Jock Wallace - The Extraordinary Life of a Leicester Legend - Part 3

41) Those McLintock comments about players' lack of passion were actually echoed by Jock when he arrived at Filbert Street - 'I am sure there is a lot of spirit and character lying dormant within them and it is up to me to bring it to the surface', he said

One of the first to understand what Jock meant by this was 17 year old Gary Lineker. Early in Jock's reign he recalls coming in at half time in a reserve game having scored twice when:

“He walked in and slammed the door behind him and started going, ‘You, ya wee English s***e, ye,’ and he’s looking straight at me. He walked up to me - I was tiny in those days - and he picked me up by the scruff of the neck and pinned me against the dressing-room wall. I was trembling.

“At the end of the game he walked in again and said to me, ‘My office, 9.30 in the morning.’ I never slept a wink - I thought my football career was over.

“I made sure I was early. At 9.15 I was sat outside his office like a naughty boy outside the headmaster’s office and eventually he summoned me in.

“I sat down and he said, ‘Wee man, you were magnificent last night. I just want to keep your feet on the ground!’”

42) In his office, Jock installed a foot high statue of his hero William Wallace. Then, just a month into the season, he was called back to his homeland when his father passed away, aged 67. There was talk in the press that he might even be back in Scotland permanently - Ally MacLeod stepped down as national team boss after the debacle of the 1978 World Cup - and Jock was considered a front runner for the job. In the end, the other 'Big Jock' was appointed - Jock Stein, who'd only just joined Leeds United after years as Wallace's main rival at Celtic.

43) Gary Lineker's first goal for the club was one of the most important of his career.

We'd spent the whole season in the bottom half of the table but never looked in real trouble - until April when we took one point from five games. Things were looking bleak, and Jock reckoned we'd go down if we didn't take at least three points from our last four games (this was in the days of two points for a win). 

The first of those games was at Notts County, who were lying 6th in the table. Lineker's goal gave us a 1-0 win, and suddenly the pressure was off. People at the club were using the phrase 'The Great Escape' after that win, which might seem strange as we were never in the bottom three - but it tells you just how much we'd been in free fall. Without that Lineker goal, history could have been very different.

44) This was our Youth team that season.

Of the 18 players pictured, exactly half also played for the first team in 1978/79.  This youth policy reached its peak in the last game of the season when Jock selected the youngest ever Leicester City side for the game at Bramall Lane.

45) This was how Jock reflected on his first season:

During this transition period the enthusiasm and ambition that I have has been echoed throughout the club - by players, the staff and the board - and I know that the fans are behind us. They can see the youngsters getting their chance. Every one of them has gone into every game - which ever City team he is playing in - by giving 100%. 

Having finished in our lowest League position for 30 years, you might think that was too rosy an analysis. But in fact, the fans really were behind the team - and Jock.

46) Jock was impressed with Alan Young's hattrick for Oldham against us in the Cup. He told Martin Henderson, best man at Young's wedding, to contact him and say Leicester were interested. It would have helped that he looked just like a Rangers player in that Oldham shirt. Jock signed him in the summer of 1979.

47) A key result that season was a 2-1 win at St, Andrews in December, with Frank Worthington making his Birmingham debut. Goals from Bobby Smith and Martin Henderson gave us the points which took us up to 4th. Above us were Chelsea, Newcastle and Luton - but none of those three would end up promoted.

The following week, Alan Young's form led to him being called up to the Scotland squad for the first time. But his international story was uncannily similar to Jock's twenty years earlier. As soon as he was chosen, his form seemed to desert him. He went sixteen games without a goal and he, too, was destined never to win a cap. 

48) After Harlow Town stunned Filbert Street with a late equaliser in the Third Round of the Cup, Jock decided to make one change for the replay, bringing in Gary Lineker for Pat Byrne. Lineker wasn't fully fit, but he recalls 'I was too scared to tell Jock, and I was dreadful'.

Harlow won 1-0 - a shock almost as big as Berwick 1 Rangers 0.

49) In an interview in April as the promotion race neared its climax, Jock said he wasn't just aiming for the top three, he wanted City to be champions. 'I want to beat every bastard', he said. This was the interview, with the Mirror, in which he talked about the depressed state of the club when he arrived, quoted right at the start of this thread.

Here's a key goal from the run-in - Bobby Smith's equaliser at Bristol Rovers:

Bonus point if you can identify the Rovers player on the right - later a much-loved Premier League boss.

50) There have been some great old Leicester videos uploaded to youtube by a guy called Nigel Bennett, mostly from Jock's era, The ones from this season give a real flavour of the excitement of that promotion race. 

