Where are they now?

IF YOU were planning to call in on Fred Else, at the Barrow home he has occupied for the last 33 years - you're too late!

Just a couple of days ago, the former Rovers goalkeeper and wife Marjorie completed plans to spend their retirement on the Mediterranean holiday island of Cyprus.

I caught up with Fred, an outstanding Ewood keeper of the 1960s, as he was finalising details of the house sale before flying back to the couple's new home.

"We decided that when we retired it would be either to the Isle of Man or Cyprus, where we have been going on holiday for the past 10 years," he said.

"Last year, we bought what they call a villa but I call a detached house, with an option to change our minds after 12 months if we didn't settle.

"But we have decided to move. I don't know whether we will be able to cope with the heat of July and August yet. We might have to come back to England to cool off!"

Ready to celebrate his 66th birthday tomorrow - in Cyprus and no doubt with a long, cool drink - Else has had another top-level career since his footballing days finished.

teaching called him and not, as you might expect for a former player, in physical education. "Maths and geography were my subjects and after football I went to teacher-training college for three years," he explained.

"I had already been attending night school and college before that and then took a teaching post at Thorncliffe Comprehensive in Barrow."

Else's links with the town, which used to be famed worldwide for its ship building, came about after he left Ewood.

Signed by Rovers from Preston North End for £20,000 in August 1961, the England B goalkeeper, desperately unlucky not to win a full cap, made a total of 221 senior appearances for the club.

He had made even more for North End and was regarded as one of the finest keepers of his generation.

Not particularly big, Else relied on his agility and a safe pair of hands and was a key member of an excellent Rovers team of the early Sixties.

In the 1963-64 season, when the Ewood side was sprinkled with attacking talent and led the First Division at one stage, Else was an ever-present and ensured the back door often stayed closed.

There were many who felt he was never the same keeper after breaking his collarbone in the 1964-65 campaign but he had already established his credentials. At the end of the 1965-66 relegation season, Else was released and joined Barrow who were then still in the Football League.

The keeper played 148 League games for Barrow and also became manager for a short time but, when they bowed out of the League, it was time to turn to the classroom. And it also spelled the end of any serious connections with football.

There were opportunities to do some scouting but the regulations were strict at the time and he explained: "As I was involved with schoolboy soccer you couldn't be connected with any club."

Else has come across some of former colleagues from time to time, notably staying in contact with people like Bryan Douglas and Ronnie Clayton.

And he keeps an eye out for the results of both North End and Rovers.

"I have very happy memories of both Preston and Blackburn," he said.

"Let's just hope they can stay up and that Brian Kidd can succeed."

There is one particular memory, however, that Fred still retains of Ewood Park, though it wasn't of a magnificent save.

It was probably the cheekiest penalty ever taken and he was the victim, as goalkeeper of visitors Barrow.

The game was a Football League Cup tie in September, 1966, just a few months after he had joined the Cumbrian club.

Rovers were already 3-1 ahead on a waterlogged pitch, when they were awarded a spot kick.

Instead of taking a normal penalty, Bryan Douglas tapped the ball forward and Mike Ferguson ran into the penalty area to smash his shot past an astonished Else. The novel move, quite legitimate, was apparently not pre-planned but thought up on the spur of the moment by the two players.

They claimed it was because of the mud and water on the pitch but the keeper, who still vividly recalls the incident, reckons they had other things on their mind.

"I had played so much football with them that they reckoned I would know where it was going whoever took the penalty," he said.

"But it wasn't illegal.

"It was just the initial shock that took me by surprise."

That apart, Fred thoroughly enjoyed his days at Ewood.

But, if you are still planning to call in on him and have a natter about old times, you'll need a flight to Paphos and a taxi to the village of Peyia, on the road to Coral Bay.

Happy retirement Fred.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.