Fumbling with his bootlaces, and struggling to turn the spaghetti into orderly knots, Jim Cumbes was greeted by a voice across the dressing room.
West Bromwich Albion's new signing had just become Britain's third most expensive goalkeeper, behind Gordon Banks and Alex Stepney, and he was a bundle of nerves before his debut against Arsenal.
“What's this? We've paid £35,000 for a fast bowler,” piped up England striker Jeff Astle with a stand-up comic's timing.
Cumbes, who juggled football with his alternative incarnation as a first-class cricketer and purveyor of nifty outswingers, was not the last professional to double up between goalposts and bat and ball.
But as former England bowler Mike Selvey reminded him on Twitter recently, he is the only man to play in both a major Wembley final and a Lord's cup final.
Cumbes, now 77, was Aston Villa's No.1 in the 1975 League Cup final win over Norwich, settled by Ray Graydon's late goal on the rebound after his penalty had been saved.
Six months earlier, he had won the county championship with Worcestershire and the previous year, he was in their side beaten by 39 runs in the Benson and Hedges Cup final by Kent.
With England's cricketers heading off to the Caribbean – without their two most successful bowlers of all time Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, which is barmy – and Liverpool's League Cup final duel against Chelsea barely a week away, Cumbes is in nostalgic mood.
He made 376 League appearances, spanning 13 years, for Tranmere, West Brom and Villa before an encore in the United States with Portland Timbers, where he was affectionately christened 'Big Foot' because of his long clearances.
Almost symmetrically, Cumbes took 379 wickets in first-class cricket for Lancashire, Worcestershire, Surrey and Warwickshire.
He finished on the winning side against Best, Law and Charlton in one sport, and dismissed the likes of Sobers and 'King' Viv Richards as a brisk opening bowler in the other.
Later, as the long-serving chief executive at Lancashire, he presided over an Ashes Test in 2005 where the gates were shut at 8.20am with 20,000 fans locked out on the final day.
Earlier, from the 'other' Old Trafford down the road, the audience at a thrilling draw that went down to the final ball had included Sir Alex Ferguson and Gary Neville; it is not often that Manchester United are a sideshow in their own back yard.
“For many years afterwards, I had no idea about being the only player to feature in major finals at Lord's and Wembley,” said Cumbes.
“The main thing I recall about playing at Wembley was the wall of noise that hit you as you walked out of the tunnel.
“As we made our way across the dog track to the pre-match presentation, I was chatting to my opposite number, Norwich keeper Kevin Keelan, but I couldn't hear a word he was saying because we were drowned out by 100,000 people.
“I had only changed into my kit about half an hour before kick-off. We didn't do long warm-up routines in those days. At 2.20pm, I was still in my suit, talking to (former Surrey team-mate) Bob Willis in the corridor.
“I gave my gloves away years ago for a benefit auction, but somewhere in the loft I've still got my jersey in a box – complete with smudges from diving around on the white lines.”
Cumbes enjoyed a fine career for a goalkeeper who only decided he wanted to fling himself around in the mud after watching Bert Trautmann in the 1955 FA Cup final as an 11-year-old.
He sought out the great German more than 50 years later, at a Manchester City supporters event, to get his autograph.
“I played out just about every schoolboy's dreams, as a footballer and cricketer, and I didn't do bad for a lad who started out at Runcorn on 30 bob (£1.50) a week,” said Cumbes.
“The greatest player I played against? I have to say Georgie (Best). He could do it all – dribble, cross, shoot, good in the air, and he was brave... my goodness, he was brave.
“Opponents used to hack him and he still stayed on his feet instead of rolling over and over like modern players. I hate it when they do that.”
