November 13, 2012
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Gerry Hitchens
The book I read to research this post was The Gerry Hitchens Story by Simon Goodyear which is an excellent book which I borrowed from the library. Gerry was a famous footballer who made it in Britain & Italy. In those days there was a £20 a week limit on players in Britain but the Serie A had no such limit & it was possible to get £80 a week. It was starting to attract many foreign footballers. Gerry played for InterMilan among other italian clubs. He was around the same age as my dad & they both worked at Alveley colliery as coal miners at the same time. Gerry was snapped up by Kidderminster Harriers & soon got on the A team. Harriers were a nonleague side and a lot of there income came from selling players. They sold Gerry to Cardiff City for £1,500 a harrriers record. He did really well for Cardiff who in turn sold him to Aston Villa for £20,000. From there he went to InterMilan where he became a pin up and a great player. He played for several italian clubs. Sadly although he played in the England team of 62 he couldn't play in 66 due to playing for a foreign club. Towards the end he played for nonleague clubs in Britain, Worcester City & then Merthyr Tyddfil. He wasn't as talented as some players but he was a hard worker and made himself good at soccer. He also had a knack for spotting half chances.
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