Remembering Sir Geoff Hurst's time in charge of Telford United

Sixty summers ago, Geoff Hurst fired the Three Lions to the top of the world with a hat-trick at Wembley Stadium, writes Matt Bozeat.

Now 84 years old, Sir Geoff will relive that night – and many more – in Cannock on Thursday, May 14, as part of his last tour meeting fans.

The Bar Sport venue is only a short drive from The Royal Oak in Eccelshall that Hurst owned for a spell.

He is also familiar with the area having played for Stoke City, West Brom and Telford United.

Hurst arrived at The Hawthorns early in the 1975-76 season for £20,000 with the Baggies in desperate need of a goalscorer.

He scored twice in 10 Division Two games before moving on to Seattle and Cork City and then returning to the area with Telford.

Upon his appointment at Bucks Head, Hurst said he wanted to start at the bottom and work his way up in management – and helping Telford finish third in the Southern League in 1978-79 helped him get roles with Chelsea and England.

That was his third – and final season – as player-manager at Telford.

He was appointed in February, 1976 – and handed the job of reviving a sleeping giant.

Under Ron Flowers – another member of the World Cup-winning squad - Telford had reached the FA Trophy final in 1970 and went on to lift the silverware the following season.

Maurice Barker - a 21-year-old fan at the time of Hurst’s appointment and now the club’s historian – remembers “a lot of excitement” around the time of Hurst’s debut for Telford, a goalless draw at Gravesend and Northfleet in March 1976.

There were only 778 there when Hurst made his first appearance at Bucks Head the following week – but the ground was much busier when be brought the heroes of 1966 to Telford to celebrate the club’s centenary later that year.

Ten of the 11 players who started at Wembley against West Germany in June 1966 started against Telford – and Hurst scored against his own team!

Jack Charlton, Bobby Charlton and Alan Ball were the other scorers in a 4-0 win for the Three Lions in front of a huge crowd of 8,032.

Hurst scored 24 goals for England, along with 278 for West Ham and Stoke City, but by the time he arrived in Telford, he was 34 years old and not the top striker on the club’s books, according to one manager.

The Tividale boss said Jack Bentley was the danger to his team rather than Hurst ahead of an FA Cup qualifying match that Telford won and it was Bentley who topped scoring charts at the end of the 1976-77 season, rather than Hurst.

A taxi driver from Liverpool, Bentley arrived from Stockport County in 1963 and went on to score 431 goals in 835 matches.

The 1975-76 season – when Telford finished 13th – was to be his last after Hurst decided to release the club legend.

“It was very controversial,” remembered Barker. “Bentley always said he had one more season in him and Hurst disagreed with him. The Shropshire Star was inundated with letters about it – and they weren’t on Hurst’s side. Bentley had always been able to leap high and had lost a bit of spring – but he still finished the season as top scorer.”

Barker says Bentley never played competitively again and added: “He couldn’t go on forever and whoever released him was going to get stick from the supporters.”

Without Bentley, Telford struggled, only avoiding relegation from the Southern League after Wimbledon were promoted to the Football League.

That was finished by finishes of ninth (1977-78) and third (1978-79).

Hurst scored a hat trick against Whitney Town October 1978 – but by then, he was finding it hard.

He admitted at the time: “The only real frustration is with myself. I wind up for a shot I would have buried 10 years ago and miskick. Or I scoot past someone and he comes tanking back to catch me. That hurts.”

The 1978-79 season would prove to be Hurst’s last as a competitive footballer.

He made his 79th and last start for Telford in a 2-1 loss at home to Grantham Town in the Southern League Cup, with notes from Blockley’s records indicating Hurst left the pitch to heckles from some disgruntled home fans.

In total, Hurst scored 14 goals for Telford and left the club having taken them to their highest-ever finish in the Southern League.

“He definitely left on a high,” said Blockley, who has seen every Telford match for more than two decades.

Hurst comes to Cannock as the last surviving member of the 1966 team - and the 10th of the starting 11 to appear at Bar Sport’s Premier Suite.

Tickets are available from 01543 572092 (option one) and https://bookings.letsbookfor.com/the.../s/geoff-hurst