Benjamin Robert Vincent Fenton (28 October 1918 – 29 July 2000) was an English professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager. He played for West Ham United, Millwall, Charlton Athletic and Colchester United, making over 400 appearances in the Football League for all four clubs. He managed Colchester United, Leyton Orient and spent eight years at Millwall, before holding various positions at Charlton Athletic.

Career

Playing career

Fenton represented West Ham, Essex and London as a schoolboy. He signed for

Colchester Town Colchester Town railway station is on the Sunshine Coast Line in the East of England, and is the secondary station serving the city of Colchester, Essex. It is from London Liverpool Street. Its three-letter station code is CET. The city's larg ...

in 1934, moving to West Ham United a year later. Fenton served in the same Territorial Army unit as his West Ham teammates and played mainly as

outside-left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

with the east London club. He made his professional debut for West Ham United on 9 October 1937, playing alongside his older brother

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, as an inside forward in a match against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. He played three times that season, and managed nine goals in his eighteen games in 1938–39. The two brothers played together in the same team on four occasions, the only brothers to do so at first team level for West Ham. Fenton was not retained by the club and joined Millwall in March 1939, where he was utilised as a wing half. Fenton joined the Essex Regiment during the Second World War. He guested for former club West Ham United in November 1944, and also played for Norwich City,

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace, York City, and

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

as a

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. Fenton never gained full international honours, but toured South Africa with the FA in 1939, making three appearances, and also represented an FA Services XI team against Switzerland on 24 July 1945. Fenton joined Charlton Athletic of the First Division in January 1947. He became club captain in the 1950–51 season, and made 264 League appearances at inside forward and wing half during his nine seasons with the club, before leaving in February 1955.

Coaching career

In 1955, Fenton joined Third Division South club Colchester United as player-manager and switched to defensive duties. He played his first game for the club on 5 March 1955, a home match against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

that the U's won 3–2. He narrowly missed out on success in the 1956–57 campaign, after finishing a single point behind both

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

and

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. He played on into the 1957–58 season, playing his final game for the club on 1 May 1958, a 4–2 home win against Southampton, aged 39 years, 185 days. Colchester United finished 12th in the 1957–58 Third Division South campaign, thereby earning the right to compete in the newly merged

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

the following season. After relegation in 1960–61, he led the team to promotion after finishing as

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runners-up in 1961–62. Fenton joined Leyton Orient as manager on 1 November 1963. He was sacked after 56 games in charge in December 1964. He went on to take the manager role at Millwall on 1 May 1966, towards the end of the 1965–66 season. The season saw the south London club win promotion to Division Two (the club's second promotion in succession), and the club would set a record of 59 home League games unbeaten in December 1966. Millwall spent the rest of Fenton's tenure in England's second tier; the closest the Lions came to promotion under Fenton was in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, with a point separating them from second-place Birmingham City. He left the club on 3 October 1974, as the club's longest serving post-war manager. In January 1977, he rejoined Charlton as secretary. He became assistant manager of the Addicks in March 1980 and progressed to the position of general manager in June 1981. He stayed in with the club until June 1982.

Managerial statistics

Outside football

Fenton also played lawn bowls for Essex County. He married wife Winnie on Christmas Day 1939, with whom he had one daughter, two grandchildren and one great grandchild. In later life, he lived in Dorset, where he died, aged 81.

References

External links

*
The Book of Football 1972 – The Beginning of No One Likes Us
''millwall-history.org.uk'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Fenton, Benny 1918 births 2000 deaths Military personnel from Essex Footballers from West Ham English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders British Army personnel of World War II Essex Regiment soldiers Colchester Town F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players English Football League players Norwich City F.C. wartime guest players Manchester City F.C. wartime guest players Cardiff City F.C. wartime guest players Charlton Athletic F.C. wartime guest players Crystal Palace F.C. wartime guest players West Ham United F.C. wartime guest players York City F.C. wartime guest players English football managers Colchester United F.C. managers Leyton Orient F.C. managers Millwall F.C. managers English Football League managers Charlton Athletic F.C. non-playing staff