Shrewsbury need to get tough to nail the Hammers – Jimmy Lindsay

Scottish midfielder Lindsay wants Town to atone for their lack of bite in the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United in early 2016 and believes that is a key component of securing an upset.

Lindsay, 68, moved to London as a 17-year-old in 1966 and spent three years as a senior pro at the Boleyn Ground.

As a youngster in the capital having moved down from boyhood club Possilpark YMCA, an outfit in Glasgow credited with nurturing numerous Scottish stars, Lindsay spent time with Geoff Hurst, Bobby Moore, Jimmy Greaves, Harry Redknapp, Frank Lampard snr, Trevor Brooking, Martin Peters – the list goes on.

But Lindsay, now retired and living in Shrewsbury, wants to see Paul Hurst’s men get stuck into their Premier League visitors at a packed Montgomery Waters Meadow.

“When you play these teams it has got to be physical,” said Lindsay, who made 106 appearances for Town in all competitions between 1977 and 1981. “I’m not saying go out and kick them, but they have got to make their presence known and put themselves about.

“I’m sure they won’t fancy coming here. I won’t predict a result!”

Hurst’s high-flying Town have won plaudits for out-working opposition this season. They put in physical – but fair – displays in pre-season to down Wolves and Aston Villa and two other Championships sides – Cardiff and Burton.

Lindsay has attended matches this season alongside former goalkeeper Ken Mulhearn,

The tireless Hamilton-born former midfielder was a member of the revered Town squad that won the Division Three title in 1979, while also reaching the sixth round of the FA Cup, still a joint Town record.

He made 44 appearances in all competitions for Graham Turner’s men that season.

An energetic ball-winner, he was a key presence either from the start or as a substitute in the title-winning campaign.

Shrewsbury’s fine FA Cup run that season eventually ended in a sixth-round replay with Wolves at Gay Meadow. But it is the fourth-round tie against ex-West Ham man Malcolm Allison’s Manchester City that Lindsay recalls most fondly.

“I remember the Man City game,” he laughed. “It should never have been played in the first place.

“I remember them walking around it (the pitch), Malcolm Allison and his big fedora, shaking his cigar and the referee then came out and said it was all right!

“It should never have been played. It suited us. In the end we won fairly easily, I think I was sub.

“It was icy and frozen over. Maybe the ref thought it wasn’t that bad but it was very treacherous. Their attitude was poor, City, they didn’t fancy it – you could see right at the start. It was like they were thinking ‘what are we doing here?’ It wasn’t a difficult win in the end.”

Former journalist Bob Davies, who reported on Shrewsbury for the Wellington Journal, Shrewsbury Advertiser and Shropshire Star between the 1950s and 70s, recalled watching the popular Scot.

“The best word I can think of for him is industrious,” said Davies. “And he was quite creative. I can’t praise him highly enough, he was an old half-back.

“A very very industrious midfielder, he covered a lot of ground. Jimmy was a very likeable fellow, a very popular player. He wasn’t very big for a midfield player, but he fitted in very well.”

Davies fancies Town’s chances in Sunday’s live televised tie. He said: “It is a great opportunity for Town. They’ve played some of the top clubs in the past, Chelsea, Man United. Everton, Arsenal and Leicester – it’s an opportunity to crown what is already a memorable season.

“They’ve already exceeded all expectations and it would be the icing on the cake for an upset.”

After a fine career with Watford, Colchester and Hereford – where he won a Division Three title – Lindsay joined Alan Durban’s Shrewsbury.

Lindsay, like many ex-Town players, remained in the area and went on to become a pub landlord after hanging up his boots – at the Masonic Arms, the Exchange and latterly Canal Tavern.

He added: “It’s quite unusual, Shrewsbury. If you look at the number of players, like myself that came here to play and are still here now.

“More so than any other club I can think of. Jake (King), Sammy (Irvine), Ken (Mulhearn), (Steve) Biggins and (Steve) Crossy, there’s loads of them to have stayed in Shrewsbury.

“There is an appeal. You don’t really get it as much now, do you? When they join the club they don’t move house or buy houses here. They might travel in.”

While Lindsay and West Ham chief David Moyes did not cross paths during their Town playing days, the midfielder recalls how he did take on one role from Preston-bound Moyes.

“I don’t know David Moyes very well, but I took over his job at Concord College, in Acton Burnell, a college mainly for foreign students, according to Lindsay),” added Lindsay.

“He was coaching there and then he left to go to Preston and I took it over, and did it for about 15 years.

“It’s an old thing. Jake King and Sammy Irvine did it years ago. It was only one day a week, you’d take the team for coaching and they’d play games – it didn’t make me a coach though!”