I posted this in the 'early Charlton heroes' section but thought 'King' Arthur deserved to be known to those who don't remember the 70's:
"How could I forget Arthur Horsfield.......!
When 100 of us supporters and the victorious promotion team travelled together to the Tunisia tournament in 1975, we all had a great time mixing socially with the players at the Hotel.
'King' Arhur was a great favourite with all of us, not just for his goal scoring prowess, but for his jocular style and humourous storytelling.
On the plane home, he was sat next to me and told me many of his escapades with all his clubs - and his ambitions for the future.
King Arthur - Charlton legend!"
0
Comments
...........
Such as?
Arthur Horsfield (born 5 July 1946 in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England) is a former football striker.
He joined Middlesbrough as an apprentice - "I was in my local under eleven’s side at the age of nine, and Joe Soones, the Boro scout was the first one on the scene, knocking on my door and turning up at the matches."[1] - and eventually made 111 appearances for the club scoring 51 league goals and helping them win promotion to the Second Division in the 1966-67 season. During his time at the club he was also included in the England Youth international team.
After an acrimonious period at Middlesborough, he left the club in January 1969 after a heated exchange with the then manager Stan Anderson.
'When I left, it stemmed from being dropped again after we got beat 0-3 at Bristol City (January 1969). I was really angry and lost my rag. I went into Stan's office and had a right go at him. I remember we were still 'exchanging views' after I had stormed out of his office and was on my way down the stairs! (laughs) When I’d got to the bottom he shouted out "If you don’t f****** like it, you know what to do!" So I shouted back "yeah, well you can have it from me in writing tomorrow morning." Don’t get me wrong, I did actually get on well with Stan, but I was young and feeling frustrated.'[1]
He moved to Newcastle United but only appeared as a substitute, being kept out of the first team by Welsh international Wyn Davies. He scored 3 times in his 9 appearances and attracted interest from that years League Cup winners Swindon Town.
Danny Williams signed Horsfield to the Wiltshire club in 1969 for £17,500 (the club's record signing at the time), one of his last actions at the club. By the end of his first season he had become the club's top scorer with 22 goals.[2]
He took part in Swindon Town's European cup winning games scoring a hat-trick against AS Roma to win the 1969 Anglo-Italian League Cup and also the winning goal against SSC Napoli to win the 1970 Anglo-Italian Cup.
In June 1972 he moved to Charlton Athletic (another record signing), here he scored 53 goals in 139 appearances.
"Danny Williams left Swindon Town soon after I joined and was replaced by Fred Ford. Then Dave Mackay who was playing for Swindon Town at that time, took over and he wanted to bring in his own players. Anyway, he brought in Ray Treacy from Charlton Athletic for a club record fee. When I came back for pre-season training he told me that he’d sold me to Charlton Athletic; I was not happy. [...] In the end though, I really enjoyed my time at Charlton Athletic. All those appearances I made for them were consecutive you know - I never missed a match in three years."[1]
His League career came to end at Watford, who he had signed for in 1975. Again, he was upset at the nature of the signing -
In my last year at Charlton Athletic I moved to centre-half. That year we got promoted, and then at the beginning of the following season Andy Nelson, who had taken over from Theo, phoned me and told me he had sold me to Watford. [...] I was put under some pressure to go to Watford, and various people I spoke to advised me to ask for outrageous wages in the hope that they would knock me back. [...] By that time, I’d got it through my mind that I wanted to be a centre half, rather than a centre forward because I was getting a bit fed up with being kicked up in the air all the time. It was then that I picked up the only bookings of my career. I was only booked about four times in my whole career, all at centre half while I was at Watford. I didn't really enjoy my time there. I was disillusioned with the way I came to be there. I thought it was wrong that I was phoned up at home to be told that I was meeting their manager the next morning - a 'thanks and goodbye' type of attitude. I dug my heels in, but because they agreed to my wage demand, I had to go."[1]
Graham Taylor's appointment as manager in 1977 caused friction between them, with Taylor requesting that all players live within 10 minutes of the ground. Horsfield, who lived in Kent, had signed to Watford on the understanding that he wouldn't be asked to move home so as to not interrupt his children's schooling.
