To Football fans of my age
Just as a matter of interest the stretch behind the railings, where I am standing ,in the photograph on Blackpool promenade in 1944 is the beginning of the causeway down to the beach where the famous Goalkeeper Brothers of Frank Swift, Manchester City and England and his brother, Fred of Bolton Wanderers kept their fishing boats in the summer to eke out the £7 or £8 per week that they only got in the Winter and used to take the trippers out for a couple of shillings a head and were always surrounded with small boys, like me, begging autographs. Frank died in the tragic Munich disaster when he was aboard the Ambassador that crashed, as a Sports Reporter. I wonder what they would think of the unbelievable sums "earned" (but not in my book ) today !! I just thought that someone, perhaps a German speaker who remembers Frank and Nat Lofthouse in the "Lions of Austria " match.