Renaldo (64 page)

“Mallory, darling, I’ve brought you some good cheer, and a heartfelt

‘hoorah’ from the gentlemen inside.” Sir Reggie embraced his only daughter,

trying not to spill his champagne all over them.

“You’re to blame for all of this, you know,” he chastised her ruefully.

“All this noise and mess. And now, what are we going to do? I can see the

headlines already in August . . .‘Notts Forest Feasts On Canaries,’ or how about,

‘Liverpool Makes Canary-Paté Out Of First Division Pretenders!’ There are no

legs left in there, darling, although I must say, there are several other parts of

the body that seem in excellent condition! Oh, sorry.” Sir Reggie never missed

an opportunity to instill some of his famous bawdy humor into a discussion.

“Father!” Mallory recoiled in mock disgust. “Their legs will be fine, the

good ones, at least. As for the rest, it’s up to us to bring in some new blood, real

footballers. We’ll use the best we’ve got, but if we have to play with the rest of

this lot, heaven help us!”

It was at that moment that the seed was planted, the seed of an idea that

would change their lives. It had to do with the ‘new blood, the real footballers.’

Neither of the Russells could know that Mallory’s comment would cast the

die on a long, arduous journey. The events that were about to unfold had their

conception in that dimly lit passage.

“The board will have to meet early next week to plan a strategy, and we’ll

want to have that architect there with the plans for the east stands. What was

his name?”

“Hughes, father, John Hughes,” Mallory replied impatiently.

“Right, Hughes! You would think that I could remember that after all

this time. Well, it looks as if it’s a go, the expansion of the Bird Cage. Neville

Strathy had a word with me at the final whistle. The financing is all in place.

With board approval, we can start construction this month!”

He embraced his daughter once more, positively beaming with enthusiasm

and good cheer.

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It had all come together so nicely. The years of frustration had given

way to the feeling that the Canary Wharf Football Club was now poised on

the brink of its new destiny. Sir Neville Strathy, chairman of the National

Westminster Bank, had been a schoolboy chum of Reginald Russell’s at Eton

in the 1930s. The old boy network came in handy at times, and Sir Reggie had

kept all his banking, accounting, and legal business with fellows that he knew

from the ‘old days.’

It was Strathy’s financial clout that was about to allow the Canaries to

expand their ancient home stadium, lovingly known as the Bird Cage, to

standards expected of a first division football team. Strathy had been a Canary

supporter ever since the two men had met, but he had always told his friend

that it was necessary for the team to achieve entry into the English league first

division before he could be of any real assistance. That time had come, and Sir

Reggie was about to call in his marker.

The Canary Wharf Football Club had been founded in 1897 by

Reginald Russell’s grandfather, Sir Arthur Grainger Russell, thirteenth Earl of

Weymouth. It had been a gentleman’s wager with shipbuilding magnet Arnold

F. Hills, proprietor of the Thames Ironworks, that prompted young Arthur

to form a semi-amateur team made up of stevedores, dock workers, tugboat

crewmen, and ferry sailors. These men were all employed in the area of Canary

Wharf, situated on the Isle of Dogs in London’s east end.

The arrogant Mr. Hills had formed his own club two years earlier, primarily

to give his shipbuilders a heightened sense of pride in their company. Mr. Hills

also believed that the sport could be a healthy outlet for his employee’s physical

and mental well-being. The popularity of the team astonished its founder, with

thousands of people turning out to watch the amateurs at Browning Road,

East Ham.

Hills, an ardent Victorian capitalist, saw a chance to increase the prestige of

his company’s name, as well as make a tidy profit from this football enthusiasm.

He set out to find a location for a proper stadium that would capture the

imagination of the entire nation. His quest for a site ended in 1897, when

Hills announced that he would construct the most magnificent recreational

complex in all of England at a site in West Ham. The ‘Memorial Recreation

Ground’ was to house a stadium with a capacity for over one hundred thousand

spectators, as well as facilities for cricket, tennis, and cycling.

When the grounds opened on the sixteenth anniversary of Queen Victoria’s

ascension to the throne, it was everything for which Hills had hoped. The

London press trumpeted that the facility was ‘good enough to hold the Football

Association Cup final in.’ However, there were problems from the outset.

Hill’s football team became more competitive each year after moving into

their own posh grounds, and both the players and their fans were anxious to join

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the ranks of the professional leagues in order to continue their improvement.

Hills looked upon professionalism as a form of prostitution, for he strongly

believed in the purity of amateur sport. He reacted by throwing the would-be

professionals out of his facility in 1904, then promptly reformed a truly amateur

squad which had the exclusive use of the Memorial Recreational Ground. The

displaced team was forced to relocate to a cabbage patch next to Boleyn Castle

in Upton, a short distance from their former home. Here, they merged with

Boleyn Castle F.C. and became known as West Ham United F.C. They adopted

their nickname and symbol from the shipbuilder’s tool, and thence became

the ‘Hammers.’ This team continued to draw the majority of its support from

those involved with the shipbuilding trades. The Thames Ironworks amateurs

and the Memorial Recreation Grounds faded into history, along with their

authoritarian patron.

Back in 189, though, Arthur Russell had no such delusions about the

evils of professionalism as he put together the very first Canary Wharf side.

After accepting Hill’s challenge and the obligatory wager on a match between

the shipbuilders and the ‘sea rats,’ as the Thames Ironworks owner referred

to Arthur’s ragtag charges, the younger man set about town to hire a few

‘ringers.’

