Giles Metcalfe gets behind the wheel and throws it round a few corners in his latest ‘Got, Not Got’ blog article…
These days, football club car parks are full of Bentley Continental GTs, Audi R8s, Range Rover Sports, assorted Ferraris, BMW X5s, Mercedes-Benz SLR McLarens, and the odd Lamborghini or pimped-out Cadillac with look-at-me-don’t-look-at-me tinted windows, but back in the 1970s and 1980s players got cars as part of their contracts and often had to drive round with their names and the garage the car came from emblazoned on the side, just in case anyone was in any doubt over who was driving it or had left it in the supermarket car park.
Look at the joy on Rij De Kleuren of Ajax’s face as he reclines on the bonnet of his brand new Citroen BX, in almost Ajax red… Cheer up Rij, at least it’s not got your name on it!
Sheffield United players in the 1970s were lucky enough to get Renault 5 GTLs from G.T. Cars of Suffolk Road, Sheffield; with optional extra French bonnet mascot.
Geoff Hurst and Bobby Moore drove real man’s cars – Ford Cortinas, hot off the production line in Dagenham on a day when the Ford workers weren’t on strike.
And here’s Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne picking up his brand new 1988 model Rover, looking suitably chuffed about it, unless he’s just remembered the comedy fake log that he left in the dressing room toilet (again)!
Finally, just to prove that this isn’t totally a thing of the past, here’s a picture of young Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC players and their highland car share Peugeot 208…
If you haven’t got the first ‘Got, Not Got’ yet then please sort yourselves out and buy it from branches of WH Smith and Waterstones or online here…
Being Dutch obliges me to comment that ‘Rij de kleuren’ means ‘Drive the colours’. So your observation about the colour of the car matching the Ajax kit was justified.