Re: Paddy Page
Posted: 13 Jan 2024, 12:57
You don't get many understated heroes. And yet this is what Paddy Page was.
Of course, I didn't know him as I was only a schoolboy during his reign in the 1980s but he's consistently described as understated, measured and similar turns of phrase, almost to the point that his legend might be overlooked.
But never.
A career shadowing the ageless Charlie Aitken up at B6, followed by spells in the non-league with Kiddy and Lower Gornal, gave nobody even the slightest inkling that the right back who signed for a particularly poor Yeltz in 1970 would go on to be fundamental to everything that we have today.
A surprisingly low 100ish appearances over the next decade don't begin to reveal the man's influence.
After Algy Webb stood down as manager / coach in the 1978/79 season, Paddy reluctantly took over the reins as player manager, finally hanging up his boots to concentrate on the gaffer's role in 1980.
And then it happened.
Over the next 9 years, a Yeltz team that had spent much of its long existence in the shadow of local sides such as Cradley St Lukes, Brierley Hill Alliance and even that lot up the A458, became something of a national sensation.
A few old heads from the successful Willenhall side of the day, a couple nicked from The Lye, some locals who had been on league sides' books as youngsters and a pair of squat forwards from a works team and Paddy's alchemy created a side that swept all before it.
Four league titles in a row, league and County cups against much higher placed opposition and, of course, 3 trips to Wembley, firmly put Halesowen on the map.
But there's so much more than a list of achievements.
As the fortunes of our local league sides floundered, with the all-conquering Villa sliding into Div 2 and Albion, and especially Wolves, suffering some of the worst times of their recent past, combined with the tail end of hooliganism and crumbling stadia, The Grove started to fill on a regular basis.
1980's Thatcherite blight on the traditional manufacturing industries of the Black Country meant that many needed a cheap hit on a Saturday afternoon, and they flocked to The Old Hawne Lane.
Fives and sixes were commonplace, Southern League and higher teams were sent packing in national cups with a flea in their lughole and a particularly memorable 6-0 pasting of then top of the SL, Kings Lynn.
Seven consecutive appearances in the First Round of the FA Cup, five under Paddy and a further two with a team that still bore his stamp, gave us some national acclaim, but it was the other Wembley day out, The FA Vase that cemented the legend.
Having beaten our old friends VS Rugby three times during the season, the sages could probably have predicted a 1-0 loss on the big day, with Lee roughhoused out of it and 10,000+ heading miserably back to B63.
But. adversity breeds strength and we went back to win it again. And again. 15,000+ of us there to watch the young Les Ferdinand collect his runners-up medal having been steamrollered 3-0 by Paddy's boys.
And that's what they were, the passion and bile of Malcolm, the mercurial Geoff and the twin strikers who's numbers remain staggering to this day, were assembled, molded, coached and honed by an unassuming man on the sidelines, quiet demeanor, pencil tosh and questionable hair, he overlooked over 500 games, winning 60%, with that number being over 80% when his side were at their peak.
But we owe him so much more. Many, many lifetime friendships were formed during those years. Dozens of my friends, who I've known for 40+ years come from The Grove. Some of my fondest (and worst) memories have been seared into my brain during and because of his work. Fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandaughters, and lifelong kinship can be directly traced back, for hundreds if not thousands of people to the work that Paddy Page put together during his golden reign.
And no man can have a greater legacy than that.
Paddy Page, RIP.
Of course, I didn't know him as I was only a schoolboy during his reign in the 1980s but he's consistently described as understated, measured and similar turns of phrase, almost to the point that his legend might be overlooked.
But never.
A career shadowing the ageless Charlie Aitken up at B6, followed by spells in the non-league with Kiddy and Lower Gornal, gave nobody even the slightest inkling that the right back who signed for a particularly poor Yeltz in 1970 would go on to be fundamental to everything that we have today.
A surprisingly low 100ish appearances over the next decade don't begin to reveal the man's influence.
After Algy Webb stood down as manager / coach in the 1978/79 season, Paddy reluctantly took over the reins as player manager, finally hanging up his boots to concentrate on the gaffer's role in 1980.
And then it happened.
Over the next 9 years, a Yeltz team that had spent much of its long existence in the shadow of local sides such as Cradley St Lukes, Brierley Hill Alliance and even that lot up the A458, became something of a national sensation.
A few old heads from the successful Willenhall side of the day, a couple nicked from The Lye, some locals who had been on league sides' books as youngsters and a pair of squat forwards from a works team and Paddy's alchemy created a side that swept all before it.
Four league titles in a row, league and County cups against much higher placed opposition and, of course, 3 trips to Wembley, firmly put Halesowen on the map.
But there's so much more than a list of achievements.
As the fortunes of our local league sides floundered, with the all-conquering Villa sliding into Div 2 and Albion, and especially Wolves, suffering some of the worst times of their recent past, combined with the tail end of hooliganism and crumbling stadia, The Grove started to fill on a regular basis.
1980's Thatcherite blight on the traditional manufacturing industries of the Black Country meant that many needed a cheap hit on a Saturday afternoon, and they flocked to The Old Hawne Lane.
Fives and sixes were commonplace, Southern League and higher teams were sent packing in national cups with a flea in their lughole and a particularly memorable 6-0 pasting of then top of the SL, Kings Lynn.
Seven consecutive appearances in the First Round of the FA Cup, five under Paddy and a further two with a team that still bore his stamp, gave us some national acclaim, but it was the other Wembley day out, The FA Vase that cemented the legend.
Having beaten our old friends VS Rugby three times during the season, the sages could probably have predicted a 1-0 loss on the big day, with Lee roughhoused out of it and 10,000+ heading miserably back to B63.
But. adversity breeds strength and we went back to win it again. And again. 15,000+ of us there to watch the young Les Ferdinand collect his runners-up medal having been steamrollered 3-0 by Paddy's boys.
And that's what they were, the passion and bile of Malcolm, the mercurial Geoff and the twin strikers who's numbers remain staggering to this day, were assembled, molded, coached and honed by an unassuming man on the sidelines, quiet demeanor, pencil tosh and questionable hair, he overlooked over 500 games, winning 60%, with that number being over 80% when his side were at their peak.
But we owe him so much more. Many, many lifetime friendships were formed during those years. Dozens of my friends, who I've known for 40+ years come from The Grove. Some of my fondest (and worst) memories have been seared into my brain during and because of his work. Fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandaughters, and lifelong kinship can be directly traced back, for hundreds if not thousands of people to the work that Paddy Page put together during his golden reign.
And no man can have a greater legacy than that.
Paddy Page, RIP.
