Bill Best the start of the Legend

[Mick]

and then another 2-2 draw at mid table Swansea, and Southend included another big name signing in Eddie Clayton from Spurs. This trip was marred for the supporters when the Youth Section Coach was involved in a nasty accident on the way home near Bridgend.

DoDtS

As accidents go, it wasn't the worst and no-one was hurt. A very long wait in Bridgend while they sent a replacement coach.

Had time off school to go as a witness in the ensuing court case but that had a happy ending when Steve, our driver, was acquitted and the blame was rightly attributed to some Welsh tosser driving a bread delivery van. Oh, and made a killing on the court travel and attendance expenses !

 

[devonexile]

As mark of respect for Bill Bests 70th birthday I thought would recall my memories of his first few games.

In 1967-68 Southend started seven games unbeaten and were top of the table at this stage, by the new year we had fluctuated between 1st and sixth, but when Bill signed in late January we were again top having only lost four games. The defence had the stability of players like Trevor Roberts, Tony Bentley, Graham Birks and Eddie May. Goals were coming from the likes of Phil Chisnall and John Mckinven but Sammy Macmillan at centre forward had not settled in and what we lacked was a tall frontman to secure promotion.

I remember being in school getting quite excited with my mates with the news that we had signed a new forward and on the Saturday zoomed off to Chester on the Youth Section coach for Bill's debut. He was a shock. He was not the tall targetman we had been crying out for but a smallish forward, nippy granted but not what we needed. A drab game ended 0-0 and we dropped to second in the table.

The next match was away at Newport midweek (I missed this match) we lost 2-0 and dropped to third, but the next match was at home to York, who were third from bottom, we were unbeaten at home having won nine and drawn four. An easy win surely? A chance for Bill to impress the home crowd? No we lost 1-0 and dropped to sixth in the table our lowest position in the league so far. The 9,000 fans were not at all happy, Best was the wrong type of player to have signed was the general opinion.

The following Saturday was an overnight coach trip to 18th placed Rochdale, a John McKinven goal earned us 1-0 win and took us back to third place but four games without a goal was not an impressive start for young Bill.

The breakthrough came the following week when Bill scored our opening goal in a 2-2 home draw with ninth placed Halifax, but this was little consolation as our promotion push was faltering with just one win in the last five games and we were now in fourth place.

The following Saturday and yet another overnight coach trip to Exeter but we saw Bill score both goals in a 2-0 win which took us up to third, and then the following Friday night 9,500 fans saw a 5-1 demolition of Chester will Bill grabbing a hat-trick, the other goals from Andy Smillie and Joe Ashworth saw us move up to second and the crowd going home ecstatic about the Blues and about Best. Bill had arrived.

How fickle fans are, doom and gloom after four games, joy after seven, but Bill had scored six goals in seven appearances or more important six in his last three.

So to the older fans do you remember this time? (come on Mick put the record straight) To those that are too young I hope you enjoy this little reminisce about a true Legend.

DoDtS

I still remember that third goal, a wonderful header from just inside the penalty area.

 

[ozzie]

As accidents go, it wasn't the worst and no-one was hurt. A very long wait in Bridgend while they sent a replacement coach.

Had time off school to go as a witness in the ensuing court case but that had a happy ending when Steve, our driver, was acquitted and the blame was rightly attributed to some Welsh tosser driving a bread delivery van. Oh, and made a killing on the court travel and attendance expenses !

my first away game was that season as well,67-68.it was the last away game at notts.county(lost 3-4),the coach broke down as well..does anybody remember that incident??

 

[B.B.The Legend Lives On.]

By popular demand we continue the story:

With six goals in seven matches Best had arrived but he failed to score in the next three matches. The first was against lowly 17th placed Darlington at Roots Hall, as always Blues disappointing in front of a large crowd nearly 10,600, and then another 2-2 draw at mid table Swansea, and Southend included another big name signing in Eddie Clayton from Spurs. This trip was marred for the supporters when the Youth Section Coach was involved in a nasty accident on the way home near Bridgend. Despite these two draws Blues had gone seven game undefeated and found themselves in second place with nine games to go (four automatic promotion places no play offs)

They then seemed to step up a gear with a 3-1 win at Aldershot who were in seventh place. Our away from since Best had come was impressive, 0-0, 0-2, 1-0, 2-0 and 3-1.The next Friday night was when many supporters felt that we were already promoted (how wrong can you be) when struggling Workington came to Roots Hall. Blues were 4-0 up at half time and three more added in the second half to complete a 7-0 win in front of 13,781 spectators, Bill getting one of the goals his seventh in eleven games.

