Allardyce leads Bolton tributes to Worthington
FORMER Bolton Wanderers player and manager Sam Allardyce says his old teammate Frank Worthington was an ‘absolutely brilliant character’ and that his death is a ‘great loss’.
Former England forward Worthington has passed away at the age of 72 following a long illness.
He won eight England caps and represented more than 20 clubs - including Stockport County, Stalybridge Celtic and Radcliffe Borough – in a long playing career that began with Huddersfield Town in 1966.
He moved to Wanderers in 1977 from Leicester City and scored 35 goals in two years at Burnden Park including a memorable strike against Ipswich Town in 1979 which was shown on TV.
He died peacefully in hospital on Monday evening following a long illness, his family announced.
Worthington joined Bolton in September 1977 under manager Ian Greaves, initially on loan from Leicester, scoring on his debut against Stoke City before joining Wanderers on a permanent basis.
Greaves labelled him the ‘working class George Best’.
The forward helped the club win the Second Division championship the following year, scoring a promotion-securing goal against Blackburn Rovers before ending the following campaign as the First Division’s top scorer.
He spent the summer of 1979 with Philadelphia Fury before returning to Bolton. He departed Wanderers for Birmingham City that October.
One of the many team-mates Worthington had in that time was Allardyce, who played for Wanderers in two spells before leading the club in the Premier League as manager.
Now boss of West Bromwich Albion, Allardyce has joined those across the football world in paying tribute to Worthington.
He said: “A sad, sad loss obviously. Frank was a superb footballer and an absolutely brilliant character and I think everybody that knew him would agree with that.
“He came to Bolton under Ian Greaves when we were pushing for promotion and he finally got us up to where we wanted to be and we had a terrific time. A brilliant character and a great footballer.
“I really enjoyed his company. I’m not sure sure about his dress sense mind!
“He used to come with some unusual gear on, but every day he came in, got changed, went out with a bag of balls and practised finishing.
“I actually played with him twice later on in my career, he came over to Preston North End when we were there with John McGrath and we were searching for promotion and helped us get promoted again. It’s a great loss.
“I met him many times after we’d both finished, he went on the after dinner circuit which was great for everybody to listen to his stories because they were fantastic.”
Stockport, for whom he played 19 times in 1987-88, yesterday tweeted: “Everyone at Stockport County is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former player Frank Worthington, at the age of 72.
“Our thoughts go out to his family and friends at this difficult time.”