I WISH I could've seen Johnny Haynes play.

[Oakeshott]

"he would make the perfect pass (from any distance) only for the recipient not to be on the same level and then Johnny would show his total disgust with that player"

Quite often "that player" was Tosh Chamberlain, another great Fulham character.

[Eggs for Breakfast]

Johnny could not only land the ball on a sixpence, he seemed to know where everyone was on the pitch at any one time.  Hence, he could hit a fantastic defence splitting pass without seeming to look up.  He was worth the admission money alone.  He did not, however, shoot as often as I think he should have.  When he did, he usually scored.

[cmg]

Johnny could not only land the ball on a sixpence, he seemed to know where everyone was on the pitch at any one time.  Hence, he could hit a fantastic defence splitting pass without seeming to look up.  He was worth the admission money alone.  He did not, however, shoot as often as I think he should have.  When he did, he usually scored.

How right you are, on both points.

Very few players are blessed with this, almost mystical, ability to visualize the field of play as a whole. Bobby Moore remarked on this facet of Haynes' genius.

It is, perhaps, a justified criticism that Haynes had an almost disdainful attitude towards goalscoring. In the season we went up (1959), whether by accident or design I know not, (my theory was that the other sides hit on the idea of starving Haynes of people to pass to) he took on a much more aggressive scoring role and ended up leading scorer with 26 goals. His timing was so good that his shooting was deadly.
I have shown people the Youtube clips of Haynes' England goals and asked them to say, after viewing, whether he was right or left footed. It is quite impossible to say. (He was, apparently, a natural right-footer, but it didn't make any difference).

[georgiajohn]

Another old fart here, any of us from those days who watched him play could almost fill up a hard drive about him, he was without doubt one of the dominant players of his era, and what an era, in my humble opinion the greatest passer of a football I have ever seen, and as someone else mentioned earlier, he did not shoot nearly enough, but when he did it was like a laser, he put it where he wanted. He also was very hard to get off the ball, he protected that ball so well, no he was not fast, or go on amazing runs, but he could still win a match with one move. Simply put one of the greats of all time.

[RaySmith]

It's quite impossible for words to do justice to the reality.

You sometimes see someone, like Andrea Pirlo, open up play with a  cross-field pass of exquisite precision and think, 'Wow, that's a bit like Johnny Haynes.' The thing is that Haynes did it all the time and he did it while Mackay or Stiles or Smith was trying to kick lumps out of him (not that people were not trying to kick Pirlo).

He also did it with the heavy leather ball, that absorbed water, of the day, wearing heavy boots with toe caps, and on the swamps that often served for pitches in those days.

Agree with all the comments here, and add a memory of how he would stand for ages after a match signing autographs, only asking that we formed a queue.

[Tonywa]

He had the most extraordinary vision and his range of passing was superb.  He would turn inside a defender with his back to the opposition goal, hold the defender off, then turn and in one movement place a forty yard pass perfectly in the stride of one of his own players.  Let's not forget that he also scored a lot of goals from midfield and until Ivor surpassed his total was our all-time record scorer. Without doubt one of the greatest players of the post-war era.

[Lighthouse]

There is a magic that one can put into words about the really great players. They all seem to have time and space and can see everything in slow motion. I remember watching Haynes even in the lower leagues for Fulham and thinking the opposition must have come to some agreement not to tackle him.

There have been a few great players. But players who are just touched by magic. Haynes and Best were the greatest I ever saw.

[BigbadBillyMcKinley]

My mates dad, and a colleague of mine, have both been fortunate enough to see him first hand. Both said exactly the same; wothout doubt the best passer of a ball in any generation. 60 yard diagonal pass or a 6 yard through ball, would be inch perfect every single time. Plus, he was loyal to us and never moved even when the "big" teams came in for him.

Sent from my GT-S6810P using Tapatalk

[cmg]

I think we are all agreed on the unique wonder that was Johnny Haynes and how right it is to keep the memory alive.

Perhaps, then, I might be allowed a little heretical whimsy without danger of being 'Calvied' beneath Putney Bridge...

