Who remembers John Beck the Cambridge boss

[BlackHoleSun]

Loved claridge, i did my apprenticeship as a sheet metal worker/ welder in a workshop opposite the ground ( behind the globe pub, sadly not there anymore) claridge liked a bet and would walk past and say hello on his way to ' country boy' bookies

Class. It was the Undr The Cosh thing I heard the story. Did you go on to play again after the disappointment?

 

[Wandofaleftpeg]

Class. It was the Undr The Cosh thing I heard the story. Did you go on to play again after the disappointment?

Only for a local sides on Sunday's, and Saturday's, but I would watch Sunderland whenever I could so couldn't really commit , Sunderland always came first

 

[Ned Land]

Wimbledon were no mugs with the long ball.

Apparently, one of their tricks was keeping the grass longer in the corners of the pitch, so long balls to the corner would slow down for his winger to get onto

 

[Lo Ursem]

Successful stint in charge

Got Cambridge from the 4th Division to the brink of the top flite just before football was invented.

Proper football. Get the ball forward as quick as possible, no diving for free kicks (only diving for penalties allowed ) and woe betide a goalkeeper if he strayed to the edge of his penalty box, never mind leave it.
I think it was Cambridge who spoilt the start of Billy Elliott's spell at Sunderland as a caretaker manager. Hardly anyone noticed. Football was underground then, compared to now.

 

[wigwams]

Proper football. Get the ball forward as quick as possible, no diving for free kicks (only diving for penalties allowed ) and woe betide a goalkeeper if he strayed to the edge of his penalty box, never mind leave it.
I think it was Cambridge who spoilt the start of Billy Elliott's spell at Sunderland as a caretaker manager. Hardly anyone noticed. Football was underground then, compared to now.

I almost bit there

 

[Mantobar]

Sure we played cambridge the week before fa cup final in 92, not sure if he was boss then tbh

 

[Clivewalkershair]

He used to turn the heating and hot water off for the away teams to get an advantage over them. First of many that resorted to shithousery I heard of!

 

[Tango]

Wasn't he one of the first to give the ballboys towels to dry the ball for better grip for long throw ins

 

[Falconhoof]

I don't think it ever really went away to be honest. Didn't Pulis adopt pretty much the samr style at Stoke ?

Some of the worst football Ive witnessed was that period at Stoke. But they did quite well with it......

 

[Vauxie]

His bro Jeff was a good strummer like

 

[herra soul mob]

as mentioned grew grass longer in corners but also over-watered in corners too to help hold ball up.

 

[Big Sharp Teeth]

Based on the science of Charles Hughes a leading coach at the F.A. Getting the ball into positions or maximum opportunity (POMO) within a few passes was the aim.

It worked quite well for lower league clubs who adopted the tactics closely like Cambridge and the Wimbledon Crazy Gang.

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[Kent Boy 2]

His theory was basically just get the ball in the opposition box, free kicks, open play, throw ins, get it in there.

It wasn’t his theory, he just employed it widely. It was the theory of Charles Hughes. Hughes identified that [up to the time of his research, which would have been the mid-70’s] the majority of goals were scored with 3 or fewer passes from restarting play. Hughes interpreted his findings / data to suggest that a team would never score enough goals by passing the ball around, and that to be successful teams needed to get the ball into the penalty area as quickly as possible from a restart of play. He wrote books and coaching manuals based on this interpretation. John Beck read them all and followed the format to the maximum. To be fair, it was relatively successful, I seem to remember that he was a play off defeat away from taking Cambridge from Division 4 to Division 1 in consecutive seasons.

Based on the science of Charles Hughes a leading coach at the F.A. Getting the ball into positions or maximum opportunity (POMO) within a few passes was the aim.

It worked quite well for lower league clubs who adopted the tactics closely like Cambridge and the Wimbledon Crazy Gang.

You must be logged on to see external links

Beat me to it!

 

[Zweiguys]

Was manager at Cambridge as I remember.

Not him, the other one.

 

[Scorpion]

His theory was basically just get the ball in the opposition box, free kicks, open play, throw ins, get it in there.

He used heavily water the 4 corners of the pitch so the ball would hold up and not run out of play from the long balls .....

 

[riffraff]

Not the same person you’re thinking of John Sitton

Aye. After posting it I started to have my doubts.

 

[Essayeffsee]

A lot of stuff he did like ice baths have been adopted.

Whilst his football was long ball and physical I think Ferguson trusted him with Beckhams development at PNE.

 

[Roker]

I seem to remember that he was a play off defeat away from taking Cambridge from Division 4 to Division 1 in consecutive seasons.

I'm sure there's a few Leicester fans on here that would love to embellish that

 

[Im wrang oni]

It wasn’t his theory, he just employed it widely. It was the theory of Charles Hughes. Hughes identified that [up to the time of his research, which would have been the mid-70’s] the majority of goals were scored with 3 or fewer passes from restarting play. Hughes interpreted his findings / data to suggest that a team would never score enough goals by passing the ball around, and that to be successful teams needed to get the ball into the penalty area as quickly as possible from a restart of play. He wrote books and coaching manuals based on this interpretation. John Beck read them all and followed the format to the maximum. To be fair, it was relatively successful, I seem to remember that he was a play off defeat away from taking Cambridge from Division 4 to Division 1 in consecutive seasons.

Beat me to it!

So while the Dutch were just about perfecting 'Total Football' the English FA were advising getting it in the mixer and keep the grass long in the corners. Explains why we were years behind everyone else internationally and what an incredible job Sir Bobby Robson did to reach a WC Qtr and Semi Final.

Tbh I like that there are different ways of winning but would prefer the tests of strength to be confined to the rugby pitch. It does seem almost unique to the British game though?

 

[Old Roker Ender]

Not him, the other one.

Don't think I read the title of the post properly