged. Her landlord had co-operated in the events with journalists…..and The Sun ran a front page story alleging that Mellor had asked to make love to her whilst dressed in his beloved Chelsea FC kit….

Offended by the murky press tactics?

No, not really.

Surprised by the antics of a public servant?

I have a low opinion of politicians and therefore I’m unlikely to suffer disappointment.

But Antonia….how did you get on with such a flaccid handshake!


Mellor resigned his Cabinet post in September causing the Sun to jeer, ‘From Toe Job to No Job’ on its front page (allegedly she liked his toes) and this just a few days after the headline, ‘Now We’ve All Been Screwed by the Cabinet’ – a double pun on Mellor’s sex scandal as well as the ‘Black Wednesday’ financial disaster which saw interest rates rise from 10% to 12% and the devalued pound removed from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

I have no doubt that Gordon Brown carried with him a copy of "It's The Sun Wot Won It", for many months after John Major’s surprise election victory in April 1992. And as Gordon moved from his position of Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to Shadow Chancellor perhaps he was more concerned with shifting press support and booking a table at the former Granita restaurant in Islington than the ethics of Mellor’s demise.

Then in 1997 the sun set on Major’s government and The Sun won it for Labour……Tony Blair and his ‘mate’ Gordon embarked on a mission to make new friends, getting closer to the press and the wider media….meeting celebrities and raising their popular profile was the new order ….such heady days.

Making friends with hunting dogs I think is best left to a ‘Master of Foxhounds’. And I guess Keith Vaz, the senior Labour backbencher and Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee would be a good pick. He was great yesterday stripping away the shroud of authority so often displayed by our Police. Yes, I know Scotland Yard were over-seeing 70 live counter-terror operations after the July 7 bombings but I did detect just a bit of arrogance in the evidence given by Andy Hayman and John Yates….yes Keith you were right to say, it did all ‘sound rather more like Clouseau than Columbo’.


And now quite rightly Gordon Brown is ‘shocked’ by the allegations in The Guardian that The Sun had obtained details of his son’s cystic fibrosis from a medical file. Despite Rebekah Brooks, now chief executive of News International, but then Editor of the tabloid when it published an exclusive story in 2006, phoning Gordon Brown because of her personal relationship with him, to seek approval to publish a story.


So was Gordon wise to cosy up to the press with such earnest endeavour following his ‘final ascent to the summit’ in 2007. He gave his first ‘exclusive’ interview as Prime Minister in July of that year; his friend Rebekah Wade was invited to Downing Street as one of ‘the world’s most successful women; he presented The Sun Global Recognition Award to ‘our Armed Forces’ at the Sun’s Britain’s Best 2008 awards hosted by…oh yes, Rebekah, and then he invited Rupert Murdoch to dinner with President George Bush, not forgetting the wedding party for Rebekah Wade and Charlie Brooks…..and so much more shmoozing (I think that’s the word of the day).

Then the wheels came off and Brown failed to turn up at The Sun’s party at the Labour conference in September 2009 after learning that the paper would abandon its support of Labour.

So now Rebekah is Prime Minister, David Cameron’s friend…

Rebekah Brooks (nee Wade) divorced her first husband, former Eastenders' star, Ross Kemp just a couple of years after it was reported that ‘Wade’ had been arrested on the morning of November 3rd 2005 following an alleged assault on her husband. Wade’s newspaper The Sun had been running a campaign against domestic violence at the time. Wade was released without charge and no further action was taken.

Frank Swift made 376 appearances for Manchester City and a further 134 wartime appearances for the sky blues……and 12 guest appearances for Aldershot.

After the war he made his competitive international debut, making 19 appearances for England between 1946 and 1949.

Swift retired in 1949 and following a period serving as a director of a local catering company, he took up a career in journalism, most notably with the News of the World..

Swift died, aged 44, in the Munich Air Disaster after reporting on Manchester United’s European Cup match against Red Star Belgrade.

On 6 February 1958, the flight back to Manchester carrying the Manchester United team and journalists made a refuelling stop at Munich-Riem Airport in poor weather. Two take-off attempts were abandoned due to engine problems, with the weather continuing to deteriorate. On the third attempt, slush on the runway prevented the aircraft from reaching the required speed for take-off.

Swift was one of the 23 victims of the disaster….

Despite his public statements I bet Rupert Murdoch is now looking for a safe pair of hands……..