Francisco 'Paco' Gento has died aged 88

[ultrafox]

Respect where it's due, but no other player has won six European Cups. 

 

 

Real Madrid and Spain legend Francisco 'Paco' Gento has died aged 88.

Gento, who spent 18 years with Real from 1953-1971, is the only player to have won six European Cups.

 

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60037044

 

The left-winger made 600 appearances for the club and scored 182 goals as he also helped them to 12 league crowns, two Copa del Rey titles and one Intercontinental Cup.

He won 43 caps for Spain and represented his country in the 1962 and 1966 World Cups.

His club record of 23 trophies, which stood for over 50 years, was equalled on Sunday by Real captain Marcelo when he came on as a substitute in the club's Spanish Super Cup-winning victory.

Gento started his career at Racing Santander before his move to the Spanish capital.

"Real Madrid would like to express its condolences and its love and affection to his wife Mari Luz, his sons Francisco and Julio, his granddaughters Aitana and Candela and all his relatives, colleagues and loved ones," Real said in a statement.

"He will always be remembered by Madridistas and all football fans as one of their greatest."

 

RIP  Paco

[ultrafox]

Did you know that Gento played a match at Filbert Street? 

 

Can you name the match and when? 

 

I was there! 

 

 

[when_you're_smiling]

6 minutes ago, ultrafox said:

Did you know that Gento played a match at Filbert Street? 

 

Can you name the match and when? 

 

I was there! 

 

 

No was the answer but have Googled it as was intrigued. All I can find is the programme on EBay. What was the score?

[SpacedX]

6 minutes ago, ultrafox said:

Did you know that Gento played a match at Filbert Street? 

 

Can you name the match and when? 

 

I was there! 

 

 

The only thing that springs to mind, well two things. Firstly you're likely referring to the fabled Old England v The Rest of Europe charity match in 1973 - and secondly, you old, old bastard. 

[ultrafox]

1 minute ago, Line-X said:

The only thing that springs to mind, well two things. Firstly you're likely referring to the fabled Old England v The Rest of Europe charity match in 1973 - and secondly, you old, old bastard. 

      Correct on both accounts!  

 

Still got the programme!  

 

[SpacedX]

1 minute ago, ultrafox said:

      Correct on both accounts!  

 

Still got the programme!  

 

Puskás - 'the galloping major' - what a player. 

 

John Charles in there too. 

[ultrafox]

13 minutes ago, when_you're_smiling said:

No was the answer but have Googled it as was intrigued. All I can find is the programme on EBay. What was the score?

I wrote an article in 2003 (?) for the Fox Fanzine about the match.

 

Just for you...here a reprint. Enjoy!

 

 

October 2003 marks a lesser known football anniversary. It will be the 30th anniversary of the day that Ferenc Puskas came to play a match at Filbert Street. On a particularly freezing cold night on 16th October 1973 a charity match between Old England and The Rest of Europe brought some of football’s greatest players to Leicester for an occasion of pure nostalgia.

I have dubbed this game the forgotten match, because nowhere in my many books on the history of Leicester City Football Club, and Filbert Street is it ever mentioned. Even when I referred it to a colleague of the authors of ‘Of Fossils and Foxes’, (before the 2nd edition was printed), he said they had no recollection of the game. I was beginning to think I had dreamt it up, along with my countless fantasies of Leicester actually winning the FA Cup or the Premier League.

In spite of this, a recent chance finding on Ebay of the actual matchday programme, and then a little help from the Leicester Mercury confirmed that the match really did happen. It was all in aid of Goaldiggers – a charity set up to help struggling clubs and to develop football at grassroots level. Whatever happened to that?.

Sadly the game only attracted an attendance of 3,181, possibly because of the bizarrely harsh sub-zero conditions on the night. But I was there with my dad all those years ago and to be honest the match was a dream come true. It may have been only an exhibition match, but the chance of seeing and possibly meeting the legendary Ferenc Puskas aka the ‘Galloping Major’ meant a lot to both me and my Hungarian-born father.

While growing up in Leicester and nurturing my devotion to LCFC my late father, a refugee from the 1956 Hungarian uprising, made me aware of Hungary’s great football tradition. Up until 1978 Hungary had had a good record against England. They had a 100% record against Brazil in several World Cup matches and had appeared in the World Cup final twice in 1938 and 1954. For me at the time, being an impressionable football crazy 10 year old, Hungarian football was something to be proud of. Unfortunately, since then, Hungarian football has taken a serious nose dive, but we won’t go into that.

