IN regards to Ian Ridley’s column (NLP, October 14), I was very happy to become a ‘shamateur’ when I got into the Wycombe team in 1964 with Don Welsh as manager.
It is engraved on my memory because after pocketing my first £5 in a match againt Hendon and looking forward to the untold riches to come, The FA suddenly examined the ‘books’ of Clapton, and that was the end of the ‘little brown envelope’.
Cash later started to dribble back in ‘travelling expenses’ and ‘overseas tours’.
I can see Martin Allen’s point tha...