Post by QPR Report on Mar 30, 2010 9:59:25 GMT
Flashback -
Bump/Edit/Update RIP Alec Stock
Alec Stock: Born Born March 30, 1917 - Died April 16, 2001
QPR Official Site - April 18, 2001
IN MEMORY OF ALEC STOCK
QPR WILL be holding a minute's silence before their game against Stockport County on Saturday April 28 in memory of Alec Stock.
Stock, who was 84, died on Monday following a long illness and was in charge of the club during one of its most successful spells.
After a playing career at QPR that was cut short by World War Two, Stock joined Rangers as manager in 1959 after spells in charge of Yeovil, Leyton Orient and Roma.
On his arrival, Stock began to rebuild the team, but with the arrival of chairman Jim Gregory, he was able to transform the club. Stock developed a youth set-up which was the envy of many clubs and he also bought well, most notably the signing of Rodney Marsh.
In 1961-62 his team scored a record 111 goals in the third division and in 1965-66 they finished third.
The following season they pulled off a famous double, winning the third division title by 12 points and becoming the first team in that division to win the league cup, coming from two goals behind to beat West Brom 3-2.
The following season, Rangers won promotion to division one, but with internal pressures mounting, Stock resigned without selection a team and was replaced by Bill Dodgin who took over as caretaker boss until the arrival of Tommy Docherty.
Stock later enjoyed success with Luton Town and Fulham and became a director at QPR in 1977. He even enjoyed a spell as caretaker manager in 1978 following the departure of Frank Sibley. His final role in management before his retirement in 1986 came at Bournemouth.
Everyone at QPR offers our deepest sympathy with his family at this difficult time.
QPR Official Site - April 19, 2001
ALEC STOCK FUNERAL SERVICE
THE FUNERAL service for former QPR manager Alec Stock takes place at Poole Crematorium on Thursday, April 26, at 12 noon.
Mr Stock died this week at the age of 84 after a long illness. He was manager of Rangers for nine years, winning the League Cup in 1967.
Read more: qprreport.proboards.com/thread/12474/alec-stock-rip-born-day#ixzz2z7u8kopL
GUARDIAN/BRIAN GLANVILLE
Alec Stock
Giant-killer with Yeovil Town who brought success to Leyton Orient
Brian Glanville
Tue 17 Apr 2001 21.29 EDT
First published on Tue 17 Apr 2001 21.29 EDT
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Alec Stock's football career, first as player, mostly as manager, will be remembered above all for four things. His success with non-League Yeovil Town, which put mighty Sunderland out of the 1949 FA Cup; his fruitful, resourceful years as Leyton Orient's manager; his brief, unhappy interlude as assistant manager of Arsenal; and his almost equally brief spell as AS Roma's manager.
Stock was a miner's son, born in Peasedown St John, in the Somerset coalfield. After the General Strike, his family moved to Dartford, Kent. At school, Alec became a promising Rugby stand-off half-back, playing soccer in the evenings. When he left school, he worked in a bank, which he detested. Soccer, as an amateur centre-forward, was a consolation. As was cricket. Jimmy Seed, Charlton's manager, watched him score a hat trick in a trial at Tottenham and signed him.
The year was 1936. In 1938, without having had a first team game, Stock moved across London to Queens Park Rangers, a club he was destined to manage. An ankle injury hampered his career. When war broke out, he joined an infantry regiment in which he was commissioned. When it became an armoured regiment, he was promoted to captain, commanding a tank, in which he was wounded in the 1944 battle for Caen. He was sent back to Wales to convalesce.
Married in 1943, his ambition was to become a bookmaker. Instead, his wife persuaded him to answer Yeovil Town's advertisement for a manager. A shortage of personnel persuaded him to play again, now as an inside-forward on Yeovil's notorious sloping pitch.
Yeovil's total wage bill then was a mere £80 a week, but early in 1949 they knocked second division Bury out of the Cup on their helpful slope. Then it was Sunderland, with such stars as Len Shackleton. Stock scored the first goal in a remarkable 2-1 win, although he would later say that the 3-1 win over Bury had given him more satisfaction. Reality intervened when Manchester United beat Yeovil, away from that slope, 8-0 in the next round.
