John White - 50 years ago

[jimmyb]

Really nice article on the Alloa Athletic website, by his son, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of his death:

http://www.alloaathletic.co.uk/BlogView.aspx?pageid=2&mid=2&ItemID=1075

It'll be interesting to see if he gets much of a mention, if any, in the media.

Doubtless if he had been a Liverpool or Man Utd player, there would be a nationwide day of remembrance set aside for him.

 

[Spur of the moment]

He was a futuristic kind of player that the fans barely appreciated at first, because they couldn’t see what he was doing.

Yes he did look fragile at first, even so we could all instantly see from his instant poise, grace and deftness of touch what an artist we had in prospect. Remember it hadn't been that long since we'd marvelled at the mesmirising magic of the tiny Tommy Harmer, and given White was, though slight, that much more athletic, we had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

Don't recall reading at the time that Bill had planned to build the team around him but it's hardly a surprise. Such a tragedy we never got the chance to witness it taking shape.

 

[chicken_badge]

Heard his son on The Spurs Show podcast before, seems a top guy, interesting life story and a big fan too. He was really young when his dad died too meaning he approaches this a lot from a fans perspective as seen in this article.

 

[jts1882]

No one notices the ghost.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

The one thing that I remember about him was how upright he was, seemed to run and turn with his back straight. He always seemed to have time and space, I know it's a different game today but good players would be good in anytime and he was one of the best. It was no surprise that Spurs went into decline once he and Blanchflower were no longer in the side.