The top of the League table read:

1..Luton Town.........played...37.....points..54
2..Southend United..played...37.....points..50
3..Crewe Alexandra..played...37.....points..48
4..Barnsley.............played...38.....points..48
5..Bradford City......played...38......points 46
6..Chesterfield........played...37......points 45

The collapse from here onwards has been well covered on Shrimperzone on the following thread: http://www.shrimperzone.com/vb/showthread.php?69080-A-little-caution-for-the-over-excited!

At this stage with nine games to go Promotion looked a certainty and the only questions being would we win the championship and how would we fare in the Third Division next season, |However;:

6th April 1968 Away to Lincoln fourth from bottom Blues went 0-4 down and only two late goals by Billy Best gave a more respectable final score of 2-4, Southend dropped to third. As young optimistic, niave youngsters we reckoned if we had another ten minutes Bill could have added a couple more for a draw

8th April 1968 home to tenth place Doncaster lost 1-2 Southend stayed in third place, Phil chisnall getting the goal

13th April 1968 at home to seventh placed Chesterfield drew 1-1 Bill Best getting the goal, Blues maintained third place.

16th April 1968 away to Doncaster who were still still in tenth place lost 1-2, agin Billy getting the goal Blues dropped to fourth.

20th April 1968 lost away to fifth place Bradford City Blues dropped out of the top four and were now in sixth place. Again it was Billy best who scored the goal who had now scored five in the last five games, and in all twelve in sixteen games

22nd April 1968 Lost 0-1 at home to 18th place Notts County but kept sixth place

26th April 1968 drew 0-0 with third place Crewe, still sixth but promotion barely a possibility.

4th May 1968 lost 3-4 at Notts County, promotion now mathematically impossible (and because of other results it would have still been an impossibilty even if we had won).

10th May 1968 finally gained a win although of little consequence 3-1 at home to Rochdale and a final finish of sixth four points (two wins) short of the last promotion place, Bill finished the season with two goals in this match

Nine games 1 win 2 draws and 6 defeats, success so can so quickly turn into failure. Yet Best can hardly take the balme in such a bad sequence he had still managed to score seven in nine.

So in Twenty games Billy Best had scored 14 goals in all, in 20 games, the disappointment at missing out on promotion was huge ( and still haunts many of us today) but clearly we had a goalscorer in Billy Best who was something special.

DoDtS

The Coach crash that is mentioned in the above text did not take place in the 1967-68 season. As this was a night match we travelled in a mini-bus as only about 12 of us were present, if anyone can remember on here before we left for Swansea we had to call in at Rochford Hospital because Leasky's then girlfriend had just given birth to his daughter. The coach crash was the following season on 14/9/68 after the Saturday afternoon match.(See "My Life as a Shrimper" by P.W.B. on page 32)

 

[DoDTS]

The Coach crash that is mentioned in the above text did not take place in the 1967-68 season. As this was a night match we travelled in a mini-bus as only about 12 of us were present, if anyone can remember on here before we left for Swansea we had to call in at Rochford Hospital because Leasky's then girlfriend had just given birth to his daughter. The coach crash was the following season on 14/9/68 after the Saturday afternoon match.(See "My Life as a Shrimper" by P.W.B. on page 32)

Sorry Dave, you are quite right of course it's me not paying attention to detail! Trouble is both games ended 2-2 that confused me (poor excuse)!!!

DoDtS

 

[DoDTS]

my first away game was that season as well,67-68.it was the last away game at notts.county(lost 3-4),the coach broke down as well..does anybody remember that incident??

Yes I was on that coach as were fellow Zoners Mick, B.B. the Legend lives on and Blue Scorpion, any others? The late great Keithie (Gus) Summers couldn't be bothered to wait for the coach and hitch-hiked from Daventry to Nottingham.

DoDtS

 

[Cambridge Blue]

That run of defeats after the 7-0 win was truly awful... and I still recall it with a sense of disbelief. My friend, who still goes to nearly all the games, Ray, went to those matches. I only saw the hoe ones.

My first away match was in the FA cup v Mansfield, lost 2-1. Best was brilliant, the ref was an idiot.

 

[DoDTS]

That run of defeats after the 7-0 win was truly awful... and I still recall it with a sense of disbelief. My friend, who still goes to nearly all the games, Ray, went to those matches. I only saw the hoe ones.

My first away match was in the FA cup v Mansfield, lost 2-1. Best was brilliant, the ref was an idiot.

I think all that lived through it were and still are effected by it, when the youngsters get carried away by a bit of success, we know how easily it can fall apart,

 

[Colchester and proud!]

Billy Best was a great striker and proved the point that you don't have to be big to be a very good goalscorer, I always expected him to score against us and he normally did!

 

[mfurok]

The Notts County home defeat in that sequence was the most one sided game I have ever seen but we still lost. I remember those games as if they were yesterday. Really entertaining football and many legends. Fantastic thread.

