October 18 – Haynes Passes Away
TO get a mention here at OTFD, let alone your own entry, you have to fulfil certain criteria. You must have had some impact on the world of football, and either been truly exceptional, truly awful, or just truly funny.
Today’s subject was an exceptional player, but his impact on the game went way beyond his footballing talent.
It was on this day in 2005 that Johnny Haynes, latterly of Fulham and England, died aged 71, following a road accident the previous day.
Johnny ‘The Maestro’ Haynes was an inside forward with a superb eye for a pass.
Save for a short spell with the South African side Durban City after he had retired professionally, Haynes was that rarest of beasts: a one club man, turning down offers to join both AC Milan and Tottenham to stay with Fulham even when they were in the lower leagues.
He made his Fulham debut aged 18 and he would remain at Craven Cottage for the next 17 years, making a club record 658 appearances, many of them as captain, and scoring 158 goals.
Fulham’s greatest ever player was a regular in the England side, scoring on his debut, a 2-0 win over Northern Ireland in 1954, and going on to captain his country for two years.
An injury sustained in a bike crash in 1962 meant he never played for England again, robbing him of the chance to become a world cup winner despite being only 31 in 1966.
For all his playing prowess however, Haynes is perhaps most well known for being the first player to be paid £100 a week after the £20 wage cap was abolished.
Haynes was also something of a trailblazer in terms of exploiting his celebrity. He was one of the first players to have an agent, and even advertised Brylcreem. Becks eat your heart out.
It seems sad that Haynes is most remembered for his salary than his skill, which was sublime. When he died, Alan Mullery, another former Fulham and England great said: “He was the only reason I went to Fulham as a young boy of 15 leaving school. He was my hero, the captain of England and Fulham.
“The word great rolls off the tongue quite easily these days but he really was. He was the best passer of a ball I have ever seen – I don’t know anyone who could pass a ball as accurately.
“Anyone who saw him will know what a great player he was. It’s a very sad day. He will never go from my memory.”
Well said Mullers. Now come back tomorrow for one of today’s star names announcing his arrival on the Premiership scene.
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January 18 - Red Jim’s Victory | On This Football Day on January 18th, 2008
[...] Trinder’s very public declaration meant he had to stand by his word and Haynes became the very first £100 a week player (see the story here http://www.onthisfootballday.com/2007_10_18/october-18-%e2%80%93-haynes-passes-away.php). [...]