"N%? . Wl &• 's': PAT WELTON INTERVIEW ^EJ fK^f Top nostalgia" buffs" "Arthur Godfrey and Dave Knight take a wander down memory lane and have a few pints with' Pat Welton. Pat Welton joined the club as a goal- As Pat had a lot of family and frien- keeper in 1947. He had just come out ds up there, Alex Stock gave him spe- of the army and wasn't sure of what cial permisssion to stay behind and to do. His brother had been in the come back on the train. Pat didn t army with Arthur Banner (O's skipper think, there would be many 0's fans I at the time) and they arranged a tri- at Euston. But he couldn t have been al for Pat. He had his trial on a more wrong, and as soon as the fans I Tuesday and he played for the 0's on saw him he was carried shoulder high the Saturday. in triumph. Things may have worked out differ- ent because'1 during his army time Pat played basketball as well as football. • He had considered trying for a place in the British Olympic team, but opt- ed for football. Eventually he was signed as a pro- fessional so his wages were £7.00 during the season and £5.00 in the summer. He made his debut at Notts County in October 1949, where he cou- Idn't have had a more dramatic intro- duction to league football, the Magp- ies winning 7-1. The first thing he learnt was how to pick the ball out of the net. Alex Stock remarked that if it hadn't been for Pat the score would have been worse. The 1950's was one of the most enj- oyable decades for the 0's. There Pat had agood relationship with were two great cup runs, the near Dave Groombridge, his rival for the miss and eventual promotion. The position between the sticks and they players got on well together in those used to train together. But Pat only days, playing golf and going for a played one game in the 53-54 cup run. ( drink in the local pubs with support- It turned out that he was to be tran- ers after a game. sfered to Derby County. Pat was none I Pat played in all of the games in to pleased at this and told Alex the 1951-52 cup run. His best game Stock his feelings. It was the same was the replay at Everton which Os old reason - dodgy club finances dic- won 3-1. Overall he believes the 5th tated a sale.On the Monday he went in round tie at Birmingham City was the for training and played for the rese- best result when we won 1-0 in front rves in the afternoon, but only last- of 50,000. ed six minutes. He'd injured a thumb. The players usually travelled to The Derby deal was off and injury and away games by train,but a coach was the form of Groombridge kept Pat out organised to take them to St. Andrews, of the side. The near miss of 1954-55 season close to promotion. But Les Gore had when Os finished runners up to Bris- an impressive 53 days in charge tol City (only one team went up in during which time he signed the lege- those days) didn't affect the team ndary Tommy Johnson. Alex tired of too much as they knew they d go up Arsenal quickly, missed the 0's and eventually. The following season was returned to lead us to promotion. a record breaking one for the 0's, This wasn't the only story'-.about with most goals in. a season (106) and Alex Stock leaving the O's. A former most points. It must have been great Orient player was putting the story Pat Weltoni8oaik (>en—piaye()- around that Roma were interested ,in —big pan in"Or,eea '"'"d with oon: luring him to Italy. The story hit s^yav'<: . o_PPasi,i'.on -YrQm~'Groon;^ ?,"'l?e,-L°D^'D.;b°i:n »n<]""dOTe'l^S5 the papers, it then reached the Ital- ^^e^"u^;iu"^a^ata^^d ian press, who asked 'Who is Alex to be on the terraces, and clearly it Stock?' They found out about him, wasn't bad being in the team. Appare- Roma were impressed with his record ntly the team daren't look at the ta- and proptly appointed him. But Alex, bles for fear of putting the mokkers having not even applied for the job, on things. The title was won against didn't go. The version of events acc- Millwall with a 2-1 victory with over ording to Pat Welton. 