Colin Grainger

[madeinsheffield]

RIP, had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago. Really nice man with a great story

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

Sad news .

A terrific player and lovely bloke too , by all accounts .

RiP

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Played for the Blades, played for England, sang on the same stage as the Beatles, not a bad life's work!

That is a great tribute. I would have loved to achieve any one of those; unfortunately I had no footballing or singing talents.

 

[coaxingstar71]

Tommy Hoyland, who's 90, now officially the oldest living Blades player?

 

[Panini]

Tommy Hoyland, who's 90, now officially the oldest living Blades player?

Graham Bailey.

Graham Bailey - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There were others, including Holland, discussed in an older thread:

Oldest Living Former Blades Player?

Just doing a bit of research trying to find the date of publication for a picture of Derek Hawksworth and notice from the Wikipedia that the old boy is still alive (93 years old). 255 appearances, 88 goals (1950-58). He played an integral part in United's 7–3 defeat of the pigs at the Lane on...

www.s24su.com

I think that means there are now only 3 players alive who played for England whilst at United; Jones, TC and Deano. Unless I've missed anyone?

Yeah that looks to be correct.

englandstats.com | England Players from Sheffield United - 34 Players (101 Caps)

englandstats.com | England Players from Sheffield United - 34 Players (101 Caps).

www.englandstats.com

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

The chapter by Colin Grainger in The Match of My Life book says quite a lot about him and football at the time. Having made his debut for England v Brazil in May 1956, and scored 2 goals in a 4-2 win, he found himself playing away at Barnsley on Sept 1st, the club he watched as a boy, and close to the village where he still lived with his parents. As he had done as a boy, he went by bus to Barnsley with people he knew, and having scored a hat-trick in a 6-1 win, collected the match-ball, had a shower, and walked to the bus station, bought the Green’Un, and travelled home on the bus with very unhappy Barnsley fans. How football has changed since. Except in one respect: soon after, United sold him to Sunderland.

 

[DifferentClass]

The chapter by Colin Grainger in The Match of My Life book says quite a lot about him and football at the time. Having made his debut for England v Brazil in May 1956, and scored 2 goals in a 4-2 win, he found himself playing away at Barnsley on Sept 1st, the club he watched as a boy, and close to the village where he still lived with his parents. As he had done as a boy, he went by bus to Barnsley with people he knew, and having scored a hat-trick in a 6-1 win, collected the match-ball, had a shower, and walked to the bus station, bought the Green’Un, and travelled home on the bus with very unhappy Barnsley fans. How football has changed since. Except in one respect: soon after, United sold him to Sunderland.

Tom Finney was the Preston Plumber.

Can't imagine McBurnie with his hand down someone's khazi can you?

 

[de g.]

Guardian obit

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

Guardian obit

After the Holy Trinity of Jimmy Hagan , Joe Shaw and TC , Colin Grainger was probably the best of any other player I ever saw in a Blades shirt .

I could easily bore you to death as to why I say this but , as an example , the likes of Jack Grealish who also plays in a wide left position and cost £100 million comes nowhere close to him in terms of all round ability and effectiveness .

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

A few pictures which may be of interest. The first is the very first picture in our scrapbooks, from the opening game of the 1956-57 season, a 4-0 win at Rotherham. It was his first league appearance after he played for England, and again he scored twice. The others are from front covers of programmes; I hope I have correctly identified that Grainger is in each one.

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

A few pictures which may be of interest. The first is the very first picture in our scrapbooks, from the opening game of the 1956-57 season, a 4-0 win at Rotherham. It was his first league appearance after he played for England, and again he scored twice. The others are from front covers of programmes; I hope I have correctly identified that Grainger is in each one.
View attachment 138253View attachment 138254View attachment 138255View attachment 138256

Well done Hodgy - some cracking photos there and I don’t think there’s any doubt that CG is the featured player in all of them .

They demonstrate what a big strong lad he was and that physicality coupled with pace , having quick feet and being an excellent header of a ball made him a formidable opponent who on his day , many teams just couldn’t handle .