RIP: Goodbye to Goodison's Golden Vision - Alex Young

Alex Young died this week, probably a name that will never be forgotten in certain parts of Merseyside and Edinburgh, perhaps just another name from the past elsewhere in Britain.

Alex Young, who left a colliery apprenticeship to play five years and 200 games for Hearts, lured to Everton by Harry Catterick for the princely sum of 55,000 pounds, and soon dubbed the "Golden Vision" by Danny Blanchflower - who knew a bit about golden visionary stuff himself. He played 275 games and scored 75-ish goals for Everton, but one feels stats alone will never tell his story.

I never saw him play, have distant memories of the blond head among grainy black-and-white TV images, but his legend persisted. He helped win Everton a League Championship, then an FA Cup, and was named Everton's Player ("Millennium Giant") of the Sixties. Historians tell us he floated rather than ran, stroked the ball rather than kicked it, and was excellent in the air as well.

Ivan Ponting reckoned Young was revered more by the Goodison faithful than George Best (who admittedly had far more competition) was at Old Trafford. Whilst Joe Royle, who kinda replaced Young in the Everton forward line, described him as a footballing matador. And a young Ken Loach directed a 60's docu-drama (The Golden Vision) about his love affair with the fans.

It sounds as if the dreaded dementia had caught up with him at the end, but that won't dim images of the Golden Vision among Evertonians - sure tributes are already being planned for Everton vs WBA, Saturday, March 11th.

Do you have memories of Alex Young, does your Dad, or Grandad?

Kwini - that's a lovely tribute to Alex Young.

Most here will be too young to know of him but he was a very fine footballer. Don't know if this site gets many posters from the Blue side of Merseyside. Quite a few Reds though. If they're scouse based, I would expect them to see a heap of tributes in their local papers.

In addition to your merited praise, also worth noting as well that he was included by a select group of football writers in the 100 Legends, a list of the 100 leading footballers to have played at the top level in England during the 20th century.

Having done a bit of anorak research, I think I watched him live just the once. At the latter part of his career at Highfield Road in '67 as the Toffees beat the Sky Blues. Sadly, I suspect I was too young to properly appreciate my only glimpse of the Golden Vision.