Soccer legend Bert marks 90th birthday

Shropshire's former Wolves and England goalkeeper Bert Williams received more than 300 cards from well-wishers around the world for his 90th birthday, a close friend has revealed.

Gordon Tonkinson said Bert, from Shifnal, had received cards from as far afield as Brazil and Argentina ahead of his big day, which was marked with a lunch party at Molineux yesterday attended by scores of football stars past and present.

Mr Tonkinson said: "He had one card from Brazil that had been marked on the front simply 'Bert Williams, England' and it managed to get to him.

"I went round for a cup of tea with him last night to take his card and he was really chuffed with the party."

Bert said the famous faces from the past at the lunch, which included England's 1966 World Cup-winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks, brought back memories.

He said: "It reminded me of when I was a young lad playing for Wolves and England. One of my greatest memories is playing for England in a match against Italy in 1949. This was when I got my nickname The Cat when the Italian fans started chanting it.

"I played really well in that game and we won 2-0. I also remember when Wolves beat Manchester United in the semi-final of the FA Cup, also in 1949.

"We played with two defenders who were badly injured but we managed a draw and in the replay, we beat them."

He was joined at the event by sons Vaughan and Paul, daughter Annette and his two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant, who was seated at a table at the back of the room with ex-Wolves and England legend Steve Bull, donated one of his signed guitars for a charity auction. It was snapped up for £851 in aid of the Alzheimer's Society.

He said: "I can get tickets for most gigs but there are some events where the tickets are priceless and this is one of them."

Bert was England's number one for the ill-fated 1950 Brazil World Cup where the much-fancied side suffered the embarrassment of being beaten 1-0 by the United States of America.

By Wayne Beese