FRANK WORTHINGTON 1948 - 2021
TRIBUTES TO A ‘BEAUTIFUL FOOTBALLER AND A MAVERICK’
GARY Lineker has led the tributes to his “boyhood hero” Frank Worthington following the former Huddersfield, Leicester and England striker’s death at the age of 72.
The eight-cap forward died peacefully in hospital on Monday evening following a long illness, his family announced in a statement to the PA news agency yesterday.
Worthington represented more than 20 clubs in a long playing career that began with the Terriers in 1966.
“Profoundly saddened to hear that Frank Worthington has died,” tweeted former Leicester, Tottenham and England striker Lineker.
“He was my boyhood hero when he was at Leicester City.
“A beautiful footballer, a maverick and a wonderful character who was so kind to this young apprentice when he joined the club. RIP Frank (Elvis).”
Worthington’s wife Carol paid tribute to the much-loved football showman, who died in hospital in Huddersfield.
“Frank brought joy to so many people throughout his career and in his private life,” Carol said.
“He will be greatly missed by everyone who loved him so much.”
Worthington’s daughter, Kim Malou, announced on Facebook in 2016 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease - but he issued a statement the following day denying that he had the condition.
Unashamedly non-establishment, Worthington hit the headlines as much for his off-field exploits as his rarefied talents on it.
Once described by former Huddersfield and Bolton manager Ian Greaves as “the working man’s George Best”, Worthington played in 22 consecutive Football League seasons from 1966, scoring 266 goals in 882 appearances in all competitions.
In 14 of those campaigns he played in the top division, notching 150 goals in 466 matches, and won the Golden Boot award in 1978-79 as the leading scorer. Former Scotland striker Ally McCoist, who partnered Worthington up front at Sunderland in the 1982-83 season, believes his former team-mate should have earned far more than his eight England caps.
“Make no mistake about it, Frank Worthington should have 40, 50 caps,” McCoist told talkSPORT radio yesterday.
“He was talented beyond belief, and for an old-fashioned ball-player of that generation, Frank was up there with the best of them. I’m gutted, absolutely gutted. I knew big Frank really well, I shared a room with him.
“We beat Man City in the last game of the season to stay up – and two hours later were on a flight to Magaluf.
“He was one of the most talented footballers I ever played with.
“He did me the honour of speaking at my testimonial dinner.
“I knew he wasn’t well but it doesn’t soften the blow. I know for a fact he’s in a better place now, but I’m absolutely gutted.”
Worthington’s former clubs were also quick to pay their respects on social media, including Leicester City, which posted yesterday: “It is with great sadness that we heard the news of the death of Leicester City legend Frank Worthington, who passed away on 22 March, 2021.”
Club historian John Hutchinson said: “The most successful five years of Frank’s career were spent at Leicester City.
“His entertaining centre-forward play will live forever in the minds of those fans lucky enough to have seen him.”
City fans also paid tribute to their former hero.
The first to write in to the Mercury was 92-year-old Harry Johnson, who said: “Just found out that Frank Worthington as passed away, one of City’s best ever players.
“I saw him many times and at 92 can remember him well, I always said he stirred his tea with his left foot!
“I remember he coming out onto the pitch at the King Power at halftime with The Birch (Alan Birchenall), his pal, and he shot a ball into the goal to a great shout from our supporters.
“Birch had a job to get him off the field again!
“I used to work for the police, and when he came into town on many occasions he was known for getting loads of parking tickets, but he just laughed and, if he liked the lady traffic warden, he would sing an Elvis Presley song to her!
“He was known by all players and Leicester fans as a great singer of his songs.
“RIP Frank.”
A beautiful footballer, a maverick and a character who was so kind to this young apprentice
Gary Lineker
FORMER Leicester striker Frank Worthington was one of English football’s fabled mavericks. Worthington, who has died at the age of 72, was a ball-juggling entertainer and lived life in the fast lane during a colourful Football League career which spanned three decades until 1988.
His daughter, Kim Malou, announced on Facebook in 2016 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, but Worthington issued a statement the following day denying that he had the condition.
