 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clocking up an amazing 114 goals from 253 games for the famous Saints side of the late 60s and early 70s, wee Henry Hall has on more than one occasion been described as the finest player ever to pull on a St. Johnstone jersey. Now back at the club as youth coach, Henry took the time to meet up with blueheaven editor Gary Panton for this exclusive interview...
So Henry, could you tell us what exactly your job is at the club at the moment?
I'm full time youth coach, training the under-18 and YTS boys - we've got 7 new boys in this year and there's 8 from last year. I also help out with one or two of the under-21 lads, but my basic responsibility is to coach the youngsters and bring them through into the under-21s.
Are there any names coming through at the moment that we should look out for?
Last year we had Keigan Parker who broke into the first team in only his second year. We've also had good success with Chris Conway who was on the bench for a couple of games at the end of last season, after just coming out of the under-16 team. Brendan Crozier's another one who's pushed through to the fringes of the first team. If you can get one or two pushing through every year then you're doing reasonably well, and we've got quite a good crop here at the moment. You can't make any judgements yet on the younger ones though - you've got to give them time. Some develop quicker than others. Some are ready for the first team at 18, others are maybe 19 or 20 before they're ready to cope with it.
|
Henry as he is now, displaying the pennant from the Hamburg tie
|
|
|
How do you think the current team would fair against the Saints side you played in?
It's always difficult to compare the two. We were a good team for that era, but the present team have been consistently high up the league in the last 2 or 3 seasons. It's a different game now, and financial restraint hasn't helped the smaller teams - if you don't get the crowds you don't get the money coming in, and therefore it's much more difficult to get the players. When I played there was more of an even footing, but I think it's much more difficult now to create a team that can compete with Rangers and Celtic at that level. Ability-wise though we had a really good team, and I think the present day St. Johnstone team are possibly even better as far as being organised on the pitch and defending, but it's fair to say that they probably lack the flair that the team from my era had.
So would you say that the gap's a lot bigger now between the Old Firm and the rest of the teams?
Without a doubt the gap is bigger. Other teams just can't match them financially, and that's the difference. In the old days young boys went to all the clubs and they all had good young players coming through, and the lesser teams were always able to use the junior leagues to get players in. Now there's fewer players because the boys aren't playing football in the street or in the parks, so all the teams are now scrambling for a much smaller number of available players. Rangers and Celtic on the other hand can go and buy their players from all over the world, and supplement their numbers that way.
Who would you say is the best player you've seen in a Saints jersey over the years?
Going back to my time, the best player was John Connolly. He had a really silky left foot, and could play either out wide or through the middle. He was certainly the best player I ever played alongside, and if it hadn't been for his leg break I think he'd have gone on to get quite a few Scotland caps.
Would you describe not being capped at full international level as one of the biggest disappointments of your career?
I wasn't disappointed because I was honest enough to say that there were probably better players available at that time to play for Scotland. I was quite happy in getting two caps for the Scottish League, and I thought that was a recognition of how well St. Johnstone were performing at that time. My problem was probably that I was small, and strikers are generally expected to be bigger, stronger players. Obviously I'd have loved to have played for my country, but it wasn't to be.
Would you say that the tremendous team spirit of the side you played in contributed a lot to it's success?
Togetherness is a big factor for any team. No matter what game you're playing, whether it's football, hockey or basketball, if it's a team game you've got to have a good team spirit. That's something that Sandy Clark works on really hard here, and it pays off. The boys go out there and work hard for each other, and we did the same in my time. Willie Ormond had the knack of getting a good group of players together who all got on well with each other. One bad apple will go right through the team, and a good manager will get rid of him. That's the case here - Sandy has a good set of boys, and if there's a bad apple he'll be away.
Do you find it frustrating that a club like St. Johnstone doesn't get the crowds to match its on-field success?
Not really. If we were playing well in a bigger city like Edinburgh or Glasgow we'd get far bigger crowds, but I think that we get a good crowd for the size of the city. The way Saints have played over the last couple of seasons, they really deserve to be up there with the likes of Dundee United who are able to attract crowds of 8-9,000, but at the moment it's only around half of that.
Do you think the club could be doing more to attract more people to matches?
