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So soon
after the death of 'the King', Jeff Astle, this month
there are three further people with strong West Bromwich
Albion connections to report. I hope I am not being
disrespectful, but I have an image of someone making a
pact 'at least let me see West Brom in Premiership...'.
Alan Ashman (West Bromwich Albion)
I was very
sad to see that Alan Ashman, who was the manager of West
Brom in the 1970-71 season had died, and even sadder to
see how under reported it was. I have particularly little
information about Alan, and would be very grateful to
anyone who could send me more. This article appeared at BBC SPORT Former Albion boss
dies
Former
West Bromwich Albion manager Alan Ashman has died at
the age of 74.
Ashman was in charge of the Midlands club from 1967
to 1971, during which the club won the 1968 FA Cup
against Everton.
A relative unknown when he arrived from Carlisle, he
also guided the club to the Cup semi-finals the
following year and the final of the 1970 League Cup.
Ashman's spell in charge was then abruptly ended when
he was replaced by Don Howe while on holiday.
Monday's tributes were led by former West Brom
midfielder Bobby Hope (West
Bromwich Albion), who was always impressed with Ashman's
knowledge of the game.
"He was a very quiet man - not one to rant and
rave - but he had the respect of the players,"
Hope told BBC West Midlands.
"He was very good at knowing different opponents
and his man-management was very good.
"He let Stuart Williams do the day-to-day
coaching and training, but got involved when
necessary. He had a great knowledge of the
game."
Ashman died after suffering a stroke and a heart
attack in hospital.
See Ashman for a profile of Alan whilst at
Carlisle United.
Bert Millichip (West
Bromwich Albion
Director)
Bert
Millichip is familiar to us as the Chairman of the
English Football Association, according to reports his
career on the administration side of football actually
began in 1970, and in the 1970-71 Rothmans Football
Yearbook, he is listed as a Director at West Brom.
This
report appears at BBC SPORT Football Millichip's
football legacy
Sir
Bert Millichip, who has died at the age of 88, was
chairman of the English Football Association for 15
years between 1981 and 1996.
And his reign came
during a period of massive change in English
football.
He was at the helm
of domestic football during the boom years of the
early 1990s when the breakaway Premier League was
formed in 1992.
Sir Bert was also
part of the committee responsible for the hiring and
firing of England coaches throughout his tenure.
The 1989 Taylor
Report, hastened by the Hillsborough disaster in the
same year, also came under Millichip's time in office
at the old Lancaster Gate headquarters.
It paved the way
for the modernisation of grounds in the top two tiers
of the English game.
Millichip was an
administrator, happiest working behind the scenes,
indeed his only real public outings were to delve
into the velvet bags and pair up teams in the FA Cup.
He was criticised
for his handling of the campaign to bring the 2006
World Cup.
His German
counterpart Egidius Braun insisting they had a
"gentleman's agreement" that Germany would
be Uefa's choice for 2006 as England had hosted the
European Championships in 1996.
It was after those
championships - seen as a fantastic success as
England showed it could stage a major event with
panache - that Millichip stood down from the
chairmanship of the FA.
He was an honorary
member of Uefa from 1996 onwards and was life
vice-president of the FA as well as being a member of
the FA council from 1970.
He was president of
West Brom up until his death, having been Albion
chairman until he took on the top job at the FA in
the early 1980s.
Arthur Rowley (Southend United manager)
One of the
Legends of English football has died. Arthur Rowley, may
be an unfamiliar name to the younger fan, but his
goalscoring tally will ensure that it is a name they will
see at the top of record-breaking lists for many more
years to come.
One of the
pleasures of doing this website has been to learn about
footballers who were heroes before I was born, as
natrually they were the managers of my up and coming
generation of heroes. Arthur was the Southend United
manager in 70-71 and I'm pleased to see from Brian
Glanville's excellent Obituary, that this was a happy
time in his long career.
Here is
Brian's Obituary, which can be found at Guardian Unlimited The Guardian
Obituary Arthur Rowley
Arthur Rowley, who
has died at the age of 76, had one of the most
explosive left foots in postwar English football.
Though he never quite achieved the stature of his
older brother Jack, himself a formidable left-footed
goal scorer for Manchester United and England, Arthur
was astonishingly prolific over many seasons.
Altogether, he scored 434 goals in 619 Football
League games for four different clubs.
Born, like his
brother, in Wolverhampton, his first club was not
Wolves - where Jack was so quickly and rashly
discarded - but West Bromwich Albion. Powerfully
built, standing 5ft 11in and weighing 13st 6lb, he
was only a little better appreciated at the Hawthorns
than was Jack at Molineux.