Showman, playboy, Elvis wannabe and dedicated follower of fashion, Worthington was unashamedly non-establishment and hit the headlines as much for his off-field exploits as he did for his rarefied talents on it.
Eight England caps were scant reward for a player once described by former Huddersfield and Bolton manager Ian Greaves as “the working man’s George Best”.
At all 11 of his Football League clubs, starting with Huddersfield, then Leicester, Bolton, Birmingham, Leeds, Sunderland, Southampton, Brighton, Tranmere, Preston and Stockport, fans’ favourite Worthington became a cult hero.
Major honours eluded him, but despite a rock-and-roll lifestyle that cost him his dream move to Bill Shankly’s Liverpool in 1972, he played in 22 consecutive Football League seasons from 1966-67, scoring 266 goals in 882 appearances in all competitions.
In 14 of those seasons he played in the top flight, notching 150 goals in 466 matches, and won the Golden Boot Award ahead of Kenny Dalglish and Frank Stapleton in 1978-79.
Worthington won promotion to the old First Division three times with different clubs – Huddersfield, Bolton and Birmingham – and helped Preston secure promotion to the old Third Division in the twilight of his career.
He scored a career-defining goal for Bolton against Ipswich in 1979, when, with his back to goal on the edge of the penalty area, he flicked the ball up over his head to evade a clutch of defenders and swivelled to plant a volley into the bottom corner.
It was a magical effort, replayed regularly for years after, while Worthington typically insisted he had scored plenty of better goals that had not been captured by the television cameras.
WORTHINGTON was born in the West Yorkshire village of Shelf, halfway between Bradford and Halifax, on November 23, 1948 and was destined to become a professional footballer.
Father Eric was released by Manchester United before the Second World War and went on to play for Halifax as an inside forward, while mother Alice turned out as a centre-forward for the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.
Elder brothers Dave and Bob, both defenders, had long and successful Football League careers themselves, most notably with Grimsby and Notts County respectively, while Worthington also had a younger sister, Julie.
Worthington started out at Halifax like his brothers, but bigger local rivals Huddersfield enticed him to sign schoolboy forms with them instead.
He made his league debut aged 18 in 1967 and scored 19 goals for the Terriers during the 1969-70 season to help them win promotion to the old First Division.
Former Liverpool boss Shankly was ready to break his club’s record transfer fee to sign Worthington for £150,000 in 1972, but a failed medical due to high blood pressure scuppered the deal.
Still determined to get his man, Shankly sent Worthington to Majorca for a relaxing holiday with the aim of trying again, but the 23-year-old succumbed to temptation on the island resort and continued to party instead.
He failed a second medical on his return to Anfield and later admitted in his aptly titled autobiography, ‘One Hump or Two?’, that it was the only regret of his career.
When Worthington received a late call-up by Sir Alf Ramsey for the England Under-23s squad in 1972 he greeted the World Cup-winning manager for the first time at Warsaw airport dressed in a green velvet jacket, floral shirt, leather trousers and cowboy boots.
That was Worthington’s style. The strait-laced Sir Alf, one imagines, would not have been impressed.
LEICESTER snapped him up after his Liverpool setback and, while the partying was never curtailed, he went on to make all eight of his senior England appearances during his time there.
Worthington also had spells as a player in the United States with Philadelphia Furies in 1979 and Tampa Bay Rowdies two years later, plus a later stint in South Africa for Cape Town Spurs.
His time at Tranmere was as player-manager and he continued to play the game after he left his last Football League club, Stockport, in 1988.
He turned out for Chorley, Galway United, Weymouth and Guiseley among others before finally hanging up his boots to focus on after-dinner speaking.
Worthington married first wife Birgitta, from Sweden, in 1973 soon after the birth of their son, Frank Jr, and their daughter Kim Malou was born in 1974.
He is also survived by second wife Carol, daughter of former Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Noel Dwyer, whom he married in 1986 following a long friendship.
■■The definition of a cult hero - “He was a genius on the pitch, playing with a swagger replicated off the field with his flamboyant dress sense, insatiable love of the good life...” former City reporter Rob Tanner on Frankie, Pages 46 & 47