Monday, January 17, 2011

17 January 1970 - Haynes Makes His Fulham Farewell

On 17 January 1970, Fulham icon Johnny Haynes played his last match for the London club, a 1-1 home draw with Stockport County.

Dubbed "the Maestro," Haynes started his professional career with Fulham in 1952. Before his departure in 1970, he made a club record 658 appearances and scored a then-record haul of 158 goals (later surpassed by Gordon Davies in 1991). Haynes, however, preferred creating goal opportunities to scoring them and was once described by Pelé as "the best passer of the ball I've ever seen." He broke yet another record in 1961 when Fulham made him the first player in England to earn a weekly wage of £100.

Fulham were in the Second Division when Haynes joined the club. He helped them earn promotion to the top flight in 1959 on the heels of his 26 league goals, a career best. But after 9 seasons in the First Division, they suffered back-to-back relegations and played Haynes' last season in Division Three.

After leaving Fulham, he spent five seasons in South Africa before retiring. After his death from a brain hemorrhage in 2005, Fulham renamed a stand a Craven Cottage in his honor and also retired his number 10 shirt. Three years later, the club unveiled a statute of Haynes outside the stadium.

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