If you are going to be given the boot then it may as well be by someone famous.
And former Barnsley player George Boardman, 71, can boast about being shown the door by a trio of famous people.
Allan Clarke, Harry Gregg and even Lord Alan Sugar have given the Scot his marching orders in a football career that has spanned five and a half decades and is still going.
Boardman, an inside forward, joined The Reds in 1969 from Shrewsbury Town and racked up 126 appearances, scoring 14 goals in four seasons.
A cartilage injury put pay to his career in his early thirties and it was from there that he went on to scout.
It has proven to have been more of a hobby than a job for the exiled Glaswegian who feels he played a small part in Paul Gascoigne’s move to Tottenham in 1988.
That was before Lord Sugar swiftly got him off the books once he had become the Spurs chairman.“At that time the story was that Sugar was even cancelling the milk for the tea and coffee to save money,” reflects George.
“I was part of his cost cutting regime. “I don’t think it took a great scout to recommend Gazza but I watched him for Spurs when he was a young lad at Newcastle and recommended him.
“I’d like to think I played a little part in his move.”
George liked it so much in Barnsley that he’s still here but he regularly watches a higher standard of football than the one he played at.
Still, memories from his playing days and of the players he played with, remain quite vivid in his mind.“I was a lower division player to be honest,” he admitted.
“Eric Winstanley was in the same team and he was a marvellous player. “We did very well in my first season at Oakwell.
“Pat Howard was also very good and so was Stewart Barrowclough before he went to Newcastle.
“The game has changed so much now. Barry Murphy used to shout ‘the mortgage is due’ to help us to a win bonus of three quid.
“I doubt there are any players shouting things like that any longer.”
Boardman’s other famous dismissals came from Clarke when George’s son Craig joined Nottingham Forest, then managed by the legendary Brian Clough, instead of Barnsley.
Former Manchester United keeper Gregg sold him to Barnsley while Shrewsbury manager to complete the sacking hat-trick of sorts.
It is something he can laugh about.George explained: “My son Craig played junior football in Barnsley but the club never offered him anything to join them.
“When he signed for Forest, who had a great team then, Allan Clarke wasn’t best pleased and wanted me sacked.
“Craig was a good player but probably wasn’t dedicated enough. He went on to play for Halifax and Scarborough.
“When Harry came in at Shrewsbury we just didn’t click at all and I left for Barnsley. “I’ve not looked back since.”
George still loves going to football and to this day gets giddy about where he might be sent to watch a game on a Saturday afternoon.
After his stint scouting for Spurs he spent 17 years working for Middlesbrough under managers like Bryan Robson, Steve McLaren and Gareth Southgate, before shorter spells scouting for with Hibernian and Bradford City.
He is now working for Premier League Swansea City and focuses on identifying talent rather than the lengthier process of writing match reports which used take the Scot ‘five or six hours at a time’.
Barnsley has been his home for approaching 50 years and he has just celebrated his golden wedding anniversary with Jane.
In a busy life George has also ran the London marathon for his daughter Sara who had leukaemia in 1991.
“Sara lives next door to us now,” added George, who has lived in the same house in Royston for 46 years.
“I did a lot of running at one point in my life and doing the London marathon was a great experience.
“We came to Barnsley for a couple of years but ended up staying here and we’re still here.
“We had to find our own house as Johnny Steele told us the club had sold all their houses to pay the wages!
“We have been in the same house all this time.
“My grandson Charlie is only six and he’s playing for Frickley Athletic at the minute.
“If he plays professionally it’ll be four generations of us to have played because my dad George played for Partick Thistle.
”The thrill that comes when talent becomes apparent is still one that keeps George heading to his car on Saturday afternoons.
George added: “I get excited when I spot a player but there’s now a lot out on loan from the Premier League so it’s not always someone new that is catching your eye.
“The last lad I have recommended is Matt Grimes who signed for Swansea from Exeter for about a million pounds earlier this year.“I went to watch him on a Sunday afternoon in Morecambe.
“I thought when I was setting off: ‘I must be mad’ but I came away excited.
“That is what it’s all about.”
