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'.
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.
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'.
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