I wrote this yesterday morning and was stunned and sad to see Cyrille had died. His greatness is assured. He deserves every plaudit. Regis, Cunningham and Batson were game changers. But I've found myself thinking about Clyde Best
Clyde arrived at West Ham in 1968, the same year as Enoch Powell's 'rivers of blood' speech. He was the only - as far as I could see - visible black player in the league until Regis's emergence nine years later
I remember getting his autograph at Lime Street one Friday night in, maybe, 1972? When I met him, he didn't believe me. He laughed at my earnest attempts to convince him.
What I also remember is the entire ground making monkey chants at Clyde. 'Ullo der man' was considered affectionate. The level of abuse he took was stunning
I met him in the States in the early 1990s. I say a picture of him in the tiny local Irvine paper. He was coaching. I couldn't believe it. I was desperate to interview him. I convinced the paper I worked for to do it by saying he was 'England's Jackie Robinson'
Bit over the top, yeah, but they bought it. The interview was standard - Clyde was wary about talking about race - but I was delighted. At the end, he asked if I'd ever been to West Ham. I blurted out a story about being locked out of our end and rushing round to the home end
"The Busies were..." I started. And with that he laughed really loudly and immediately demanded I continue the story over a bevvy. We became mates. He gave me my first paying job in football. Not writing.
I was a coach for San Clemente Soccer Club. A really bad coach but Clyde was my boss. But I digress
He did not like talking about how he was treated during his career. I suggested he should write a book. It would, I said, have to deal with racism. He was too nice a person to do that. He'd rather talk about the positive experiences
I was with him the night we heard Bobby Moore had died. He loved Bobby. He was out with him on the notorious episode in Blackpool (google it) and was the only one not drinking that night
Then I was with him the night of the Rodney King verdict. I was furious. LA needed to burn. No justice, no peace. Clyde looked sad. 'People die, Tony, people die.' You could see the sorrow of suffering a lifetime of racism but he was more concerned with decency
I loved to talk about his career. West Ham, Feyenoord. I wanted to see all his mementos. He only showed me one. A pic of him and Pele, signed by the great man. Well, one of the great me on the photo
Men on photo
I also played tennis and football with him. He was 22 stone and his knees were shot. He moved quicker over a yard than anyone I've ever seen. God, he was so good
So what's the point? Well, we say lovely things about people when they die. Clyde never had the cultural effect of Cyrille - and Cunningham and Batson - but he took as much abuse, if not more. He is not spoken about or admired as much as he should be
And I just wanted to give him credit while he's still alive. There's no other vehicle, so I do it here. I was able to reflect on Cyrille's greatness too late in @standardsport today. Just wanted to talk about Clyde's while he's still here
That's it really. I was thinking about great men who challenged crank racist theories, showed that they were nonsense and helped change society for the better through football
Have a read of this decoubertin.co.uk/the-acid-test-…