Making a couple of
league appearances in the first postwar season, 21
the next, for just four goals, and just one in
1948-49, he was sold that season to Fulham - and, at
once, flourished. Albion lived to rue the day they
let him go, for his 19 goals in only 22 games, from
centre-forward, won Fulham the second division
championship and promotion to the first. Albion,
however, went up too, finishing a single point behind
Fulham.
In the second
division, Rowley's left foot was a deadly weapon,
from either close or long range, but the first
division was far less fruitful for him. He scored
only eight times in his 34 matches, which suggests
the gulf between his talents as a centre-forward, and
those of brother Jack, a regular scorer for
Manchester United in the top division.
Fulham seemed of
that opinion too, since, at the end of his second
season at Craven Cottage, they transferred Arthur to
Leicester City, where he would stay for the next
eight, hugely productive seasons. At Filbert Street,
the gulf would narrow, for when Rowley eventually
returned to the first division, he would be just as
dangerous a striker as he had been in division two.
His first four
seasons at Filbert Street, in the second division,
saw him score no fewer than 115 goals, 30 of them in
Leicester's 1953-54 promotion season, when they won
the second division title on goal average from
Everton. Returning at last to the top division, he
would score 23 times in 36 games. It was hardly
Rowley's fault that Leicester went straight back to
the second division.
In season 1956-57,
however, the club bounced back again, and this time
there was no question of their winning the second
division title on mere goal average. With Rowley
contributing another quite remarkable haul of 44
goals in 42 games, Leicester finished fully seven
points ahead of their east midland rivals, Nottingham
Forest.
Now Rowley was back
in the first division again, with an honourable booty
of 20 goals in his 25 games. This time, Leicester
stayed up, but, at the end of the season, a still
fully functional Arthur Rowley left them to become
player- manager of Shrewsbury Town, arriving at what
was then hardly a Gay Meadow, for the club had just
finished 17th in the old third division (south),
having scored a parsimonious 49 goals.
Rowley would soon
change all that. Banging away with that famous left
foot, he scored 38 goals in 43 games, enabling the
club to win promotion from the newly-formed fourth
division.
Though steadily
gaining weight, Rowley continued to score
prodigiously - 32, 28, 23 and 24 goals in the ensuing
four seasons. Only then, his last couple of years,
would he fall away, with just five goals in season
1963-64, and two in a dozen games in his last season
at Gay Meadow, 1964-65.
A short spell at
Sheffield United, as joint manager with John Harris,
the former Chelsea centre-half who had been at
Bramall Lane for years, was ill-augured. Harris did
not want anyone to share his authority, and Rowley
himself was known as a forceful, uncompromising, even
perhaps, authoritarian character.
He was much happier
when, in 1970, he became manager, for the next six
years, of Southend United. In season 1971-72,
Southend came second in the fourth division, and were
thus promoted to the third, though in season 1975-76,
Rowley's last in charge, the club was relegated
again. He subsequently pursued a business career. His
wife and son survive him.
Arthur Rowley,
footballer, born April 21 1926; died December 19
2002.
Though he
fell an agonising 4 League goals short of the club
record, the most successful time of his career was as a
Leicester City player. 251 goals in 303 League games,
make Gary Lineker's performance look mundane ! At the
Official website see Leicester City Football Club, which reports...
Prolific,
lethal and profuse are all words that have been used
to describe the amazing talents of City legend Arthur
Rowley.
The man with the
thunderbolt left peg and an eye for a penalty leapt
into action for City in 1951 and was to hold a place
in Foxes folklore for ever more.
His heroic status
through his hat-tricks and appetite for hitting the
back of the net rank him as an all-time favourite for
Foxes fans.
In his eight
seasons at Filbert Street Rowley clocked up more than
265 goals in 321 appearances for City – with a
staggering 44 goals in one season.
Rowley made his
debut for City on August 19, 1950 against Bury at
Gigg Lane. It started well. He scored once in a 3-2
win for City. It was the beginning of a remarkable
and record breaking career.
Speaking ahead of
the club's final ever game at Filbert Street, Rowley
said: “I made my debut at Bury which became one
of my favourite clubs because I always seemed to
score two or three goals there.”
Two weeks later
Arthur was in the City side which faced Queen’s
Park Rangers to make his home debut and score in the
6-1 win for the Foxes.
He added: “It
was a good start for me to score in my first away
game for City at Bury but to score at home was
exactly what I was looking for. I felt the crowd
really got behind me.