The only way for any club to do it is to cut the cost. For a father bringing two boys
it can cost £30, £40, £50 to go to a game, and that's just not on. You've really got to encourage families to come along, and if you charge a father £10 and the kids £3 or £4, that's not too bad as at least you're getting three people in for under £20. If you get more families coming in the numbers could go up to around 6,000, and you'd still be getting the same money in through the gate. If you cut the cost you get far more people coming in, which means you'll get a better atmosphere with the same takings for the club.
What would you say was the highlight of your playing career?
From a personal point of view it was playing for the Scottish League, but as far as playing for St. Johnstone goes it was probably when we went through three rounds in Europe, beating Hamburg who were a really well known German team at the time. Reaching the League Cup Final was another great highlight, but because we lost it doesn't quite stick in the memory in the same way. If there's one game I remember more than any other, it was a league game at Parkhead in the middle of August, which I think was the second game of the season. It was a glorious sunny summer's day, and we played in front of 70,000. We drew 2-2 and it was the most exciting game I can ever remember playing in. The Celtic side was basically the European Cup winning side, with the likes of Jimmy Johnstone and Bobby Lennox all playing.
What are your memories of playing against Real Madrid?
It was a great experience to play in a stadium like that, but obviously the heat was a big factor over there. We played really well for a half, but in the second half the temperature began to get to us and they began to give us the run-around.
What were your feelings on often being played on the wing or in midfield when the fans always thought you were better up front?
I started as a left winger with Stirling Albion, and I came here as a left winger, but it was really Willie Ormond who converted me into a striker. If you've got a pool of players with 2 or 3 strikers then you can't possibly accommodate them all, so I never complained about being played elsewhere. I always felt I was dealt with pretty well by Saints, so I never had any grievances about things like that.
Do you think that Willie Ormond's departure had a significant part to play in the team's gradual decline after that era?
I've never really said it publicly but things definitely did decline after he went. It's not just that he wasn't replaced with the right men, as there are a lot of other circumstances in running a team. You've got to get the right players in and of course the right team spirit. The standard gradually dropped, and I just felt a couple of years after Willie was away that things weren't the same and we were getting into the doldrums, which was really why I didn't want to stay any longer. I was with the club for 7 and a half years, and I'm sure that if we'd stayed at the same level I'd have been delighted to stay. It was nothing against St. Johnstone, but I knew that the time was right for me to move on and get a fresh challenge.
Did you have any favourite away grounds that you liked to play at?
Not really, but I had one strong dislike which was Airdrie. I hated it at Airdrie because of the tightness of the pitch. I was a player who liked freedom to run into spaces, and I think there was always a psychological barrier for a lot of us whenever we went there - we always seemed to struggle there. Funnily enough, later on in my career when I was with other teams like Forfar, we always seemed to struggle at Meadowbank which was the exact opposite. It was really open because it was an athletics stadium, which just goes to show that it's all in the mind.
Would you say that current players are more or less professional than in your day?
They're definitely more professional. They train harder, and for longer hours. Everything they do is much more professional, right down to their diet. It's not that we didn't train hard, but we would just come in for a couple of hours whereas now they look into everything much more closely. Also the treatment you get for injuries nowadays is much better - in my day you'd get treatment for a couple of weeks and then you'd be thrown right back into the team. Now you get treatment for a couple of weeks before the physio and his assistant take you for individual training to make sure you're fitness gets back to a certain level. Players also look after themselves a lot better than they used to, basically because they're on much higher wages and so you can demand much more from them. In my day we'd be earning £35-£40 a week at St. Johnstone, and they wouldn't be on much more than that at Rangers or Celtic - probably around £50-£60. It was good money for the time, but completely different from nowadays when you get players on £5,000-£6,000 a week.
Do you see yourself ever moving into management in the future?
No, I wouldn't think so now. I was manager at Forfar part-time for three years, and I was quite happy with that. I've always been a P.E. teacher, but circumstances were such that I was prepared to give up teaching when I got the opportunity to come here in a full-time capacity. I don't really have any ambitions to move back into management - I'm quite happy working with the youths, and I get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Having been a P.E. teacher I've always worked with youngsters and I think it's a natural step to come back to St. Johnstone, in a job that doesn't carry the pressures of management.
So you're not after Sandy Clark's job then?
No, no, you can quote me on that. I'm definitely not after Sandy Clark's job!
Interview: Gary Panton
Interview originally appeared: Issue 4 (November 2000)
Read more memories of Saints' 1971 UEFA Cup adventure by clicking here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top of page
Email