The ebullient little East End shoe manufacturer, Harry Zussman, then brought him to Leyton Orient for what was a memorable partnership. Twice Stock left, twice Zussman would get him back.
Stock patiently rebuilt a struggling third-division (south) club. He signed and developed local amateurs such as Vic Groves and Stan Charlton, who were profitably sold to Arsenal. Twice Orient went all the way to the sixth round of the FA Cup, losing in 1952 to Arsenal.
Stock's tactics were pragmatic and intelligent. A policy of 20-yard passes was followed by one of tight defence, no square balls, and reliance on the zip of the inside-forwards.
"I hate yes men," said Stock in 1956, shortly before joining Arsenal. "I love the boy who comes in and tells me he thinks I'm wrong. He's a man." At Highbury, that didn't quite work out.
The idea was that Stock would prop up and perhaps succeed Tom Whittaker, pre-war trainer, post-war manager of the Gunners, whose team had fallen on mediocre times. Perhaps Stock over-compensated, addressing the Arsenal players aggressively, telling them that 20 of them would be sold. At one significant moment, he told a younger player, Danny Clapton, to go over to two seniors, goalkeeper Jack Kelsey and captain Dennis Evans, with an ashtray and tell them to stub out their cigarettes. The players tapped their ash into the ashtray, and went on smoking.
Soon, to Zussman's delight, Stock was back at Orient, but the following year, he was off again. It began when I received a phone call from Sid Robbins, Orient's chief scout: how could Stock get to Italy? I introduced him to Gigi Peronace, the Calabrian football agent who had just brought off the coup of taking John Charles from Leeds United to Juventus. Peronace convinced Roma that Stock was their man. After a tug of war with Zussman, Roma got their way.
But Stock's task in Rome, always so difficult a football city - although another Englishman, Jesse Carver, had recently flourished as the Roma manager - was overshadowed from the first. Roma had appointed as senior executive, Signor Busini, previously a joint selector of the Italian national team, and a notorious intriguer.
Never at ease under pressure - at the worst times, attacks of asthma would plague him - Stock perhaps intentionally signed his own death warrant on the occasion of an away match - he missed the train to Naples. Busini and other officials picked the Roma team on the previous train, presenting Stock when he eventually arrived with a fait accompli. He refused to sit on the managers' bench and was sacked the same evening.
Back he went to Leyton Orient and Zussman. He went on to QPR (1959-68), Luton Town (1968-72), and Fulham (1972-76), who he memorably took to the 1975 FA cup final, where they lost 2-0 to West Ham. At QPR, with whom he won the League Cup in 1967, he worked harmoniously with a talented coach in Bill Dodgin junior - "Bill's got that lovely head of white hair" - although his contribution at training sessions tended to be marginal. "We'd let him take it for a while," said Dodgin. "Then he'd throw down the whistle and go."
But Stock was a man always highly estimated by his fellow managers. His wife Marjorie died in 1986, and he is survived by his two daughters.
Alec William Alfred Stock, football manager, born March 30 1917; died April 16 2001 www.theguardian.com/news/2001/apr/18/guardianobituaries.football
VIA BUSHMAN
Alec William Alfred Stock.
Made his first appearance for the first team on 11th Feb 1939, against Swindon Town in a Division III Southern League match. Rangers won 2-1 with Bott & Mallett the goalscorers.
From Bushman Archives
And from Bushman's Photo Archives
Alec William Alfred Stock.
Made his first appearance for the first team on 11th Feb 1939, against Swindon Town in a Division III Southern League match. Rangers won 2-1 with Bott & Mallett the goalscorers.
Trip to Spain in 1967
Alec Stock wrote the following article about the trip to Spain in 1967 and a goal scored at ten to one in the morning.
