Fans are urged to be at Craven Cottage on time ahead of the Liverpool match as a minutes silence will be observed for the late Johnny Haynes.
Speaking about the Fulham legend and the first player to earn £100 a week, Coleman said:
‘It’s terrible news, dreadful news. He was obviously a footballing legend, everybody in football knows who Johnny Haynes is. It’s a tragedy, I was only speaking with him in the summer. After the last game of the season, we had a Gala Dinner and I had a good chat with him. He was a complete gentleman.
‘If you could imagine Johnny Haynes playing nowadays, and you talk about the money that being bandied about on transfer fees and wages, it’s mind-boggling to think how much a player like him would have earned.
‘When I talk to other ex-players, some are very bitter and twisted about what the modern-day player earns – Johnny Haynes wasn’t like that. When I talked to him he said that you couldn’t blame them because he would have done that same himself. He was a very honest and warm guy. It’s tragic not just for Fulham, or his family but for all of football because they’ve lost a legend and there’ll never be another one like him.
‘It will be an emotional day on Saturday. He was Fulham’s best player and I think it’s fitting that we’ve got the European Champions coming to the Cottage and we can all pay our respects to a legend of football.
‘It would be fantastic if we could round it off with a win, hopefully Johnny will be looking down on us.’
Share this article
