Jeff Astle was born on May 13, 1942 and signed as a professional with Notts County in October of 1959. After making 103 appearances for the East Midlands club he moved to West Brom in September of 1964, where he made his name as an instinctive striker. In nine years at the Hawthorns, he netted 137 goals in 290 league appearances and became an England international in the process. Unfortunately, he had been remembered for missing a sitter in England's crucial game against Brazil in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, until Baggies fan Frank Skinner coaxed Astle away from his window-cleaning business to appear on the football comedy show Fantasy Football. Now he's most famous for having been castigated on Talk Radio's Baker And Kelly United for turning up to a function as an after-dinner speaker and only stopping eating to ask: ‘Any more pie?' "All this stuff about pies is totally untrue. I hate pies. I never eat pies. I don't care what's in ‘em, I just don't like them. Someone's been telling porkies. The truth is that I did attend an event at The Hawthorns one evening and I hadn't eaten a thing since I'd left home at the crack of dawn that morning, I hadn't had the time. So, when I sat down to relax at this event I had a sandwich or two. Or three or four. Or perhaps even five or six. But no pies. Definitely no pies. I didn't just sit there eating all night either. I did my share of the talking, I always do. There's also another rumour going round that my wife Lorraine nicked someone's prize draw ticket and won. That's not true, either. A long-standing West Brom fan asked us if we would help celebrate his birthday by joining his party for a meal at the Hawthorns, arranged to coincide with a home game. During the time there, someone came round selling draw tickets. He bought some and gave a couple to Lorraine. She didn't really want them and she left them on the table. When we were about to leave the table, he told her not to forget the tickets and to put them in her bag. She put them in her bag and then forgot about them. When the draw was made our host looked at his tickets and realised that he was one number out. He told Lorraine to look at hers and sure enough she had a winner worth about £750. She tried to give it back to him, but he insisted that it was hers so she had to go onto the pitch and collect the prize. When it was later mentioned on radio that she had made off with someone's winning ticket she was furious, and so was our host. Hopefully that's cleared that up. The ladders and the dusters? I run a cleaning business and they're pretty useful. I had a great time as a footballer. I scored the winner in the 1968 FA Cup Final and I even took my FA coaching badge with the idea that I might carry on in the game on the management or coaching side. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I wasn't really interested in carrying on like that. I decided that if I really wasn't keen I wasn't going to do a good job anyway, so there wasn't much point. I decided to set up a cleaning contractors, which is a posh way of saying that we do window cleaning, carpet cleaning and just about any other sort of cleaning you like. It's kept the wolf from the door for years and I'll keep it going as long as I possibly can. Becoming famous again for making a fool of myself on a television show won't make me stray from my true vocation and that's cleaning. Like most players I have always been asked to attend various functions, so I have never turned my back on my soccer career, but it came out of the blue when I was asked to go on Fantasy Football. Frank is a big West Brom fan, of course, but it was a bit bizarre to say the least. It wasn't half as bizarre as the things I had to do on the show, though. I did more then 40 weeks and every show meant that I was either dressing up, singing a song or both. One week they got me in drag which I didn't enjoy very much, but they assured me that it was just a bit of fun so I let them make a prat of me. "I do a roadshow several times a week now and I tell a few gags, sing a few songs, tell a few football anecdotes and generally have a bit of fun. I still get people coming up to me in the street and saying, ‘You're a cult!'. At least I think that's what they are saying. Working on Fantasy Football was great, but I'd like to get my teeth into something else now. I still do football comments on local TV and radio, but I'm hoping that perhaps they'll bring back the old Brummie soap opera Crossroads. I could play the part of a cleaner who gets complaints from the motel guests about his singing.

FANTASY FOOTBALLER   After joining West Brom for £25,000 in 1964, Astle won the FA Cup with them in 1968, scoring in every round and hitting the winner at Wembley against Everton. He also scored in the 1970 League Cup Final at Wembley, but was on the losing side. Manchester City beat the Baggies 2-1. He played in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico but regrets that he never scored for England in his five appearances. His last league match was on March 30, 1974, for Albion, in a 2-2 draw at home to Cardiff City. While still playing, he made a record with Carl Wayne of The Move. He remains a Baggies fan and rarely misses one of the supporters' club events especially if there's any free food going. LEAGUE APPEARANCES Notts County 103 appearances 32 goals West Bromwich Albion 292 appearances 137 goals JAWING ABOUT JEFF "He was a great teammate who would often make an ordinary pass look really good because he turned it into a goal. He was never greedy and would always give someone else a chance rather than see an opportunity go begging. He was also a lot of fun behind the scenes, a real laugh" Former West Brom star Tony Brown He was a wonderful goal scorer, very good with his head, which wasn't a surprise since he was coached by Tommy Lawton. He's still a legend at West Brom. They think the world of him. I bet they wish he was still playing" - Don Howe

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