A gas fitter’s son who said the only cup worth winning was the World Cup… George Cohen was England’s greatest right back
ENGLAND football hero George Cohen liked to say that if you’re only going to win a single trophy during your career, then it might as well be the World Cup.
And he not only achieved that accolade as part of Sir Alf Ramsey’s glory boys of ’66, but no lesser figure than George Best described him as “the best full-back I ever played against”, while Sir Alf called him “England’s greatest right-back”.
George’s death yesterday aged 83 leaves just two of England’s world-beating squad of 1966 — Sir Geoff Hurst, 81, and 85-year-old Sir Bobby Charlton.
Hat-trick hero Sir Geoff tweeted: “Very sad to hear my friend and England team-mate has died.
“Everyone, without exception, always said that George was such a lovely man. He will be sadly missed, my heartfelt thoughts are with George’s wife Daphne and his family.”
Toothless kiss
For George, 13 years of club football at Fulham brought no honours and relatively modest financial reward.
Yet after beating cancer three times, and his mother, father and brother dying in tragic circumstances, he was only too aware of life’s priorities.
When he sold his World Cup winner’s medal in 1998 for £80,000 to fund his and Daphne’s retirement, he said: “What I have been through does help put things in perspective.”
Yet George — whose nephew is 2003 Rugby World Cup winner Ben Cohen — did treasure his memories of that glorious July day at Wembley 56 years ago, the only time England have been crowned football champions of the world.
A witty and down-to-earth man, he recalled: “You can’t imagine the euphoria before the final. Then coming out of the dressing room, all we could hear was a beehive-like noise at the end of the tunnel.
“When we hit the open air the noise, movement and colour blew everything out of your mind.
“When the final whistle went I was in shock. The next thing I knew I was on the floor with Nobby Stiles giving me a big, toothless kiss.
“Now I know what it’s like to be kissed by Mick Jagger.”
The victory was a crowning achievement for a working-class lad brought up amid post-war rationing and austerity in West London.
George Reginald Cohen was born on October 22, 1939, at Walham Green in Fulham.
His dad Louis was a gas fitter and mum Catherine worked as stores manager at the nearby Lots Road power station. They had two other sons, Peter and Harry.
Though his surname came from a Jewish great grandfather, George was brought up in the Church of England.
He excelled at boxing and football at Fulham Central School, and although his dad wanted him to be an electrician, sport was his calling.
He joined the maintenance staff at Fulham’s Craven Cottage ground as a 16-year-old apprentice, and in 1956 at the age of 17 he made his debut as right-back against Liverpool.
In 1957 he became a first-team regular, though the most he ever earned at Craven Cottage was £80 a week — loose change compared to the lottery sums paid to today’s players.
George later said: “The biggest assets I had were speed and strength. I was chunky, never fat. We didn’t have the food to be fat.”
In 1962 he married Daphne, the friend of a team-mate’s wife, and they had two sons, Andrew and Anthony.
As a player he was as adept at getting forward as he was in defence, and soon attracted the attention of England boss Sir Alf.
He made his full England debut in May 1964, against Uruguay, and played in every game at the 1966 tournament, to great acclaim. In the quarter-finals England met an Argentina versed in the art of games-manship, in a famously violent match.
George later wrote: “Tackles were flying in — and so was the spittle. Our front men, (Roger) Hunt and (Geoff) Hurst, were taking most of it . . . and even in defence we were getting hit late and dangerously.”
At the final whistle, George went to exchange shirts with Argentina forward Alberto Gonzalez, only for Sir Alf to abruptly intervene.
In front of TV cameras there was a tug of war with the shirt, and George said later: “Alf was livid with the way the Argentinians had played. He said, ‘You’re not changing your shirt with that animal’. So I pulled it back.
“Consequently I had a shirt with a sleeve four feet long.”
Before the legendary final against West Germany, George recalled: “I felt like an infantryman going into the line and not knowing quite what to expect . . . maybe I wouldn’t be a hero but a goat.”
But he had a good game, and with England’s 4-2 victory, sporting immortality beckoned — even if the rewards weren’t always world-class.
Burger bar
Each England player received a bonus from the FA — of a paltry £1,000. And the squad were invited to a celebratory banquet at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, West London — but the players’ wives were not included.
