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THE BRIAN GOYMER INTERVIEW We caught up with Barnet's legendary 'keeper of the late 50's / early 60's. Here's what he had to say:
Brian was in the West Ham United youth team for three years and reached the Youth Cup Final. Unfortunately they lost 3-1 to Manchester United. Playing Career He joined Barnet in 1958 with six others, Roy Sleap, Bobby Cantwell, Bobby Brown, Tony Harding, Roy Drake and Reggie Finch. They were all young - 18 year olds - George Wheeler drafting them in after a slump in the Bees fortunes. In 1964 it was off to Enfield, coming back to play against arch-rivals Barnet in cup games. They were very physical, Barnet won through after a replay in the FA Cup, but Enfield gained victory in the amateur Cup. The crowds were larger - 6,000 regularly. From Enfield it was on to Wealdstone and Brian achieved his highest honour - winning the Amateur Cup in 1966, six weeks before England's triumph in the World Cup. 1968 saw a brief return to Underhill filling in for Johnny Barr who had broken his arm. This culminated in reaching the Southern League Cup Final against Guildford City narrowly losing over two legs. The 1959 Amateur Cup Final Brian remembers the day: It was a fantastic experience, we were a young side only 18 or 19, a couple were older, but we probably weren't as confident as we should have been. Crook Town was made up of old pro's and that helped them. Also with Reggie Finch out with a broken leg and Bobby Brown not 100% fit it was not to be. I remember coming out of the tunnel, the place was packed to the rafters - 98,000 people - there was a fantastic noise, I saw my Mum and Dad. It was a marvellous thing, like your first game for a new club. We started slowly and let in a goal, drew level, then it went 1-2, 1-3, before Bobby Brown got his second, but it was not enough, we were probably overawed by the occasion. It took us nine months to get over it - the hurt, but you've got to play the next game and forget about it. Afterwards we couldn't get the coach down the High Street. There were fans everywhere. The whole of Barnet had been drawn to Wembley, it was like a magnet, and if your team played at Wembley you had to be there. At that time there were no other grounds like it. Football was more of a community thing then as well, the Council, the residents everybody then was proud of the Football Club. It meant something to the Town, not like now. Barnet's Past Barnet have always had good sides, always been on the up over the last 100 years. The bar was always full after a match, you couldn't get in, no-one has a drink afterwards now, a quick orange juice and its off home. There's no community spirit. When we played Wycombe there would be 11,000 at Underhill - 14,000 at their place. There's too much going on now, people have other priorities and Sky doesn't help. We'd take 10 coaches to away games, now it's hard to get 10 on the coach. The main stand was finished about 1964, the residents in Barnet Lane gave up part of their allotments to build it on, the Council helped and the club was making money back then. The groundsman had to start filling the bath up at 1 o'clock - it was bigger than Arsenal's! The Cricket pitch was offered to the club back in the 60's, it was the obvious place. Unfortunately after a certain Chairman upset the Council and the police back in the eighties the Council haven't been very helpful towards the club. The Pitch The pitch now is fantastic compared to what it was like back then. From November to March we'd put tons of sand on it to stop it freezing, they never postponed games in those days. The centre circle was like a pudding. People said to me - 'You can't take goalkicks', well it was so muddy I couldn't get my feet, and the ball was like a medicine ball! They burnt tyres on it to defrost it once. Dr Bass gave us all an anti-tetanus jab before we played! (See here for a newspaper cutting about this.) We always defended deeper when playing uphill. If you were playing downhill you'd see the eight-foot slope and think - lovely - but you had to play it down the right. If you played it down the left, because of the contours, it would skid off the pitch unless it was played right to the player. It was harder to cross as well, often being sliced off the pitch. Out on the right it stays in. On Goalkeeping It was much more physical in my day. I remember being knocked over by a Leytonstone player once. Two years later I faced him again. I said 'When you head that ball, I'll help you pick your teeth up after'. I fractured my wrist and missed the semi-final of the (1966) Amateur Cup. David Seaman had a fantastic World Cup, but made one mistake. You can't cover every angle. You have to make a decision, Bob Wilson was right when he said you play by percentages. You use your experience to judge where the ball will go, if it had dropped in behind the wall he would have caught it. He was caught out, it happens to us all. Barnet's Managers Dexter Adams - Great Manager, lives out in Peterborough now. I saw him a few years ago at a reunion he put together. Someone had some old films of past games like the Preston North End match. Barry Fry - Best Manager Barnet ever had. John Still - I knew him well. I played against him when he was at Dagenham. He was a centre-half and believed in route one, you'll always get the second ball is his theory. He's a good coach at that level of football. Tony Cottee - I don't think his heart was in it. Peter Shreeves - He used to play against me in the Southern League for Chelmsford. He was a midfielder - never scored against me! I've known him since the late 50's. We played for Tavistock in Regents Park together. We won the Sunday League Cup. There must have been 2,000 people round the pitch. He's a superb coach. Barnet's Future The council and locals have got to help if they want the club to stay in Barnet. I've said already that the community spirit is not there anymore. The Cricket pitch was offered in the 60's, it's got to be there. I go into pubs now and people still recognise me. I'm 105 with a stick (!), Barnet could get crowds of 3,000, the support is out there.
Also showing off his garden. |
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Early Days
No stick, but showing off the
1959 Amatuer Cup final programme - and the England v
Hungary programme of 1953. Brian thinks this was the
turning point of English football.