THEY had The Knowledge, men like John Griffin.
An army of black cab drivers who dominated the scouting scene in London football for a generation.
They had the forensic knowledge of the capital’s A to Z map needed to earn their licensed taxi driver’s badges.
And a deep knowledge of football which allowed them to become dream-makers for countless aspiring players and fortune-makers for club owners. Often for just a £5 match fee plus expenses.
Griffin, who died last Sunday aged 81, unearthed top-flight stars such as Ian Wright, Stan Collymore, Steve Claridge, Steve Sidwell, Alan Pardew, Carlo Nash and Jody Craddock.
He worked for several clubs but most notably as Crystal Palace’s chief scout, where he enjoyed a close relationship with chairman Ron Noades and helped assemble a team which soared from the Second Division to an FA Cup final and third place in the top flight.
Had Griffin held a corresponding position in today’s Premier League football, he would be earning a hefty six-figure salary as a head of recruitment or technical director.
Back then, like many other influential scouts, he combined his low-paid football work with driving his cab around the capital.
Griffin’s nephew, the former Bristol City boss Gary Johnson, now managing Torquay, said: “John made millions for people, for clubs and players, but never earned very much from football himself.
“If you catch a taxi in London most cabbies will talk to you as if they’re the Lord Baden-Powell of football — well some of them, like John, truly did know the game.
“He was an old-school scout, he didn’t play football but he loved it deeply.
“You’d never get him near a computer but he had a phenomenal eye for a player.”
Griffin, who began scouting for Fulham and also worked for Brentford, QPR, Wycombe and Cambridge, was one of many cabbies who doubled as scouts from the ’70s through to the ’90s.
Former Palace boss Alan Smith recalled: “You would go to a reserve, youth or non-league match and see literally dozens of black cabs parked outside.
“The majority of scouts at London clubs also worked as cabbies — they were jobs you could easily combine.
“Many of them, like Griff, were brilliant but they never got rich from the game. They all thrived on football gossip and would all ‘claim’ every player out there but Griff did discover some great ones.”
One of Griffin’s predecessors, Arnie Warren, the scout who played a major part in building Palace’s ‘Team of the 80s’ under Malcolm Allison and Terry Venables, was also a black cab driver.
Many, like Griffin and Warren, had no playing or coaching background.
Others such as Fred Callaghan, Terry Bullivant, Gary Chivers and Dave Metchick were ex-pros who combined cabbying and scouting.
Smith said: “When I took over as Palace manager, I started asking scouts for written reports.
“There was almost a riot. They said, ‘We’ve been doing this for years, we can spot a player, don’t you trust us?’
“There’s a place for stats and video analysis but what that doesn’t tell you about is attitude and potential.
“When you talk about having an ‘eye for a player’ you are talking about gut instinct and imagination, having a vision for a player’s future — and men like Griff had that.”
One current Premier League scout describes Griffin as having been a ‘doyen’ and a ‘godfather’ of the scene.
He was re-employed by Palace in 2013 to help develop young scouts and continued working until last year.
The Palace side which achieved historic heights under Steve Coppell and Smith depended greatly on non-league products, many spotted by Griffin.
While he played a part in the recruitment of Wright from Greenwich Borough, the signing of Collymore from Stafford Rangers was seen as perhaps his greatest find.
In Michael Calvin’s excellent book on scouting, The Nowhere Men, Griffin recalls going to watch a promising Stafford goalkeeper at Barnet, only to be struck by Collymore — even before kick-off.
Griffin said: “I’m standing there when the teams ran out and thinking, ‘Why has nobody told me about
this fella?’
“His movement, athleticism, the way he walked even, marked him out as a player. Within five minutes I knew we had to sign him. A good scout can walk out after half an hour or less.”
There was genuine camaraderie between those scouts but also an immense competitiveness, with much kidology.
Leaving a match very early on, as if to indicate to rivals that ‘there’s nothing to see here’, when you’d discovered your rough diamond, was one such tactic.
But the influence these men had on many leading footballers was sizeable.
After Griffin’s death, former striker Collymore tweeted: “I can’t quantify what impact he had on my career because without him I simply may not have had one.”
Gone are the days when football’s top talent-spotters have to combine their duties with taxi driving.
But as Johnson said: “I started doing The Knowledge years ago — you need a brain like a computer to learn all those ‘runs’.
“And I guess you need a similar sort of mind to have the incredible knowledge of football John had.”
‘Where to, Guv?’
‘To the top of professional football, please driver.’
FALLEN BYE WAYSIDE
ANOTHER small sadness to come from the global health pandemic is that so many retiring or departing footballers will be denied the public send-offs they deserve.
Manchester City’s “Merlin” David Silva will not be carried off the Etihad pitch shoulder-high after ten glorious years in which he played a majestic role in four Premier League title triumphs.
In Spain, Athletic Bilbao’s 39-year-old club legend Aritz Aduriz retired this week with a back injury, without the chance to face Basque rivals Real Sociedad in the Copa Del Rey final or even say a public goodbye at such a showpiece match.
Great servants like these will be honoured by clubs but they deserved the chance to go out in a blaze of glory.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.sportingexcitement.com/football/premier-league/chelsea-will-let-ngolo-kante-miss-rest-of-season-if-his-coronavirus-fears-linger