Taylor eventually offered Horsfield a coaching job, which he declined -
"Taylor did ask me if I would consider taking the reserve coach job, but at the time I felt that I was too young to give up playing, as I was only 29. It came as a shock to me at the time, but looking back, maybe it was a missed opportunity. I had taken a coaching badge at Middlesbrough when I was 17, along with Bobby Braithwaite, Eddie Connachan and Taffy Orrit, but I wasn't ready to do it full time." [1]
After being contacted by Watford chairman Elton John's uncle; former Nottingham Forest cup-finalist Roy Dwight, he transferred to Dartford to play in the Southern League.
"Dartford had a lot of problems, and nearly went out of existence, but bounced back later. At the time though, they ended up selling the ground, and houses were built on it. I had a street, Horsfield Close, named after me."[1]
He retired in 1977 and as of 2000 he was a manager for Parcel Force in Thurrock.[3]
Well, BFR, it was 32 years ago and I can't recall the stories in any detail now, but he told them in his Geordie accent with a wry sense of humour. He kept a much younger me entertained, anyway.
As far as ambitions for the future, he was well aware that being a journeyman pro footballer was a short career.
At that time, he told me, he already had a hairdressing business and part ownership in a small block of flats in Swindon.
He lives 5 doors down fro me! True Legend and some great tales to tell!
A-R-T-H-U-R
Arthhur Horsefield Superstar
Ah, those were the days...
Two seasons of it was in the old 3rd Division immediately after relegation in 1972.
Funds had to be raised and our star players sold: Paul Went 'went' to Fulham for £80,000 & Ray Treacy to Swindon for £35,000 - with Arthur coming to us as part of the deal).
Theo Foley was manager.A warm, friendly guy -a real player's manager who ran a happy ship - but results could be a bit indifferent as time and time again, Charlton would beat the top teams and lose to the stragglers. One dreadful Good Friday when we got tanked at Halifax 0-3, springs to mind but we beat top of the league Notts County 6-1, with Mike Flanagan scoring 4.
When Theo was sacked, disiplinarian Andy Nelson came in and immediately created a promotion winning team from most of Theo's squad. But Nelson, always aloof, arrogant and cold (he was skipper at Sir Alf Ramsey's 1962 Division One
surprise Champions Ipswich and tried to model himself on his own icon manager) was never popular with neither players nor supporters, despite his initial success.
Arthur points out how Nelson ruthlessly disposed of him, telling him he was selling him to Watford and that he'd better sign because he wouldn't play for Charlton again if he didn't leave. I remember my Dad telling me soon afterwards, that Arthur had chatted with him and said how Nelson was forcing him out of the club and he didn't want to go.
There was also the story of how Nelson destroyed the career of Charlton youth prodigy David Campbell, who made hid debut at 16 and was a regular in the side thereafter - then at the age of 19, the boy suddenly quit football after nasty dressing room abuse from Nelson.
Anyway, this thread is about Arthur Horsfield.
BDL, when you see him next, tell him that he's remembered well - and that he's a true Charlton legend!
Ah yes, that great European Cup winning squad - or it would've been from the way some people go on about them if only we'd had some sort of defensive capability. ANY sort of defensive capability would probably have done!
If we could have had EUFA Cup qualification for finishing 12th in the Third Division, we would have grabbed the chance with both hands.
But, remember, these were not Mr Curbishley ' let's grind out three nought noughts on the spin' type tactics.
Through my rose tinted spectacles, I remember swashbuckling, flamboyant, attacking, plentiful goalscoring football......matched only by getting dicked at Halifax and Aldershot, and losing at home to Walsall.
Other than that, the only team that could beat us was.....Millwall. Every time. ;-)
But thanks anyway for reading my post - which was probably meaningless to you. ;-)
Theo is remembered as a thoroughly warm and friendly bloke - as manager, he always made sure that us travelling supporters got complimentary tickets to just about every away ground.
Not that there was so many of us then.
We'd meet him outside the players entrance about 2 o'clock and ask him who was playing.
He'd tell us - and then ask us: "Have you got a ticket?" and reach inside his jacket pocket and hand them out.
Thanks, Theo!