Geoff Hurst is remembering an absent friend. He has many more of them now, this last surviving member of those 11 heroes of ’66.
There is one, though, who fills his mind more often than most and one he will think of even more with a World Cup coming into view.
For Hurst, now 84, Bobby Moore was more than just a pal. He was a team-mate for England and West Ham for more than 15 years. He was his triumphant captain, a mentor and, without a doubt in his mind, the greatest influence on his life. Not just on how to play football, but on how to live.
This immaculate man, as Hurst calls him, who wiped his dirty hands on the parapet before collecting the Jules Rimet trophy from the late Queen Elizabeth II so as not to stain her white gloves. The man Mike Summerbee once said was the only guy he knew who could get out of the bath and still be dry, and the man who once turned to Hurst at a Frank Sinatra concert in Los Angeles and said: ‘Look at us. Two kids from the East End. It shows what football can do.’
Hurst, though, has never forgiven football for what it didn’t do for the only Englishman to lift the World Cup and the man whom Harry Kane could emulate some 60 years later. How Moore struggled to secure any significant coaching roles or positions with the FA or West Ham. How, unlike Bobby Charlton and Hurst, he never received a knighthood, which led to a Daily Mail campaign last year for Moore to be made a Sir posthumously.
England’s 1966 hat-trick hero has previously slammed the ‘sickening hypocrisy’ of all the statues, documentaries and books that flowed since Moore’s death from cancer in 1993 aged just 51. He just hopes Kane avoids the same treatment should he be the one to end all those years of hurt this summer.
Geoff Hurst is remembering an absent friend. He has many more of them now, this last surviving member of those 11 heroes of ’66
For Hurst, now 84, Bobby Moore was more than just a pal. He was a team-mate for England and West Ham for more than 15 years. He was his triumphant captain, a mentor and, without a doubt in his mind, the greatest influence on his life
The West Ham trio that played such a pivotal role in England’s World Cup win – Hurst, Moore and World Cup final goalscorer Martin Peters
‘Everything in football is different now apart from the goal posts,’ Hurst tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘Every single aspect of the game has changed, including this one. Mooro wasn’t treated particularly well and the reverence he should have received. People who I bump into remark quite often that it became quite evident that he wasn’t given the respect he deserved.
‘If we were to do it (win the World Cup) today, there would be an unbelievable amount of respect and admiration for the current players. I don’t think any of them would ever be treated in the same way as what happened to Mooro towards the end of his career.’
World Cup-winning captains Johan Cryuff, Michel Platini and Franz Beckenbauer all went on to coach their national teams. Moore didn’t. He once met Elton John for lunch at the Howard Hotel in London and, depending on which version of events you believe, agreed in principle to take the Watford job only to read in the newspaper three weeks later that it had gone to Graham Taylor. By 1993, Taylor was managing England and Moore was a local radio pundit for London’s Capital Radio.
‘I’m sure Kane is revered already by Spurs fans and Bayern Munich fans whether we win the World Cup or not but winning the World Cup will give him a certain levity on what he’s achieved at club level,’ says Hurst. ‘They will be revered immediately for the rest of their lives.’
Hurst sees a bit of his old friend in Kane. ‘He’s been a fantastic player and role model as well,’ says Hurst of the current England skipper. ‘And, you know, in the Mooro class, his behaviour is also very good.
‘Mooro wasn’t very noisy, very loud, very flash. He never actually behaved like that, the great player he was, and that’s one of the most remarkable things. You get people sometimes who are successful in life, and in football, particularly, and they sometimes get carried away.
‘When you work with people, it’s not just that you see their ability as a player, but also what they’re like as a character. You see football today and players scuffling and fighting and scrapping almost on a weekly basis. I never saw him lose his rag in over 500 games that I played with him.
‘It’s not just what you do on the field or in your business, but how you lead your life with the general public. It’s probably bigger to lead your life off the field and set an example.’
‘Mooro wasn’t very noisy, very loud, very flash. He never actually behaved like that, the great player he was, and that’s one of the most remarkable things’
‘Although he was only eight months older than me, he made the West Ham team and England side three to four years before me. I looked on him as a senior player, both on and off the field’
‘Winning the World Cup will give Harry Kane a certain levity on what he’s achieved at club level,’ says Hurst
It was for all these reasons that it was Moore who Hurst celebrated as he joined the likes of Olympic and Paralympic heroes Sir Mo Farah and Ellie Simmonds in The Big Toast on the last Monday in May, as part of Celebration Day, a cause which invites people to raise a glass, cup or mug to honour the loved ones or mentors that helped shape them.
‘He had a huge influence on my career, how he played, how he acted, how he behaved on and off the field and what he was like as a character. He was known as immaculate by fans, by friends, by team-mates, by opposing team-mates.
‘Although he was only eight months older than me, he graduated through the West Ham Academy and the team and the national side three to four years before me. I looked on him as a senior player, both on and off the field, and how he led his life.’
Hurst is aware that it’s Kane who will bear much of the weight of England expectation this summer. He is by far the leading scorer in his country’s history with 79, banged in 61 goals for Bayern Munich this season, and has a legitimate claim to be the best player on the planet.
‘I just think that it puts a bit too much pressure on Harry,’ adds Hurst. ‘It’s not about one player. He will be a very important part of the team but it is a team that wins a match, not an individual.’
Hurst, of course, knows that better than anyone. It was he, after all, who replaced England’s injured star striker Jimmy Greaves in 1966 for the quarter-finals and the rest was history. He knows that when it comes England’s hopes this time, Tuchel may well need to call on the skills of back-up strikers Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney.
‘People may think I’m stupid or overreacting, but it would not surprise me if we were to win the World Cup,’ says Hurst. ‘We’ve got some very good players. We’ve had a good lead-up.
‘It’s going to be very difficult, particularly in Mexico. I’ve played there. The technique needed to keep hold of the ball, not give it away. Chasing the ball on a hot day in Mexico becomes quite hard and it can take you longer to get the ball back. That’s the biggest issue, I think, for English players playing there as we experienced in 1970.’
Hurst and Kane together in 2018 – combined they have scored 103 goals for England
‘The memories for people who were around at the time – they recount exactly where they were, what they were doing. They talk about it as the best day of their lives’
Hurst started all but one of England’s matches at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, scoring the winner against Romania in the opening group game, before Sir Alf Ramsey’s side lost to West Germany after extra time in the quarter-finals having been 2-0 up until the 68th minute. This year if England top Group L, which includes Croatia, Ghana and Panama, they could face the co-hosts in the last 16 in Mexico City.
‘It would not be shock me if we won it,’ he insists again. ‘And it would not surprise me if Kane scored three in the final. I am not envious of that. No one would be happier than me if it were to happen again.’
And how will Kane feel if he does? ‘At the time you win the World Cup, there is initially a certain amount of deflation,’ says Hurst. ‘There’s a big build-up, you’ve beaten some great teams and then winning it after two hours in the heat, you deflate. But the enjoyment of it lasts for ever.
‘The memories for people who I bump into on a daily basis, who were around at the time, recount exactly where they were, what they were doing. They talk about it as the best day of their lives. They can recount it as clearly as if it were yesterday. That’s the great thing about memories, they last forever.’
Celebration Day takes place on the last Monday in May, inviting the nation to honour those who are no longer with us