As a result of winning the Football League Cup and Division Three, we found that certain pleasant things happen. One of them is that we are constantly receiving invitations to play clubs on the Continent. After much consideration, we turned down games in Brussels, Luxembourg, Germany and decided to take on a tour to Jaen in Spain, which is approximately 200 miles south of Madrid, standing in a most fertile part of Spain famous for its olives. We found that we were taking part in what was called, ‘The Olive Tournament’, besides ourselves, other clubs taking part were Roma (1st Division Italian League), Malaga (1st Division Spanish League) and Jaen (2nd Division Spanish League) So you can see the opposition was quite formidable. The biggest drawback to this tour was the fact that we had finished competitive football on May 13th and everyone had broken up for the close Season.
We managed to train on one day each week but we were short of match fitness and far below the standard of the other three clubs taking part, who were still engaged in their own cup competitions. However, full of confidence, we flew out to Madrid on Thursday June 8th. The following players were included in the party:- Ron Springett, Mike Kelly, Tony Hazell, Jim Langley, Dave Clement, Mike Keen, Ron Hunt, Mark Lazarus, Ian Morgan, Les Allen, Roger Morgan, Mike Leach, Rodney Marsh, Bob Keetch and Alan Wilks. Arrangements were made for Frank Sibley, who was away with the England Under 23’s side, to join us on Friday, June 9th.
It was a very good trip and we arrived in Madrid at about half-past-two, to take a coach and travel 170 miles south to Bailen. This is a small town about 20 miles from Jaen but possessing a very lovely hotel. The food was excellent, the swimming pool was beautiful and I was frightened if we stayed there too long, everyone was going to be about two stones overweight. We did a little light training on the Friday but generally we relaxed, sunbathed and enjoyed the Spanish hospitality.
We had a unique experience on the Saturday night, the day we were due to play Jaen. This match was scheduled to kick off at 11 o’clock at night but eventually we kicked off at 11.25. It was an excellent game and we should have been three up at half time. Rodney Marsh hit the bar, Mike Keen hit the bar and generally speaking we were playing very well.
Our team was:- Ron Springett, Tony Hazell, Jim Langley, Mike Keen, Ron Hunt, Frank Sibley, Mark Lazarus, Ian Morgan, Les Allen, Rodney Marsh and Roger Morgan. The substitute for Les Allen was Alan Wilks. We were unfortunate enough to lose Les Allen in the first half with a slight injury and with this we lost a certain amount of rhythm but I think readers would like to know that Jaen scored their goal at ten-to-one in the morning and I’m not sure whether this is history ? I wonder if anyone has ever lost a match at such a late hour ? Unfortunately, we lost Frank Sibley with what looked like a very bad knee injury in the last minute of the game. We played well but lost two players, one looking pretty grim.
We returned to the hotel at four in the morning, knowing that we were to play at eight o’clock at night against Malaga who looked a very good outfit. We decided to give everyone on the tour a game and our team was:- Ron Springett, Bob Keetch, Jim Langley, Mike Keen, Ron Hunt, Tony Hazell, Mark Lazarus, Ian Morgan, Mike Leach, Rodney Marsh and Roger Morgan. Again we had an excellent game, 2-1 down at half time, Rodney Marsh scoring our goal, to run out of steam in the last half-an-hour to lose 5-1. After the game, we went to the Presentation which was won by the local side, who beat Roma and once again you will be interested to know that the presentation of the trophies and the celebrations took place at half past two in the morning. We were just getting warmed up when we left at 4.30 to return to our hotel, pack our bags for Madrid where it was decided we would give the players two or three extra days relaxing and a bit of a holiday.
It was hard work but good fun and everyone got a good suntan. We look forward to being invited again.
P.S. One of the highlights of the tour was the dropping of the interpreter, fully clothed, into the deep end of the swimming pool. It was a secret as to who pushed him in !
P.P.S. We were without Keith Sanderson on the party who, as you know, is a part timer and was busy working. We sent him a nice postcard with a, “wish you were here” notice on it but at the time of writing he is getting his own back, on holiday in Yugoslavia. We were also unfortunately without Ian Watson, who on the day we arrived in Madrid, was having a nice, steady, cartilage operation.
