FRANK: THE WORKING MAN’S GEORGE BEST
Footballer Worthington dies aged 72
HE partied with Raquel Welch, idolised Elvis Presley and squandered a fortune on booze and gambling.
Frank Worthington was once labelled “the working man’s George Best” by a manager – but often outdid his fellow football legend for flamboyance.
The Yorkshire-born ex-England centre-forward died on Monday aged 72 in his home county after a long illness.
He epitomised football’s Seventies image of exuberance and excess both on and off the field – and the social attitudes of the time.
His contemporary Alan Hudson once recalled him giving advice “with a little twinkle in his eye” to older boys at a kids’ training session. “He’d say, ‘Treat the ball like a woman – caress it and make sure it’s safe in your hands’.”
The Elvis fanatic once revealed he had visited Graceland twice “to make sure stories of his death were true”. Hudson asked him if he took Presley on to the pitch with him and he replied: “I most certainly did, every match.”
Halifax-born Worthington’s 26-year football career began at Huddersfield Town in 1966 and involved 23 other clubs, including Leicester City. He scored 260 goals in 828 appearances and won eight England caps.
A move to Liverpool in 1972 fell apart – after he had actually signed – when he failed a medical, reportedly due to high blood pressure blamed on his “lifestyle”. He had recently
returned from a holiday in Majorca, a trip he recounted in his best-selling 1994 autobiography One Hump Or Two.
“There’s one story about how I managed to seduce a Swedish teenager and her mother,” he wrote. He went on: “They were great days. I used to be out till all hours boozing it up.”
He told of a memorable postmatch encounter with sex symbol actress Raquel Welch, saying: “She spotted me in the players’ lounge at Chelsea and came over. I took her out later to a nightclub. She had a blue tightfitting leather suit on.
“I had quite a lot of hair and was a lot younger then. I was wearing some wild clothes and she tried to kiss me on the dance floor. Happily, I didn’t have my moustache at the time.”
His widow Carol said after his death in a Huddersfield hospital: “Frank brought joy to so many people and will be missed by everyone who loved him so much.”
Match of the Day host Gary Lineker, another ex-Leicester City striker, yesterday said he was “saddened” to hear his “boyhood hero” had died.
He added: “A beautiful footballer, a maverick and a wonderful character who was so kind to this young apprentice.”
Worthington, looking back on his career, once recalled: “People say I’ve squandered a fortune on booze, gambling and women. As my old mate Stan Bowles said, that’s a lot better than wasting it.”
They were great days. I used to be out boozing it up until all hours
FRANK WORTHINGTON ON HIS WILD LIFESTYLE
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