AROUnD THE
GROUnDSTHE
UnLIKELY
LADS
HUH? Humans should have feared AI
taking over long ago. Clearly swayed by
the annoying paperclip from Microsoft
Word, Stoke took to the field in this crap
creation seemingly inspired by WordArt.
Just be very thankful that the designer
couldn’t be bothered to use Paint instead.
VOM-ETER “Would you like me to put that in Comic Sans?”
KIT CRIMES | STOKE AWAY, 1997
JAn PAUL VAn HECKE
BLACKBURN
LOWDOWN Football fans aren’t the
most patient bunch, and Van Hecke
sure did test the Blackburn faithful.
The 21-year-old centre-back joined
injured on loan from Brighton and
didn’t make his debut until October;
four games later, Van Hecke went full
Van Damme when trying to behead
Harry Wilson in a 7-0 annihilation by
Fulham. That clumsy red card meant
he featured in only five of their first
19 games. Thankfully, better was to
come. He didn’t miss a minute from
late November to April, with Rovers
keeping 11 clean sheets to inspire an
unlikely promotion bid. Van Hecke’s
transformation was sealed in March,
when his form earned him a maiden
call-up for Netherlands Under-21s.
HIGHLIGHT Bagging a fine header
at second-placed Bournemouth in
December, as Rovers prevailed 2-0.
DID YOU KNOW? He’s the nephew of
ex-PSV and Netherlands left-back Jan
Poortvliet – Southampton’s manager
for eight dire months from 2008-09.
WHAT’S NEXT? With Dan Burn sold
to Newcastle in January, Albion have
a vacancy that Van Hecke will hope
to fill. A squad role seems most likely.
BOY’S
A BIT
SPECIAL
CREDENTIALS Well, a few: in 1967,
Puskas was at the end of a glorious
career that had begun in his native
Hungary before blossoming at Real
Madrid. As one of the game’s most
celebrated stars, his status among
the greats was assured. Puskas was
virtually finished at the Bernabeu,
aged 40, when a telegram arrived
from Brian Taylor, the director of
Bankfield House community centre
in Garston. To raise funds for their
work, Taylor had arranged a charity
match with various famous faces.
He’d already contacted Pele to no
avail... but a pidgin reply came from
Madrid: “I only wait you send me
plane ticket.” The Galloping Major
would play for South Liverpool, the
formative club of Liverpool heroes
like John Aldridge and Jimmy Case.HOW’D IT GO? Over 10,000 people
packed Holly Park to watch his XI
lose 5-3 to former Reds skipper Billy
Liddell’s, although Puskas did score
a hat-trick. In appearing, he helped
to raise £1,100 (£21,000 today) for
the community centre – but less
well remembered is that his marker
for much of that day was another
legend in Welsh icon John Charles.
Talk about powers of persuasion...THEN WHAT? The Galloping Major
hung up his boots. In 1968, Taylor
tried to bring Alfredo Di Stefano to
England and even visited the Blond
Arrow in Madrid after he’d pulled
out at the last minute... but Taylor
left disappointed. “I’ve no idea why
to this day,” he lamented in 2011.FERENC PUSKAS
SOUTH LIVERPOOL (1967)FourFourTwo June 2022 87!