Ron Reynolds – The Life of a 1950’s Footballer
by Dave Bowler and David Reynolds
Hardback
194 Pages
ISBN: 0 75285 999 4
RRP : – £16.99
Published by Orbit Books
Published : 2003
His meticulous chronicling of his career allowed the writing of this book about Ron Reynolds as he worked his way from his local side Aldershot through to playing for Tottenham and Southampton. At a time when goalkeepers were not protected in any way by referees, Ron suffered a string of injuries, more often than not at a time when he was establishing himself in a team.
A man who was as exact off the field as he liked to be on it, Reynolds always had one eye on what happens after he finished in the game and having been a draughtsman for the Admiralty and then worked for Dennis Brothers, who designed fire-engines and other heavy goods vehicles. Later in life he became a financial adviser and insurance broker, so his security post-football was always secure.
A lot of that probably stemmed from the poor pay footballers earned in those days before the maximum wage was abolished and the system of clubs retaining players registration, so they could not move unless the club consented to it. But Ron was a great thinker about the game and as well as playing it, he was keen to learn how to improve things and that inspired him to go into coaching when few players did that. Perhaps playing in the same team as some (Vic Buckingham, Bill Nicholson, Alf Ramsey) who went on to illustrious management careers helped give him that ambition, although he never wanted to manage, just coach.
There is no doubt that the way goalkeepers used to be barged, charged and battered left them prone to the severest of injuries. Ron suffered a litany of them in his career and it was a shoulder injury while playing for Southampton that finally made him call it a day in 1963 after playing for Aldershot for five years and having ten years at White Hart Lane. Never a keeper who felt he was a regular, having to compete with long-serving Ted Ditchburn, when it looked as though he might have a long run in the side he suffered injury or was overlooked by the manager of the time, many of whom he did not have a lot of time for.
One manager he did admire was Arthur Rowe and much of his love of the game arose from the time of the “Push and Run” team that had just won the First Division title when he signed for Spurs. Both Rowe and then Danny Blanchflower, whose belief in the glory game coincided with Reynolds view of how it should be played, spent a lot of time talking with Ron and expounding on the problems within the English game.
For me, the book contains a little too many references to “how football is these days” and it becomes clear from the text that he didn’t have a very high regard for the way the game was in more modern times. The book covers his playing days very well and it might have been better left at that rather than too often referring to how current players might have to deal with situations he found himself in. There is an insight into a world of football that few of us are aware of from a time gone by, which, on its own, provides a stark contrast to the game as it is now.
Not only did Ron Reynolds leave a career’s worth of notes, programmes and documents, but he left the memories of a player who battled against the odds to have a good career at the top level.
Marco van Hip