Duncan Fenwick replied to a previous article on Dundee talented footballers who didn’t quite make it to the top.
“I have one outstanding candidate for you, though I doubt if many would know of him,” he opened.
“As a boy, I lived close to and played street football with the Spalding brothers in the Charleston housing scheme.
“The younger brother Derek went into the professional ranks with Hibs, where he was a decent centre-half, then moved on to Canada or the USA, where I believe he now coaches.
“My candidate is his elder brother Tommy, who had it all as far as I am concerned.
“Though slim in build and fairly weedy, to be honest (think Denis Law in his schoolboy days going to Huddersfield), Tommy had a great football brain and played in the old inside-right position.
“He could pass, dribble with great skill and ease and could kick with either foot.
“For all his lack of stature, he had a cannonball shot in his right foot.
“The big English football clubs, Chelsea in particular if memory serves me well, were all sniffing around when Tommy was just 10 years old.
“Tommy’s problem was that he had chronic asthma, particularly bad in the winter, and, when the clubs became aware of this, they backed away from signing him.
“I honestly believe that, but for his asthma, Tommy would have gained full international honours at senior level and we would have been rating him alongside John White as one of Scotland’s finest inside-forwards.
“Tommy played for Lawside school team and the FP side, and was a regular for Dundee Schoolboys. I think he also played in the great NCR team of the 1960s.”
If you’ve got a story to share with John, email: jbrown@dcthomson.co.uk or phone 01382 575251.
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