Everton History

What Were the Chances of That?

A timely installment of Real Footballers' Wives featuring Maureen Temple, wife of Everton's FA Cup goalscoring hero Derek, who was born Maureen Molyneux in Dovecot on 31 August 1941 and sadly passed away this week

Real Footballers' Wives — Maureen Temple

My first recollection of my dad is when I was four years old and we were living with my grandma in Aldwark Road, Dovecot. I was playing in the garden when one of the neighbours told me to go and tell my mum that daddy was coming home. It was during the war and he was stationed in Egypt so mum took no notice of me. The very next minute he walked through the door wearing his army uniform.

Mum comes from a big family with five sisters and a brother and we all lived together at that time, so if one person left, you didn’t really notice. I have an elder sister, Pat, and I’m three and a half years older than my brother Keith, so my dad must have seen me when I was a baby but I don’t remember it. I do remember my mum saying that every time he was home on leave she became pregnant though. Keith’s name is Ian Keith really, but when my dad got home he said he didn’t like Ian very much and we dropped it and called him Keith from then on.

We had a normal and completely happy childhood. When you’re from large family, things happen and you just take it in your stride. I can remember a lot of people always being around but I don’t recall any major upsets. They say the second child is in a hurry to catch up but I wasn’t in a hurry to do anything. I was quite happy to stay in whatever situation I found myself. I wasn’t the discontented kind, never thought about anything that didn’t affect me and was quite content with my lot. There’s so much to be scared about in society now, but we were protected from all the horrible things in life. It was all so innocent and I was quite grown up before I realised there were things that I knew nothing about.

I went to Dovecot secondary modern and was in the A stream at school. I passed my O’ levels and went to college where I learned make-up and manicure. Derek went to the same school as me, he lived a couple of roads away and we were practically neighbours. I didn’t know him at school because he’s three years older but I met him through my sister, Pat. He was part of her group of friends and I do remember him from being quite young because one day when I was walking home from school there was an ambulance dropping a boy off at his house who’d broken a wrist playing football. It stuck in my mind because to see an ambulance was a rare occurrence in those days, but it was only years later that I found out it was him.

Looks count for a lot when you’re 14. I thought Derek was a really good-looking boy and when I started talking to him I realised he was a nice person too. We went out in a group and to parties together but only started dating about a year later. My mum and dad thought he was the most wonderful thing on two legs and if we ever had a tiff, they always took his side and I used to get quite put out about it.

The only thing I knew about football was that my brother played at school. In fact when I met Derek, I don’t think I even knew he was a footballer. I was the little sister in a big group and I didn’t ask those kinds of questions. I knew he went to work but that was all.

He played for Everton reserves when I really became aware of it. He’d worked his way up through the Liverpool schoolboys, the Everton youth, England schoolboys and England youth and I’d known him a few years before I realised what he was doing. He made his first-team debut in the spring of 1957 when he played alongside Dave Hickson, but his career was interrupted by national service. I suppose he was lucky because it was delayed by 12 months but they caught up with him in the end and had to go.

In those days you did everything your mum and dad said because they were older and wiser. They told us not to get engaged because there was two years ahead where we would be apart and we might change our minds, so we took their advice.

I missed him terribly when he was away and that was something that never got any easier with time. Even after we’d been together for years and he went to play a match or away for a couple of days training, it was upsetting.

When he was first in the army he was posted at Harington Barracks in Formby for his basic training and would come home as often as possible, but then he was sent out to Kenya and I didn’t see him for 10 whole months and that was very hard. It was an awfully long time to be apart and we wrote to each other all the time.

I would catch the tram to Binns Road in Edge Lane where I started working in the Meccano factory. The job I did involved the forerunners of computers, little punch cards and a tiny keyboard. Now they have microchips but then if you pressed the key, the corresponding hole came up on the card and it stored the data and personal details about the customers, then it went to another machine that was more sophisticated and read the information.

 

Derek finally came back in December 1959. We’d spent enough time apart to know that we definitely wanted to be together so we just carried on where we left off and got engaged in the January.

My dad would take me to watch the home games because I couldn’t drive and I never went anywhere on my own. I loved watching him play although it made me nervous. He started off as a centre-forward but ended up on the left-wing, and that was Mr Catterick’s decision. He was the leading goalscorer with Liverpool schoolboys for years, in fact, it was only quite recently that his record of 70 goals in a season was broken. He loved to hit a volley into the net and to see him score was the best feeling in the world, especially if it was a skillful goal.

