By Bill Pierce, PA Sport
Last updated March 21 2006
Bobby Moore was caught, a couple of times, sneaking out to a nightclub or a pub when he should have been in bed fast asleep and setting an example to the rest of the team.
He liked a drink, he liked girls and he liked a lark. So he wasn't quite the fair-haired, blue-eyed boy the World saw as the captain sensible of the England team. But times change and today England's finest are apparently proud to be seen out together, not ducking and diving, in a nightclub just a few days before an important international.
It may be 2am when they are photographed leaving - but why worry? They seem reasonably sober. No carpet bowls or bingo for these modern-day warriors. They are rebels with a rock 'n' roll attitude, wallowing in disposable income. So finding a captain to keep them in check is a daunting assignment.
David Beckham had his 50th game in the armband against Argentina and you have to say he's done remarkably well to keep it that long, but if nothing else Beckham has earned the respect of his peers in the showbiz set that is the England squad.
Respect? Even footballers were looking for a hero in the Sixties and they found one in Moore at West Ham. His former team-mate, big pal and now Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp recalls:
"Mooro was a God. There are no two ways about it. Everybody looked up to him. "You would have thought that, given his stature, he would be aloof to new kids coming into the side but from day one he looked after me and made sure I was okay.
"We got on great but he treated everyone the same way. Bobby was a natural born leader. When he did something, everybody followed suit." He had a superstition where he put his shorts on last before running onto the pitch. Next minute everybody was doing it. "Then he would wear a key ring hanging out of his belt. Sure enough, the rest of the players slavishly followed the trend. He was the person everybody looked up to - and he was impossible to dislike.
"It amuses me now to hear some people likening Mooro to royalty. I suppose it was the way he used to behave with such dignity, but make no mistake, Bobby was one of the lads.
"I suppose he gave the same impression to fans in the north as Alan Hansen did to fans in the south when in his prime at Liverpool. Opponents always wanted to get stuck into them, to ruffle their composure. They rarely managed it."
