Football's attitudes towards alcohol have changed since the early 1970s. Back then I recall midfielder Jimmy Lindsay berating the aspiring reserve-teamer, Billy Jennings, for going to a disco on a Thursday night. There was a growing concept that players should be alcohol-free for 48 hours before a match.

That in turn was a far cry from the Watford of 50 to 60 years earlier when the trainer was instructed to pop down Vicarage Road to the Oddfellows Arms in Fearnley Street and get the players out, back to the ground and changed in time for kick off. Fans recalled a full-back who used to sweat profusely in the first half as he would perspire the beer off and out.

Many a player would light up at half-time and even in the 1960s, Tommy Harmer was known to calm his nerves with an interval smoke in the toilet. The incredibly talented but maverick Charlie Livesey in 1963, embraced a diet, became the fittest he had been in his life and would have walked away with the Player of the Season Award had it been invented then. Yet that did not strop him from having a few pints up the Herkomer Club in Bushey on a Friday night after the pubs had closed at 10.30pm. I know because we used to drive down from Sarratt and see him there in those pre-breathlyser days.

At Lincoln City, under rookie manager Graham Taylor, the players would go out for a mid-week jolly. Fourteen players would head for a pub, while the other three members of the 17-man squad, would avoid such nights. John Ward was one of the abstainers.

“We used to train really hard under Graham,” recalls Dennis Booth, who would join the gaffer at Watford and become captain for a spell.

“Graham was a fitness fanatic. We used to go on this run round the common and back again. He used to stand at the bottom and we would have to loop round him. He would shout at me as I came by telling me ‘you can’t burn the candle at both ends’. The fact is, despite him having to give up playing through injury, Graham could beat us all at cross-country most times.

“Another time we had a friendly match against the Lincoln Panthers at basketball. It was a farce because they were strapping blokes and I could not get near them. I got sent off for conceding five free-kicks but we had a good night afterwards. The next day, he was at the bottom of the hill and shouting out to each of us as we struggled: ‘I know what’s going on’.” Graham would tell players that he had his ‘spies’.

“He would call a meeting and walk round and you were on tenterhooks, wondering ‘what have I done?’ He could handle people, even the characters, and he liked to have characters in the dressing room. He was well respected by all the players and in coaching he was years ahead of his time. Look at those three promotions he achieved at Watford without spending millions. That was an incredible achievement.

“He took me on the coaching side at Villa Park after he had left Watford and, if he had not landed the England job, we were convinced Villa were truly going places as one of the big and regular title contenders. He had done a great job at Villa and was the right man for the England job,” asserts Boothie, who like his former colleagues, Sam Elliis, Ward and Steve Harrison, held down a succession of roles in the Football League for the best part of the next 50 years.

“He was very honest with me when he thought it was time for me to leave Watford. He called me in and asked me if I wanted to be a bit part as I was not part of his future plans in the second tier. So I went to Hull as a player. Later I was first-team coach, assistant manager and caretaker manager. Then in 1989, Graham called me to Villa, along with Wardy and Bobby Downes, who also spent a career coaching.”

Later Dennis joined the England coach scouting; flying over the world and staying in top hotels.

“I think the longest I was out of a job was six months in 50 years. What I achieved in the game, I would not have achieved without his input. I learnt so much from him. He was meticulous. I used a lot of what Graham taught me. He used me as a sit-in, holding player before such a thing was generally adopted.

“Mind you, we did not do much defensive work in training. Although he had been a full-back, defending bored him. It was all about forward play.”

Dennis could produce a great imitation of Graham. He became a family friend of the Taylors, and Rita would enjoy his mimicry of her husband. “For instance: ‘Can you not do that or this’. I enjoyed his phrases and his mannerisms,” said Boothie, who even reprised them at Graham’s wake to prompt giggles from Rita and her daughters.

“I remember at a party he stood on the table and sang Land of Hope and Glory. He was very patriotic, as I am. He was a great manager and a good friend. But when we had practice matches, he would work us hard and tell us ‘I can smell it on your breath’.

“He did some amazing things. I remember he took us out before game and worked on our shape and pattern of play. The opposition were warming up and wondered what the hell was going on. But they never profited from it: we beat them 6-0.

“Another time he got the crowd involved in the warm-up. I remember Big Sam heading the ball back into the crowd as they threw the ball his way. He was innovative, involving the crowd, the community etc but the best thing was his coaching and leadership. He was just outstanding.”

Boothie looks back happily on his career. “The only thing that irks me is that I once scored a hat-trick of headers for Lincoln against Bury inside seven minutes. Apparently no one has ever done so that quickly but I cannot find it anywhere. Perhaps your readers can help.”