Two
weeks ago I wrote about the sad passing of former Coventry City
player Graham Newton and former director Micky French. Since then I
have had communication from several people that I would like to share
with you.
First,
Graham's widow Christine informed me that Graham's funeral will take
place on Tuesday 9th April (1.30) at Telford
Crematorium and afterwards at Patshull Park Hotel near Wolverhampton.
All are welcome.
Then
I spoke to Micky's son, Simon French, who was kind enough to send me
a couple of cuttings from Micky's scrapbook. Micky was on City's
books as a 17-year-old and made his debut for City's reserve team at
Tottenham in September 1947 on the left wing. City included their
goal machine George Lowrie who had lost form after two hatricks in
the opening three games for the first team. Before the end of the
season, the Welsh international centre-forward was sold to Newcastle
for what was in those days a massive £18,000 fee. City's goalkeeper
was a young Peter Taylor, later to become Brian Clough's right-hand
man at Derby and Forest and the Murphy was Peter who later became a
top player and joined Spurs for a big fee in the early 1950s before
playing in the 1956 FA Cup final for Birmingham City. City's reserves
lost 7-1 to a Spurs team containing seven players with first team
experience.
Finally,
I had a nice obituary on Micky from Leamington FC historian Paul
Vanes:
Michael, known to everybody as
Micky, was born in London playing for London Schools before his
school was evacuated to Oxford during the war. Association football
was not on the curriculum of his adopted school and as Micky’s
first love was soccer, he was not to be denied his game, so he played
rugby on Saturday and soccer on Sunday.
When he left school Micky moved to
Coventry and joined Stoke St. Michaels in the Minor League. His
consistent displays for Stoke won him a place in the Birmingham
County F.A. Youth Xl needless to say his performances soon attracted
the League scouts and he signed amateur forms Coventry City for whose
‘A’ and Reserves teams he played.
Micky, like all young men, had to do
his National Service and after two years in the R.A.F. was signed for
the Brakes by ex-City player Les Latham who knew of his ability. As
an amateur he played for the Birmingham County F.A. and then signed
professional forms in 1952 going on to play two consecutive seasons
for the Rest of The Birmingham Combination versus the champions.
Micky made his debut for Lockheed
against Tamworth on 10th of February 1951 keeping his place
throughout the rest of the season winning a medal beating Hereford
United Reserves in the final of the Birmingham Senior cup replay at
the Windmill in front of 3.500 fans. Another medal was collected when
Brakes beat Bedworth Town 6-1 at the Oval in the final of the local
Charity cup with Micky scoring one of the goals.
From a goal scoring point of view,
Micky netted four times against Birch Coppice Colliery in a 6-1 home
win on January 20th 1954 and recorded 11 for the season, the best of
his Lockheed career. August 22nd 1955 saw Lockheed host Northampton
Town in a joint benefit match for Micky French, Frank Grimwood and
Albert Sneddon, Cobbles ran out winners by the odd goal in three
watched by 1,445 fans and Brakes goal was scored by ………Micky
French.
Many league clubs tried to poach
Micky away from the semi-professional game but he resisted and in
October 1955, he joined Rugby Town. He played over 170 games scoring
35 goals for Lockheed. By trade Micky was a chartered accountant
joining Coventry City as a director in 1969 and resigned in 1992
His brother David, who pre-deceased
him, was also a professional player with Lockheed in 1951/52 and
1952/53. I am sorry this obituary is belated but we did find out
until last week Micky had passed away from dementia and cancer. Micky
is now slinging over the corners and crosses for Bill Draper to head
home on the green grass upstairs.
May
we offer our sincere and heartfelt condolences to wife June, son
Simon, daughter Alison and her three children plus all the family and
the friends of this very nice man on behalf of everyone at Leamington
Football Club and the Brakes Trust. The funeral was at Oakley Woods
last month.
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