Relichtie
Articles Number 2
Taken from the Scottish Football Book No. 21
This is a transcript of the interview
"It has been suggested at various times in the last year or two that many Scottish clubs will soon cut down on full time players because of the economics of modern football. That may, in fact be the case, but I certainly don't agree that an increase in part time football will necessarily leads to a deterioration in our playing standards. Because for me at least, part time soccer has brought greater satisfaction in the last few years. And, maybe few people realise that I wasn't having my first taste of part time football when I joined Arbroath last season.
When I first signed for Partick Thistle it was as a part timer and, although I did become a full timer for a spell at Firhill, I had reverted to part time football before I moved to Norwich in 1972.And although I was reasonably happy with life in England both with Norwich and Sheffield United and then on my return to Scotland, with Celtic, going part time with Arbroath was no great hardship.
For me, part time football means far less pressures because I never really felt at ease as a seven-day-a-week soccer player. Having said that, I have to admit that full timers do have one major advantage. That is in pre- season. I honestly feel every player needs a couple of hard weeks of intensive training before the start of each season. Apart from that I see no real disadvantages in mixing football with a job on the outside.
I want you to understand that this is purely a personal view of life as a footballer and that I don't expect a 100 per cent favourable response from fellow professionals. And neither am I knocking full time football out of sight. For some of the best moments of my career came as a full timer, particularly at Norwich. I enjoyed the training routine at Carrow Road and I know that my play benefited for a time as a result.
It was there that I earned a fabulous trip with Scotland to the mini-World Cup in Brazil and it was there that I won a full international honour in the World Cup qualifying tie against Denmark in Copenhagen. And, although I slipped out of the Scotland pool later, I did score one of our goals that night in Denmark in the 4-1 victory that set us on the way to the Finals in West Germany.
So I am entitled to feel I did achieve something at international level as well as winning a League Cup Medal with Partick in 1970. But while I enjoyed these moments in my career, I did find full time football a bit of a rat race at times and I am certainly happy with part time football at Gayfield.
All right, I know I didn't jump at the chance of signing for Arbroath when manager Albert Henderson made his first approach to Celtic last season. After all, moving from the premier club in the country to one of the least fashionable took a bit of consideration. I said no to their original offer but, when they came again later in the season and I had a long chat with the boss I changed my mind. Mr Henderson impressed me with his ideas and ambitions and, at that particular time, I was stuck fairly permanently in the Celtic Reserve side. I had scored 21 goals for Celtic that season- but 20 of them had come in the second team. So the longer I talked to Mr Henderson the more attractive the move became. And I haven't regretted it, I got a goal in my debut against Dundee at Gayfield and the goals continued to come for me in the remaining games of the season. I know the Gayfield manager is on record as saying Arbroath might well have made it into the Premier League if I had joined them when they made their first approach to Celtic. That may be the case but I don't think any great harm has been done by our failure to make it into the Top 10. For one thing, I don't think the new set-up will provide the answers to all the problems of football in Scotland. Also, I don't believe Arbroath are quite ready for the Premier Division. I certainly see no harm in the club spending a season or two in a lower Division while some of the younger players at Gayfield gain experience. These lads need a taste of success to make real progress in the game and I think they have a better chance of achieving this in the new First Division. And, while I go on looking for goals, I hope I can teach the youngsters at Gayfield a thing or two about the game. Of course, I am not the only experienced player with the club. Dave Smith, who was appointed player coach last season, was a tremendous help to the young lads, before he left the club, because of his great ability to read the game. Andy Penman and Gordon Marshall, too, are vastly experienced at all levels and I would like to think that we can make a real go of it at Gayfield. We may have slipped out of the glamour set-up at the moment but there is no reason why we shouldn't climb back. And, what I like most about Arbroath, We'll try to do it by playing attractive football....
End
Jimmy Bone joined the club from Celtic for £10,000 before leaving to join St Mirren for £30,000 in February 1978. He returned to the club as player manager in 1985, and spent 2 seasons with the club, but was again drawn by the lure of St Mirren and joined them once again, this time as assistant manager to Alex Smith in 1987.