Richard D. Graham (6 May 1922 – 7 March 2013) was an English

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 ...

and

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

who played and coached 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 ...

. He played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, making over 150 league appearances. He went on to manage his former club, Crystal Palace, between 1963 and 1966. He would go on to manage

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...

and

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

. His greatest success came with

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

, most notably by defeating

Don Revie Donald George Revie OBE (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an England international footballer and manager, best known for his successful spell with Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, which immediately preceded his appointment as England manage ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

3–2 in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

fifth-round tie in February 1971, which was one of the biggest FA Cup shocks in the history of the competition. He also won the

Watney Cup The Watney Mann Invitation Cup (normally referred to as simply the Watney Cup) was a short-lived English football tournament held in the early 1970s. It was held before the start of the season, and was contested by the teams that had scored th ...

with Colchester, before resigning in 1972. He later managed Wimbledon between 1973 and 1974.

Playing career

Born in

Corby Corby is a town in North Northamptonshire, England, located north-east of Northampton. From 1974 to 2021, the town served as the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Corby. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, the built-up ...

, Graham played at the age of 14 for

Corby Town Corby Town Football Club is a football club based in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Steel Park. History The club was established in 1948, taking over from Stewarts & Lloyds as the main team ...

and as an amateur for

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

prior to joining

from

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. He joined Palace following appearances as a guest-player during the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

years. He was serving in the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

during these initial appearances, before signing permanently in 1946. He made 155 league appearances for the club, before announcing his retirement through injury.

Managerial career

Following his retirement from playing, Graham had roles as

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

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 pl ...

and assistant to

Bob Stokoe Robert Stokoe (21 September 1930 – 1 February 2004) was an English footballer and manager who was able, almost uniquely, to transcend the traditional north-east animosity between the region's footballing rivals, Newcastle United and Sunderlan ...

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 ...

prior to joining Crystal Palace as assistant manager. He was named permanent manager in November 1962, succeeding

Arthur Rowe Arthur Sydney Rowe (1 September 1906 – 5 November 1993) was an English footballer, and later manager, who played as a centre half. He was the first manager to lead Tottenham Hotspur to the First Division Championship title in 1951. He also "i ...

. Graham led the club to 11th position in the Third Division in his first season, and the following season achieved promotion to 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 ...

. He departed Selhurst Park in January 1966. In the summer of 1966, Graham was appointed manager of

. His time with Orient was not a success, with the club hovering over the relegation zone. He resigned in February 1968 following the club's refusal to invest in new players. He then joined

in March of the same year, replacing Ray Shaw, but could not guide the Saddlers to promotion, leaving the club two months later at the end of the season. On 1 June 1968, Graham became manager of Fourth Division club

. As manager of the U's, he took charge of 216 games for the club, winning 92 and drawing 52. Graham is best remembered at Colchester for an

run in 1970–71, in which his team saw off

Ringmer Ringmer is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. The village is east of ...

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Ne ...

, Barnet and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

to reach the fifth-round. Colchester were drawn against First Division club

, managed by

on 13 February 1971. The U's side, nicknamed 'Grandad's Army' or 'Graham's Grandad's', stormed to a 3–0 lead with two goals from Ray Crawford and one from Dave Simmons. Leeds fought back, with goals from Norman Hunter and

Johnny Giles Michael John Giles (born 6 November 1940) is an Irish former association football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from management in 1985, Giles served as t ...

, but Colchester held on to win 3–2. The win for Colchester was one of the biggest FA Cup shocks in the competition's history, earning the club a place in the quarter-finals. The U's faced Everton in the sixth round, but lost 5–0 at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

. In the summer of 1971, the U's took part in the

, a short-lived pre-season knock-out tournament for the highest goalscoring teams not promoted. Knocking out

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

and Carlisle United, United faced West Bromwich Albion in the final at

The Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an all-seater football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of Championship club West Bromwich Albion since 1900, when it became the sixth ground to be used by the cl ...

. Colchester held West Brom 4–4, with the tie going to a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

, the first penalty shoot-out to be shown on television. The U's won with Phil Bloss slotting home the winning penalty. Graham resigned from Colchester United following a disagreement with a shareholder in September 1972, ending nine years of Football League management. His Football League managerial record consisted of 365 games, 170 wins, 117 draws and 131 defeats. In 1973, Graham took charge of Wimbledon. While the club ran as a part-time outfit, he worked in the supermarket business before quitting when Wimbledon went full-time. The club reverted to part-time just three weeks later, to the displeasure of Graham. He resigned from the club in March 1974 after just one season, claiming interference from the directors.

Managerial statistics

:''All statistics referenced by:''

Personal life

After being to forced to retire from playing through injury, Graham took over a pub in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, becoming a brewer's representative and part-time reporter alongside coaching with the Surrey FA. His brother played as a

centre-forward 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 ...

for

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profess ...

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

. Graham was inducted into the Colchester United 'Hall of Fame' in 2007 in recognition of the famous FA Cup victory over Leeds, becoming the first manager to be elected without having ever played for the club.

Death

Graham fractured his hip in December 2012, from which he slowly recovered in hospital, but an underlying heart condition worsened following his return home. This led to him being confined to bed for the last three weeks of his life. He died aged 90 on 7 March 2013.

Honours

;Colchester United *1971

winner (as manager) :''All honours referenced by:''

References

External links

* *
Dick Graham obituary profile at CPFC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Dick 1922 births 2013 deaths People from Corby Association football goalkeepers English footballers English football managers Northampton Town F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Southport F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. managers Leyton Orient F.C. managers Walsall F.C. managers Colchester United F.C. managers Wimbledon F.C. managers English Football League players English Football League managers Southern Football League managers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II