My grandfather on my fathers side was Alex James, the legendary Arsenal playmaker of the thirties.
He died the year I was born (1953) and although I have followed Arsenal avidly, all my memories are second hand or taken from very old people who saw him play or knew him in and around North London, the excellent book by John Harding, a few old newsreels, including a Pathe News piece when we heard him speak for the first time.
Many years ago I was in a pub on a Sunday lunchtime after playing football and we were talking about how Johann Cruyff was the best player we'd seen (the Dutch team of 1974 were our absolute heroes with their long hair, love beads and total football). The old pot man, Sam, a truly Dickensian figure in overcoat and flat cap who also sold winkles and others strange fishy things wheeled on us and pointed at me "You can keep your Peelees, Crufts and Eusubios (his pronunciation) - his grandfather was the best player to ever play the game and I'll fight anyone who says different!" and proceeded to take off his coat!
Memory added on October 24, 2012
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