It is sad to report the death of former
Coventry City player Maurice Setters at the age of 83. He passed away
at Doncaster Royal Infirmary last Sunday after a short illness and a
long battle against Alzheimer's Disease.
Maurice came to Coventry near the end
of a long career and was an inspired signing for the club, inspiring
the team to avoid relegation from the First Division in 1968 by the
skin of their teeth after looking relegation certainties for most of
the season. He is remembered fondly by older Sky Blues supporters and
his former playing colleagues.
Born in Honiton, Devon, Maurice joined
his local club Exeter City from school and after winning England
Schoolboys and Youth honours he made his debut for the Grecians as a
17-year-old in 1954. Within twelve months, after just 10 games, he
was transferred to West Brom, then a leading First Division club. Two
goals on his home debut against Portsmouth endeared him to the fans
and it wasn't long before he was a regular at wing-half for the
Baggies. In his three full seasons at Hawthorns the club never
finished below fifth in Division One and Maurice's form earned him 16
England Under 23 caps. Although he never won a full cap he was named
in England's 22-man squad for the 1958 World Cup squad.
In those days Maurice had an
American-style 'crew-cut' hairstyle which added to his image as a
hard man and whilst he was a fine footballer he earned a reputation
as one of the country's toughest players. In January 1960 Manchester
United, rebuilding after the Munich air crash that had decimated
their team, paid Albion £35,000 for Setters and he was a regular in
United's half-back line for the next five years. He was the hard man
that won the ball before feeding Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and
latterly George Best to turn on the magic. Maurice captained the club
and was best man to Bobby Charlton at his wedding in 1961. In 1962-63
he handed the captaincy to his future Coventry manager Noel Cantwell
and the pair were in the team that lifted the FA Cup, beating
Leicester City 3-1, after ending the Sky Blues' own great run that
year.
In 1964-65 Maurice had a serious
contender for his club place, Nobby Stiles. The two had many
similarities and ultimately Matt Busby plumped for the tigerish Nobby
and Maurice left to join another First Division side Stoke City. A
few months later he returned to Old Trafford with Stoke and got a
standing ovation from the crowd who recognised his role in the
re-birth of United.
At the Victoria Ground Tony Waddington
converted him to a centre-half where despite his short stature (he
was only 5 foot 10 tall) he could compete with the best in air with
his timing and strength. Setters played a big part in the Potters'
revival alongside renaissance stars such as Peter Dobing and Roy
Vernon. In autumn 1967 however he was sidelined with a cartilage
injury and struggling to get back to fitness when the call came from
Noel Cantwell.
City's first season in Division One
could not have started more badly. Manager Jimmy Hill had resigned to
go to a career in television, captain and centre-half George Curtis
had suffered a broken leg in the second game, inspirational
midfielder Ian Gibson was sidelined by injury and star goalscorer
Bobby Gould was also out injured. A 0-3 home defeat to fellow
strugglers Fulham had left City at the foot of the table with just
two wins in 16 games, having conceded 39 goals. Hill's signing of
Tony Knapp to replace Curtis had failed spectacularly and rookie
manager Cantwell had failed to win any of his five games since
arriving. The attack had been strengthened by the signing of Gerry
Baker and Ernie Hannigan but the team needed a leader and an
experienced defender to shore up the leaking defence. Maurice ticked
both boxes.
Former club physiotherapist Norman
Pilgrim takes up the story: 'Noel was desperate to get Maurice in but
at his medical I told Noel that his knee was dreadful and he needed a
couple of months of rehab before he would be ready to play. Noel said
he couldn't wait and needed Maurice straight away'.
Maurice made his debut at Elland Road,
Leeds where Don Revie's team had won 10 home games in a row. Norman
remembers Cantwell introducing him to Revie in the tunnel before the
kick-off and says that Revie was a worried man after hearing that
City had signed Setters.
Ninety minutes later City had taken a
point thanks to an Ernie Hannigan goal and almost grabbed a win. In
his match report Derek Henderson prophetically concluded: 'Setters
strode about City's penalty box like a Soccer Napoleon. The chunky,
lion-hearted Devonian -though clearly a long way from being fully
match fit – brought that air of authority and professional outlook
that could in the next few weeks transform Cantwell's side.'
Pilgrim had to work like a demon:
'Maurice didn't train with the first team for two months, it was me
and him in the gym every day. On a Friday he would do a lap round the
pitch at Ryton and a couple of sprints and he was ready to play the
following day'.
It would be another three games before
City would record their next win but slowly and surely the team got
stronger and results improved. Setters, who was appointed captain,
missed just one game, ironically City's only away win, at his former
club West Brom, and as the season came to a climax he was as fit as
any player on the team.
Dietmar Bruck was a team-mate of
Maurice and had nothing but praise for him: 'he added a spark to the
club that had been missing that season. He was a strong character who
spoke his mind and just what we needed after George broke his leg. He
always led by example and never gave less than 100% even in training
games.'
