Extremely sad news for those of us who happen to be of a certain vintage.
A larger-than-life character; a tremendous entertainer; the owner of a truly splendid moustache and, above all else, a very talented goalkeeper who was a pivotal member of some of the most successful Alty teams of the 1970s.
Prior to joining Alty at the culmination of the 1972/73 season, he had clocked up the sum of 316 appearances for South Liverpool, which had included 74 clean sheets, and in two separate spells at Moss Lane he played for the Robins on a total of 192 occasions, notably featuring in those memorable FA Cup ties at Everton and Spurs respectively and that simply unforgettable afternoon in April 1978 when Alty defeated Leatherhead in the FA Trophy Final at Wembley.
I still recall may of his humorous crowd-pleasing antics. Indeed, Ealesy perfected that old 'goalkeeper with spaghetti legs' routine long before Bruce Grobbelaar exhibited that particular ploy in the 1984 European Cup Final in Rome!
There were also those tactics he employed to infuriate opposition forwards, whether it was the arms outstretched 'scarecrow pose' when a wayward shot flew well wide of his goal or the classic collecting of a particularly feeble or underhit shot and then theatrically shaking or blowing on his hands as if they had really been stung.
There are also stories of him swinging on the goalposts; sitting on the penalty spot whilst his team were on the attack; cadging cigarettes from spectators and then having a smoke whilst leaning against the goalposts and allegedly partaking of a couple of pints before a game in order to to calm his nerves.
Beneath all of this artifice though lay an exceptional goalkeeper. One specific moment that has lodged in my memory is a superb flying save that he made during a tight and tricky FA Cup Second Round tie against Droylsden at a packed the Butcher's Arms back in December 1978, which promptly elicited applause from his captain John King. I recollect that Alty were only 1-0 up at the time but Mickey Brooke's splendid individual goal eventually put the game to bed and ultimately paved the way to that epic 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane in January 1979:
Condolences to his family and friends.
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Sad news
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