THERE’S NOTHING BETTER THAN A GOOD FOOTBALL TALE BUT THERE’S EQUALLY NOTHING MORE DISAPPOINTING THAN FINDING OUT THAT IT’S NOT TRUE.

Marco Boogers has entered folklore as the daft Dutchman whose West Ham career consisted of four substitute appearances during the 1995-96 season. What brought him to the nation’s attention was that in his second game, on August 23, 1995, Boogers ran onto the turf at Old Trafford as a second-half substitute, immediately scythed down Manchester United’s Gary Neville and was sent off again without even kicking the ball. The twist in the tale came when The Sun reported that a depressed Boogers had run off back to Holland to live in a caravan park, under the sympathetic headline: “Barmy Boogers Living In A Caravan”.

Sadly, this urban myth was debunked three years ago by the club’s former PA announcer Bill Prosser, but despite his revelation in December 2002, he is still trying to deny the story to this day. Only last week, Bill, who also organised the players’ travel and, as a fan, sponsored Boogers’ socks, recounted that at the time he had been contacted by West Ham’s Clubcall. The reporter was trying to track down the runaway Boogers for an interview and asked Bill if he’d arranged for the striker to return to Holland.

“I told him I hadn’t, but added, ‘If he has gone back to Holland, he’s probably gone by car again’. The reporter misheard me and stated on Clubcall that I had said, ‘If he’s gone back to Holland, he’s probably gone to his caravan’.” That comment was picked up by the national press and the Boogers legend was born.

It is easy to see how these things can happen though, as evidenced by another great piece of misinformation which was given an airing just a few weeks ago. When Arsenal’s Robert Pires and Thierry Henry played out their French farce from the penalty spot against Manchester City at Highbury, the TV stations were quick to trot out the footage of when it was first attempted, successfully, by Johan Cruyff at Ajax.

In December 1982, Ajax were awarded a penalty against Helmond Sport, but instead of shooting on goal, Cruyff opted to pass the ball left to onrushing teammate Jesper Olsen. He laid the ball back to Cruyff, who, with the goalkeeper now stranded off his line and thoroughly confused, sidefooted the ball into the empty goal.

Cheeky stroke of genius, yes, but the first time ever? A couple of days after the Highbury fiasco, I received a call from former Plymouth and QPR wing-half Keith Sanderson. “During the 1964-65 season, I was playing for Plymouth in a Second Division game at Home Park,” said Keith. “Our captain John Newman took the penalty, pushing the ball forward for Mike Trebilcock to run in and hit the ball home. Our opponents? Man City. The penalty was the idea of the manager, strictly non-Gallic but with a fertile football imagination, Malcolm Allison.”

So, it was originally the brainchild of former Hammer Allison. That tale was good enough in itself, and with Keith’s permission I recounted it in my column in The Sunday Times the following weekend. That is where Keith’s own story raised a smile.

A couple of days after publication, I took a call from a friend at QPR, who was eager to track Keith down. He said that in 1997 there had been a 30th anniversary get together for the Rangers team that had won the League Cup final in 1967 and that the only player who hadn’t attended was Keith. The club knew he had gone to live and work in South Africa and had lost contact with him.

Far from being 6,000 miles away though, Keith had in fact moved to Preston. When I phoned to tell him that QPR were trying to get in touch, he said: “I’ve bumped into a few people over the years who’ve asked me how I got on in South Africa. I went there for just two weeks many, many, years ago and for some reason people think I’m living out there. I even read about the lads getting together in 1997 and that I was meant to be in South Africa then. I read it sitting in my front room in Preston. It doesn’t matter who you tell, once people believe something, that’s it.”