Black Country boy in the Milan derby
– Part 8
ON leaving school Colin had joined Derby County, although having failed to break into the senior side he made the move to rural Shropshire to join Shrewsbury Town.
He went on to make over four hundred Football League appearances, clocking up, in all, over five hundred, an incredible achievement. He later coached at Gay Meadow.
Virtually a one club man he became a legend at Shrewsbury and was inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame in 2012.
Gary Hackett
Born at Mary Stevens Maternity Hospital, Stourbridge, what a coincidence that in later life he was to manage the town’s football team in a successful period of almost twenty years.
Representing both Worcestershire Schools and Birmingham County FA, Gary had signed schoolboy forms for Albion and was disappointed, but philosophical when he was released (twelve years later they were to pay for that mistake).
He obtained a job at a steel stockholder’s whilst he played his football for the youth team of Oldswinford. He then agreed to join Lye Town and at the age of nineteen signed for
Bromsgrove Rovers.
He had been regularly checked out by scouts from Football League clubs and eventually agreed a two year deal with Shrewsbury Town. Although entering full-time football at the relatively advanced age of nineteen Gary had confidence in his ability and went straight into Shrewsbury’s first team.
His second game was in an FA Cup game at Newcastle in front of 40,000 spectators, with Gary scoring a goal that was deemed good enough to be shown on the BBC’S Grandstand programme every week for two years.
A couple of years on and he was heading for the “granite city” of Aberdeen, turning down a last minute offer to join Aston Villa. To play in the Scottish Premier Division and experience the big match atmosphere at Celtic and Ibrox Park was an incredible experience.
Dream
A call from Stoke City manager, Mick Mills, resulted in a transfer to the Potters where he spent four happy years – in season 1988-89 he appeared in all 46 League games. Then heyho, the world turned full circle and his boyhood dream was realised when Albion came calling and he readily agreed to move to The Hawthorns, spending three years at his spiritual home.
He finished his playing career with spells at Peterborough United and Chester City.
Short spells followed as his coaching talents came to the fore with spells at Stourport Swifts, Stourbridge and Halesowen before returning to Stourbridge and, as they say, the rest is history as he presided over the most successful spell in the club’s history during his fifteen year tenure.
Stewart Hadley
Stewart initially joined Derby County but was released without making a first team appearance.
He joined near neighbours Mansfield Town in 1993 and over the next five seasons played 124 times, scoring 24 times. Dropping down into the Conference he signed for Kidderminster Harriers and together with Leroy May gave them a strong presence up front. Winning promotion with Kidderminster Stewart has the distinction of scoring Harriers’ first ever goal in the Football League. He found the net a further 23 times in his 94 games, before opting to join Worcester City of the Southern League.
Geoff Hickman
Geoff was a trainee with Albion and although he was on the bench for games in the European Cup Winners Cup he didn’t actually clock up an appearance, hence his qualification for this article!
Spending the 1969-70 season in Yorkshire he made nine League appearances for Bradford Park Avenue before returning home to concentrate on his career in business.
He helped create Bullman Newspapers which launched a number of free publications including the Stourbridge, Halesowen and Dudley News. After selling his share in the newspaper group he moved into property development. He later formed a newspaper typesetting and production company before diversifying and launching his own catering company.
Short-lived
A short-lived professional football career but he more than made up for it in other areas. Geoff certainly couldn’t be termed as your archetypal footballer!
Gerry Hitchens
Born into a mining family in Rawnsley near Cannock, Gerry moved with his family to Highley when his father moved to work in the mining industry in the Shropshire countryside.
Gerry also began his working life as a miner playing football for the village club before signing for Kidderminster Harriers. Despite interest from Black Country clubs Gerry moved to Cardiff City, and after two seasons at Ninian Park with a return of 40 goals in 95 games, Gerry moved to Villa Park for a reported fee of £22,500. His four seasons in the claret and blue shirt yielded 78 goals in 130 games.
He made his debut for England in 1961 scoring in the first minute in an 8-0 trouncing of Mexico, and two weeks later he scored twice against Italy in Rome. This display brought him to the attention of Internazionale who signed him for a reported fee of £85,000. His only season at the club saw him score 17 goals and he must be recorded as a successful export to Italy, where he stayed for nine years also playing for Torino, Atalanta and Cagliari.
Gerry won seven caps, scoring five times, and became the first English man to represent his country while on the books of a foreign club.
He returned to England and played in The Southern League for Worcester City and Merthyr Tydfil.