ALF WOOD 1945 - 2020
One sure sign of advancing age is the passing away of the heroes of your youth. So it is that Millwall fans of an early 1970s vintage, were saddened to learn of the passing of Alf Wood, announced by the club on April 13th 2020.
Wood signed for £45,000 for the Lions in June 1972 from Shrewsbury Town, where he had made some 258 appearances and scored 65 goals, having begun his career with Manchester City in 1963.
The early seventies were years of heartbreaking failure and inexorable decline at Cold Blow Lane and Alf signed in the traumatic aftermath of the near-miss promotion season of 1971-72.
A home win over Preston on the last day of the season, fuelled by a false rumour that rivals Birmingham City had lost at Sheffield Wednesday, sent The Den into a pitch invading state of ecstasy.
Only for the truth that the Blues had actually won to slowly emerge, virus-style from a few transistor radios - then quickly across the first celebrating, then dejected fans.
As this failure to achieve promotion to the top flight for the first time was absorbed by all at the club, Alf Wood was signed as a replacement for the veteran Barry Bridges. A player who had been a mainstay of the strike force that had taken Millwall so close, alongside the then club record goalscorer Derek Possee.
But, as so often at The Den, that dream was not to be; and more specifically the Wood - Possee goalscoring partnership never took hold.
Indeed the duo only appeared in the same score line together once in a 3-0 home win over Bristol City in December 1972, just before the unsettled Possee left in January for Crystal Palace.
Alf Wood however soldiered on in the centre-forward role and, for this 12 year-old Millwall fan at least, he seemed every inch the rugged, brave and charismatic bearer of a fantastic ‘Zapata’ Mexican moustache.
Something which I swore would be the kind that I would grow ... when I was able to ...
In football, dreams too often let you down and the 1972-73 season started disappointingly, but Millwall ended in mid table respectability - thanks in no small part to Wood’s 19 goals across all competitions.
The following term, the Lions once again struggled to pull away from the bottom three league positions, though to be fair struggling was becoming endemic.
Once more however, Woods’ 23 goals steadied the increasingly unsteady Millwall ship, enabling an eventual mid-table finish in 1973-74.
The harsh truth however that the team that took as so close to the big time just a couple of years before, was beginning to break up.
The 1974-75 season was to prove be not only Alf Wood’s final season in New Cross, he signed for Hull City in November 1975, but also the end of Benny Fenton’s nine year reign.
The departure of the iconic Wood, played a huge part in Millwall falling through the relegation trap door by the 1974-75 season’s end, down into the Third Division.
Alf’s later career took him from Hull, to Middlesbrough and Walsall, but it’s fair to say that his most prolific figures were to be found at Cold Blow Lane during the three years he spent with us.
A rugged, committed and much more skilful striker than those words imply, Alf Wood quickly became a fan favourite at Millwall. A club where, to this day, commitment to the cause is prized beyond any other football attribute.
Back in those far off days, there was little in the way of recorded action to be seen beyond the occasional visit by ITV’s Big Match cameras. But if you look carefully there are a few examples on You Tube of Alf Wood’s selfless leadership from the front.
A personal favorite and as good a memorial as I can think of to his talent, is a 1974 win over Crystal Palace.
Search it out if you can: it’s a beautiful sunny April day at Cold Blow Lane in ‘74. Alf’s first goal is a brave close range bundle over the line, down at the Ilderton Road end. And his second, a brilliant header on the six-yard line from a Doug Allder left-sided cross, serving to seal a 3-2 win.
Glory days, they’ll pass you by. Gone in the blink of a young girl’s eye.
But not forgotten - thank you Alf, you were my hero when I was young.
Alf Wood 1945-2020
Millwall record - 114 apps (1 sub) 45 goals 1972-74.
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