Head Space Daily Words...

When you are young, there is something special about collecting the autographs of your heroes. I went with my boys to watch Villa v Fulham yesterday, where members of Villa’s Next Gen, Under 19, European Championship winning team, were signing autographs. My eldest son told me his stomach had butterflies as he waited in line to hand a copy of his programme over, featuring a centre spread of the jubilant young Lions. My boys had their picture taken with the captain, Samir Carruthers and it was a star struck, exciting moment for them. It got me thinking about my own autograph moments, which naturally involve football and music. In the winter of 1982, the same year as Villa’s European Cup triumph, my dad took my brother and myself, on a freezing cold day, to Villa’s training ground, Bodymoor Heath. I managed to collect most of the squad members’ signatures. Peter Withe, Gordon Cowans, Tony Morley – no problem.  Finally, I approached the golden boy, Gary Shaw, which is when my biro decided to freeze up in the cold weather. He scribbled his moniker, which left an inkless indent on the page and when I got home I tried to trace over the signature and fill it in with a pen of my own. Inevitably, I made a right mess of it but it’s a funny way to remember the day. Moving on to music, I have two prize signatures. In 1995, I was working as a runner for Live TV, as the channel geared up for it’s launch. To provide the star quality on the big day itself, strutting across the studio, wearing a vivid blue, sparkling suit, hair quiffed up in an amazing bouffant style, was the one and only, godfather of soul, Mr James Brown. He signed some Live TV headed note paper for me, with the immortal words “I feel good, James Brown.” My other treasured autograph is from a real hero of mine, a signed copy of Terry Callier’s Total recall CD, from one of the occasions I saw him perform at the Jazz Café. Autographs that mean something can become treasured possessions. Samir Carruthers may yet become a footballing god…