WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
We catch up with Hull City’s 1982-83 Division Four runners-up
HULL CITY were lucky to still be in business when Colin Appleton led them to promotion from the old Fourth Division just 12 months after they had called in the receivers.
The future looked bleak for the club until they were taken over by Don Robinson, the chairman of Scarborough who brought in Appleton as manager.
Together they oversaw a remarkable transformation which saw the club promoted as runners-up to Wimbledon with a record points’ total.
The Dons raced away with the title with 98 points with the Tigers in second place eight points behind. They finished two ahead of Port Vale and seven in front of Scunthorpe United.
Midfielder Billy Askew, signed after a successful trial, was one of the new faces brought in and remembers it took a few games for Appleton to get his message across.
He says: “It was a very good side, we had some excellent players like Steve McClaren in midfield – people don’t realise how good he was – and winger Brian Marwood who was outstanding that year.
“They already had the nucleus of the team and then they signed Peter Skipper and myself and Colin Appleton came in and pulled it all together.
“It was a very young team. Apart from Les Mutrie and Dennis Booth, everybody else was in their early 20s.
“I had only just come in and, like the rest of the lads, it took me a while to understand what Colin wanted, the system he wanted to play.
“He was quite a complex character in some ways, it was difficult to understand him at first.
Decisions
“But once we got our heads around what he wanted, things took off – and he wasn’t scared to make big decisions.”
And one of those decisions was leaving out striker Billy Whitehurst who had earned a reputation as one of the hardest men to have played the game during the 1980s.
Askew, who played 36 games for Hull that season, remembers the incident well because Appleton made the decision in the middle of a pitch inspection.
“The manager bought in John Hawley on loan from Arsenal and left out Billy Whitehurst for a game against Blackpool away and he told him on the pitch. In those days you used to go out and check the pitch before the game.
“I saw the big fella stood on his own and thought ‘Oh God, what’s up here?’
“So I went over and asked Billy what was up and he just growled and for two weeks he was like a bear with a sore head.
“Then Dennis Booth got left out over Easter and as he got off the bus he said to Appleton and the rest of the lads, “Don’t worry another great man got crucified this weekend”.
“Some of the football we played was excellent, we scored some outstanding goals. Over the full nine months we were the best team in the division.”
1. Dale Roberts: Centre-half won two promotions with Hull and was on the coaching staff at Ipswich Town until his death in February 2003 following a twoyear battle with cancer.
2. Neil Thompson: Defender who helped Scarborough win the Conference title. Has managed York, Scarborough and Boston and is now managing Sheffield Wednesday’s Under-23s. 3. Peter Skipper: Centre-half twice won promotion with the Tigers. He managed a pub, worked in finance and insurance and then worked for East Yorkshire glazing in Hull. 4. Tony Norman: Wales international goalkeeper, played for Sunderland in an FA Cup final before becoming a police officer in Durham and has since been a goalkeeper coach 5. Les Mutrie: Striker, who once scored in nine consecutive League matches. Became a publican and ran the Dudley Hotel, in Cramlington, Northumberland. 6. John Davies: Goalkeeper, who started his career at Cardiff. Has served the Tigers community scheme for the last 27 years and is currently Trust manager. 7. Billy Whitehurst: Striker, won a promotion with Sheffield United. He has run pubs, been a successful greyhound owner, a labourer and worked at BP Saltend and Drax Power Station. 8. Ian Davis: Midfielder, whose career was ended early through injury. He continues to live and work in his native Hull. 9. Steve Richards: Defender played over 300 League games before joining the Humberside Police. He has managed a number of Non-League clubs in the local area. 10. Bobby McNeil: Defender later won a promotion with Preston North End. He settled in the Hull area and joined Humberside Police. 11. Brian Marwood: Winger went on to Arsenal and won England honours. He was Nike’s Head of UK Football and a pundit for Sky Sports. He is now an executive at Manchester City as managing director of City Football Services. 12. Steve McClaren: Midfielder who won a Second Division title with Derby. Went into coaching under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester Utd and has managed the likes of Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest, Derby, Newcastle and England. 13. Garreth Roberts: Midfielder who played over 400 games for his home town club, spent 15 years working for the club council and is now a development manager with the Humber Sports Partnership. 14. Dennis Booth: Midfielder who won six promotions in a long career. Went into coaching at Hull. He is now working for UK Football Finder. 15. Gary Swann: Full-back also won promotions with Preston and York. He went into leisure centre management in Surrey and runs Coral Reef Waterworld in Bracknell. 16. Andy Flounders: Striker who twice won promotion with Hull. Went to work for Jackson’s bakery in Hull. His son followed him onto the Tigers’ books, playing for the junior sides. 17. Billy Askew: Midfielder who played over 250 games for Hull. He has spent many years in the licensing trade, has scouted for several clubs and has been on the coaching staff at Darlington.