WHAT IF?.....We had accepted an absolute barrowload of money from Milan (although, strangely enough, they had, in Gianni Rivera one of the 'nearest to Haynes' players I ever did see) and JH had decided to display his genius and become a legend in Serie A.
We might then have been able to cover the Hammersmith End without selling Alan Mullery, Bedford Jezzard would then have probably stayed on, we could have avoided Buckingham's influx of fat has-beens and given Bobby Robson the space and time to be developed as Jezzard's successor. Marsh and Macdonald would have remained and....well, would we have been in Div. 3 in 1970 and where might we have gone with Robson as manager until he retired to have the Stevenage Road stand named after him?

It's a thought, isn't it? Or have I thought the unthinkable?

[HatterDon]

In re, the subject line of this thread ... Do you really want to be as old as me? Really?

[BishopsParkFantastic]

I think we are all agreed on the unique wonder that was Johnny Haynes and how right it is to keep the memory alive.

Perhaps, then, I might be allowed a little heretical whimsy without danger of being 'Calvied' beneath Putney Bridge...

WHAT IF?.....We had accepted an absolute barrowload of money from Milan (although, strangely enough, they had, in Gianni Rivera one of the 'nearest to Haynes' players I ever did see) and JH had decided to display his genius and become a legend in Serie A.
We might then have been able to cover the Hammersmith End without selling Alan Mullery, Bedford Jezzard would then have probably stayed on, we could have avoided Buckingham's influx of fat has-beens and given Bobby Robson the space and time to be developed as Jezzard's successor. Marsh and Macdonald would have remained and....well, would we have been in Div. 3 in 1970 and where might we have gone with Robson as manager until he retired to have the Stevenage Road stand named after him?

It's a thought, isn't it? Or have I thought the unthinkable?

If we had received a huge transfer fee, it would have disappeared into the abyss... Where did the £16million go that we received for Dembele ?

[cmg]

If we had received a huge transfer fee, it would have disappeared into the abyss... Where did the £16million go that we received for Dembele ?

You could well be right there. At least we got a tin shack and a green pole out of the Mullery fee - we seem to have gotten precious little else out of other big money departures.

[HatterDon]

What many of you are missing, is that Haynes didn't leave Fulham for a "bigger club" because he was drawing the highest salary of any footballer in England, and because it was difficult -- if not impossible -- during his best years to leave England and play in another country.

I'm not saying he was greedy or would have jumped ship had that not been the case, but those of you who think, "He could have made much more money elsewhere" are not exactly correct.

[Jonaldiniho 88]

Wish I had seen him play but alas I missed him by a fair few years but my dad tells me of his greatness. He says he would hit a pass and you would think "what was that" and it would enevitably be a perfect pass only a genius would have seen. I also heard from the fella that works at the bookshop by putney bridge that he was the first to put his hand in his pocket and buy everyone a drink before his whistle was wet.
   Let's make Roberts and David life time stall worts of fulham. What the heck anyone who's surname is a first name gets a life time contract

[Jonaldiniho 88]

Few spelling errors but I'm drunk in bangkok so please forgive the ale. It makes me make no sense

[cmg]

What the heck anyone who's surname is a first name gets a life time contract

That's a policy that would see us still stuck with Collins John.  :58:

[Jonaldiniho 88]

What the heck anyone who's surname is a first name gets a life time contract

That's a policy that would see us still stuck with Collins John.  :58:

I consider myself corrected. There goes my management policy out the window

[ron]

What many of you are missing, is that Haynes didn't leave Fulham for a "bigger club" because he was drawing the highest salary of any footballer in England, and because it was difficult -- if not impossible -- during his best years to leave England and play in another country.

I'm not saying he was greedy or would have jumped ship had that not been the case, but those of you who think, "He could have made much more money elsewhere" are not exactly correct.

I dunno though....AC Milan were very interested in Haynes as well as Tottenham were......and Jimmy Greaves, "King John" Charles and a few others made names - and a lot of money for themselves - in Italy.

A telling comment he made in an interview was that he stayed because he was almost always sure of a game at the Cottage....but he added thoughtfully "But looking back, I think I could have got a game anywhere..."
...and that in itself was a measure of the modesty behind the man who on the pitch demanded excellence from others, but mainly from himself.