It all started in the back of a van, rumbling between Doncaster and Scunthorpe. It was the summer of 1966 and sat behind the wheel was Bob Nellis, a furniture salesman who’d once had trials with Rovers. Now in his thirties, Nellis’ football career consisted of the odd Sunday League kickabout as well as helping to coach a local kids team.
Dreams of scoring a Wembley winner had long since expired; Nellis didn’t even have enough balls or kit to run his training sessions. Yet as luck would have it, the solution to acquiring some was getting changed on the back seat of his van: a scrawny 15-year-old lad named Joseph.
