Obituaries
JOHN MORTIMORE (1934-2021)
As a centre-half, Mortimore spent the majority of his playing career at Chelsea, starring in the League Cup-winning side of 1965, before going on to a successful managerial career. After spells at Greek side Ethnikos Piraeus and Portsmouth, he took charge of Benfica – in two separate spells – winning the league in both 1977 and 1987, plus back-to-back Portuguese Cups in 1986 and 1987. He also managed Real Betis, Belenenses and, briefly, Southampton, before later becoming a club president at The Dell.
PETER SWAN (1936-2021)
Swan joined Sheffield Wednesday in 1953 and left in 1973, but only played 275 league games due to an eight-year ban from football. In 1962, the centre-half, along with two team-mates, placed a bet on his side to lose to Ipswich Town, with the Owls subsequently going down 2-0. An investigation by The Sunday People uncovered the scandal, and Swan was handed a four-month jail sentence and a lifetime ban from football.
Although his ban was lifted in 1972, allowing him to re-join his former club, Swan’s career was unfulfilled. He won 19 England caps between 1960 and 1962, and may well have been in contention for World Cup selection in 1966.
FRANK AROK (1932-2021)
The Serbian worked as a coach in Australia for over 30 years, most notably taking charge of the national team for six years in the 1980s.
JUSTO TEJADA (1933-2021)
The striker spent nine years at Barcelona, scoring 92 goals in 194 games, after joining in 1952. In 1957 he played in the very first game at the Nou Camp, setting up the first goal in the stadium’s history and scoring the second himself. He joined the club’s greatest rivals, Real Madrid, in 1961 and spent two years there, before ending his career at Barca’s second-greatest rivals, Espanyol.
LUTON SHELTON (1985-2021)
Jamaica’s record scorer with 35 goals, Shelton made his name at Kingston side Harbour View before moving to Europe to play for Helsingborgs, Sheffield United, Valerenga, AaB, Karabukspor and finally, Volga Nizhny Novgorod. He returned to his first club in 2017 to play one more game – and score one last goal – before retiring. He passed away at the age of 35, having suffered with a form of motor neurone disease since 2018.
YVON DOUIS (1935-2021)
A scorer of almost 200 Ligue 1 goals with Lille, Le Havre, Monaco and Cannes, the striker also won 20 France caps and scored four times. He played at the 1958 World Cup and scored in the third-place play-off match against West Germany.
GUSTAVO PENA (1942-2021)
The defender won 82 caps for Mexico between 1961 and 1974, captaining the team at the 1966 World Cup and again in 1970, when Mexico were hosts. He hit the winning goal against Belgium in the 1970 group stage, which guaranteed the team a place in the quarter-finals for the first time in their history, where they lost 4-1 to eventual finalists Italy.
CHRISTOPHER MABOULOU (1990-2021)
French-born Congo international who played for Chateauroux, Bastia, PAS Giannina, Nancy and Evian. He suffered a heart attack in a kickabout with friends.
Mark Gleeson
MEHRDAD MINAVAND (1975-2021)
No Iranian player made more Champions League appearances than Minavand, who featured 21 times in the competition in three years at Austrian side Sturm Graz, where he was part of the double-winning side of 1998-99. The left-sided midfielder also won 68 international caps, scoring four goals, and featuring at the 1998 World Cup.
JEAN KALALA N’TUMBA (1949-2021)
Winner of the Africa Cup of Nations with Zaire in 1974 and also played at the World Cup in West Germany the same year. He won the African Champions Cup with AS Vita Club in 1973. His son Zico Tumba also played for DR Congo.
Mark Gleeson
JOZEF VENGLOS (1936-2021)
Venglos had an extraordinary managerial career that lasted almost 40 years and took him to Australia, Portugal, Malaysia, England, Turkey, Oman and Scotland.
Assistant coach when Czechoslovakia won Euro ’76, he took charge four years later when the team finished third. He returned to guide the side to Italia ’90, then became the first non-British or Irish person to take charge of an English topflight club by taking the Aston Villa job.
He claimed another significant record by becoming Slovakia’s first-ever coach following their independence in 1993, and also managed Celtic in 1998-99, overseeing a 5-1 defeat of Rangers.
“I was happy for the England team in 1966 and Big Jack [Charlton] did a great job. But you can’t help thinking about what might have been”
Peter Swan on his ban from football before the1966 World Cup