There are probably two truly ‘legendary’ Off The Ball Covers - Graeme Souness as Michael Jackson which I’ll feature on here shortly, and this one celebrating the disciplinary foibles of Portsmouth FC as they rampaged towards the top division of English football.
Both were primarily the creation of my mate and colleague Steve Beauchampe (RIP) who relished the unsavoury side of football even more than I did.
Pompey were a mirror of their manager Alan Ball, an argumentative, aggressive little sod - but also a gifted footballer, as demonstrated by his 1966 World Cup winners medal with England.
In this team of all the talents, even goalie Alan Knight managed to pick up three bookings, but that was mild compared to colleague Billy Gilbert (6 bookings, a sending off and a disrepute charge) or Mick Kennedy who eclipsed Gilbert’s tally by the distance of two yellow cards.
With 10 bookings and a sending off to his name, Paul Hardyman surely found the ‘y’ in his name an unnecessary encumbrance, while even silky winger Vince Hilaire claimed four bookings and a sending off.
Micky Quinn - now a much loved Talksport presenter - managed to avoid any trouble with the refs, but - presumably to avoid any dressing room bantz about being a “good boy” - managed to rack up a 21 day jail sentence for breaching a driving ban. Twice.
This was a breakthrough episode of Off The Ball, capturing the imagination of readers like nothing we’d ever seen before
It was so successful that - again at Steve’s instigation - we sold posters of the cover which, in a just world, would now be trading for thousands on ebay. Sadly, they are nowhere to be found.
Like this edition of the magazine, the posters were best sellers. And nowhere more so than in - you’ve guessed it - Portsmouth.