November 27 - The Clown Prince of Football Bows Out

ON this day in 2000 Len Shackleton, the so called clown prince of football passed away, at the age of 78.

Younger readers will not remember Shack but his mention is bound to raise a smile among football fans of a certain age as his genius on the pitch was more than matched by his wit and his dislike of authority.

He started his career as an amateur playing for Bradford Park Avenue for whom he scored 166 goals in six wartime years in the 1940s.

His goal scoring exploits persuaded Newcastle United to part with £13,000 for him. He spent just under two years with the Magpies before joining their arch-rivals Sunderland for a then record fee of £20,500 in 1948.

He immediately took to his new home at Roker Park where he was adored by the Sunderland faithful - not least because of his allegiance to them rather than Newcastle. He once said: “I am not biased when it comes to Newcastle - I don’t care who beats them.”

In 11 years on Wearside he reached two FA Cup semi finals and just missed out on a championship winner’s medal after scoring 101 goals in 348 games for the Mackems.

As well as being a terrifically skilled player Shack also had an eye for fun. During one match with Arsenal Shack found his team were 2-1 up with five minutes to go. He dribbled the ball into the Gunners’ penalty area before standing on the ball and pretending to comb his hair while looking at his watch as the remaining minutes ticked down.

He was also partial to a bit of mickey taking out of opposition players and would regularly mock full-backs by playing one-twos with the corner flag.

While all his antics were amusing for the fans, not everyone was laughing. England manager Walter Winterbottom was exasperated by Shack. He once said: “If only Len would come half way to meet the needs of the team there wouldn’t be many to touch him.”

Winterbottom did pick him for a match against the world champions West Germany at Wembley in 1954, which England won 3-1 with Shack scoring in the process. This was to be his finest hour in an England shirt and he only ever gained five caps. On being asked why he was not picked more often for his country one of the England selectors remarked: “Because we play at Wembley Stadium, not the London Palladium!”

Shack himself said he should be flattered by the comment.

In 1956 he released his autobiography and used his nickname The Clown Prince of Football as the title.

It famously contained a chapter entitled: “The Average DIrector’s Knowledge of Football.” Underneath the title was a completely blank page, save for a small note at the foot of it what read: “This page has been deliberately left blank in accordance with the author’s wishes.”

Classic. RIP Shack. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another journey through football time with us here at OTFD.

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