Long Hair and Muddy Boots entertain Mansfield Woodhouse Probus Club members

Mansfield Woodhouse Probus Club latest monthly meeting saw members entertained by an excellent and amusing presentation by Andy Smart.

Andy has had a long career in sports journalism working for the Notts Free Press and the Nottingham Evening Post as well as commercial television.

His talk, at The Hostess, Sookholme, was entitled Long Hair and Muddy Boots, in relation to football in the 1970s before the advent of huge sums of money being thrown into the game.

Andy gave anecdotes of well-known players from Mansfield Town and Nottingham Forest of the past as well as a comparison with the talents of George Best and Pele.

The legendary Nottingham Forest fooball manager Brian Clough, pictured in October 1980. Picture: Allsport UK/Allsport via Getty Imagesplaceholder image
The legendary Nottingham Forest fooball manager Brian Clough, pictured in October 1980. Picture: Allsport UK/Allsport via Getty Images

He highlighted the styles of the managers of the time with many quotes from the one and only Brian Clough.

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It was a first-class presentation with references to both local and national players, all of whom were remembered by Probus members, as was shown by the discussion afterwards.

The club president reminded members of the next meeting, on August 3, when David Skillen will give a talk entitled The Gretna Girls and The Devil’s Porridge, starting at 10am at The Hostess.

He also reminded members of the short walk on Thursday August 10, from Pleasley Pit Mining Heritage Centre and Country Park, starting at 10am.

For more details, call Mike Keeling on 01623 621434 or 07584 759419.

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