Emotions ran high among the hundreds of fans that had turned out as

the two teams took to the barely passable playing field on Hermit Road in

Canning Town. Hills was certain that his squad, with two years experience

under their belts, would wallop the upstart ‘dockies,’ but that was not to be

the case. Arthur Russell had spent his money wisely on three Southern League

players, a keeper and two classy forwards. He plugged his defense with rugged,

burly bruisers that manhandled the shipbuilders at every opportunity. The

two professional forwards earned their wages that afternoon, each scoring twice

to give the ‘sea rats’ a 4-1 victory. Arnold Hills left the grounds in a rage

after learning that he had been duped by young Russell and defeated by those

‘professional whores.’ He refused to pay over the wager money to Russell, even

though there had never been any discussion about the use of such players. The

two men never spoke again after that day.

Local support from the cockney residents on the Isle of Dogs was so

fervent that the team never did disband, joining the Southern League for the

following season. A site was needed for their own home field, and this prompted

the enthusiastic twenty-eight-year-old Arthur to ask for an audience with his

father, Reginald Eastwyck Russell, to resolve the matter.

Sir Reginald was a no-nonsense businessman who did not suffer fools

gladly. He had served in the Royal Marines in his youth, as was the family

tradition, and then had joined his father, Stuart Ridley Russell, in the family’s

lucrative import-export business. The heart and soul of that affair was located

on the Isle of Dogs, four miles east of Buckingham Palace.

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The Canary Islands Trading Company had been founded by a consortium

of prominent bankers and businessmen to capitalize on the rich and exotic

bounty that was found in the islands off the west coast of Africa. Thomas

Stuart Russell, young Arthur’s great-grandfather, had not only been one of the

consortium’s founding members, but had been the man most responsible for

convincing the Londoners that there were huge profits to be made from trading

with the islands.

Thomas Russell had spent all of his formative years at sea, initially as a

Royal Marine, and then as the captain of his own merchant vessel as he sought

to reap the benefits of his earlier nautical education. The riches of the world

lay at Thomas’ feet, and he was determined to capitalize on his knowledge and

good fortune.

Of all the places that he had weighed anchor, none so impressed him as

the Canary Islands. Due to their relative proximity to England, Russell felt

that there was a far better chance for trading success in the Canaries than in

the West Indies, which were several times the distance from London. Rich in

wine, tropical fruits, spices, sugar, and tobacco, the islands were, at this time, a

Spanish protectorate. But the King of Spain was anxious to open up commerce

on the islands. He accepted Thomas Russell’s proposal almost immediately,

and armed with a trade agreement signed and sealed by his majesty the King

of Spain, Russell sailed first to the Canary Islands to fill his ship’s hold with

wondrous cargo, and then on to London to show off his wares and raise the

capital required to open up this new frontier.

Thomas Russell had come by his seafaring nature quite honestly. The

family roots could be traced back to the late fourteenth century, when the

Russells were thriving wine importers, distributors, and traders. The family

had settled in Weymouth, Dorset, which was an active mercantile port at the

time. The Russells were also involved in local politics, sending family members

to parliament on several occasions.

In 1506, John Russell, a young, well traveled, multilingual lad with a

charming disposition, was sent to the Court of Henry the Seventh to act as a

gentleman usher. The royal court quickly became enamored of young Russell,

and when seventeen-year-old Henry the Eighth ascended the throne a few years

later, he entrusted his most important affairs to the talented, yet discreet,

young man from Weymouth.

John Russell served his Majesty as a soldier, courier, and intelligencer

during the wars with France that commenced in 1513. He gathered valuable

experience and made many important contacts. He lost an eye in combat at

Morlaix and was subsequently knighted for bravery by the Earl of Surrey.

Ever trustworthy, Russell’s real work lay in the subtle, unprincipled world

of international diplomacy. He was increasingly employed as a special envoy

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of the king, handling the most delicate affairs of state. His faithful service to

the erratic Henry continued with flawless tact, and in 1539, John Russell was

raised to the peerage as Baron Russell of Weymouth and made a Knight of the

Garter.

Baron Russell continued to serve his master in any capacity required

of him, including traveling to the continent with Henry’s armies that were

constantly warring with France. Through the years, he had acquired many

estates and tracks of land in his native Dorset, and it was to his beloved home

county that he returned to be by the sea as his health failed in the summer of

1554.

His career had spanned four reigns as a trusted courier, soldier, diplomat,

and administrator. When John Russell died in March 1555, he was accorded

a state funeral befitting a man of his standing and prominence. The first Earl

of Weymouth had an immense fortune, as well as his good name to pass on to

his descendants. Much of the family remained close to their roots by the sea,

developing a reputation as merchant mariners, traders, and when duty called,

officers and gentlemen of his Majesty’s Royal Navy.

Two hundred and forty-three years after the death of the first Earl of

Weymouth, Thomas Stuart Russell, the tenth Earl of Weymouth, arrived at

the London dock yards with his tropical treasures. His reputation as a stalwart

businessman and global navigator allowed him to assemble a consortium of

enthusiastic entrepreneurs that were eager to invest in such a venture. A site for

dockage and warehousing was secured on the Isle of Dogs and named ‘Canary

Wharf’ after the source of their expected riches.

The Canary Islands Trading Company flourished almost immediately, and

three generations later, the Russell family was still in control of the lucrative