Nigel Bennett leicester - YouTube

In the end, we did it - the final day win at Orient giving us the Division Two title for the sixth time in 49 seasons - classic yo-yo club behaviour. How long would we stay up this time? 

Jock had his sights set a little higher. 'We're going to win the title', he said.

51) At the start of the 1980/81 season, Mark Wallington talked about the new mood on the terraces: Standing in the goal in front of the Kop I could hardly believe the depth of feeling and support. It's so different from a few years ago and the players thrive on it. Bill Anderson of the Mercury said this: There is a growing fanaticism that I never thought possible at City.

The man responsible for this change was Jock Wallace. Here's Anderson again: 'To the fans, Wallace IS Leicester City'.

Jock would say in return how much he appreciated the support from the Kop. Three chants define that era. There was the classic 'When You're Smiling' with the hand waving, there was the Alan Young chant, with the left to right arm waving ('He's here, he's there, he's every f***ing where), and of course Jock's own chant - (sing his name to a 'three blind mice' melody and you'll have it).

52) Jock signed yet another Scottish striker that summer:

But Melrose didn't score his first goal until December, by which time we were in the bottom three.

53) We suffered another shock FA Cup defeat - losing 3-1 at Third Division Exeter. But three days later came the surprise result of the whole Football League season - our 2-1 win at Anfield which ended Liverpool's unbeaten home run of 85 games (a record which still stands).  Here are two rare photos of the goals - Byrne's equaliser and Melrose's winner.

54) The next shock was Johan Cruyff almost joining the club. Jock's old friendship with him led to month-long negotiations with the deal being that Cruyff would be paid 4,000 pounds for each of our remaining 11 matches. Jock believed the money would be recouped from increased attendances.

The negotiations became public on February 25th;

But at the last minute, the deal fell through. Spanish club Levante had an option to sign him which they finally exercised, and in the programme for the Forest game three days later, Jock was left to explain that he had been '100% sure Cruyff would sign', and that the whole thing had not been a PR exercise to boost ticket sales. 

55) We had been in the bottom three since November, and despite famous victories against Liverpool (twice), Spurs (twice), Man U and Arsenal, our relegation was pretty much sealed with two games still to play. So much for winning the title. 

Jock said this in his last programme notes of the season: I made a fool of myself when I predicted we would win the Championship and I have taken a bit of stick about it ever since. But if I did not feel and believe that at the start of the season I have no right to be here.

Fine words, but surpassed by this shrewd analysis from Of Fossils And Foxes:

Jock reveled in the Braveheart approach to the game. Yet he could often appear a rather naive tactician; and it did not help that his assistant Ian MacFarlane seemed hewn from the same craggy rock. The abiding memory of the latter years of the Wallace regime was of Jock and Ian rising together from the City bench, snarling and shaking their fists to demand more frenetic effort, rather than conveying any more subtle shift in playing pattern.

Despite going down, Jock's job was not in danger. Most fans still believed in him, and the board were keen for him to see out his long contract.

56) 1981/82. Jock's last season at Leicester.

In October, he took us to Berwick to celebrate the centenary of his old club. On the cover of the programme was a picture of him defying Rangers in the 1967 Cup tie.

A couple of weeks later, as if prompted by that reminder of his own goalkeeping style, Jock made some very revealing comments about Mark Wallington. They came after a 4-1 win at Charlton in which Wallington was outstanding. Jock said: One save was the best I have ever seen him make, when he took a cross ball under fantastic pressure. If he had been taught to take crosses like that in his younger days he would have been right up there alongside other world class keepers instead of being simply a very good club keeper.

How much did Jock try to coach Wallington? Those comments suggest Jock was trying to remake him in his own image - a keeper with the courage to come off his line and command his area with authority. It's an issue which reappeared later in the season, as we'll see.

57) In that Charlton game Gary Lineker scored twice - and it was that brace that finally cemented his position. He wouldn't be dropped again. Since making his debut three seasons earlier he had been in and out of the team and had made fewer than 40 appearances in total. It really did take a long time for him to develop into the world class striker we all know. 

Here he is scoring a classic Lineker goal against Watford in December - a through ball from midfield and his pace means the last defender has no chance:

58) The most dramatic game of Jock's reign was the FA Cup quarter-final against Shrewsbury. Jock's experience as both a goalkeeper and a manager helps us to understand better the drama of that day.

With Leicester 1-0 up came the famous moment when Wallington charged out to stop an equaliser. 'Wallington's bravery saving Leicester City.' Barry Davies says in the commentary, 'And that really must have hurt him'. It was classic Wallace-style goalkeeping - the kind that we have seen throughout this tale - from both Jock and his father. Wallington had clearly listened to Jock's advice about dominating the area.

