AT THE age of 11 and a half, my football career probably peaked. In fact, you could say that 1970 was my Annus mirabilis in terms of the beautiful game. In 1969-70, I was leading scorer for my primary school, Benyon of South Ockendon in Essex. I scored 10 goals in 15 and a half games (actually 16 starts). I was chaired off the pitch after scoring a hat-trick in one game, completing a dramatic comeback from two-down. By the halfway point of the season, I had scored seven goals in 10 games, but then disaster struck – twice. Firstly, I started having problems reading the chalk board, which prompted a trip to the school nurse and the horror of all horrors, I had…