There were nightclubs in Liverpool but we never went to them, I was more into ballroom dancing side of life. We would usually go to the Grafton. Derek wasn’t much of a dancer and no sense of rhythm, which seems odd when he can kick a ball and play football so well. We shuffled around the dancefloor and if the truth be known, we’re still doing that to this day.

Our wedding was arranged for May 1961 but Everton were going off on a tour of America so we had to reorganise everything and we married on Christmas Eve, 1960, in the church of the Holy Spirit in Dovecot. It should have been at 3 o’clock in the afternoon but the wedding in front of ours was delayed. I don’t know why it was late but that was the one and only time in his life Derek had been on time and they had to take him round the block about half a dozen times.

We didn’t get out of the church until about half past four and by that time it was pitch black, snowing, sleeting and freezing fog and not very suitable for taking photos. Brian Labone and another centre-half, David Gorrie, were there and Derek’s brother, Albert was best man. Although it was a Saturday, there was no match that day, but there was one on the Boxing Day so we didn’t go away on a honeymoon. My grandma had gone to stay with her daughter for Christmas so we stayed at her house over the holiday period and when the football season finished we went to Jersey for a fortnight in June.

We flew to the Channel Islands from Liverpool and although Derek had traveled extensively it was he first time I’d ever been on a plane. It was one of the little island hoppers with the nose pointing up and tiny propellers. The weather was really bad and the plane was bouncing around like mad, but in my naivety, I thought that was what planes did and it was only when we landed that Derek mentioned the turbulence and I realised it wasn’t supposed to be like that. It didn’t put me off though and I still like flying.

My brother and sister were still at home so there was no room for us there, and we went and stayed in Kensington with my auntie Joyce and uncle Arthur while we were waiting for our house to be built in Ormskirk but I still saw my parents’ everyday. We never lived in a club house, we moved straight out to Ormskirk and we live in the same house to this day.

Our first baby was due when Derek was on a pre-season tour in Australia. They were away for five or six weeks so my mum came to stay with me for a few days during the week, then we’d go and stay with my dad for a change of scene because by that time my brother and sister were married and he was more or less on his own. Derek was safely home by the time Neil was born in Ormskirk hospital on July 17, 1964, a couple of weeks overdue.

We would drop Neil off with my parents on a match day and go to the game. I always went to Goodison with Derek but he had to go in at least an hour before the kick-off and there was nowhere for us to wait, so I would sit in the car until it was time to go in or if there was another wife, I’d go and wait in her car and we’d chat until it was time to go in.

He would be disappointed in defeat but he didn’t bring it home with him, it just spurred him on to be better the next week. I don’t remember him getting uptight before the match either, there must have been a certain amount of nervous tension there but that’s all part of the game.

He had a couple of bad ankle injuries, one of which damaged his cartilage, but as he couldn’t train he didn’t realise about his knee his knee was damaged until he went back into training and he just kept breaking down. They took him in to Gateacre Grange nursing home for an exploratory operation and discovered a big tear in his cartilage so he had to have it removed. He missed out on the 1963 championship because of that and it put him out of the game for quite a while. Another time he was playing against Leeds and he was carried off the pitch. It shocked me and I had to go and have a word with Harry Catterick to find out what it was. They told me he was OK and he’d just been winded and knocked about a bit and he came back on in the second half. I was so angry because he was such a clean player, he only ever had one booking in his entire career and he didn’t do anything to deserve such a tackle.

In the early days, I was friendly with Pat and Brian Labone and Beryl and Brian Harris. Then Annette and Alec Scott, Dennis and Eileen Stevens and Ann and Gordon West came along and they were the main circle we socialised and went out with but it’s such a transient life and these people move on. Derek and I were the only constant and as people moved on, the group got smaller. We lost touch with most of them but we still see Dennis and Eileen regularly and we’re all dear friends and we’re still in touch with Brian Labone and Annette Scott.

Derek already had three caps for England schoolboys and the under-20’s when I met him but he won his only full cap in 1965 against West Germany in Nuremberg. He still has a West Germany shirt among his souvenirs and keepsakes.