And he had no choice but to listen again when Jock ran onto the field to lift him back to his feet so he could carry on, despite having almost zero mobility.

Later in the commentary Barry Davies calls out Wallace for this error. By the time Wallington was substituted, Shrewsbury had taken advantage and were 2-1 up.

Here's Jock back on the field after Alan Young had donned the gloves and himself got hurt:

And watching on the left as Lynex takes over:

But if Wallace can be criticized for not acting sooner, he also deserves credit for having created the team spirit which drove that heroic fightback, and for helping forge the bond between players and fans so evident on that day.

Here's the full story:

59) Three points for a win had been introduced that season, and it added an extra dimension to the promotion race. This was the table with two months of the season remaining:

We're down in 12th, but after our FA Cup exertions, we have a remarkable five games in hand on Blackburn, who were then occupying the third promotion place.

A series of wins put us right back in the picture. There was a dizzying spell when fans were repeatedly doing sums no-one had ever done before - three points x so many games in hand = which possible position?  But an even more impressive surge came from Norwich City who, as you can see, were in 13th and without the games in hand. They'd just signed Martin O'Neill, and he led them on a charge up the table that set up Leicester v Norwich on May 1st as the key game.

Norwich went four up in less than an hour. It finished 4-1, and though we could still do it if we won all our games, we ran out of steam and O'Neill led the Canaries into the top flight.

60) So it was double disappointment - no promotion, and we'd lost in the FA Cup semi-final of course. Then came the shock news that Jock was quitting - for Motherwell. 

Leicester fans were left with only memories. Here's a classic Jock quote from the best moment of his four years at Filbert Steet - the win at Orient that sealed the Division Two title:

61) As we appointed Gordon Milne as our new boss, Jock got down to pre-season training at Motherwell in the usual way.

Yes, that is a very young Gary McAllister looking incredibly apprehensive about the sand hills, two years before he joined Leicester.

62) After an uneventful year at Motherwell, Jock went home. He was appointed Rangers boss again in October 1983, and they quickly won a trophy, beating Celtic in the League Cup Final. The match is remembered for two iconic Jock moments - 

This comment before the game:

Then this at the end:

That's STV reporter Graham Stewart.

Jock was sacked by Rangers in 1986, after which they appointed Graeme Souness. 

63)  Jock's next move was to follow John Toshack and Terry Venables to Spain to take charge of Sevilla. He decided to take an old acquaintance from Leicester as an interpreter. Raymonde Fernandez owned a Spanish restaurant that Jock often visited when he was boss at Filbert Street. Thanks to Jock's recommendations, the place became a favourite of Midlands football managers.  (Anyone with more details about this restaurant or Senor Fernandez please tell us below).

Jock didn't have much success in Spain, either with his team or with his language classes (unlike Gary Lineker), and he was shown the door by the Sevilla owners who said his inability to communicate with his players had undermined his position. 

64) Jock's final job was at Colchester, and he would end his career with one last act of managerial heroism.

The situation was this. In 1988/89, one club went down automatically from the Football League to the Conference. With just a few matches to go, it came down to a dog fight between two managers - Jock Wallace of Colchester, and Brian Little of Darlington.

Wallace had joined just a few weeks earlier when the Us looked doomed, but he had put them on the verge of a great escape. There then followed a most extraordinary run of results that is worth recording in full as a fitting way to conclude this long tale:

April 15th    Lincoln City 1 Colchester 1 - an 83rd minute equaliser salvages a point, but they're still two points behind Darlington.

April 21st    Colchester 1 Carlisle 1 - a last minute equaliser gives them a point, and they're just one behind Darlington.

April 25th    Colchester 2 Wrexham 1 - a winner two minutes from time gives them three points (but Darlington won too).

April 29th    Darlington 1 Colchester 2 - the big one - after Little's side had gone ahead, Jock's men fight back to move off the bottom.

May 1st     Colchester 3 Halifax 2 - after Halifax had been two up, they fight back for another unlikely but vital three points.

So in five games in a row they had shown that resilience and spirit that Jock valued above all other things.  They'd hauled themselves to a position of (almost) safety. They followed that up with convincing wins over Exeter and Torquay to leave Brian Little's side facing the big drop out of the League.

Sadly, Jock's health deteriorated the following season and though still only 54, he retired from the Colchester job, and from football for good. He would die six years later.

65)  For City fans of a certain age, Jock will always have a special place in their memories. He was a giant - metaphorically and literally - as this photo taken at Hazel Street Primary School, just a few yards from the East Stand at Filbert Street, emphasizes.