Today marks seventy years since Fulham’s finest ever footballer Johnny Haynes made his debut in a 1-1 Second Division draw against Southampton at Craven Cottage. Bill Dodgin’s side only failed to beat the Saints because Charlie Mitten, renowned for his reliability from the penalty spot, placed a penalty straight at goalkeeper John Christie.

Eighteen year old Haynes, already something of a young star on account of his sensational displays for England Schoolboys, had been preparing for his entrance into senior football with a series of loan spells at non-league sides like Wimbledon, where he scored four times in six matches. He was still so nervous the night before the visit of Southampton to SW6 that he hardly slept a wink. Dodgin was sweating on the fitness of inside forward Bobby Brennan but didn’t tell Haynes that he was in the team until half an hour before, apparently to avoid the talented teenager having too long to contemplate his first appearance for the Whites.

The heavy winter mud that had aggravated Brennan’s ankle problem didn’t stop Haynes from displaying a terrific first touch and the ability to switch the play with those trademark raking passes that the Fulham faithful came to appreciate over the course of an eighteen year career that spanned 658 appearances. It did agonisingly prevent him from marking his debut with a goal when he beat Christie with a precise shot only to see the ball get stuck in the mud rather than cross the line. Arthur Stevens, who went on to score 124 goals for the Whites, eventually gave the hosts the lead with ten minutes to play, but they relinquished that advantage within five minutes when Frank Dudley equalised.

Haynes felt he hadn’t played well on Boxing Day – an early indication of the high standards he would hold himself to throughout his career. Dodgin evidently disagreed: the young inside forward missed only two games for the remainder of a season in which Bedford Jezzard plundered 35 goals (a club record outside the top flight that stood until Aleksandar Mitrovic broke it in May). That Fulham side played with a style to match Marco Silva’s, but they were less defensively disciplined. Dodgin’s team scored 71 that year but conceded 81 and finished in eighth place. The manager paid the penalty the following season with the Whites well off promotion pace again, but Haynes’ journey was only just beginning.

The Maestro – as he became affectionately known – wasn’t just revered for his skills on the ball, but also for his loyalty off the field. Having followed his best mate Tosh Chamberlain to the Cottage in 1950 despite offers from his boyhood team Arsenal and Tottenham, who were closer to his Edmonton home, Haynes remained loyal to Fulham even as they slipped down the divisions. He finished his playing career in 1970 against Stockport County in the Third Division. A journalist once asked Haynes whether he felt he had wasted his talent, given that he had won 56 senior caps for England, played at two World Cups, and captained his country on 22 occasions. The reply was succinct: ‘I loved playing for Fulham’.