 

[Mick]

Sorry Dave, you are quite right of course it's me not paying attention to detail! Trouble is both games ended 2-2 that confused me (poor excuse)!!!

DoDtS

Easy mistake Peter, not only were the scores the same (both at half-time and full-time), both matches were in 1968 less than 6 months apart and 8 Southend players took part in both matches (surprisingly not Roberts or Bentley). McKinven scored in both matches, coming off the bench in the second one.

Yes, Dave, I do remember the detour to the hospital. Was it a mini-bus or just a small coach? Memory a little hazy after just 45 years !!!

 

[B.B.The Legend Lives On.]

Easy mistake Peter, not only were the scores the same (both at half-time and full-time), both matches were in 1968 less than 6 months apart and 8 Southend players took part in both matches (surprisingly not Roberts or Bentley). McKinven scored in both matches, coming off the bench in the second one.

Yes, Dave, I do remember the detour to the hospital. Was it a mini-bus or just a small coach? Memory a little hazy after just 45 years !!!

Sorry Mick I just can't remember about the transport but I was even more impressed when you could even remember the name of the coach driver, the only thing I recall was I was sitting on the engine cover at the time of the accident.(Maybe we could tell the story of the Scunny away match x 2 in 1969 sometime)

 

[fatgrandad]

I would have been 10 yrs old when Billy Best signed, was my first and remains my biggest footballing hero. I can remember some of those games from 67-68, especially the Workington 7-0. Being 10, I don’t think I felt the end of season collapse as much as my father, who virtually stopped going after that, and overnight became a doom-monger predicting eternal gloom – he would fit in well on SZ!

At some point in that period, Billy also “refereed” the Parents vs Thorpe Greenways School team, and I remember him setting me up with a shot which I scuffed to nowhere, thereby wasting my chance to impress.

Warning: what follows is a vaguely Billy Best-related Small World Anecdote, probably of no interest to anyone but me, but hey ho. At some point in the last couple of yrs, I was kindly given the “opportunity” to attend a Speed Awareness course at Sixfields Stadium, as I live in Northampton these days. During a break, I was wandering the corridors studying old Cobblers team photos looking for familiar faces in the lineups, of which there were quite a few (iirc, Kurilla, Townsend and of course Bill to name a few).

When I got to the one showing Bill, I said to a fellow course attendee that Bill was my hero etc etc. To which he replied that Bill was his father-in-law, and did odd jobs for him at the time. End of Small World Anecdote.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Remember he did some building (labouring) work for my father,one summer, back in the 60's.Different times then.Players needed the extra money.Nice bloke.

 

[DoDTS]

Well as this thread seems to be going well let’s get back to the BILL BEST STORY......

After the collapse of 1967-68 how do you pick yourself up? Well you don’t have any choice really hope springs eternal etc. For those not around at the time you must understand that we as fans had huge chips on our shoulders, knowing that we were too good for the fourth division and some divine right to promotion (even more than now). We started the season in a brand new navy kit, “we’re the boys in Scotland Blue” with the knowledge that promotion was just around the corner,

Pre-season saw home friendless against Fulham, a 1-0 win with Best scoring and a 4-2 win over Clyde with goals from Birks, McKinven and two more from our hero.

The season started with new additions to the squad in Lawrie Leslie in goal, and Joe Kurila and the opening fixture against Halifax was won 2-1 and this was followed by a 2-2 draw against Notts. County, the third match saw Bill Bests first league goal in 1-1 draw at home to Darlington.

The next away match was at Lincoln and ended in the first defeat of the season 1-2 and it was at this match that hostilities between Southend and Lincoln began. It was a Tuesday night and the Youth Section only took about half a coach load. After the game Southend fans (including three girls?) were viciously attacked, the coach had towait at the A & E at the local hospital while they were patched up. The Southend fans were incensed demanding revenge. The following Saturday saw another defeat 4-1 at a grim Somerton Park, Newport and the Blues had dropped to 18th, so much for the promotion dream.

Wrexham were beaten 1-0 at home in a match that saw Chico Hamilton make his debut and also saw Best absent and then a 2-2 draw at Swansea and yes this was the one with an accident on the way home (not as previously stated). Another midweek away defeat followed at Aldershot by 2-1 with Best scoring his second of the season. Workington were the next visitors at the Hall they were beaten, but by a lone goal not by the huge margin of the previous season. Two more away games failed to produce a single Southend goal with a goal-less draw at Grimsby and 1-0 defeat at Peterborough. Just three wins from eleven matches saw Blues in a very disappointing sixteenth place and goal machine Best had only scored two in nine matches.

