Where Are They Now?

Fulham legend Les Barrett is pretty scathing about the record he made in the 60s – a catchy little number entitled “Julie Brown Loves Captain Cook”.

“I think I’d try and burn it if I ever heard it again,” he laughs when reminded of his brief foray into the Swinging London music scene. “I did it with my brother Paul. We’d never sung before we made the record, and we never sang again afterwards. I think it sold about 300!”

A wonderfully talented player, with pace to burn and a keen eye for a goal, Barrett takes his place in the Fulham Hall of Fame as one of the Whites’ most thrilling and entertaining stars.

The image of him thundering down the left wing leaving a trail of bemused defenders floundering in his wake and with the crowd on their feet in anticipation is as iconic as the Cottage itself.

And with his youthful good looks and “cool” image it’s no wonder that there was an eager agent ready to turn Barrett into the next George Best, hence the record and a concerted, if short lived, effort to make him “showbiz”. Not that it was ever anything he yearned for himself. “I’m a very private person,” he says. “That wasn’t a life that particularly suited me. There was a lot of interest while I was playing First Division football, especially as I was at a London club, but when Fulham got relegated it all fizzled out pretty quickly.”

It’s hard not to wonder what might have been for the flying winger if somehow Fulham could have prevented their slide down the divisions, or even if, whisper it quietly, Barrett had moved on to Manchester United or Tottenham as was rumoured at the time “I wasn’t told about any of that,” he says. “Not a thing! I heard the rumours but I just carried on playing. I wasn’t one of those people who had grand plans and ambitions and had their careers all mapped out – I loved playing football and that’s all I cared about.

“I’m a great believer in what will be, will be. It’s like the Cup Final. Right before we even played our first game against Hull, my Dad dreamed we would get to Wembley – you look at some of those games and you do get the feeling it was meant to be.

“I’m just happy to have done eleven years at Fulham, and happy that I was first choice for ten of those years. You see players that get badly injured or never make it, so I’m grateful that I never had to go through that sort of disappointment.”

Barrett moved on to Millwall from Fulham, a spell he describes as “awful”, and then to California Surf in the now defunct NASL. Fred Callaghan, then manager at Woking, brought him back to England, and it was at the Cards that he finally hung up his boots. For the next eleven years he worked for BT, and then helped his wife run a garden centre in Wandsworth for another eleven.

He signed professional for Fulham in 1965 – under somewhat unusual circumstances. “I was playing for the Juniors at Crystal Palace,” he says. “We won about 5-2 I think and I scored one of the goals. The manager then, Vic Buckingham, was watching, and he went straight to my house that night and said to my Mum and Dad he wanted to sign me on full pro terms. He actually got to my house before I did! I was working at the Post Office Savings Bank in Olympia at the time, and I was lucky enough to be signed virtually on the strength of that one match.”

And it was in January 1966, with the team in freefall at the bottom of the First Division that Buckingham, in desperation, injected some new blood into the team. In came Barrett, for his debut, and Steve Earle, and the team went on an incredible run of nine wins in eleven games to spectacularly avoid relegation.

Barrett became an integral member of the team for the next ten years. He, Earle and Jimmy Conway – the Three Musketeers – formed the exhilarating front line of the promotion-winning team of 1971, in which he was the top scorer, and he reached the Cup Final in 1975. It was his goal away at Carlisle that saw the Whites through to the semi-finals.

He’s retired now, and relishing the opportunity to catch up with life. So he’s back on the golf course for the first time in years, decorating his house in Walton, and spending time with his family, particularly his eight-year-old twin grandsons. “After working around the clock at the garden centre, it’s just nice to have some time again,” he says.

A true Fulham great and a loyal servant, Barrett holds a unique place in Fulham history. Those lucky enough to have seen him play should consider themselves fortunate indeed.

LES BARRETT FACT BOX

Born: Chelsea, 22/10/1947
Debut: 29/1/66 v Blackpool (h) 0-0
Last Match: 5/03/77 v Hereford United (A) 0-1
Signed from: Apprentice, October 1965
Transferred to: Millwall, October 1977 (£12,000)
Appearances: 487+4
Goals: 90