Back in the early Seventies, I used to play Subbuteo with my mate Paul who lived down the road in a posh house. He had everything, including electric flood lights, a working scoreboard, corner flags and a referee and linesman.
The plastic perimeter fence was a lousy idea because we kept kneeling on it and it hurt like hell. The green, baize pitch had been professionally glued to a large piece of marine ply which, when not in use, leant against the counter-balanced door equipped garage wall (I said it was posh).
He had just about every set of teams that played in Division One at the time including, obviously, Leeds United.
There was something really weird about those eleven plastic men on their bowl-shaped bases. Unlike other teams, the Leeds squad looked like the players that actually played for the Club at the time. There was a Billy Bremner, a Terry Yorath and a Norman Hunter. One of them even had more than a passing resemblance to Paul Madeley.
Another disconcerting fact about these perfectly formed plastic characters was their size. They were all, (with the exception of Billy) about an eighth of an inch bigger than all the other teams and, on a Subbuteo table, with a bounce akin to the Kenilworth Road artificial, were unbeatable. Also, at least three of them were perpetually offside.
As far as the painting is concerned. I love the fact that so many English football clubs in the 1970’s would attach a contemporary bit, often bedecked with flags, to the front of the main entrance in an effort to make it look classy and Elland Road was a classic example.
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