We would go out on a Saturday after the match but not into Liverpool. We’d start off in a little restaurant in Ormskirk called the Wincot. It’s not there now, its got a housing estate on it, but we would start there then head out towards the Sands and Toad Hall in Ainsdale or to the Kingsway in Southport. Other players would go to Liverpool but we never did that. We’d drop the children off at my mum’s on Friday night or Saturday morning and pick them up again on Sunday night. Mum was wonderful like that, she always wanted us to go out and enjoy ourselves.

Everton didn’t really bother with the wives and I can’t remember having much to do with the club really. It was only the men that mattered because they were the ones playing football and they were important, until somebody else took their place. There was no sentiment. Once you were gone, that was it. Over a period of time, a different set of fans would come in and people would be forgotten. When I think of Everton, I think of the Everton I knew, I don’t think of it as it is today and I honestly don’t think I would be able to name one of the current players.

When we made it to the FA Cup final in 1966 the players went down to London on the Thursday. Derek and I were at home in bed on the Wednesday night with the baby in the next room and the phone rang. The caller said he was Derek’s mum’s doctor and she was going blind and calling out for Derek. Of course I panicked but Derek is a bit more streetwise and I could hear questioning this person. When he put the phone down he told me he didn’t recognise his name, so he rang a neighbour who went round to check up on his mum and there was nothing wrong with her. I think this man must have been trying to get us out of the house knowing that we had cup final tickets here so they could come in and steal them.

Derek left for London the next morning and I had to have the police coming round every hour and checking to make sure I was all right. Looking back, it was quite frightening and very sinister because I was alone with an 18-month-old baby but we were fine.

We caught the train from Lime Street but the rest of the day is a blur. What I do remember with great clarity is the day before because that was when I realised Ann West and I had the same dresses for the evening do. Ann’s was turquoise and she’d bought it in Lytham St Anne’s and mine was in pink from a shop in Southport. I rushed out and bought another one that day.  It was navy chiffon with a flower at the waist and lo and behold, it was the same as Annette Scott’s. What were the chances of that?

We were so nervous before we headed for Wembley that none of us could eat. I don’t suppose anyone could have been aware of how nerve-racking it was because there was so much riding on it for our husbands.

Derek had scored in every round except the semi-final when he crossed the ball to Colin Harvey who scored. In the final itself we drew level at 2–2 after being two down and there was about 10 minutes left of the game when Derek got the ball a long way from goal. It was like it happened in slow motion, and he had plenty of time to make a mistake. I could barely watch, all I kept saying was “you can’t miss, you can’t miss” and I was

holding on to Annette Scott so tightly that I pulled her off her seat. I was so scared he’d miss because I could imagine how awful he would have felt for the rest of his life. He had the ball for such a long time, anything could have happened, he could have lost his concentration or fallen over or thought for too long, but he didn’t.

If you ask him now what was going through his mind, he doesn’t remember, he was too busy thinking about where the goalkeeper was and keeping the ball under control. We all leapt out of our seats when the ball hit the back of the net and were begging the referee to blow the whistle before we had some kind of breakdown. It’s nerve-racking for wives to watch such an important game. The fans want them to win because it’s their team but the wives want them to do well because they know what it means on a personal level. I imagine that goal was one of the proudest moments of his career alongside playing for England. It seems such a shame that the twin towers aren’t there any more. Wembley had so much history.

After the reception we were going back to the hotel with Pat and Ray Wilson. There was a brass plate on the doorstep and as I turned around to talk to them, my foot slipped on the metal and I ended up on my bottom if front of the great West Indies cricketer Gary Sobers, who must have been staying there too. I don’t drink and I was so embarrassed I felt like protesting my innocence. I fell quite gracefully, but they were all howling with laughter. I don’t think Gary Sobers spread any rumours about me but I never wanted to wear stilettos after that. It was a truly unforgettable weekend all round.

Our second son, Philip, was born on the July 18, 1968, at Park House nursing home in Waterloo four years and a day after his brother. With two boys and Derek in the house it was like having an army because they were all very sporty. I enjoyed sport too, so we all played tennis and badminton together. In his spare time Derek ran an amateur club for children called West End and they were always off playing somewhere. The only drawback was I had to wash the dirty kit.

