Christopher James Price (born 30 March 1960) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who made 561 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

and

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

, playing for

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

, Aston Villa,

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. He played as a

right-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 ...

Career

Price began his career at home town club

where he quickly became the first choice

right 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 ...

. In ten seasons at Hereford he amassed over 330 appearances, at the time a club record. Notably he scored the equalising goal against Arsenal in the

1984–85 FA Cup The 1984–85 FA Cup was the 104th staging of the world's oldest football knockout competition, The Football Association Challenge Cup, or FA Cup. The competition was won by Manchester United, who defeated Everton 1–0 at Wembley, thus denyin ...

Third Round. At the end of the 1985–86 season, he was chosen Hereford's Player of the Year, and was then sold to

for £25,000, stepping up two divisions. His first spell at Ewood Park lasted two seasons and he was a regular in the side. Price was sold on to Aston Villa for £150,000 and played First Division football for the first time in his career. After four seasons as a regular at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway station ...

he was sold back to Blackburn for £100,000. His second spell – although short – was very successful as he netted crucial goals which helped Rovers win promotion to the newly formed

. He moved on to

where injury ended his professional career. Price then played for Southern League Southern Division club Cinderford Town, scoring against Conference club Bromsgrove Rovers to help Cinderford through to the Second Round proper of the 1995–96 FA Cup. After a spell on the staff of

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...

, Price was appointed manager of Newport in late 1996, a post he left at the end of the season with Newport

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

from the Southern League Premier Division. In September 1997 he returned to Cinderford as manager. Price moved to Spain in 2003 where he was involved with

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

's European Soccer School in

Torrevieja Torrevieja (; ca-valencia, Torrevella ) is a seaside city and municipality located on the Costa Blanca in the province of Alicante, in the southern part of the Valencian Community, on the southeastern Mediterranean coast of Spain. Torrevieja ...

. He then emigrated to Australia. Price was swept out to sea by a rip current off a beach near his home in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

in January 2011. Local lifeguards found him a short time later face down in the water and not breathing. While he was being resuscitated, he suffered a cardiac arrest and he was taken to the Acute Care Unit at

Gold Coast Hospital Gold Coast Hospital, located at 98–136 Nerang Street, Southport was, from 1960 to 2013 a major teaching and referral hospital and the third largest in Queensland. The Gold Coast Hospital had one of the busiest emergency departments in the s ...

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

. After he was released home, he contracted pneumonia due to the amount of sea water that had infiltrated his lungs, for which he was placed on medication. .

References

External links

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Career stats and photo
at Football Heroes
Career stats and photo
at Football Heroes {{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Chris 1960 births Living people Sportspeople from Hereford English footballers Association football fullbacks Hereford United F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Dallas Sidekicks (CISL) players Cinderford Town A.F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Southern Football League players English football managers Cheltenham Town F.C. non-playing staff Newport County A.F.C. managers Cinderford Town A.F.C. managers 20th-century English people 21st-century English people