During one undefeated six-game period of 1960/61, Walter Winterbottom's exhilarating side totalled 40 goals while conceding only eight, the highlight being the 9-3 annihilation of Scotland, to which the skipper contributed two strikes.That afternoon in the Wembley sunshine marked the pinnacle of Haynes's achievement, as he was chaired off amid scenes of ecstatic triumph worthy of any cup final, feted royally for an inspirational display which appeared to cement his eminence for the foreseeable future. In 1957/58 they finished fifth in the table and reached the FA Cup semi-finals, where they lost to Manchester United - admittedly still reeling from the depredations of the recent Munich air disaster - only after two pulsating contests.Next, strengthened by the arrival of the dashing Scottish flankman Graham Leggat from Aberdeen, the following term Fulham won promotion to the top flight as runners-up to Sheffield Wednesday, then consolidated briefly among the ?te before sliding to the unwelcome status of perennial strugglers against relegation.Their fortunes were linked inexorably to those of Haynes, who had made his full international entrance while still a teenager, against Northern Ireland in 1954, and since become a star at that level. Later, the free- thinking Hill went on to succeed as a manager with Coventry and as a ubiquitous television broadcaster.As Haynes began to peak towards the end of the decade, so the status of Fulham, now chaired by the comedian Tommy Trinder, improved correspondingly. Yesterday morning Joan Rivers, appeared on Radio 4's Midweek programme alongside the commentator Darcus Howe. Despite his extreme youth, there were calls for the diminutive wunderkind to be plunged straight into first-team action, but Fulham handled his development cannily, loaning him out to local non-League sides, including Wimbledon, before calling him up for his senior d?t at the age of 18 in the home clash with Southampton on Boxing Day 1952.Almost immediately Haynes became a fixture in a swashbucklingly entertaining but frustratingly inconsistent Fulham side, which maintained mid-table respectability in the Second Division throughout the mid-1950s, the club earning an enviable reputation for its friendly atmosphere but being a ready target for music-hall jibes about under-achievement.The classy young play-maker, who also contributed his share of goals, was supported ably by the likes of the future England boss Bobby Robson, then an inside-forward, the prolific marksman Bedford Jezzard, the journeyman winger Trevor "Tosh" Chamberlain and the industrious midfielder Jimmy Hill, who would earn renown in 1961 as the leading light of the players' successful battle to outlaw the iniquitous maximum wage, a campaign from which Haynes was the most prominent early beneficiary. This view, undoubtedly rooted in jealousy, as he was a popular figure with fellow footballers everywhere he went, was massaged by his emergence as "the Brylcreem Boy" at a time when sportsmen's involvement in advertising was in its infancy.The son of a Post Office engineer, Haynes was born in Kentish Town, on the doorstep of Tottenham Hotspur, and grew up supporting Arsenal, yet he opted to enlist with Fulham as a 15-year-old amateur in 1950, believing it would be easier to become established at comparatively humble Craven Cottage than at White Hart Lane or Highbury.He was small for his age, measuring only 5ft tall on joining the club - once a month he stood with his back to the office safe so that his growth could be marked on the door - but even at that stage it was evident that his ability was immense.Haynes burst into the wider public consciousness that spring, scintillating for England Schoolboys as they hammered their Scottish counterparts by eight goals to two in a match which, unusually for that time, was televised live.
Certainly, if a Fulham colleague failed to read his visionary intentions - which happened quite a lot, especially when the Cottagers were mired in the old Second Division - then the maestro might be spotted in attitudes of exaggerated disdain, hands on hips and oozing perplexity.In fairness, perhaps he was castigating himself for not meeting his own ultra-demanding standards, but that was not an explanation which convinced his many Northern detractors, who saw Haynes as a pampered golden boy of the detested South. He was particularly adept at spearing long, penetrative passes through minuscule gaps in opposing rearguards, the weight and angle of these devilish dispatches invariably wrong-footing would-be interceptors, while his short-ball game could be equally devastating.However, some critics accused the majestic Haynes of overawing lesser talents on his own side, and displays of melodramatic admonition were not unknown. Yet, despite his stature as one of the most sumptuously gifted midfield generals of the 20th century, he spent two trophyless decades and virtually his entire career with unfashionable Fulham, a telling reflection of the sport's commercial transformation since his heyday in the 1950s and 1960s. An imposing England captain, whose international days were curtailed prematurely by injuries suffered in a car crash, Haynes was a charismatic perfectionist whose deliciously imaginative distribution teased defenders to distraction. Johnny Haynes elevated the act of passing a football into an art form, and as a result he became Britain's first £100-a-week player in an era when that represented riches almost beyond comprehension. John Norman Haynes, footballer: born London 17 October 1934; played for Fulham 1950-70, for Durban City 1970; capped 56 times for England 1954-62; twice married; died Edinburgh 18 October 2005. It was to be his final disc; though rumours persist of an unissued live recording.Paul Wadey.
Four years later he released the even more arresting Pucker Up, Buttercup. Jones's d?t album, Mule (1995), named in tribute to his mule Blue and released under his nickname Paul "Wine" Jones, featured excellent support from the guitarist Big Jack Johnson and the drummer Sam Carr, best known for his work with Frank Frost's Jelly Roll Kings.As a result of its critical success, he became a fixture of the label's Mississippi Juke Joint Caravan and, for the first time, toured outside his home state. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, and for periodically throwing hip-hop scratches and loops into the mix. The label had established a reputation for releasing discs by uncompromising hill-country blues musicians such as R.L.
