……..And With Another Member Of The Team

Bertie Lutton is to make another return home to Britain in a few months’ time – and is vowing to meet up with more of his former football colleagues.

When the Ulsterman was over from Australia and in Wolverhampton just over three years ago, we organised a reunion between he and one of his former room-mates, John Richards, the two not having met for 37 years.

Now, plans are being put in place for a substantial summer visit during which other old friendships are likely to be rekindled.

“Dad is coming over for a few weeks, probably at the end of July, so he can be here for nearly all of August,” said Lutton’s Wolverhampton-based son Lee. “He’s travelling over with my sister, who spent some of her earlier years in Wolverhampron.

“It was a bit rushed last time because it was to coincide with me going off to get married in Gibraltar and he only had a few days in the Wolverhampton area. We’ll try to do things properly this time, though, and set one or two things up for him.

“I know he has a football friend from Melbourne who lives in Scotland who he’s keen to see, and there are sure to be others on the list.”

Lutton was best mates at Wolves with fellow youngster Jimmy Seal, with each acting as the others’ best man. Both are now 63 and haven’t met for decades, so we will do all we can to facilitate a meeting.

Bertie stayed in the Melbourne area after the end of his playing career but Lee and Brighton-born sister Lisa, whose 40th birthday is next summer, did some of their schooling at Northicote while living in Bushbury in the 1980s.

He, too, has spent some of his adult life in Australia before moving back to his native West West Midlands whereas Lisa is settled, with family, in Queensland.

So where do the Luttons’ loyalties lie in what we had hoped and expected would be a close Ashes series Down Under?

“Dad isn’t big on the cricket and lives a fair hike from the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where the Fourth Test starts on Boxing Day,” Lee added. “He’s about 40 miles away and isn’t anywhere near as big on that as he is on football.

“He will sometimes go to see Melbourne Victory, the club Kevin Muscat has been involved with, but leaves the cricket to me. I have been to the Boxing Day Test a few times and also seen an Ashes match at Sydney.

“Living here now, I find myself wanting England to win every match they play – unless it’s against the Aussies. Then I ‘barrack’ for them.

“It was a tough summer for me over here, so I’m pretty pleased at the moment with how things have turned around!”