They collected pop bottles for two days to buy a football. Billy James kept it overnight because he had his own bedroom.

Martyn Potts grew up in Blackpool in the 1950s. His dad was at the Matthews Cup Final in 1953. In 1959, aged nine, he and his mates on a cinder-surfaced cul-de-sac in Lancaster had no football. So they went round collecting empty pop bottles, claimed the deposits and pooled the money. Two days later they had enough for a ball. Billy James got to keep it overnight because he had his own bedroom and could guarantee its security from meddling family members.

Martyn wrote a poem about it for his 70th birthday. He reads it at the table.

In the season finale of Football for Breakfast, Jim Johnson sits down with Martyn in the greasy spoon café for a conversation that stretches from the 1950s to the present day.

The eve-of-final dinner

They talk about the 1966 FA Cup Final. Martyn was 15. His Uncle Bill was honorary secretary of the London Society of Association Referees and got them tickets – not just for the match, but for the eve-of-final dinner the night before. Tommy Trinder, then chairman of Fulham, told blue jokes to the all-male audience that a 15-year-old Martyn was not supposed to hear. His dad said don’t tell your mum.

The next day, Everton beat Sheffield Wednesday three-two from two nil down. Derek Temple scored the winner.

The object on the table

The ticket stub and the dinner programme from that night. He’s kept both for sixty years.

Martyn is a retired headteacher who still plays 5-a-side every Sunday – not walking football, actual running football. He has just published a new collection of poetry about the Wirral called Sandstone and Sea.

The result he’ll never get over? Everton 3 Sheffield Wednesday 2. Derek Temple. One on one. He slots it home.

Watch on YouTube →

Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Football for Breakfast is presented by OSS Security. New episode every Tuesday morning.