Our lives were pretty full, there was a lot of spare time when he was playing football but when he went into the real world it all came to an abrupt end. Working nine-to-five, five days a week is quite an eye opener and it took some getting used to, more so for him than for me because they’re so protected in football. Everything is done, they don’t even need to keep their own passports up to date or book hotels or restaurants, so when you come out, it’s a different world. It didn’t make any difference to me, the only thing I noticed was that he wasn’t around as much and he didn’t take the boys out as often as he used to.

Derek finally finished after a couple of seasons at Preston, and two seasons part time at non league Wigan Athletic he was ready then because it was physically demanding and it took so much out of him.

As he got older it became more difficult. He never lost his love for the game; but preseason training was really intense. Towards the end he would regularly come home, have a cup of tea and the next thing he would be fast asleep. A lot of them would lose their fitness over the summer and the coach, Tommy Eggleston was very keen on getting them back into shape and would take them to Ainsdale beach and have them up and down the sandhills.

As far as carrying on the footballing tradition, my boys played a bit but neither of them were interested enough to pursue it. Neil could have taken up tennis, too, but he wasn’t bothered. He was very shy, like Derek, and he didn’t want to be projected as the centre of attention, which I don’t think he could have coped with. Philip plays the occasional game of golf and squash but he’s busy with his life and he’s got a young family, too, so he’s taking them off here and there and never seems to have any spare time. His wife is a tennis coach so they’re quite a sporty family. They’re both Evertonians and Neil is really keen, he’s been down to Wembley with Derek a couple of times. He has two stepsons and he’s converted them to the cause but his little boy isn’t really into sport yet.

We still have people coming to us for autographs and photographs. Over the years we’ve given away an awful lot and people still ask for them now, but what we’ve got left I want for the boys and our grandchildren. It’s still nice to be remembered though, even after all this time.

Philip’s children go to Greatby Hill school in Ormskirk and when older people hear the name Temple they sometimes ask if they’re related to Derek. They come home now and again and say, “Do you know what, grandad, my teacher told me you used to be famous.” When I think back, it feels as if that was somebody else’s life, it all happened so long ago.

When Derek was a teenager, he attended Anfield commercial college doing business studies but he was taking time off to go and play football matches so the principal asked him to leave because he was taking the place from somebody who would be there all the time. So he gave his academic side up but what he’d already learned stood him in good stead for later life, when he went out into the real world. He worked in double-glazing for a while and then insurance; it was all on the administrative side of things so he was always academically minded. He works for an industrial cleaning company now; when people want the outside of buildings cleaned he advises them on the chemicals they need and he really enjoys it.

I didn’t work while I was bringing up the boys but when they started getting independent I thought I would resume my career. I’ve worked, mainly temping, as an audio typist but the last job I had before I retired was as an audio typist at recruitment agency and I used to raise and chase up invoices.

Derek still loves football, will watch five year olds playing in the park, can’t walk past a kid kicking a ball and if it comes his way, he’ll kick it back to them. He shouldn’t really because he’s got an artificial knee, but he can’t help himself. He’ll watch any game on television too Even if we’re out he’ll set the video so he doesn’t miss a minute of it — he’ll watch foreign teams, lower leagues, absolutely anything regardless of the standard.

Derek was due to retire work last November but he stayed on. When he finally does retire I’d like him to take up golf again and I might even have a little dabble myself. We both like gardening, too, and we’ve been changing ours around recently. We also like going for long walks in the Lakes or in Wales. When he was suffering with his knees he couldn’t walk anywhere for a couple of years. It was really difficult while the doctors performed keyhole surgery, scraping and washing out his kneecap. When they finally operated, in May 2002, they replaced it so it took 12 months before he was right again. Even when the crutches had gone he had a walking stick for a long time.

There was nothing I hated about being a footballers’ wife, but I found it a bit intrusive at times. I wouldn’t like to be a footballers’ wife now because it’s all getting a bit silly. I think there would be more of a conflict of interest with us if Derek’s career were happening now.

I don’t think I made any sacrifices for Derek’s career, I was just happy the way things were going along. I passed my college exams and it was Derek who encouraged me to follow my own interests. There was never any conflict and I don’t remember giving up anything for him but if I did, I did so willingly.

 

Taken from Real Footballers' Wives — the First Ladies of Everton, still available for purchase in book or Kindle form
© Becky Tallentire 2004

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