Phil Dunn catches up with another Victoria Park favourite in the shape of the ever-stylish Mick Spelman.
To a soundtrack of The Sweet, Slade, Rod Stewart and Gilbert O'Sullivan, Len Ashurst's Pools team of the early seventies featured some of the most stylish players ever to grace The Vic and, to this supporter for one, there were none more stylish than Mick Spelman. Always immaculately turned out, and with the best hairstyle this side of Carnaby Street, Spelman was the boyhood hero of many a now-forty-something Poolie. Oh, and he could play a bit too!
"It's amazing what you get remembered for," laughs the friendly Geordie voice at the other end of the phone. "And it still stands today! At the Pools Centenary Dinner I met up with Tony Parry for the first time in over 35 years, and even he remembered that I was always the smartest on the pitch. I would always have my shirt tucked in, my socks pulled up and not a hair out of place - mind, I had a LOT more hair in those days!"
Those days for Mick started at Wolves as a teenager, before a quirk of fate saw him join Hartlepool in 1971.
"I'd been on the brink of signing for Ken Furphy at Watford and had completed a pre-season with them, but on the eve of the season Ken left for Blackburn and I hadn't signed my contract. It was annoying because I'd had a lot of interest from other clubs, some big clubs as well, before going down to Vicarage Road. I packed my bags and came back to train with Whitley Bay. Luckily, the boss there was a friend of Len Ashurst and informed him that I was training there. Len gave me a month's trial and I stayed five years!"
Mick was thrust straight into Ashurst's side just in time to be involved in the 6-1 thrashing of Scarborough in the FA Cup and had a good four-month run in the side.
"I settled in quite well, but as was my failing at the time I got suspended a few times and eventually was out for a month. Len was great though and suggested I go out on-loan to Darlington to keep my eye in. I had a good time there but the trouble was we were getting annihilated every game! Ralph Brand wanted to sign me but in the end Len assured me I'd be needed at Pools."
Sure enough, Spelman WAS needed at The Vic and went on to make 33 appearances in 1972-73 in a midfield featuring Willie Waddell and Malcolm Dawes.
"I was so pleased to see Mally the other night, he looks really well! And some of the other lads from those days - Ron Young, Tony Parry and John Honour. It was such a great night and brought the memories flooding back.
"I was always proud to play for Pools, as my Dad was before me. We were laughing about the training facilities we used to have. At one point we trained over near Steetley, right underneath that big chimney that sticks out on the coast there. Anyway, we were just kicking off and this huge cloud of thick, stinking smoke started belching out of it... Lennie shouted "drop" and we all had to lay down, faces in the grass, till it passed over!! I thought we were going to die! God knows what it was!"
Over the next three seasons Mick went on to play over 140 games in the blue shirt, but missed out on probably the biggest one of all.
"As a kid I was really close friends with Dennis Tueart. We lived in the same street in Walker and played for the same teams growing up. So when we were drawn against Manchester City in 1976 it was going to be great. The Evening Chronicle did a big build-up piece and interviewed us both and what-have-you. Then, a couple of days before the match, I slipped on some oil while I was filling up the car. I felt my ankle go from underneath me and I knew I wouldn't be playing straight away. I went through a fitness test at Maine Road but had to sit it out. I'd been assigned to mark Asa Hartford in the game and I could only watch as he played brilliantly. Then Dennis got sent off for fighting with George Potter! What a day..."
Mick remembers some of his Pools team-mates with great affection and recalls them with ease even after nearly four decades...
"We had some characters and some really good players. Malcolm Moore arrived in 1972 and in all seriousness I thought he was the second-best player I'd ever played with. Mike Grady at Wolves was the best, but Mally was second. What a player. John Rowlands was a brute of a man. Ken Hale played John at centre-half despite him being a forward, and when Big John was on form we actually used to be happy to give away corners! Alan Goad was probably the most improved player I played with there. He grew with confidence game-by-game and then there was Billy Ward who set the place alight when he arrived and should have gone on to bigger things.
"Bill Green was another one... I remember we all went to Bill's Wedding one Saturday Morning, then played Barnsley at home on the same afternoon! It was on telly on the Sunday and the camera panned round to the stand where Bill's new wife was sat with her Bridesmaids and family... no wonder we lost 4-1!!"
Sadly, a contract disagreement with new Chairman Vince Barker saw Mick leave the Club in October 1976.
"We had a falling-out over a promised pay-rise that the previous Chairman, John Curry, had guaranteed. Sadly Mr Barker thought otherwise and it all got a bit silly. In the end I held out and I left mid-season to go and work for Malcolm McDonald in his chain of fashion shops up in Newcastle."
Nowadays Mick runs his own Executive Taxi business, Grosvenor Cars in Newcastle and still keeps close tabs on Pools.
"It really was great to get up there and see everybody and although some of the faces had changed, it was still the same lads. I hope we can do it again."
Likewise Mick, and thanks for the Pools memories!
This feature first-appeared in the Club's Official Matchday Magazine 'A Century United'.
