Nothing illustrates the transformation in the working lives of professional footballers since the end of the maximum wage better than the story of how Bobby Moore only just made it to the West Ham ground for his first team debut against Manchester United. Today the players arrive from their luxury mansions insulated from the world in a Lamborghini or Maserati a few hours before kick-off to be pampered by an army of physios, clinicians, sports scientists and dieticians.
Young Bobby had to catch a bus from his parents’ home in Barking to travel the three miles to Upton Park along with thousands of fans going to watch him play. Indeed there were so many that the Hammers left-half found himself at the back of a long queue at the bus stop. He was too modest and polite to push in at the front. When he eventually arrived at the ground a police constable refused to allow him through the main gates because the ground was full. A club official had to be called across to take him straight to the dressing rooms.
As Matt Dickinson remarks in this absorbing biography, although George Best was only five years younger, the difference between those born during the war and the baby boomers like Best was profound. Moore always looked like he was ‘of the Spitfire generation with his creased slacks and neat parting’.
The only child of God-fearing teetotallers, Bobby was so punctilious that his dislike of heading the ball (a considerable drawback for a centre-half) was ascribed to its untidiness. Like David Beckham, a successor as England captain and fellow Eastender, Moore was a perfect role model. The blond hair, the dimples, the straight back and the demeanour of honest, wholesome endeavour; as Michael Caine said, if you had held auditions for the job of England captain you would have chosen Moore without even seeing him kick a ball.
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