ArseWEB presents... Alan Hudson

Does the English game sacrifice flair for work-rate, individual skills for collective regimentation, extroverts for robots? -- By Hugh Jamieson, 4/90.

"People ask me why I'm out of football and I can't help feeling they're frightened of me and my reputation," he says. I've made my mistakes. I may have had a couple of beers ... but I also know the way to play.

"Leaving ARSENAL was the worst day's work I ever did", he recalls. "I just couldn't get on with the manager, Terry Neill and I was fed-up with the way things had gone for me, on and off the pitch. In fact, my last game had been the FA Cup Final defeat by Ipswich in 1978. I remember Don Howe saw me at the airport as I was leaving and couldn't believe it - but I had made up my mind and I was off".

"We had a team at Chelsea that was a delight to watch". The entertainment factor was always well worth the admission money and the skill factor was unbelievable at times. It was a pleasure to play in a team that allowed you freedom to express yourself with the ball. We were encouraged to play. There was never anything negative about our approach - why should there be when we had individual skills to kill off any team?"

"... I had a fantastic time at ARSENAL in the company of players like Alan Ball, Liam Brady and Malcolm Macdonald".

"I can't believe some of the stuff I see masquerading under the name of Top division football and then have to listen to some managers trying to cover their tracks and hide from the truth. The truth is that there is a lot of rubbish played,, with the ball being bombed from one end to the other without anyone getting the chance to use it with build-up play from the back and through midfield."

ON DON REVIE:

He could talk only of the way the Germans had bombed England. What a (bad) way to prepare for a game of football.

ON ALF RAMSEY:

He may have won the WC, but he should not have treated certain players the way he did and I told him so".

ON RON ATKINSON:

He has proved that you don't have to whack the ball about to survive. There are not many people around who would try to play their way out of trouble but Ron's one of them.

ON STOKE CITY:

Alan Ball wanted me at Stoke but the directors don't like me because I have told them what I thought about them.

ON TONY WADDINGTON:

I have seen him standing outside the ground without a ticket and then refused entry to the Stanley Matthews suite because he hadn't got a special pass. I went mad with the guy on the door and told him that Waddo had not only given Stoke some of the best years in the club's history but he had also been the man who brought Stan back to Stoke. They should call it the Tony Waddington suite, but that's typical of the way the game is run in this country".

Submitted by Pras.

See also ArseWeb's Ex Arsenal people index for other stuff about ex Arsenal players.