“I had come in
for Jack Lee as a cheaper replacement for the side. I
arrived from Fulham. I had wanted to get away from
London and Leicester wasn’t too far from my
hometown of Wolverhampton. I had just got married and
didn’t want to live in London and Leicester was
the ideal solution. Filbert Street wasn’t the
greatest ground I had ever seen or played at but we
always had a good crowd.”
Four months into
his eight season spell with the club with 12 goals
already in the back of the net Rowley scored the
first of 16 hat-tricks for City – and guess who
against – Bury at Filbert Street.
In 1952-53 Arthur
even scored a home and away hat-trick in the same
season against his former side Fulham. Rowley scored
four goals in the 6-1 win at Filbert Street.
“It almost
became a joke how many I had scored. I just wanted to
do well for the lads. I was happy I was earning them
some money. We used to joke it was a team effort by
me.
“It was even
sweeter because I had come from Fulham. Tommy Trinder
always used to be a joker there although he probably
wasn’t laughing that day. City had paid £14,000
as a transfer fee for me – that just shows how
much money has influenced the game. That’s most
players weekly wages nowadays.”
Arthur’s 265
goals would make him City’s second top
goalscorer ever to Arthur Chandler and his
influential presence on the pitch would rank him at
number 19 in overall appearances for the club with
321 displays for the Foxes.
He still holds the
City record for most penalties converted with 41 in
the League and Cup.
He said: “One
of the best goals I scored was at Filbert Street with
my right foot at the South Stand end. I don’t
remember who the opposition was but a lot of people
had been saying I was totally dominant with my left
foot and that I couldn’t kick the ball with my
right so I decided to show them.
“I hit it from
25 yards with my right foot and scored in the top
corner. I thought ‘that will keep people
quiet’.
I always felt proud when I scored a goal. I think I
scored so many goals because I took chances. I also
had two tremendous crossers of the ball in Derek Hogg
and Mal Griffiths who were ready to swing the ball
over and didn’t mind if I put it in the back of
the net.
“We had a very
good side in the early fifties – players like
Derek Hogg, Jack Froggatt and Derek Hines. We were a
happy bunch but a side that other people feared.
Teams came to Filbert Street and were worried.
“Promotion to
the First Division in 1954 was the best time. Through
promotion and relegation they were there as a
constant whatever happened and I hope that happens
for City next season.”
There will be a minutes silence in Arthur's memory
ahead of the Boxing Day clash against Ipswich Town.
Rowley Scoring
Statistics
1950-51 - 28 league goals
1951-52 - 38 league goals
1952-53 - 39 league goals
1953-54 - 30 league goals
1954-55 - 23 league goals
1955-56 - 29 league goals
1956-57 - 44 league goals
1957-58 - 20 league goals
Total: 265 goals in 321 appearances for City
Arthur did not stop
there, however. After Leicester City he moved to
Shrewsbury Town and managed another 152 League goals in
just 236 League games, a club record that still stands
today. Arthur very much became associated with his last
club, and there is a Players Bar named after him. This
report appears at BBC - Shropshire - Arthur Rowley
feature
He'd arrived at the
Gay Meadow already renowned and with 251 goals to his
credit for Leicester - but he'll also be fondly
remembered at Fulham and West Bromwich Albion.
His 434 goals in
619 games over 19 years earns him a place in the
football league's legends website, which says:
'Arthur Rowley stands head and shoulders above
anybody else in league history for goalscoring'.
He was player
manager when Shrewsbury beat First Division giants
Everton in the League Cup and were within minutes of
reaching the final before losing out to Rotherham.
Rowley left
Shrewsbury to manage Sheffield United and Southend,
but returned to the town when he retired and was
regularly seen at the Meadow, despite his ailing
health in recent years.
Born in
Wolverhampton in 1926, Rowley went to Manchester
United at the age of 14, but signed for West Brom
when he turned professional at the end of the war.
But he didn't set the world alight, scoring only four
times in 23 games, and was transferred to Fulham,
where he did much better, netting 27 goals in 56
outings.
But it was at
Leicester City's Filbert Street where he made his
mark over eight seasons, twice helping them gain
promotion to the old First Division, and becoming the
club's top scorer.
From Leicester it
was on to Shrewsbury Town, guiding them to promotion
to the Third Division in his first season as player
manager - and scoring 38 goals in 43 games.
He finished his
playing career at the Town, hanging up his boots in
1965, although he stayed on as manager for another
three years.
And after his
spells with Sheffield Utd and Southend, he returned
to Shropshire, firstly to manage Oswestry Town for a
brief spell and then Knighton in Powys.
See more December
2002 news at the following ...
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