The debut of the SKF CLOCK -
29TH SEPTEMBER 1956
By Will Foster
29th of September 1956 marked the debut of the SKF clock. It was perched above the Bobbers Stand, looking imperiously over the halfway line as the two captains for the game, Syd Owen and Leeds United’s John Charles, shook hands before kick-off.
Town and Leeds were frequent opponents in the 2nd Division from 1946 onwards but this was a first top flight meeting. Luton had been promoted in 1955, a nail-biting affair eventually settled by goal average (and denying the unfortunate Rotherham a place in the 1st Division, a feat they are still yet to accomplish), while Leeds had finally returned to England’s top table in 1955/56 after a nine year absence.
Both teams had a star in their midst. The SKF clock couldn’t have asked for a better opening as it stood and watched, as it would for near-on the next 70 years through a multitude of highs and lows, while the two goalscoring legends on show, Gordon Turner and John Charles, went head to head in a battle for the day’s best player.
Before kick off the band played Happy Birthday for Syd Owen, who was turning 34, as he led the players onto the field. Town were coming into the game on the back of a 5-0 thumping at Tottenham, resulting in Dally Duncan making a number of changes to the side, but still a large crowd of 20,949 had turned out for the occasion, a number likely boosted by the day’s brilliant sunshine and the chance to see Charles, widely regarded as the best player in the country at the time.
Yet it was Gordon Turner, the boy from Doncaster, who struck first. On 29 minutes he latched onto a through ball from George Cummins and expertly steered it past Roy Wood in the Leeds goal. It was an excellent start against a team flying in the league but would hardly have come as a shock to those in attendance.
‘Give it to Gordon,’ was the usual cry from the crowd whenever the Town defence won the ball and set up an attack. For good reason too. Turner, after all, knew where the goal was.
Below: Syd Owen and John Charles shake hands in-front of the new SKF Co clock.
“I don’t suppose we shall ever see another as good as Gordon Turner in Luton Town colours.”
-Brian Swain, 1981.
Gordon Reginald Turner was born on the 7th of June 1930. His Father, Bert Turner, had played as a winger for Hull City and Doncaster amongst others, helping the latter to win promotion to the 2nd tier during a phenomenal season in which he scored 29 times in 36 games.
The footballing bug was easily passed from Father to Son. It was while on National Service that the twist of fate occurred that would eventually lead Gordon to Bedfordshire, ‘I was in the navy and crackers on football. Luckily for me that two of my chief petty officers lived in Luton and put the word in. It then emerged that Town manager Dally Duncan had played in the same Hull City side with my Father and, at 19 years of age, I became a professional with the club.’
Success was not immediate. He had to wait two years to break into the senior side and even then was employed as a right-half. ‘I had two early games that term and I will always remember them. The first time I marked or tried to, Coventry’s Ken Chisholm and the second time I came face to face with Don Revie.’
When moved to inside-right the goals soon followed. Turner, ever humble, would maintain throughout his life that he owed much to veteran forward Jesse Pye, who had arrived at Kenilworth Road in 1952. Even at the age of 32 Pye still had superb ball control and a fine football brain and top-scored in his first season at Luton. It had a huge impact on Turner, who absorbed all he could from his fellow Yorkshireman.
‘Pye seemed to be telepathic. He could read my next move almost before I could. I have played with them all, Finney, Lofthouse etc, but he was the finest. I will never be out of Jesse’s debt.’
Below: Turner chips the ball past Leeds 'keeper Roy Wood to give Luton the lead, with the SKF Co clock, on its debut, watching on.
Turner would build his own reputation as a player of the highest quality over the next few seasons. He scored 32 league goals as the Hatters were promoted in 1955 and followed that up with 19 in his first top-flight season. By the time 1956/57 rolled around, in which Charles and Leeds would visit early on and the SKF Co clock revealed, Turner would begin an incredible two year spell in which he netted 63 league goals in just 74 games.
Such prowess convinced many he should be a certainty for England’s 1958 World Cup squad. Alas, the call never came. Nor would it throughout his career. He was a travelling reserve for England’s B team against West Germany but never received full international honours, a fact which surprised people at the time as much as it does now. Despite competing with many famous names for an inside-forward place, such as Bobby Robson, John Atyeo, Don Revie and Denis Wilshaw, many felt Turner’s goalscoring record should have seen him called up.
