EXCLUSIVE: England 1966 legend Terry Paine has recalled his win bonus after winning the World Cup, and said he still dreams of the Three Lions winning football’s top competition 60 years later
English football legend Terry Paine – one of only three players from the 1966 World Cup squad still alive – reckons our boys of 2026 are in with a “fighting chance”.
He said: “Come on boys you can do it.” The former winger who played in the very first game of the ’66 tournament will be cheering the Three Lions on from his armchair in front of his big screen in South Africa. He, Geoff Hurst, and Ian Callaghan are now the only survivors.
Paine, now 87, who had a long and glittering 18-year career with England and Southampton recalled how he spent his £1,000 ’66 win bonus on a horse called Tornado.
He described the money he earned back in the 60s. He made his debut for Saints at the age of 17 earning £20 a week during the season and £17 a week during the summer break with a £4 bonus for a win and £2 bonus for a draw.
He said: “It doesn’t sound a lot I know now but you have to remember my dad worked for British Rail and was doing a tough 40-hour week and he was taking home £3.50. So I was earning six times as much as him as a teenager so it was all relative.
“I was working alongside him at British Rail making carriages when Saints signed me but I was bloody hopeless at it so it was just as well I got a proper job of sorts.
“When I played for England in the World Cup we got a £1000 bonus per person for winning it and I spent the whole lot on a racehorse called Tornado. But it was more of a gentle breeze than a tornado when it came to winning any race.” He added: “I wonder how much these boys are on if they win it.”
Paine was awarded his World Cup winning medal in 2009. Originally only the starting 11 were awarded medals in 1966. He is looking forward to watching England in the tournament. He said: “There is nothing more that I would love than see another England team win it. That would just really do it for me – a 60-year-wait but come on boys! You can do it.
“It is a very difficult cup to win and you need the players and you need them to stay fit and you need a bit of luck. Back then we had home advantage playing at Wembley. But at the end of the day if you don’t win it you weren’t good enough. Simple as that.”
He said: “I wasn’t too sure about England at all until I watched the boys play Costa Rica. But they started well and looked the sharpest I’ve seen them for a long time and even when the subs came on I was still impressed. They went up a big notch for me.
“It was a physical test for sure and I thought the boys came through it very well and they seem to have a bond but it is all about doing it out there on the pitch on the day.
“In Harry Kane they have one of the best goal scorers in the world and he has a couple of sharp boys around him and a couple of sniffers who can take their chances.
“Here in South Africa I have been commentating on TV for SABC and Super Sport for 27 years and have seen all the big English league and cup matches played in that time.
“I’ve seen England teams come and go but this England side look the sharpest I’ve seen for a long time and with a bit of luck and Kane staying fit they are in with a big shout. I gave up gambling a long time ago but if I was to have a flutter it would be on France as they have an amazing set of forwards and I can see them scoring goals all day long.
“But if England keep their heads and stay strong and stay as sharp as they were against Costa Rica they are in with a real fighting chance. We will see after the first game.
“It’s simple. If you are not good enough then you are not good enough. That’s it. Simple as that. To win the World Cup you have to be good enough. No excuses.
“I would have liked to have seen Cole Palmer, Morgan Gibbs-White and Adam Wharton in this squad but then you have to ask yourself who you leave out for them?” he said.
Paine’s only disappointment is that England doesn’t have an English manager. The twice-married father-of five said: “I have always said up front that I firmly believe a national team should be managed by someone from that nation. That’s set in stone.
“I know lots of foreign managers manage national teams but I feel that an English team should have an English manager and in saying that I have nothing against Tuchel.
“I played under Sir Alf Ramsey in 1966 and there was nobody more English than Alf! It just feels right. And for us I reckon it made us want to give that little extra bit,” he said.
Paine played 19 times for England as a winger between 1963 and 1966 scoring 7 goals and a record 713 times for Southampton scoring 160 goals between 1957 and 1974.
In the 1966 finals he played only one game against Mexico where he was injured. After Saints he went to Hereford FC and played 111 times ending his career with 824 club appearances before becoming a successful TV pundit in South Africa and being awarded an MBE. Paine had the honour of being the last English player to score a goal away against Germany since 1965 until Michael Owen scored a hat trick against them away in 2001.
Paine continued: “I don’t agree with 48 teams in the World Cup as for me it dilutes it and it does not benefit the teams who know they are on a hiding to nothing every match.
“They end up putting 10 players behind the ball to try and keep the score respectable to avoid embarrassment so it is not much of a spectacle and doesn’t benefit anyone.
“Football used to be the working man’s sport but if you look at the price of tickets and the price of travel and the food and a few beers at a match nowadays then the working man is priced out.
“It is all about FIFA now and it is a money game for them and for the football clubs. When I was at Saints at the end I was on £200 a week with a £200 bonus for every time I played for England but the average working wage was about £40 then.
“So it is all relative. I don’t begrudge the players the money they get now providing they earn it out on the pitch. You could break your leg tomorrow and your money is gone.
“I have had a great life out of football and I retired from being a TV pundit 4 years ago at the age of 83 and I am happy and play golf twice a week so I have no complaints.
“But I am really looking forward to the England v Croatia game and watching the boys. I can’t really pass on any tips but I will be cheering them on and wishing them all the best.”.
The only remaining players alive from the original squad are 1966 final hat-trick hero Sir Geoff Hurst, 84, who played most of his career at West Ham and lives in Cheltenham, and Liverpool legend Ian Callaghan, 84, who still lives in Liverpool.
Paine fell in love with South Africa when he toured there in 1979 with a Bobby Charlton Mainstay All Stars XI that included Bobby and Jackie Charlton, the 1966 World Cup skipper Bobby Moore and Roger Hunt. He coached several local teams then was hired as a TV pundit for the national broadcaster SABC and then moved to Super Sport where he became a star commentator alongside former Man Utd goalie Gary Bailey.
Paine was made an ambassador for South Africa’s successful World Cup bid to host the finals in 2010 and in 2013 was made the Honorary President of Southampton FC. In 1966, only the team that played in the final got a World Cup winners medal but after a later campaign for every member of the squad to get a medal Paine was awarded his along with other squad members by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2009.
Terrry said: “It has been quite a ride for 60 years but now it is time to see new England team win the World Cup. The very best of British luck to each and every one of them.”