George said: “OK, you were elated, but you couldn’t even enjoy the official dinner — our wives were upstairs in a burger bar.
“We’d been away from our wives for ages, and even Nobby Stiles can look attractive after six and a half weeks. Hahaha! Perhaps not!”
The next year George played his 37th and last England game, a 2-0 win over Northern Ireland. A couple of weeks later he suffered a knee injury playing for Fulham against Liverpool, which led to his retirement in 1969, aged just 29.
A one-club man, he had played 459 trophy-less games and was given an £18,000 insurance payout by Fulham and received a further £8,000 from a testimonial match.
Then after a spell as Fulham’s youth team manager, he left football and moved into the more lucrative field of property management.
He made some profitable deals but when planning permission was refused on some land he had sunk all his capital into, he and Daphne had to sell their home, though they eventually recouped the losses.
George also had to cope with family tragedy. His dad Louis died of lung cancer aged just 51, and in 1971 his mum Catherine was killed by a lorry in a Fulham street.
In 2000 his younger brother, Northampton nightclub owner Peter — rugby star Ben’s dad — died after being attacked by thugs.
George recalled: “Initially, Ben couldn’t focus on anything other than what had happened to his dad.
“It was an awful time for the family, but the boy knuckled down. We had long talks.
“It’s something you never forget but eventually he started to come round and began playing again.
“Now you can see what a determined character he is. He’s very single-minded. I was much the same as a footballer. Ben’s devoted himself to his rugby.
“Had Peter been alive today he’d be seven feet tall. He saw Ben make his debut and was so proud that he was playing for England.”
George had had his own brush with death in 1976, aged 36, when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer after being mysteriously struck down by crippling fatigue following a five-mile run near his home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
He recalled: “My world was turned upside down. I was a world champion and I was still very fit.
“One day I felt invincible and the next, the doctors put me in a side room at the Royal Marsden (cancer hospital) for people who weren’t going to make it, and talked about getting my affairs in order.
“Daphne told the doctors, ‘We’re not getting his affairs in order, because he’s not going anywhere’.”
A series of operations removed so much of George’s bowel that he had to be fitted with a colostomy bag.
He later said: “A colostomy brings you down to earth, believe me.”
He was finally given the all-clear in 1990. When ’66 skipper Bobby Moore died from the same disease in 1993, George became a patron for the charity set up in his honour.
Scandalously, it took a media campaign for George to be given an MBE in 2000, along with four team-mates from 1966 who had never received official recognition for England’s greatest sporting triumph.
As George stepped up to receive the honour, the Queen — who had presented the Boys of ’66 with their medals at Wembley — told him: “It’s been a long time.”
Bye to a true gent
FOOTBALL paid heartfelt tribute to George yesterday.
Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker wrote: “Another of the heroes of the ’66 World Cup-winning team leaves us. He’ll always have footballing immortality. RIP George.”
George’s former Fulham team-mate Alan Mullery said: “I’ve just got a kick in the teeth, he’s not been well for some time now.
“George had a wonderful life, he’s got a wonderful family and he was a terrific player to play with.”
World Cup-winning skipper Bobby Moore’s widow Stephanie said: “George was a close friend of Bobby’s and he himself had bowel cancer in the mid-1970s, but made a full recovery. George was a loyal supporter of the Bobby Moore Fund and will be sadly missed by us all. We send our sincere condolences to Daphne and all the family.”
Former England and West Ham striker Tony Cottee said: “So sad to hear about the passing of George Cohen. I had the pleasure of meeting this absolute gentleman on many occasions. So sad that another of our ’66 boys has gone . . . RIP George.”
Fulham manager Marco Silva said: “It is a huge loss for Fulham, for English football. As manager, I want to send our condolences to his family.
“He is one of the biggest examples in the club’s history, the numbers he reached speak for themselves. He is really important for the club and it is a sad day for us.”
Everton manager Frank Lampard said: “I always was drawn to that group of players (1966 World Cup squad) and it is always more than a shame when we lose one of those players.”
FA chairwoman Debbie Hewitt said: “We are very sad. We would like to pass on our deep condolences to George’s family and friends at this sad time.”