It would prove to be one of the two major disappointments in Turner’s otherwise stellar career. He was to suffer perhaps the only downturn of form around 1959 and 1960, and it would result in the Town’s selection committee leaving him out of the club’s run to the FA Cup final.
‘They felt they should stick to the side that had won its way to Wembley and I suppose they had a point,’ Turner would later say, though the decision has attracted great derision over the years and led to one of the great ‘what-ifs’ of Town’s history, with 10-man Forest running out 2-1 winners and Luton still to return to the FA Cup’s grandest stage.
After retiring in 1964, Turner would embark on a second stage of his life running a local sports shop with ex-teammate Wally Shanks, including a branch in the shadow of Kenilworth Road in Bury Park and one in the West Side Centre. He had married Margaret in 1953 and their son Steven, who was on Town’s books in the mid-seventies, would play at Wembley for Barton Rovers in the FA Vase final in 1978.
Sadly, Gordon wouldn’t be there to see it. He was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease at the age of just 41 and the whole of football mourned when he succumbed to the terrible illness two days before Christmas in 1976, at the age of only 46.
Below: Turner with wife Margaret and son Steven, 1955.
‘Incomparable. John wasn’t only one of the greatest footballers who ever lived. He was one of the greatest men to ever play the game’.
-Bobby Robson
John Charles wasn’t about to be upstaged. He was embarking on the greatest season of his career, in which he’d eventually score 38 times in 40 games and which would seal his famous move to Juventus. Six minutes after Turner’s strike, he leapt magnificently to meet a centre from George Meek, powering the ball past Ron Baynham with incredible force. The goal was of such quality that the Daily Mail ran a six frame photo montage in their report, showing poor John Groves left sprawling as Charles rose above him.
‘No wonder Leeds fans, and thousands of others, claim John Charles to be THE greatest present-day footballer!’ The headline cried.
Charles had come from humble beginnings but would end his career as the most famous footballer Wales had ever seen. He was born in the Cwmbrla district of Swansea in 1931 and grew up on Alice Street, a neighbour of fellow future Welsh internationals Ernie Jones, Mel Nurse and Jackie Roberts. He signed for Swansea Town, as they were then known, while still at school but never made a first team appearance at Vetch Field, instead serving on the groundstaff.
Spotted by Leeds while playing youth football, he relocated to Yorkshire at just 17 and then, under the guidance of legendary Leeds boss ‘Major’ Frank Buckley, was employed in a number of positions early in his career and would become equally adept at centre-back and centre-forward. Debate was intense as to his better position, but there was no doubting his prowess when placed in-front of goal.
It was perhaps no surprise that his form improved under Raich Carter, who took charge at Elland Road in May 1953. A fine player himself who had won the league and FA Cup at Sunderland, he was to guide Leeds to promotion and then, bolstered by Charles’ incredible goal tally, to 8th in their first season back in Division 1.
Carter wasn’t one to be bashful. In his time on the pitch he’d been known for the ‘Carter Roar’, a cry of displeasure at underperforming teammates. He would likely therefore have been equally displeased as he watched Gordon Turner put Luton ahead once more.
A long pass from George Cummins left Jack Marsden under pressure and the Leeds defender fluffed his clearance. This was Turner’s bread and butter and, from close-in, he turned the ball passed Wood for his second of the game. It was slightly against the run of play but the large crowd didn’t care.
Luton’s goalscoring hero was outperforming the greatest player of his time.
Below: The opening frames of the Daily Mail's photo montage of John Charles' equaliser, showing him outjumping John Groves.
‘A very nice little ceremony will be performed just before the commencement of the match today when we will have the very great pleasure of being presented with the big clock on top of the Bobbers’ Stand by G.A.R Mead Esq, acting on behalf of Skefco Ball Bearing Co. Limited.
It is a most handsome addition to the Ground, and we do assure Mr. Mead and all connected with “Skefco” that this very fine gesture is very much appreciated by all”
-Club notes, Luton vs Leeds, 29 September 1956.
SKF, or The Skefco Ball Bearing Company Ltd as it was originally known, was founded in 1907 in Sweden. Their first presence in the UK was an office in London, but in 1911 they purchased three acres of land on Leagrave Road and on the 10th of November of that year they began building their first purpose built plant outside of Sweden, beginning production in June the following year.