As a result of winning the Football League Cup and Division Three, we found that certain pleasant things happen. One of them is that we are constantly receiving invitations to play clubs on the Continent. After much consideration, we turned down games in Brussels, Luxembourg, Germany and decided to take on a tour to Jaen in Spain, which is approximately 200 miles south of Madrid, standing in a most fertile part of Spain famous for its olives. We found that we were taking part in what was called, ‘The Olive Tournament’, besides ourselves, other clubs taking part were Roma (1st Division Italian League), Malaga (1st Division Spanish League) and Jaen (2nd Division Spanish League) So you can see the opposition was quite formidable. The biggest drawback to this tour was the fact that we had finished competitive football on May 13th and everyone had broken up for the close Season.
We managed to train on one day each week but we were short of match fitness and far below the standard of the other three clubs taking part, who were still engaged in their own cup competitions. However, full of confidence, we flew out to Madrid on Thursday June 8th. The following players were included in the party:- Ron Springett, Mike Kelly, Tony Hazell, Jim Langley, Dave Clement, Mike Keen, Ron Hunt, Mark Lazarus, Ian Morgan, Les Allen, Roger Morgan, Mike Leach, Rodney Marsh, Bob Keetch and Alan Wilks. Arrangements were made for Frank Sibley, who was away with the England Under 23’s side, to join us on Friday, June 9th.
It was a very good trip and we arrived in Madrid at about half-past-two, to take a coach and travel 170 miles south to Bailen. This is a small town about 20 miles from Jaen but possessing a very lovely hotel. The food was excellent, the swimming pool was beautiful and I was frightened if we stayed there too long, everyone was going to be about two stones overweight. We did a little light training on the Friday but generally we relaxed, sunbathed and enjoyed the Spanish hospitality.
We had a unique experience on the Saturday night, the day we were due to play Jaen. This match was scheduled to kick off at 11 o’clock at night but eventually we kicked off at 11.25. It was an excellent game and we should have been three up at half time. Rodney Marsh hit the bar, Mike Keen hit the bar and generally speaking we were playing very well.
Our team was:- Ron Springett, Tony Hazell, Jim Langley, Mike Keen, Ron Hunt, Frank Sibley, Mark Lazarus, Ian Morgan, Les Allen, Rodney Marsh and Roger Morgan. The substitute for Les Allen was Alan Wilks. We were unfortunate enough to lose Les Allen in the first half with a slight injury and with this we lost a certain amount of rhythm but I think readers would like to know that Jaen scored their goal at ten-to-one in the morning and I’m not sure whether this is history ? I wonder if anyone has ever lost a match at such a late hour ? Unfortunately, we lost Frank Sibley with what looked like a very bad knee injury in the last minute of the game. We played well but lost two players, one looking pretty grim.
We returned to the hotel at four in the morning, knowing that we were to play at eight o’clock at night against Malaga who looked a very good outfit. We decided to give everyone on the tour a game and our team was:- Ron Springett, Bob Keetch, Jim Langley, Mike Keen, Ron Hunt, Tony Hazell, Mark Lazarus, Ian Morgan, Mike Leach, Rodney Marsh and Roger Morgan. Again we had an excellent game, 2-1 down at half time, Rodney Marsh scoring our goal, to run out of steam in the last half-an-hour to lose 5-1. After the game, we went to the Presentation which was won by the local side, who beat Roma and once again you will be interested to know that the presentation of the trophies and the celebrations took place at half past two in the morning. We were just getting warmed up when we left at 4.30 to return to our hotel, pack our bags for Madrid where it was decided we would give the players two or three extra days relaxing and a bit of a holiday.
It was hard work but good fun and everyone got a good suntan. We look forward to being invited again.
P.S. One of the highlights of the tour was the dropping of the interpreter, fully clothed, into the deep end of the swimming pool. It was a secret as to who pushed him in !
P.P.S. We were without Keith Sanderson on the party who, as you know, is a part timer and was busy working. We sent him a nice postcard with a, “wish you were here” notice on it but at the time of writing he is getting his own back, on holiday in Yugoslavia. We were also unfortunately without Ian Watson, who on the day we arrived in Madrid, was having a nice, steady, cartilage operation.
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