Cool John Angus helps to honour former Newcastle manager

Last updated : 13 February 2014 By Tony Scholes

 

John Angus with Bill Gibbs and Harry Watson

John was a real favourite of mine and I think you'd be hard pushed to find a Burnley supporter who was privileged enough to have seen him suggest they've seen a better right-back playing for Burnley.

When he retired from the game at the end of a 1971/72 season that had seen him play in just the first two games, he returned to his native North East where he continues to live today.

This week I was delighted to see a story, passed to me by a friend, of him helping to honour Joe Harvey who was manager of Newcastle for thirteen years, from 1962 to 1975.

Bill Gibbs, chairman of the Fairs Club in Newcastle, came up with the idea of a bronze memorial plaque to be placed on the Gallowgate wall at St. James' Park, and he and his club secretary Harry Watson set about raising the money to provide it.

They have an England shirt and ball that they are collecting signatures of former England players for both before auctioning the items.

They have already been signed by such as Gordon Banks, Ian Callaghan, Roger Hunt, Malcolm Macdonald, Paul Scholes and Alan Shearer and last week John, who played once for England against Austria in Vienna, added his signature.

The article featured on the website of his local community newspaper The Ambler and earlier this week I contacted them to ask for permission to use the photograph attached to the article.

I spoke to Anna Williams. She had both written the article and taken the photographs seen here. She was only too happy to send them to me and she told me what a gentleman John was. I did say that a few outside-lefts around in the 1960s might not agree.

I was saddened this week with the news of Bomber Harris and was upset at the recent loss of Arthur Bellamy, but it was good to see one of our former greats from that wonderful era of the late 50s and early 60s looking so good.

Always Cool John Angus, that was unless Terry Paine was playing against us for Southampton.

My thanks to Anna and The Ambler for the use of these photographs.