Johnny Haynes - Life and Career

Life and Career

Johnny Haynes was born in the Kentish Town area of London, his first school was Houndsfield Road School, Edmonton and then attended The Latymer School in Edmonton during his youth. He signed for Fulham as a schoolboy in 1950 and played loan spells at amateur sides Feltham (in the Middlesex League), Wimbledon (Isthmian League) and Woodford Town (Delphian League). He turned professional in May 1952, at the age of 17 (the youngest possible age legally) and made his debut at 18. Unusually, and despite many offers from other clubs, he remained at Fulham for his entire professional career, until leaving for South Africa in 1970, where he played for the now defunct Durban City, alongside former Fulham teammates Johnny Byrne and Bobby Keetch.

Johnny Haynes was the first footballer to appear for England in every class of football available in his playing era - school, youth, under 23, `B` and full international level. His debut for the full senior side came on 2 October 1954, scoring a goal in a 2-0 England victory over Northern Ireland at Windsor Park, Belfast. An accomplished career saw him making 55 further appearances (the last 22 as captain) for the national side, with perhaps his best game being 1958 at Wembley Stadium when he scored a hat-trick against the Soviet Union in a 5-0 win. He was to become one of the famous stars of the sport along with Stanley Matthews and others of the era, and was to be one of the first to appear in adverts (for Brylcreem), after Denis Compton. He is sometimes considered the David Beckham of his day, with his exceptional passing ability turning him into somewhat of a "schemer" despite being an "inside forward". During his time at Fulham, he was picked on several occasions (as Captain) for the London XI in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

He became captain of the side in 1960, and a year later led his team to a famous 9-3 victory over Scotland at Wembley, (considered to be one of his finest performances). His final appearance, for England was on 10 June 1962, as England were defeated 3-1 by Brazil in the World Cup quarter-final at Estadio Sausalito in Viña del Mar, Chile. After the competition, Walter Winterbottom was succeeded by Alf Ramsey, who was less enamoured of the cocksure, free-spirited Haynes and never once picked him.

His career was also severely affected by a car accident in 1962 on Blackpool promenade, when the sports car in which he was returning late to his hotel was blown by a gust of wind into the path of another vehicle. Haynes broke bones in both feet and badly injured a knee. He recounts that the police officer who attended the incident reassured him by saying "Don't worry son, you've only broken your legs". He missed a season and, when he returned to the Fulham side, was not quite the same player. Prior to the accident he had captained England 22 times, and, being only 27, was expected to lead them in the 1966 World Cup; but he was never again selected for the national team. Haynes made 32 of his 56 appearances for England when Fulham were in the Second Division. No player has appeared as many times for the national team when playing outside a country's top tier. In his record 658 appearances for Fulham, 594 of which were in the Football League, he rose to become club captain and scored a total of 158 goals, another club record and one which was only surpassed by striker Gordon Davies in 1991. Haynes' best scoring season was 1958-59 with 26 from 34 games. He has scored the most hat-tricks (9) for Fulham, scored 4 goals twice and once even 5 goals in a First Division match. He was very selfless player allowing others to take penalties even when he was on a hat-trick. Haynes wasn't a prolific goalscorer, instead preferring to set up goals and assist. Haynes is often known for having saying he would prefer to give a good long-ball rather than score personally. He would often hone his passing skills alone at Craven Cottage laying a towel out in front of the clubhouse and pinging balls onto it from the centre spot.

Haynes had a single spell in football management, taking charge of the Cottagers for a brief spell in November 1968 after the dismissal of Bobby Robson as player-manager, but Haynes never had any ambition to go into coaching. In 1970, he retired professionally aged 35, and joined the South African club, Durban City, for whom he played one season and helped them to win the national championship. This was his only winner's medal in club football.

Long after his departure from Fulham, Haynes remained an immensely popular and respected figure at the club whose supporters had dubbed him "The Maestro". Unquestionably far more gifted than his colleagues in a relatively low profile team compared to the best of the day, he is fondly remembered for his tendency to fail to disguise his exasperation with his teammates and their frequent lack of understanding of his intentions and ideas. This often resulted in Haynes' iconic hands-on-hips stance or him giving an earful, usually to his pal Tosh Chamberlain who brought him to Fulham.

On 17 October 2005 (his 71st birthday), at approximately 2:55pm BST (1:55pm GMT), Haynes was driving his car along Dalry road in Edinburgh, Scotland, the city in which he had lived since 1984 after leaving South Africa when he suffered a brain haemorrhage, which effectively rendered him brain-stem dead almost instantaneously. The car veered off into the oncoming traffic and hit a light goods vehicle. Although the accident was witnessed by a doctor who managed, using CPR, to restart Johnny's heart, he was effectively dead. Although kept on a ventilator for some 30 hours, all tests that were undertaken by the medical staff in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, showed negative activity in the brain and, as per his family's wishes, after he had donated some of his organs, the ventilator was turned off at approximately 9pm GMT on the evening of 18 October 2005. Earlier afternoon reports that day from several major news sources, and the Fulham FC official website, suggested that Haynes had already died, but these were retracted within an hour, with Haynes' condition subsequently described as "serious". His third wife, Avril, who had been travelling in the passenger seat, was also injured in the accident, and was described later in the day as being in "stable" condition, having suffered five broken ribs and a punctured lung.