Hence I couldn’t believe my eyes when on the way home from school one day in 1973 I saw a Leicester Mercury billboard that had the headlines ‘Banks and Puskas to play at Filbert Street’. Unbelievable! Why Leicester? Maybe it had something to do with our then famous hot-air balloon that kept the pitch playable all year round. But who cares? It was my good fortune, and I knew it would mean another rare trip to Filbert Street for me (my parents were generally reluctant to let me go to Filbert Street in those days on account of the reported hooliganism).

The Old England team was made up of some of England’s 1966 World Cup winners. They included Jack Charlton, George Cohen, Roger Hunt and Gordon Banks in what must have been his first return to semi-competitive football since the car crash that caused him to lose sight in one eye. Making up the rest of the England team was Bill McGarry, Bobby Robson and a quartet of Jimmys’. Jimmy Greaves, Jimmy Armfield, Jimmy Hill and the then current Leicester manager Jimmy Bloomfield.

With Puskas in the Rest of Europe team was his former Real Madrid partner, Francisco Gento, the only man to have played in 8 (yes, EIGHT) European Cup Finals and have 6 winner’s medals. Also in the team were World Cup Finalists of 66 , Uwe Seeler and Willi Schultz, as well as the Welsh “gentle giant” John Charles and Gyula Grosics, the great Hungarian goalkeeper of the 1950s. It promised to be a very interesting encounter.

The score on the night was 4-2 to Old England. Goals from Hunt, Greaves, a 30 yard strike by Charlton and a late goal by Jimmy Hill completed the scoring for England, while Puskas and Charles netted for Europe. But the result was of little significance. What was more important was the occasion, and the sheer theatre of the individual performances.

As the Leicester Mercury recalled, “ A superstar show was put on by the heaviest there – the legendary Ferenc Puskas, who warmed the crowd with a skilful display of old fashioned ball play.” They also described how Gordon Banks… “displayed all his old agility and sound positional judgement and came out on top in a personal duel with Spain’s Francisco Gento, the great winger of Real Madrid’s heyday”

My own recollection of the match recalls Puskas gamely trying to explain to his wingers where he wanted the ball delivered, right down to pointing to the spot on the ground. On several occasions the portly Puskas would follow through on crosses that had passed by him seconds earlier, just to demonstrate to the appreciative crowd his dazzling intentions.

At the full time whistle I ran onto the pitch (oooh err) to collect some autographs in the autograph-book my mum had bought me especially for the occasion. Amazingly even then, stewards were at hand to shepherd stray fans off the pitch (or maybe I was picked on as an easy target). Consequently I left the field empty handed. A further attempt at some autograph hunting later on at the players’ entrance ended up with only two paw prints. One from Jimmy Armfield, the other, Lord knows! It could have been the steward that had earlier ushered me off the pitch; such was my desperation to return home with something in my brand new autograph book.

As for meeting Puskas himself? Well, all the players were treated to a huge banquet after the match that went on until the early hours. My dad and I waited outside a dimly lit Filbert Street for over an hour, listening to the feast that was obviously going on within and freezing to death in the process. In the end two factors determined my fate. I had school in the morning and Puskas is renowned for his love of food, so I suppose our meeting was never to be.

Still, I was there and enjoyed this rarely mentioned historical event at Filbert Street. Therefore now, exactly 30 years later I feel compelled to echo the sentiments of the song that was played out as the teams left the field that cold and wintry October evening back in 1973. “Thanks for the Memory”.

Edited 19 January 2022 by ultrafox
dates wrong

[when_you're_smiling]

1 minute ago, ultrafox said:

I wrote an article in 2003 (?) for the Fox Fanzine about the match.

 

Just for you...here a reprint. Enjoy!

 

 

October 2014 marks a lesser known football anniversary. It will be the 41st anniversary of the day that Ferenc Puskas came to play a match at Filbert Street. On a particularly freezing cold night on 16th October 1973 a charity match between Old England and The Rest of Europe brought some of football’s greatest players to Leicester for an occasion of pure nostalgia.

I have dubbed this game the forgotten match, because nowhere in my many books on the history of Leicester City Football Club, and Filbert Street is it ever mentioned. Even when I referred it to a colleague of the authors of ‘Of Fossils and Foxes’, (before the 2nd edition was printed), he said they had no recollection of the game. I was beginning to think I had dreamt it up, along with my countless fantasies of Leicester actually winning the FA Cup or the Premier League.

In spite of this, a recent chance finding on Ebay of the actual matchday programme, and then a little help from the Leicester Mercury confirmed that the match really did happen. It was all in aid of Goaldiggers – a charity set up to help struggling clubs and to develop football at grassroots level. Whatever happened to that?.

Sadly the game only attracted an attendance of 3,181, possibly because of the bizarrely harsh sub-zero conditions on the night. But I was there with my dad all those years ago and to be honest the match was a dream come true. It may have been only an exhibition match, but the chance of seeing and possibly meeting the legendary Ferenc Puskas aka the ‘Galloping Major’ meant a lot to both me and my Hungarian-born father.