22,000 at Brisbane Road.That night Pat went home to his wife, had a fish and chip supper and went for a beer at The Rising Sun. One of the things that has to come up in any discussion of football from that period is the shoulder barge. Pat considered this to be a fair cha- llenge; any player who had the ball was entitled to be fairly charged. It was all part of the game and poor Vinney Jones wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes. If you played the game you expected it. Pat usually managed to get the ball around the post but admits to taking it into the net with him a few times. He didn't like the new white ball when it was introduced Pat's hero as a boy had been the either. The old lace-up one had been legendary Charlton keeper Sam Bartram. easier to grip, despite gettig heav- He (Pat) used to walk from his Eltham ier when wet. He used to wear a pair home to the Valley. He doesn't go to of yellow string gloves .during a games any more but insists that his match, then he'd go out wearing them grandson follows the Os. Perhaps one in the evening. Goalkeepers gloves day he'll turn out for the O's. nowadays are the equivalent of clown Opponents that Pat admired were shoes with the keeper looking like he Tommy Lawton and Peter Harbun, a navy is about to do an Al Jolson impersin- lad who played for Brighton. Pat. s career at the O's ended ni ation. Pat was dissapointed when Alex 1958. He was coming up to ten years Stock left for Arsenal. Arsenal had at the club and was due a benefit already signed Vie Groves and Stan match. He didn't want to go, but Alex Charlton, but this move came out of Stock explained to him that Football the blue. None of the players were League regulations insisted that a expecting it , being as they were player who had served the same club for ten years got paid a sum of E750. The club couldn't have afforded that, took him on as youth coach at Spurs. so he was transferred to QPR. Illness He eventually made Assistant Manager had injury hampered his time there so and was in the running for the Manag- he retired and went into coaching. He ers job at one time. In 1981 he left wasn t keen on the non-league scene Spurs and went to Kuwait. On his as a player to continue his career, return he took over a pub where he but as a coach he begun at St. Albans can be found to this day. It s The then Walthamstow Avenue. He then Old Friends, Woolwich Road SE 10, on coached the England youth team for the 108 bus route. six years. Under him the got to the youth World Cup Finals and won. While LEAGUE 263 Apps, CUP 18 Apps. he was with England, Bill Nicholson GOALS, er... None. INSIDE "THIS FOOTBALL CLUB" Peter Eustace finally faced the supp- and self-belief is the key to improv- orters club p^mbers on a chilly Mond- ing a player. In fact he believes ay night - the first 'Meet The Manag- that it is the difference between a er' night since 1989. He came at a good player and a great player. He good time. After ten matches at this alluded to Kenny saying how he had the football club as Peter likes to call ability to be as good as anyone, but Leyton Orient we are 2nd in the 3rd his self-belief, of rather lack of it, Division. Peter still calls it that let him down. I'm sorry to say he which is alright by me. The place was then made a few Ron Noades-type stat- packed and within seconds of Dave ements stereotyping black players as Dodds' warm welcome to Peter the obv- tempermental and so on (yawn), how ious question was asked. "Why do we can these basically racist myths pull everyone back at corners . The still persist? A bad own goal by answer was brief and simple: We def- Peter I thought. He thinks Kenny is end better with 11 men than with 10 . good enough for the Premier League Despite several points being made ab- though and obviously wants to help out being more entertaining and about him to achieve his full potential. the tendancy for the ball to come st- He also believes that aggression is raight back at us, Peter stuck to his an important quality in today's game guns and ended up offering us to come and he gets frustrated by players to the training ground and demonstra- timidity. He talked of how players te how 10 can be better than 11. can be nice as pie off the field, but There were no takers. 1-0 to Eustace. when they cross the white line they Peter went on to increase his lead have to build their aggression if several times over with his thoughts they are to win. He spoke of strnggl- on the players. It was the reverse of es with Robert Taylor on this. A nat- a Frank Clark session. Where Frank urally laid back character off the would have talked not at all about field, Eustace is trying to teach him individual players and team selection,to drop the"nice guy on it. Peter positively relished these topi- Power and Tempo are two of Peter's cs. He told us how he fel$; the team favourite words and qualities he bel- had a collective lack of confidence ieves to be vital. The current train- away from home and how frustrating it ing, which is still in an experiment- is to keep telling them they can win al phase, is built around these conc- away only for their performance to pts. Plenty of running and power tra- turn out "pathetic". He feels that ining, which he felt was too technic- building an individual's confidence al for the ladies present and some of