Remembering those we said farewell to in 2021, including Preston North End owner Trevor Hemmings

Frank Worthington:

Former Huddersfield, Leicester, Bolton, Preston and England striker Worthington, one of football’s great mavericks, died aged 72 in March. Worthington, who was in North End’s 1986/87 promotion-winning squad, won eight England caps and represented over 20 clubs in a playing career that started with Huddersfield in 1966.

Trevor Hemmings:

Preston North End owner Trevor Hemmings died at the age of 86, in October. Hemmings owned North End outright from the summer of 2010 but his involvement at Deepdale went back to the early 1970s when he joined the board of directors. He was a major figure on the horse racing circuit, owning three Grand National winners – Hedgehunter in 2005, Ballabriggs in 2011 and Many Clouds in 2015.

Bertie Auld:

Midfielder Auld was one of Celtic’s ‘Lisbon Lions’ as part of the side that won the European Cup in 1967, and scored 85 goals in a total of 283 appearances over two spells with the club. He died in November aged 83.

Colin Bell:

Manchester City great Bell died in January at the age of 74. Known as the ‘King of the Kippax’, the midfielder played 492 times for City, scoring 152 goals and helping them secure trophies that included the First Division title in 1968. Bell also won 48 England caps.

Tony Collins:

Collins, the first black manager in the English Football League, began a seven-year spell in charge at Rochdale in 1960 and oversaw them finishing as League Cup runners-up in 1962 as they lost to Norwich in the only major final in their history. The League Managers’ Association announced his death at the age of 94 in February.

Terry Cooper:

The left-back made 351 appearances for Leeds and scored 11 goals, including the winner in the 1968 League Cup final against Arsenal. Cooper, who was also part of the club’s 1969 First Division title success and played 20 times for England, died in July aged 77.

Ted Dexter:

A powerful middle-order batter, Dexter captained England in 30 of 62 Test appearances before going on to become president of the MCC. He died in August aged 86.

Doug Holden:

Doug Holden, who scored for Preston North End in the 1964 FA Cup final, died at the age of 90 in April. Outside-left Holden gave the Lilywhites the lead against West Ham at Wembley but the Hammers won the game 3-2.

Ron Flowers:

Flowers made 515 appearances for Wolves and helped them to three First Division titles, and the FA Cup in 1960. The club announced his death, aged 87, in November.

Andy Fordham:

Fordham sprung to fame in 2004 when he beat Mervyn King 6-3 in the BDO World Championship final at Lakeside. ‘The Viking’, who had required a life-saving bowel operation in 2020 and was diagnosed with coronavirus at the start of this year, died in July – he was 59.

Jimmy Greaves:

Greaves, who famously sat out England’s 1966 World Cup triumph after being replaced in the side by Geoff Hurst at the quarter-final stage, scored 44 goals in 57 appearances for his country, which places him as their fifth-highest scorer. He tops the list for Tottenham – with whom he won two FA Cups and the European Cup Winners’ Cup – with 266 in 379 matches, and also scored 132 goals for his first club Chelsea. Greaves died in September aged 81.

Marvin Hagler: T

he former undisputed world middleweight champion dubbed ‘Marvelous’ died in March at the age of 66.

Roger Hunt:

Part of the England line-up for the 1966 World Cup final, Hunt was Liverpool’s record league scorer with 244 goals and is second on the Reds’ list in terms of his overall tally of 285, behind Ian Rush. The club announced Hunt’s death at the age of 83 in September.

Ray Kennedy:

Kennedy won the double with Arsenal in 1971 and then a glut of trophies with Liverpool including five league titles and three European Cups, and also played 17 times for England. He died in November aged 70.

Peter Lorimer:

Leeds announced in March that their all-time leading scorer Lorimer had died at the age of 74 after a long illness. The Scotland international registered 238 times in 705 appearances across two spells for the Elland Road outfit, who he helped win two First Division titles, the FA and League Cup and two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups.

Paul Mariner:

Former England striker Mariner scored 139 goals in 339 games for Ipswich in a golden era in which they won the FA Cup in 1978 and UEFA Cup in 1981, and also had spells playing for Plymouth, Arsenal and Portsmouth. He died in July aged 68.

Alan McLoughlin:

Midfielder McLoughlin, who scored the goal that took the Republic of Ireland to the 1994 World Cup, an equaliser against Northern Ireland at Windsor Park in November 1993, and played for clubs including Swindon, Southampton and Portsmouth, died in May of cancer. He was 54.

Max Mosley:

Ex-FIA president Mosley also died in May, aged 81. He headed up Formula One’s governing body the FIA from 1993 to 2009, and helped to transform the sport’s safety record after Ayrton Senna’s death at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994.

Gerd Muller:

Muller, affectionately known as ‘Der Bomber’, scored 68 times in 62 appearances for West Germany, including the winner in the 1974 World Cup final. He also helped them claim the European Championship in 1972 and was a three-time European Cup winner with Bayern Munich, for whom he hit a record 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga matches. The club announced his death at the age of 75 in August.

Glenn Roeder:

The former West Ham manager died in February aged 65 after a long battle with a brain tumour. Roeder played as a defender for QPR and Newcastle, worked as a coach under Glenn Hoddle with England, and as well as the Hammers, managed the Magpies, Gillingham, Watford and Norwich.

John Sillett:

The former Coventry manager famously oversaw the Sky Blues’ 
1987 FA Cup triumph when they beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 at Wembley. Sillett, who had played for the club in the 1960s after joining from Chelsea, died in November aged 85.

Gerald Sinstadt: Football commentator Sinstadt, who covered four World Cups for ITV between 1970 and 1982 before working on the Olympics for the BBC, died in November at the age of 91.

Walter Smith: Rangers announced the man who led them to 10 top-flight titles, five Scottish Cups, six League Cups and the 2008 UEFA Cup final had died at the age of 73 in October. Smith also managed Scotland and Everton.

Leon Spinks: Spinks won gold for the United States at the 1976 Olympics before pulling off one of boxing’s biggest upsets by beating Muhammad Ali two years later in only his eighth professional fight to become undisputed heavyweight world champion. His death at the age of 67 was announced in February.

Ian St John: The former Liverpool and Scotland striker, scorer of 118 goals for Shankly’s Reds across a decade at the club from 1961, died in March aged 82. After his playing days, St John won a new generation of fans when he and Greaves presented the popular Saturday afternoon football show Saint and Greavsie.

Jozef Venglos:

The Slovakian, who became the first manager from outside the UK and Ireland to take charge of a club in the English First Division when he was appointed as Aston Villa boss in 1990, and later managed Celtic, died in January. He was 84.

Murray Walker:

The commentator regarded as the ‘voice of Formula One’, who worked for the BBC and ITV during a broadcasting career spanning more than 50 years, died in March at the age of 97.

Maurice Watkins:

Solicitor Watkins spent 28 years as a Manchester United director from 1984, which included navigating the club through the legal process that followed Eric Cantona’s kung-fu kick on a Crystal Palace fan in 1995, and brokering the deal that saw Sir Alex Ferguson stay on as boss after he had decided to step down in 2002. He died in August aged 79.

Sir Frank Williams:

The founder and former team principal of Williams Racing, who oversaw the team winning the Formula One drivers’ title seven times and the constructors’ championship on nine occasions, died in November at the age of 79.