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Old Everton Pictures

Happy Birthday to the Latch - @Alanbileysfeathercut - & co -
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Have just played the Brazil-Hungary game again. Apart from the skill on display it just struck me as to how short changed we are these days in terms of the actual length of time the ball is in play. I seem to recall reading that in the PL the live action is something like 60 mins out the 90. The Brazil-Hungary game must have been more like 80 mins. Not only did players stay on their feet and if brought down get up immediately without 2 minutes treatment, but look at how quickly the goalkeepers took goal kicks, irrespective of the scoreline (and even with the ball in their hands, the keepers never retained possession for more than a few seconds). Of course in the modern game it's not just the players who are wasting time, for too often it's the refs with their prolonged telling offs to players and the time they allow for free kicks to be taken (and on this same point, why do refs stop play whenever a player goes down and stays down, even if the cause has been just a little tap on the ankle). About time I think for the introduction of something like a 70 minute game, measured as the time the ball is in play as monitored by an off field time keeper.
 
Bob Latchford
Centre-forward
1974-81

Bob Latchford is an Everton icon rivaled only by the like of Alex Young and Duncan Ferguson. A folk-hero centre-forward in the best Everton tradition Latch caught the national eye in the spring of 1978 when his crusade to become the first player in six years to score 30 goals in a First Division season grabbed all the headlines. The Daily Express set a £10,000 challenge and Latch needed two goals at home to Chelsea in the last game of the season which he did with a trademark header and a late penalty – boosting his win bonus by £10,000. In fact he went home with less than £200 of it after sharing it out between team-mates, ground-staff and charities. Many footballers of lesser ability have won more than Latchford. Besides his twelve England caps and those 30 goals in 1977-78, he achieved nothing of note in the game. That was an injustice to a fine footballer. Excelling particularly in the air, he was capable of scoring from anywhere. He had a striker's instinct for finding dangerous positions and his touch and ground-skills enabled him to make telling lay-offs for colleagues.....ask any 30+ Blue who there favorite ever Everton player was and the chances are they will say Latchford.....a true Everton Legend!

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