REMEMBER WHEN...Football Hall of Fame inductee Bob Brown passed on this autographed picture of Liverpool great Jimmy Case and the also great David Brand posing in Bob's equally great football shop, Sports Forum, in 1993. It was, incidentally, the only football store in WA for many years.
Case was 39 at the time and was in town (with his wife and two daughters) to play a four-game guest stint with Wanneroo British, after accepting an invite from the former Southampton winger John Sydenham and Mike Leigh, who were the Wanneroo coaches at the time.
The Liverpudlian made a huge impact with Wanneroo, helping to get them to the semi-finals of the D'Orsogna Cup. He had inspired them to a 4-1 quarter-final Cup win over Dianella. Mid-field partner Andy Richardson scored two of the goals. He said: "It was a real buzz to play alongside Jimmy. He was always encouraging me and giving me bits of advice. He didn't do anything flash. He kept it simple and that turned out to be the most effective way. His professionalism was an eye opener."
Case's stint with Wanneroo had finished before the semi-final clash with highly-rated Stirling Macedonia. But he gave his ex-teammates a motivational talk by phone from England before the tie, but the task proved too great as Stirling won 3-0.
Case initially joined Darlington when he returned to the UK, but later turned out 32 times for Brighton (he also played for them many years before), some of them as player-manager. Earlier in his career he also played over 200 games with Southampton.
But Liverpool was his first club, clocking up 186 games for the Reds. He won a remarkable three European Cups with Liverpool (1977, 1978 and 1981), plus the UEFA Cup (1976), and these days he is a regular host of the Liverpool Legends Autograph and Memorabilia Group when they stage Meet the Legends events.
He wrote his autobiography, Hard Case, in 2014 in which he reflected on an amazing, and at times controversial, career. Former Anfield team-mate Kevin Keegan said of Case: "He is just the sort of person you would want with you in the trenches in a war...you'd look to your right and see Jimmy Case."
David Brand, incidentally, was a much-valued employee at Sports Forum. Manchester-born David had played and coached at a high level in WA, and also played for the State team in an international challenge against Scottish side Dundee in front of a crowd of 12,000 at Subiaco Oval in 1978. The visitors won 3-1. WA's goal was scored by Ray Ilott.
The WA team that day was:
M Palmer; K Jones, S Snell, S Sceats, R Witschge, J Polykett, M Glubb, R Ilott, B Murray, D Brand, C Proctor, M Smith, D Barstow, P Johnston, P Cole, S Martin (res keeper). The coach was Ron Tindall. (Brand is pictured bottom row right).
Bob Brown recalls that David was always keen to expand his coaching experience and he left Sports Forum, and WA, to coach in Queensland. David then went on to work overseas for several years before recently returning to Queensland.
He said: "It was an interesting time and many great memories. Certainly many tales to tell.
"I am back on the Gold Coast now. I have been involved with Burleigh Heads SC and have just appointed to the the board of Football Gold Coast."