The need for product during World War 1 led to a dramatic increase in size of the site and by 1918 it was outputting 24,000 ball bearings a month. With growth continuing a second site was purchased in the town in 1936 in Sundon, at which point over 2,000 in the town were employed by the company.
This, coupled with the opening of Electrolux in 1927, established a strong Swedish presence in Luton. This was further enforced by the establishment of Eskilstuna as a Twin Town in 1949. The two were ideal partners, with Luton’s Vauxhall links mirrored by the importance of Volvo in Eskilstuna.
Indeed, Volvo was established by SKF. The name, which means ‘I Roll’ in Latin, was originally trademarked in 1911 to be used for a new series of ball bearings, being picked up again in 1924 when SKF began to develop a car specifically suited to Sweden’s rough roads and cold temperatures.
Sporting links with twin town Eskilstuna have been maintained through the years. In 1982 David Pleat took his newly promoted side on a pre-season tour of Sweden which included a 1-0 win over IFK Eskilstuna, Kirk Stephens scoring the only goal.
In England, war would once again lead to an increase in demand for SKF’s products. This time though it also made it a target for German air attacks. To combat this, an elaborate fake road was built over the main entrance of the Leagrave Road site to camouflage the building when viewed from above, giving the impression of a normal surburban avenue! It also led to the transferring of a portion of manufacturing to the Sundon Park site, both to deal with increased demand but also to mitigate the risk of operating from a single location.
By 1977 all manufacturing had moved from Leagrave Road to Sundon Park. The building remains standing as Britannia House. Unfortunately the company’s presence in Luton was brought to an end altogether in October 2024, with the loss of 300 jobs. As with Vauxhall’s demise in the town, it marked a sad end to a place where lives were lived, and friendships and relationships formed.
The original clock was taken down when the Bobbers Stand was demolished in 1986 to make room for the executive boxes. Its replacement came as somewhat of a surprise when it appeared for the Town's FA Cup 4th Round match against Southampton on 30th January 1988, now placed in its final home in the corner of the boxes and the Kenilworth End as part of a ten-year sponsorship deal between the club and SKF. That iteration was to watch its last game on a sticky May evening in 2023. Tom Lockyer, a captain in the mould of the legends that had gone before him, was a fitting final goalscorer.
Below: The last game of the SKF clock in 1986, against Watford (credit Roger Wash).
In the end Syd Owen wasn’t to have the happiest of birthdays. With Leeds hitting back after falling behind, he was put under pressure by George Meek and gave away a corner. Almost inevitably, John Charles rose from the centre to head home the equaliser and tie Turner at two goals a piece. Now, with 12 minutes remaining, Leeds were favourites to take both points.
The rest of the game became an intriguing battle between the two great forwards. First Turner went through only to shoot straight at ‘keeper Wood before Charles, from an acute angle, drove too close to the post for the comfort of the watching crowd.
It was Turner’s turn next. After winning a corner with some determined play, he sent a shot hard and low across the Leeds goal where it hit a defender and was seemingly heading goalbound until Roy Wood somehow managed to turn it around the bar.
Undetered, he was soon racing into the box again and looked odds on to complete his hat-trick when Charles himself, now popping up all over the pitch, reminded everyone he was one of the best centre-halves in the game as well as a deadly forward by putting in an outstanding tackle on the Town man.
In the end a point a-piece seemed fair to most onlookers. Town boss Dally Duncan was happy enough with the spirited showing after the dismal display at Tottenham, though the massed ranks of journalists thought it obvious that Luton needed someone to offer some support to Turner in-front of goal.
The two goals scored by Turner were the 107th and 108th of his Town career. He would finish with 271 in total, 243 of which came in the Football League. He holds many goal scoring records for Luton but perhaps the most poignant, as the end of the Town's current home grows ever nearer, is the 171 he managed at the old ground.
A litany of greats have graced Kenilworth Road. But as the fans of the time knew, in a Luton shirt, there was no-one quite like Gordon.
Read More:
Luton vs Leeds 29th September 1956 - Photos, Match Report and Programme
Gordon Turner Profile Page - Photos and Extras
