Sir Frederick Albert Millichip (5 August 1914 – 18 December 2002) was an English association footballer best known for his sometimes controversial contributions to the administration of the game.

Biography

Raised in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and educated at

Solihull School Solihull School is a coeducational Independent school (UK), independent day school in Solihull, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Founded in 1560, it is the oldest school in the town and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmi ...

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

, Millichip played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for the third team of

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

in the years before World War II. During the war, he served in North Africa, Canada,

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and Italy, rising from an enlisted man to the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. On demobilisation in 1945, he returned to his solicitor's practice and became a director of West Bromwich Albion. He took on the role of chairman in 1974, when the club was failing to make progress in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

under manager

Don Howe Donald Howe (12 October 1935 – 23 December 2015) was an English football player, coach, manager and pundit. As a right back Howe featured for clubs West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal together with the England national football team in his play ...

. Under Millichip's chairmanship, the club re-established itself in the First Division and recruited manager

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits. Nick ...

, building a team that was among the most exciting in English football ''circa'' 1980. It was during this time that West Bromwich Albion became the first English club to field simultaneously three black players. The young talented three, Brendon Batson,

Laurie Cunningham Laurence Paul Cunningham (8 March 1956 – 15 July 1989) was an English professional footballer. A left winger, he notably played in England, France and Spain, where he became the first ever British player to sign for Real Madrid. Cunningham ...

and

Cyrille Regis Cyrille Regis, MBE (9 February 1958 – 14 January 2018) was a professional footballer who played as a forward. His professional playing career spanned 19 years, where he made 614 league appearances and scored 158 league goals, most prolifically ...

, made a big impression and became known as the ''Three Degrees'', in comparison to the vocal trio of the same name. In 1981, Millichip was elected chairman of

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

and held the position during a period in which the English game suffered a succession of crises including the

Heysel Stadium disaster The Heysel Stadium disaster ( it, Strage dell'Heysel ; german: link=no, Katastrophe von Heysel ; french: Drame du Heysel ; nl, Heizeldrama ) was a crowd disaster that occurred on 29 May 1985 when mostly Juventus fans escaping from a breach by ...

, the

Bradford City stadium fire The Bradford City stadium fire occurred during a Football League Third Division match on Saturday, 11 May 1985 at the Valley Parade stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, killing 56 spectators and injuring at least 265. The stadium was k ...

and the

Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the ...

. His vacillation over the appointment of

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...

as manager of the national team, when the latter was under investigation and criticism for his business dealings, led journalist

Brian Glanville Brian Lester Glanville (born 24 September 1931) is an English football writer and novelist. He was described by ''The Times'' as "the doyen of football writers—arguably the finest football writer of his—or any other—generation," and by Ame ...

to dub him ''Bert the inert''. He retired from the FA in 1996. In 1998, he was awarded a

FIFA Order of Merit The FIFA Order of Merit is the highest honour awarded by FIFA. The award is presented at the annual FIFA congress. It is normally awarded to people who are considered to have made a significant contribution to :association football. At FIFA's ce ...

award.

Personal life

On 24 February 1943 Millichip married Patricia Mary Long, the eighteen-year-old daughter of Arthur Long, a company director. The marriage was short-lived, and he later omitted it from his Who's Who entry. On 27 December 1950 he married (Joan) Barbara Brown, a 24-year-old nursing sister. They had a son and a daughter. His son, Peter Millichip, who also followed his father into law, was also an ardent fan of West Bromwich Albion. He was a close friend of Sir

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

, and as Robson entered his final years, they worked together to establish the Sir Bobby Robson Football Academy, in Birmingham.

Death

Bert Millichip died suddenly on 18 December 2002 at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, following a heart attack which struck while he was attending an annual dinner at Edgbaston golf club. He was survived by his wife, Barbara, and their two children.

References

External links

*
Obituary from ''The Guardian''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Millichip, Bert British Army personnel of World War II Chairmen of the Football Association English football chairmen and investors English footballers Association football central defenders West Bromwich Albion F.C. players English solicitors Knights Bachelor Association football people awarded knighthoods People educated at Solihull School 1914 births 2002 deaths 20th-century English lawyers 20th-century English businesspeople British Army officers