Читать книгу To Cap It All - Kenny Sansom - Страница 24

It was the award ceremony for Crystal Palace Player of the Year and Elaine was looking stunning in a beautiful cream dress. She didn’t feel stunning, though. She felt like a fish out of water and this made her temporarily lose her confidence.

We were both still very young and naïve and not yet used to being in the limelight at social functions. Elaine passed a programme round asking everyone to sign it so she could have a keepsake of this important night. When it came to Terry Venables’s turn he wrote ‘To Elaine, the belle of the ball. You are what you are. Never forget that you are as good as anyone else.’

Terry had offered her a word of advice in a fatherly way that meant a hell of a lot to a young girl in a world where you are mixing with people from all walks of life, and she still has the programme tucked safely away.

You see, Terry’s a very perceptive and intuitive man, and these are just two of the skills that make him an exceptional person as well as manager. If he comes across to the public like a lovable rogue – that’s because he is.

I remember that he was a great prankster, and poor old Ken Shellito (a great player but of the shy and retiring type) often bore the brunt of Terry’s wicked sense of humour.

Terry and Ken had been apprentices together at Chelsea and often travelled to and from training sessions on busy rush-hour trains. Terry used to get off the train two stops before Ken, and just as the train was pulling into his station he would stand up before bending down and planting a kiss full on Ken’s lips. Then, as camp as he could manage, he’d tell him he couldn’t wait to see him the next day, before leaping from the carriage and leaving a red-faced Ken sitting among the shocked commuters.

Remember, being openly gay today is accepted, but way back in the sixties, when Terry and Ken were apprentices, homosexuals had a tough time coming out.

It got so bad for Ken that he took to getting off at the same station as Terry just to avoid the embarrassment and then standing and waiting for the next train. Poor bugger.