While growing up in Leicester and nurturing my devotion to LCFC my late father, a refugee from the 1956 Hungarian uprising, made me aware of Hungary’s great football tradition. Up until 1978 Hungary had had a good record against England. They had a 100% record against Brazil in several World Cup matches and had appeared in the World Cup final twice in 1938 and 1954. For me at the time, being an impressionable football crazy 10 year old, Hungarian football was something to be proud of. Unfortunately, since then, Hungarian football has taken a serious nose dive, but we won’t go into that.

Hence I couldn’t believe my eyes when on the way home from school one day in 1973 I saw a Leicester Mercury billboard that had the headlines ‘Banks and Puskas to play at Filbert Street’. Unbelievable! Why Leicester? Maybe it had something to do with our then famous hot-air balloon that kept the pitch playable all year round. But who cares? It was my good fortune, and I knew it would mean another rare trip to Filbert Street for me (my parents were generally reluctant to let me go to Filbert Street in those days on account of the reported hooliganism).

The Old England team was made up of some of England’s 1966 World Cup winners. They included Jack Charlton, George Cohen, Roger Hunt and Gordon Banks in what must have been his first return to semi-competitive football since the car crash that caused him to lose sight in one eye. Making up the rest of the England team was Bill McGarry, Bobby Robson and a quartet of Jimmys’. Jimmy Greaves, Jimmy Armfield, Jimmy Hill and the then current Leicester manager Jimmy Bloomfield.

With Puskas in the Rest of Europe team was his former Real Madrid partner, Francisco Gento, the only man to have played in 8 (yes, EIGHT) European Cup Finals and have 6 winner’s medals. Also in the team were World Cup Finalists of 66 , Uwe Seeler and Willi Schultz, as well as the Welsh “gentle giant” John Charles and Gyula Grosics, the great Hungarian goalkeeper of the 1950s. It promised to be a very interesting encounter.

The score on the night was 4-2 to Old England. Goals from Hunt, Greaves, a 30 yard strike by Charlton and a late goal by Jimmy Hill completed the scoring for England, while Puskas and Charles netted for Europe. But the result was of little significance. What was more important was the occasion, and the sheer theatre of the individual performances.

As the Leicester Mercury recalled, “ A superstar show was put on by the heaviest there – the legendary Ferenc Puskas, who warmed the crowd with a skilful display of old fashioned ball play.” They also described how Gordon Banks… “displayed all his old agility and sound positional judgement and came out on top in a personal duel with Spain’s Francisco Gento, the great winger of Real Madrid’s heyday”

My own recollection of the match recalls Puskas gamely trying to explain to his wingers where he wanted the ball delivered, right down to pointing to the spot on the ground. On several occasions the portly Puskas would follow through on crosses that had passed by him seconds earlier, just to demonstrate to the appreciative crowd his dazzling intentions.

At the full time whistle I ran onto the pitch (oooh err) to collect some autographs in the autograph-book my mum had bought me especially for the occasion. Amazingly even then, stewards were at hand to shepherd stray fans off the pitch (or maybe I was picked on as an easy target). Consequently I left the field empty handed. A further attempt at some autograph hunting later on at the players’ entrance ended up with only two paw prints. One from Jimmy Armfield, the other, Lord knows! It could have been the steward that had earlier ushered me off the pitch; such was my desperation to return home with something in my brand new autograph book.

As for meeting Puskas himself? Well, all the players were treated to a huge banquet after the match that went on until the early hours. My dad and I waited outside a dimly lit Filbert Street for over an hour, listening to the feast that was obviously going on within and freezing to death in the process. In the end two factors determined my fate. I had school in the morning and Puskas is renowned for his love of food, so I suppose our meeting was never to be.

Still, I was there and enjoyed this rarely mentioned historical event at Filbert Street. Therefore now, exactly 30 years later I feel compelled to echo the sentiments of the song that was played out as the teams left the field that cold and wintry October evening back in 1973. “Thanks for the Memory”.

Amazing. Thank you.

 

How’s your countless fantasies of winning the Prem or FA Cup going? 

[ultrafox]

Just now, when_you're_smiling said:

Amazing. Thank you.

 

How’s your countless fantasies of winning the Prem or FA Cup going? 

Who knew then eh?

[Brizzle Fox]

1 hour ago, ultrafox said:

      Correct on both accounts!  

 

Still got the programme!  

 

That Europe team. Wow. What a line up

[Foxdiamond]

On 19/01/2022 at 16:50, ultrafox said:

      Correct on both accounts!  

 

Still got the programme!  

 

Brilliant.  Good ref too. The Puskas drag back against England in 1953 still looks amazing.