Boss woman

One, on about six big screens in the bar, was Rotherham v Newcastle United. The other, in the function room out the back, was the reception for the column’s old friend Ian Hawley’s wedding to the exuberantly lovely Paula Healey.

Once, come quarter-to-five, those thus absorbed would have gathered anxiously around the Grandstand teleprinter. Now, honest, the Sky Sports results service is beamed through the lager font in the back.

Known universally as Boss Hogg, after a character in the Dukes of Hazzard or some such, Boss – ironclad wicket-keeper, hole-in-one golfer, miscreant magic sponge man – was married in St Catherine’s Church where, almost 50 years earlier, he’d been head chorister. (Honest, again.)

Their carriage, if not the horses, had been used by Ms Cheryl Cole for one or other of her own nuptials.

It was a great occasion – sponsored by Lidl, said Boss – and a truly happy couple. The bride, however, felt it necessary to interrupt her new husband’s speech. “There’s only one Boss in Crook now, and she’s called Hawley, too.”

WEST Brom manager Tony Pulis has joined a fairly elite group of 24 football managers who’ve had charge of 1,000 games at Premier League/Football League level. Nine, notes Martin Birtle, have had North-East connections. A bit hard for a routine question but, before the column’s out, readers might like to ponder their identity.

JUST as some remember exactly where they were upon hearing that JFK had been killed, so I vividly recall time and place when learning that Colin Milburn was dead. At work, first coffee of the working day, about 9.15am.

Allan Edgar, tenant of the North Briton pub in Aycliffe Village, rang about 10 minutes after the event to report that English cricket’s fabled Falstaff had collapsed and died in the car park outside the pub door. It was February 28, 1990, and Colin was just 48.

Allan was one of the finest landlords ever to pull a pint. That he and Ollie Milburn were best mates had a dark and devilish downside, however.

Never psychologically recovered from the car crash in which he’d lost an eye 21 years earlier, the man known throughout world cricket as the Burnopfield Basher clutched at the Jolly Ollie disguise instead.

It hid nothing; he was an alcoholic. Though begged by his mum to come back to Burnopfield, Colin would stay at the North Brit for weeks on end, sometimes spending all night comatose in the corner of the bar. Sometimes, too, he’d roll out his glass eye for the macabre amusement of ghouls and gawpers.

Now the whole woebegone story, a sort of cricket morality play, is to be re-told in a one-man play called When The Eye Has Gone – promoted by the Professional Cricketers’ Association, set in the North Brit on the last full day of Colin’s life and touring all 18 first-class grounds from November 1. It’ll be at Durham on November 11, tickets £10.

“It focuses on what can happen when a playing career suddenly ends and a player struggles with a difficult transition,” says PCA assistant chief executive Jason Ratcliffe. The play will also be performed at Burnopfield Cricket Club in north Durham, from which we hope to report, on November 12.

Like so many others, the North Briton is long boarded up. Allan Edgar, sadly, is gone too.

THE nine managers with a North-East connection who’ve taken charge of more than 1,000 games? Len Ashurst (Sunderland and Hartlepool), Brian Clough (no introduction), Lennie Lawrence (Boro), Lawrie McMenemy (began at the Bishops), Bobby Robson (true legend), Jim Smith (Newcastle United), Denis Smith (Sunderland), Neil Warnock (played for Hartlepool and managed Scarborough), Danny Wilson – played for Hartlepool and was assistant manager at Boro.

A MILESTONE birthday approaches, and at something akin to the speed of light. Since its imminence was also mentioned in Tuesday’s column, Peter Barker points out that Sunderland all-time hero Charlie Hurley was 80 that very day, that Dave Watson was 70 on Wednesday and that striker-turned-chairman Niall Quinn is 50 today.

Long-serving Sunderland Supporters’ Association chairman George Foster, a man rarely acknowledged without the “superfan” soubriquet, will be 90 on Saturday, the same day that the column hits 70 – but a bit bairn.

A very happy birthday to them all.

…..and finally, last week’s column sought the identity of the teams, other than Somerset, who’ve never won the county cricket championship. They are Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire.

Since England won the Ashes in 2005, Durham have contributed five players to the national side – more than all but two of the other 17 counties. Readers are invited to name them – and, for good measure, the seven Yorkshire players to have won their first England caps in the intervening 11 years.

Capped as always, the column returns next week.