Jimmy Husband
Skilful and pacy winger who won the League with Everton
JIMMY HUSBAND, who has died aged 76, was an English footballer who was a member of the Everton team that won the Football League Championship in 1970, having represented England at schoolboy, youth and Under-23 level.
Nicknamed “Skippy” because of his distinctive running style, Husband found an unwanted place in Everton folklore after missing what he admitted was “a sitter” in the 1968 FA Cup final defeat by West Bromwich Albion.
He began his career as an inside-forward but was increasingly deployed as a pacy right-winger. Unusually, he tended to make cross-field runs from wide positions, teasing defenders out of position and drawing fouls with close skills that might have earned selection for the full England team but for Sir Alf Ramsey’s fabled reluctance to use wingers.
James Husband was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on October 15 1947 and regularly attended Newcastle United games with his father. When he was 15 they were one of nearly 20 clubs, alongside Leeds United, Aston Villa and Sunderland, to covet his services.
In 1963, despite spending a week training at Burnley, who were renowned for unearthing gems from the North East, Husband chose Everton. Then Football League champions, they were “the most persistent”, he later said.
The Everton manager Harry Catterick gave Husband his first-team debut at Fulham in 1965 when he was 17. At Wembley in 1968, with five minutes of normal time left and the FA Cup final goalless, Johnny Morrissey’s cross reached him in an unmarked position six yards from West Brom’s goal.
He headed the ball high over the bar, perhaps distracted by a call from team-mate Alan Ball, who was a yard behind him and equally well-placed to put the ball in the net. Everton lost 1-0 in extra time and Husband apologised to supporters the next day.
Later that year he suffered a serious knee injury in a challenge by Derby County’s Dave Mackay. He recovered to play a major part in Everton’s League title triumph in 1969-70, contributing six goals and creating many more in 30 appearances before being edged out by Alan Whittle.
Returning to favour in 1970-71, Husband scored a volley against Chelsea that is remembered as one of the great Goodison Park goals. In the European Cup quarterfinals that season, Everton faced Greek champions Panathinaikos. Husband was carried off seven minutes into the first leg after a knee-high foul by Mimis Domazos. Catterick’s side lost on the away-goals rule.
Many Evertonians considered that the brutality meted out to Husband diminished his acceleration and body-swerve. In 1973, by which time Billy Bingham had arrived as manager, he left for Luton Town after 199 appearances and 55 goals.
Revelling in the change of atmosphere – the Luton manager Harry Haslam was easy going where Catterick had been a disciplinarian
– he helped his new club achieve promotion to the top flight in his first season.
Husband spent five years at Kenilworth Road, scoring 48 goals in 162 games, before another change of manager, David Pleat succeeding Haslam, prompted him to accept a fresh challenge. Along with the defender John Faulkner he joined the North American Soccer League club Memphis Rogues, coached by his former Chelsea adversary Eddie Mccreadie.
After two summers in Tennessee, aged 32 he followed Mccreadie to the indoor team Cleveland Force. Going back to grass, albeit at a lower level, he spent a further two years at Oklahoma City Slickers.
After retiring at 36 he ran a country pub and briefly turned out for a village team – called Everton – before working as a sales consultant for a car-hire firm.
Jimmy Husband was married to Val, whom he had met when they were teenagers. They had a daughter and a son.
Jimmy Husband, born October 15 1947, died March 9 2024