Not always a fan of the MEN these days, but I think Stuart Brennan does a decent job despite getting some stick on here and I like his piece today on Ron Dellow, who played for City in the thirties. Text below, or follow the link here: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...ball-news/oldest-star-ron-dellow-whos-5136276.
Oldest star Ron Dellow who’s still telling his incredible City story
By Stuart Brennan, 18 Jul 2013 09:56
He scored two goals on his home debut to send City top of the league, undertook a death-defying number of bombing missions over Germany during the war, then masterminded one of the great cup upsets in world football.
But Ron Dellow’s story is not cut from the Boy’s Own annual, it is the truth – and the Blues’ oldest surviving player, at the age of 99, is still telling it.
The amazing pensioner celebrated his 99th birthday at the weekend, had a heart attack on Monday – but was still keen to talk to M.E.N. Sport when he heard we were interested in his incredible story.
George Smith had been thought to be the oldest City player when he died on Sunday, at the age of 92.
But author Robert O’Driscoll, currently compiling a book about every City player in history, recently came across Ron, who has lived in Holland for 65 years after emigrating there just after the war.
Born in Crosby in July 1914 – two weeks before the outbreak of World War One – Ron had a trial for Liverpool as a youngster. But when they failed to follow up their interest and a spell at Blackburn came to nothing, he signed for Mansfield Town.
Some eye-catching performances for the Stags in the 1934-35 season, in which he scored 10 goals in 29 games, saw City move in and pay a £2,000 fee.
Ron only played 10 games for the great City side of the Thirties, but he scored four goals from the right wing after replacing the great Ernie Toseland in a fabulous team which also included Matt Busby, Frank Swift, Eric Brook and Alec Herd.
“That was a great team, and it was special to replace Ernie, who was as quick as anything,” Ron said, from his home in Almelo.
“I am proud of my time at City and still watch them on television whenever I can.”
He netted on his debut, in March 1935, in a 2-1 win at Derby, with Herd getting the other, and in his home debut he scored twice in a 4-1 win over Aston Villa at Maine Road. Ron has a newspaper cutting which proclaims ‘Dellow scores twice to send City top’, but the glory was to be short-lived.
In his own words he then fell into ‘bad company’ after suffering an ankle injury, enjoying a drink with a wayward teammate. He lost his form and moved on to Tranmere – who he helped to promotion in 1938, and promptly scored against City, who were relegated in the same season.
But his footballing exploits paled into insignificance after he joined the Royal Air Force.
Ron became a Lancaster bomber pilot during World War Two and is said to have flown an incredible 31 missions over Germany, at a time when life expectancy was an average of five missions. The man himself was modest about the matter, saying: “I didn’t keep count of how many times I flew!”
Ron had to ditch twice in the North Sea as his plane limped back from raids, and remembers being rescued by fishermen: “The most annoying thing was that when they pulled me out, there was a fish that wouldn’t leave my toes alone!”
After the war, Ron headed over to Holland to begin a new adventure, playing cricket.
“I once took nine wickets for nine runs – I bowled like a demon,” he said with a laugh.
He met his future wife, settled, and has remained there ever since.
He went on to forge an impressive career as a coach, starting young Arnold Muhren along the path to stardom by giving him his debut for Volendam as a 17-year-old in 1968. Muhren, by a twist of fate, went on to become an Ajax star and a hero to Ipswich and Manchester United fans in the early 1980s.
Ron’s Volendam team was known for its technical excellence, and Ron said: “I made Muhren into a player.
“I saw him in the street, took him to play for me, and then the club sold him to Ajax for a couple of million.”
Muhren crossed paths with Dellow again, in 1974, when he was a star name in the brilliant Ajax side which also boasted World Cup stars Arie Haan and Johnny Rep.
Dellow was in charge of second division Heracles, who shocked Ajax with a 4-2 win in extra time in a Dutch Cup tie – one of the great upsets of Dutch football history. Goalkeeper Arend Steunenberg was one of the heroes of that game, and he still visits Ron to this day, while grateful fans had a road named after their giant-killing manager in his adopted town of Almelo – it is called ‘Ron Dellow Laan’.
Ron was not as impressed as everyone else. Interviewed after the game, he said: “You play the best team in the world and win, and you feel like world champions – but we need to show the same next week against Den Bosch!”
Ron continued coaching at an amateur level until he was 85, and has remained remarkably bright and breezy despite his advanced years.
Despite his recent health, few would back against Ron adding a century to his football, and cricket, exploits.