Fortunes changed with the next two homes games first a 3-0 win against hated Lincoln, but on a Monday night they bought no fans, and the game passed without incident. The following Friday Exeter were the visitors they were beaten 6-1 with Billy Best scoring his second hat-trick in his Southend career. Exeter incensed blamed confusion with our navy shirts, the referee, the night sky and anything else they could think of (nothing to do with them being crapp then). They appealed to the Football league and eventually we were forced to change our strip.

A 1-1 draw at York followed the next Saturday evening with an afternoon trip to watch Huddersfield for the Youth Section, but the revival reached a blip with a 3-1 home defeat to Rochdale, Best scoring his sixth of the season. Blues were soon back on track with a 2-1 win at Chester and a 1-1 draw at Port Vale and then a 2-0 home win over Doncaster took the Shrimpers up to sixth in the table and they were starting to get into gear.

The next match was the first round of the cup with what looked like a tricky match on paper at home to non-league Kings Lynn, but of course this match has gone down in history, with a 9-0 win with hat-tricks from both Billy B est and Gary Moore, two from Phil Chisnall and an own goal. Another home win by 2-0 against Braford City followed in front of over 11,000 saw Blues move up to fourth.

Blues were flying and a huge following went to Layer Road the next Friday but were shocked when Col Ewe won 4-0. They needed to bounce back and how better to do it than a 10-1 win over Brentwood in the second round of the cup. I’ll leave it others to enthuse over these cup results lets just say Best scored five of them and had now scored 6 in the League and 8 in the Cup 14 in all.

The next away game was another overnighter on the coach to Exeter, and it was a bitterly cold night, Exeter had drawn Man United at home in the third round and giving away vouchers with admission, some Southend fans found they could sell there vouchers to the locals for more than the admission price, so there was a stream of fans trying to bunk out of the ground so that they could pay to get back in. Blues won 2-1 and were in 8th place. The following Friday saw a disappointing home defeat to York by 2-1. Boxing day saw a home success against Peterborough by 2-1 and that brought a close to 1968.

Billy Best had signed in January 1968 and had so far scored 28 goals in 43 appearances, ............To be continued....................

Well that’s the basic facts feel free to add your comments to this classic Southend period.

 

[billy best was god]

Billy Best was not only a great player but also a great person. 1967 was my first full season and I used to go with my departed dad REG, remember going to the Thursday market looking into the ground and found Billy with tin of paint in his hand painting the old paddock, Billy stopped to talk to me and my dad Billy took an interest in what I was doing at Plumberow school Hockley playing for their team. From that day my dad and me had a hero. Also remember Score football magazine having a article comparing George Best with our own Billy

 

[Mick]

Well as this thread seems to be going well let’s get back to the BILL BEST STORY......


Pre-season saw home friendless against Fulham, a 1-0 win with Best scoring and a 4-2 win over Clyde with goals from Birks, McKinven and two more from our hero.

The season started with new additions to the squad in Lawrie Leslie in goal, and Joe Kurila and the opening fixture against Halifax was won 2-1 and this was followed by a 2-2 draw against Notts. County, the third match saw Bill Bests first league goal in 1-1 draw at home to Darlington.

Peter, you seem to have missed out one of our finest away performances of all time. The 6-1 League Cup win at Bournemouth, who were one of the favourites to win the division above and at a time when the League Cup was taken seriously. And Best scored !! Also the brave performance at Wolves in the next round.

 

[DoDTS]

Peter, you seem to have missed out one of our finest away performances of all time. The 6-1 League Cup win at Bournemouth, who were one of the favourites to win the division above and at a time when the League Cup was taken seriously. And Best scored !! Also the brave performance at Wolves in the next round.

Woops silly me, mentioning obscure friendles but forgetting the League Cup, thanks for putting the record straight.

29 goals in 45 appearances.

DoDtS

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Peter, you seem to have missed out one of our finest away performances of all time. The 6-1 League Cup win at Bournemouth, who were one of the favourites to win the division above and at a time when the League Cup was taken seriously. And Best scored !! Also the brave performance at Wolves in the next round.

Absolutely.Two of the finest away performances I've ever seen from a SUFC side, in what was an outstanding season (in terms of football played and all round memorable performances).

 

[B.B.The Legend Lives On.]

Billy Best was not only a great player but also a great person. 1967 was my first full season and I used to go with my departed dad REG, remember going to the Thursday market looking into the ground and found Billy with tin of paint in his hand painting the old paddock, Billy stopped to talk to me and my dad Billy took an interest in what I was doing at Plumberow school Hockley playing for their team. From that day my dad and me had a hero. Also remember Score football magazine having a article comparing George Best with our own Billy

If anyone would like to obtain the article mentioned above it was written in "GOAL" The World's Greatest Soccer Weekley Issue No.100 the date is July 4th.1970 and is titled "BEST OF TWO WORLDS" a great double page story, with a couple of pictures of our Billy.