My old man’s favourite footballer passed away on Thursday night, aged 89.
The name Len Phillips may not mean much to anyone outside Portsmouth but he was the last remaining survivor of their team that won back-to-back league titles in 1949 and 1950.
An old-fashioned number ten, he also played for England.
Reading the obits, it was poignant to be reminded that Phillips had also served in the Royal Marines. Before turning to professional football, he had been one of the first to go ashore in the D-Day landings on Normandy from an assault landing craft launched by the warship Empire Battleaxe.
I interviewed him once on his long one-club career but he wouldn’t talk about the war. To him, it was something that just had to be done.
Phillips shows up the pampered prima-donna superstars in today’s Premier League. A hero in its true meaning.
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