The Glaswegian Tractor Boy: A home away from home

One of my colleagues, Sam Mays’ here at Culto al Futbol, was lucky enough to chat with Ipswich Town legend John Wark, also known as ‘Warky”. He tells his story all the way from the youth academy to an establish international star. Prepare for the wonderful adventures of Warky.

John Wark was an iconic player. A goal scoring defensive midfielder. Something that is very unusual. He achieved such great success in the game, but what makes him a cult icon is the great stories he has away from the field.

John Wark Scoring in a friendly for Ipswich Town. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Originally from Glasgow, Scotland he came through the tractor boys’ academy in Suffolk, England, who at the time were known for giving young players an opportunity. At the age of 17, Wark made his debut for Ipswich Town in an FA cup game against Leeds United. During this game he played against his Scottish Hero in Billy Bremner. Wark said during this game he was “Elbowed and Spat at”.

It must be said that during these times it was more acceptable to get away with these actions during a football game. Wark had to grow up quickly on the field physically, to be able compete in games and not be overrun by the opposition's midfield. He claimed “he had to do it” to not get hurt.

With Ipswich Town, Wark was very successful. He has attributed some of his success due to legendary manager, Sir Bobby Robson. He claimed that Robson “was like a father figure to me” due to homesickness after moving away from home at such a young age.

Wark went on to repay Robson’s faith with top draw performances. Accolades included the 1978 FA cup final victory against Arsenal that came very much as a surprise to many. One memory that stood out for Wark is that his family were “disappointed” he laughed, as he didn’t manage to score in this game as they had 10/1 bet on that he would find the back of the net. The success didn’t end their because he also won off the pitch. Each player was allocated around a hundred tickets each that could be sold on for profits. This always made extra income that certainly helped the players because the money in football wasn’t like it is today, especially at the top level.

After winning the UEFA cup with Ipswich Town in 1981 and becoming the competitions all-time scorer in a single season with which was surpassed by Jurgen Klinsman some years later and now held by Radamel Falcao.

It led to a transfer to Liverpool after his manager Bobby Robson took the England manager role and caused the team to break up. When asked about his reasoning for the move he was adamant it wasn’t due to the ‘money’ involved but for the fact he wanted to be successful and win titles but couldn’t see this when the team was falling apart.

During his transfer to Liverpool his medical stands out. A European superpower conducted a routine blood pressure test and also asked Wark to “touch his toes in the boot room” to pass the medical he recalled. He was surprised to lack of extensive testing at a huge club like Liverpool.

Wark achieved great things at Liverpool, winning the first division title twice and a charity shield to add to his collection. He mentioned that the European nights under the lights at Anfield, especially when shooting towards the KOP “you could hardly hear each other speak” he emphasised.

With his Liverpool career petering out due to struggles with injuries he found himself back at Portman Road with a spell at Middlesbrough sandwiched in between his final two spells at Ipswich. Citing his preference to leave Liverpool in search of more gametime, even taking a pay cut and dropping down a division.

John Wark Representing the Ipswich in the inaugral Premier League Season. Photo courtesy of the Premier League

Even though John Wark was a tremendous footballer, he starred in the cult football movie ‘Escape from Victory’ that was about a football game in a World War 2 Prisoner of War (POW) camp. Wark played ‘Arthur Hayes’ from Scotland. Wark was involved in this movie because Sir Bobby Robson knew a film director who was looking for some footballers to feature in this film.

Wark described this movie experience as “the best 5 weeks” he exclaimed. Where he was mixing with stars such as Pele and Sylvestor Stalone. Wark only had two lines in the entire movie, and he found out with no warning that his voice was going to be edited to a “posh Edinburgh accent” from his native glasweigan accent as he described whilst he laughs.

Perhaps one of the best stories his time on set was the players from Ipswich felt they could get more money as they were filming on set in Hungary in Eastern Europe for 5 weeks. They came up with the plan that Bobby Robson would ask the movie producer for Royalties for the effort. The producer's response to robson was too “**** off”.

Even at 40 years old Pele was still one of the best players John Wark had seen up close and personal. He recalls a story when he witnessed Pele’s ‘magic’ as he described it. The producers asked Pele to recreate an overhead kick goal and normally for any other players it would most likely take multiple attempts. But not for Pele it just took one attempt for the late great man to show his class.

John Wark (3rd from right on the top row) from Escape to Victory. Photo Courtesy of the BBC.

Wark was an effective player, adding steel to the defensive midfield position, whilst still having a natural goal scoring ability. He is adored by Ipswich Town fans, having had 3 spells at the club. When asked to describe his playing style he answered simply but effectively with “A goal scoring defender and a midfielder who could score goals.”

Even though Wark had excellent skills on the field, but off the field he has great stories that really bring the player and fans together to become more personable.