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replied that one of the beadles would be in soon as he regularly drank there. A beadle was the special name for our college’s receptionists-porters. Our Graham thought that the guy in the pub had said, “One of the Beatles will be in soon” and I suppose he must have had some lovely image of what a fab crazy place London was. On his way back to Sunderland on the Saturday night he shared a railway compart-ment with none other than Jimmy Montgomery’s mother. He’s got the photos to prove it too. God, she must have been a proud woman that day.
I was on cloud nine for ages afterwards and acquaintances would come up and congratulate us. However, the mundanities of the 2nd Division still had to be wrapped up and two days after the final Sunderland were down in Cardiff getting a 1-1 draw with Cardiff City, a point that ensured that team’s survival in Division Two. ‘Saved By Bob’s Heroes’ ran a headline the next morning. On the next evening the team finally took the cup home and I wish I’d been there. They rode in the traditional open-topped double-decker from the junction with the A1M at Carrville near Durham all the way to Roker Park, which was open for the night. A reasonable estimate was that three quarters of a million people turned out. A friend told me that her elderly mother had been going doo-lally and she knew nothing about football. You didn’t have to.
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