City's home form kept their head above
water and at the end of March Manchester United came to Highfield
Road looking for an easy scalp on their way to a second successive
league title and European Cup glory. Maurice had other ideas and gave
a commanding defensive performance before heading home a corner for
the second goal in City's 2-0 victory. Chris Cattlin made his debut
that day, marking the mercurial George Best and says: 'I was as
nervous as hell before the game but Maurice settled my nerves and
gave me some advice for dealing with Best. He talked me through the
game and later helped me settle at the club'.
With three games remaining City looked
almost safe but then threw away the points at home to Leicester
leaving two nerve-jangling away games to save their place. The first,
at West Ham's Upton Park, is recalled by Norman Pilgrim: 'West Ham
had Moore, Hurst and Peters and always played attractive football. As
the team left the dressing-room Maurice turned to the rest and said
'West Ham will be expecting us to kick them today, let's not
disappoint them!'' City drew 0-0.
The final game at Southampton saw City
repeat the scoreline and earn safety but not before a terrific
rearguard action, marshalled as ever by Setters who was up against
the 28-goal Ron Davies, the league's leading scorer and recognised as
one of the top headers in the country. Rarely did Davies get a clean
head on the ball so good was Maurice's aerial antics. I can clearly
remember his blood-spattered shirt resulting from a cut requiring
four stitches above an eye.
The following season things didn't
improve much for the Sky Blues with another relegation battle that
went down to the wire. Despite George Curtis being fit again, Maurice
started the season in the number five shirt but Noel experimented
with the pair as double centre-halves in a League Cup tie at West Ham
and it worked a treat in a 0-0 draw. The experiment was tried again
at West Brom but City got hammered 6-1 and after one more attempt
resulted in a 3-0 League Cup defeat at Swindon the whole idea was
shelved. George took over and Maurice spent several months in the
reserves helping develop youngsters Jeff Blockley and Alan Dugdale.
Unhappy at not being in the first team, he was in trouble with
Cantwell in the February and placed on the transfer list for critical
comments to the press but his performance levels never dropped. With
four games remaining and City desperate for points he was recalled to
play as an extra defender at Everton, City lost 3-0 but Maurice
impressed enough to displace Curtis for the three vital remaining
games. Three draws left City having to wait for Leicester to finish
their programme but the true grit of Maurice was seen in the final
momentous game against Liverpool at Highfield Road. City, with
Maurice driving them on, gave everything in a thrilling game but with
30 minutes remaining he committed a late tackle on Alun Evans and
after a flurry of fists the referee sent the pair off. City survived
to draw 0-0, a point which ultimately kept them up at Leicester's
expense.
Maurice spent that summer on the
transfer list but despite lots of interest he was still at the club
when the new season started. The team started well but injuries meant
a recall for him in midfield in and the team were unbeaten in five,
including the famous 3-1 win at Derby. The changing of the guard was
coming however in the shape of another blood and thunder centre-half,
Roy Barry. A 0-0 draw at Burnley saw Barry start for the first time
with Maurice in midfield and George came off the bench for his final
appearance for the club – the only time the awesome trio appeared
together.
Roy remembers Maurice fondly: 'He made
me very welcome when I came down from Scotland. I was living in a
hotel and he took me home for a meal with Cath and his family. He
knew his days were numbered with my arrival but he was so kind.
During the next few months Maurice, Ernie Hunt and myself got on like
a house on fire and were nicknamed the Three Amigos and we had so
much fun.'
Maurice was never on the losing side in
his nine league games that season and made his final bow for the
club, alongside Roy, at Anfield in an FA Cup replay. It ended in a
3-0 defeat and after a handful more reserve games he was on his way
to Charlton on a free transfer. He only played eight games for the
Valiants but helped steer them away from relegation from Division Two
before hanging his boots up at the end of the season.
Within
a year he was appointed manager of Fourth Division Doncaster Rovers
and spent three and half seasons at Belle Vue the highlight of which
was a creditable draw at Anfield in the FA Cup. He
became Jack Charlton's assistant at Sheffield
Wednesday in
1977 and stayed at Hillsborough for six years before coaching at
Rotherham and being chief scout at Newcastle. He later linked up with
Jack again from 1986 to 1995 as assistant manager with the
Republic of Ireland and as a honorary Irishman helped Jack take the
team to the World Cup finals for the first time in 1994.
Maurice was a member of the Former
Player's Association but illness prevented him for attending any
Legends Days. The Association send their condolences to his family
which includes his grandson the former City player Robert Betts.
My
friend and fellow City historian David Brassington on hearing the
news of Maurice's death summed up everyone's feelings: 'If
one player did more than any other to keep us up in that first season
in Division One it was Maurice Setters'.