Royston Thomas Vernon - a rebel with a cause a phenomenal goalscorer for us left due to a bad knee injury - for @roy vernon & co -
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
His partner in crime as an amazing attacking duo - the GV -
1966 - what to do when one on one DCL .....
Mixed emotions for the injured Fred Pickering in 1966 -
1966 - The Catt with the FA Cup superglued to his hands - 
-
-
1966 -
My Teammates – by Derek Temple
Gordon West: Westy was a first-class keeper. He’d come out for the ball and had a good pair of hands. He was quite agile too for a big, heavy, lad. Gordon was notoriously nervous before games and used to be sick but once he was out there he was alright.
Tommy Wright: Tommy was great. A popular player and he had a good run with England. He was a very good player: quick, a good tackler and hard to play against. He had bony knees and they’d get you in the thigh and give you a dead leg!
Ray Wilson: Ray was probably the best left-back in the world at that time. You never saw Ray go crunching into tackles – he wasn’t big enough – he was only ten stone stripped down. He was very light but quick and nimble. His main strength was reading the game, making interceptions and getting the danger cleared before it materialised. He was a good distributor of the ball as well.
Jimmy Gabriel: Jimmy was very good, a hard player and a typical Scot, really. I thought that all the Scottish footballers were tremendous characters. Jimmy was as hard as nails, he was only young when he came to us and got his fair share of kicks. He never complained but he weighed the player up and would get his own back eventually. If someone was kicking lumps out of you he would sort them out. But he wasn’t just physical, he was a good footballer.
Brian Labone: Labby was a one-off, he was like a Corinthian. Bobby Collins, who would kick anybody no matter what size, always used to be onto him: ‘Get the player into row Z’ but that wasn’t Labby’s game: he’d sooner intercept the ball than tackle. For a centre-half he was a bit like John Stones in that he was cultured. He used to like to play football and a good centre-half. He was a well-educated lad: ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ was his favourite saying.
Brian Harris: A local boy from the Wirral – Brian had started as a winger but had dropped back. He was excellent and could play anywhere; he could tackle and was a good header of the ball. Having been a forward he could distribute the ball quite well too. He had plenty of energy and was very good for us as a player. Brian had not let anybody down – he would have been away (when Tony Kay arrived) but it was just the way Harry Catterick was thinking about the future. He had had a new lease of life from 1964 but it was a shame about Tony.
Alex Scott: Alec was a big beefy lad on the wing but was quick for his size. If he got one on one with the full-back there was a fair chance that the ball was coming into the middle and I’d make tracks to get there. I would get goals from a yard out when he’d hit it in but I also scored headers. So Alex was very good for me, he crossed a good ball and I got a lot of goals from him.
Colin Harvey: Colin was the number 10 but he played deep – almost covering for anything loose in front of the centre-half and wing-halves. He could rotate and cover for them so they could come forward. A very good tackler, very fit and a very good footballer. He could spray passes around as well as anybody.
Mike Trebilcock: Mike could hit the net in training – he was a good finisher and you could see that he was always likely to score. He was only a slight lad – he was smaller than me – but he was quite quick and could seize an opportunity. He certainly did that at Wembley with the two goals.
Alex Young: The Golden Vision had wonderful skill. He was not a big lad but had a tremendous spring and he was up there like a helicopter hovering – it was his timing. He had lovely touch and his control was brilliant. People didn’t realise that he could look after himself. He was quite crafty and could out his foot in. As a bloke he was quiet, but what a footballer.
Fred Pickering: He was a converted full-back. For a big lad Fred had good control and could lay it off. I never thought that he was the quickest on the field but he was quick to get a shot in and, invariably, it was accurate. He was a great finisher – we used to call him Boomer because of the booming sound when he hit the ball.
Gordon West: Westy was a first-class keeper. He’d come out for the ball and had a good pair of hands. He was quite agile too for a big, heavy, lad. Gordon was notoriously nervous before games and used to be sick but once he was out there he was alright.
Tommy Wright: Tommy was great. A popular player and he had a good run with England. He was a very good player: quick, a good tackler and hard to play against. He had bony knees and they’d get you in the thigh and give you a dead leg!
Ray Wilson: Ray was probably the best left-back in the world at that time. You never saw Ray go crunching into tackles – he wasn’t big enough – he was only ten stone stripped down. He was very light but quick and nimble. His main strength was reading the game, making interceptions and getting the danger cleared before it materialised. He was a good distributor of the ball as well.
Jimmy Gabriel: Jimmy was very good, a hard player and a typical Scot, really. I thought that all the Scottish footballers were tremendous characters. Jimmy was as hard as nails, he was only young when he came to us and got his fair share of kicks. He never complained but he weighed the player up and would get his own back eventually. If someone was kicking lumps out of you he would sort them out. But he wasn’t just physical, he was a good footballer.
Brian Labone: Labby was a one-off, he was like a Corinthian. Bobby Collins, who would kick anybody no matter what size, always used to be onto him: ‘Get the player into row Z’ but that wasn’t Labby’s game: he’d sooner intercept the ball than tackle. For a centre-half he was a bit like John Stones in that he was cultured. He used to like to play football and a good centre-half. He was a well-educated lad: ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ was his favourite saying.
Brian Harris: A local boy from the Wirral – Brian had started as a winger but had dropped back. He was excellent and could play anywhere; he could tackle and was a good header of the ball. Having been a forward he could distribute the ball quite well too. He had plenty of energy and was very good for us as a player. Brian had not let anybody down – he would have been away (when Tony Kay arrived) but it was just the way Harry Catterick was thinking about the future. He had had a new lease of life from 1964 but it was a shame about Tony.
Alex Scott: Alec was a big beefy lad on the wing but was quick for his size. If he got one on one with the full-back there was a fair chance that the ball was coming into the middle and I’d make tracks to get there. I would get goals from a yard out when he’d hit it in but I also scored headers. So Alex was very good for me, he crossed a good ball and I got a lot of goals from him.
Colin Harvey: Colin was the number 10 but he played deep – almost covering for anything loose in front of the centre-half and wing-halves. He could rotate and cover for them so they could come forward. A very good tackler, very fit and a very good footballer. He could spray passes around as well as anybody.
Mike Trebilcock: Mike could hit the net in training – he was a good finisher and you could see that he was always likely to score. He was only a slight lad – he was smaller than me – but he was quite quick and could seize an opportunity. He certainly did that at Wembley with the two goals.
Alex Young: The Golden Vision had wonderful skill. He was not a big lad but had a tremendous spring and he was up there like a helicopter hovering – it was his timing. He had lovely touch and his control was brilliant. People didn’t realise that he could look after himself. He was quite crafty and could out his foot in. As a bloke he was quiet, but what a footballer.
Fred Pickering: He was a converted full-back. For a big lad Fred had good control and could lay it off. I never thought that he was the quickest on the field but he was quick to get a shot in and, invariably, it was accurate. He was a great finisher – we used to call him Boomer because of the booming sound when he hit the ball.