Dave Worthington believes football is becoming ever more robotic in the 21st Century, but still thinks there would have been place for one of the greatest mavericks Yorkshire football has ever produced.
The former scout, who was at Bolton Wanderers when Sam Allardyce started scouring the world for talent, at Chelsea when Roman Abramovic began building his empire, and at Leicester City as they put together a Premier League-winning side has spoken to this weekend's Yorkshire Post ahead of the publication of his autobiography later this month.
But for everything he achieved at those clubs – he also scouted for Premier League Hull City, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United, Sunderland and Everton once a 500-game playing career with the likes of Halifax Town and Grismby Town finished – he could never be regarded as the most famous person in his own family.
Dave's youngest brother Frank played for Huddersfield Town, Leeds United, Leicester and Bolton amongst others but is best remembered as one of a gaggle of playboy 1970s English footballers criminally underused by their national team.
MAVERICK: Huddersfield Town legend Frank Worthington (Image: Evening Standard/Getty Images)placeholder image
MAVERICK: Huddersfield Town legend Frank Worthington (Image: Evening Standard/Getty Images)
Frank, who died in 2021 aged 72, won just eight England caps with managers suspicious of his flamboyant approach on and off the field. His brother wishes there was more of it now.
"Players are becoming much more like robots," Dave laments. "Where full-backs and centre-backs used to ping balls forward, nowadays they just knock it sideways or back to the goalkeeper. There's nobody looking for that forward pass, that ingenuity.
"To get your head up and ping the ball, even when you're under no pressure, is a skill."
So how would modern managers have taken to Frank's risk-taking approach?
UNDER-USED: England players remember Frank Worthington after his death in 2021, but eight caps was no reflection of his talent (Image: Frank Augstein - Pool/Getty Images)placeholder image
UNDER-USED: England players remember Frank Worthington after his death in 2021, but eight caps was no reflection of his talent (Image: Frank Augstein - Pool/Getty Images)
"I think his reputation off the field would have put some managers off nowadays but I think he would have been an absolutely unbelievable player on the pitches they play on today," says his brother. "We played on mud, slush, ice and snow with blue markings down.
"I think on the grass today he would have been the top man in any team at any level.
"All the mavericks would have been top players – especially because they couldn't kick him like the players then did.
"Santos, the top club in Brazil, came in for him at one point because they thought he had the Brazilian. I think he would have gone but he was getting his move to Liverpool then (which fell through in 1972 when he failed a medical). It was unbelievable but he had that sort of quality.
WORTHY TOME: Dave Worthington's autobiography is out on August 18placeholder image
WORTHY TOME: Dave Worthington's autobiography is out on August 18
"When I was scouting at Leicester some of the staff there were telling me some of the tricks and mickey-taking he did on the ball during a game. He taught me little tricks that I used to do at Grimsby Town.
"He was never frightened of making a mistake because he wanted to entertain people."
Dave Worthington is signing copies of Worthy at the Old Woollen in Leeds on August 20, and you can read our full interview with him in this weekend’s Yorkshire Post.
Worthy: The Scouting Adventures and Football Life of Dave Worthington by Dave Worthington with Phil Dawkes is published by Pitch on August 18.