Grahame Leslie McGifford (born 1 May 1955) 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 le ...

, who played at

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 ...

for

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

and

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

Career

McGifford started his career with

in 1972.

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Ian Greaves Ian Denzil Greaves (26 May 1932 – 2 January 2009) was an English association football, football player and manager. He was born in Crompton Urban District, Crompton, Lancashire. He won a Football League Championship, League Championship meda ...

handed him his

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 ...

debut as a substitute in the 1972–73 season, after which the "Terriers" were

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. ...

into the

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 ...

. He made 17 appearances in 1973–74 and 24 appearances in 1974–75, as Bobby Collins's only season in charge at

Leeds Road Leeds Road was a association football, football stadium in Huddersfield, England. It operated from its construction in 1908 until the Kirklees Stadium was opened nearby for the 1994–95 in English football, 1994–95 season. It was the home of ...

saw the club slip into the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

for the first time. McGifford lost his first-team place under new boss Tom Johnston, and played only three games in 1975–76. He spent the 1976–77 campaign with

, but featured just once in the Second Division for John Kaye's "Tigers". He departed

Boothferry Park Boothferry Park was a football stadium in Hull, England, which was home to Hull City A.F.C. from 1946 until 2002, when they moved to the KC Stadium. In later years, financial constraints forced Hull City to allow Kwik Save and Iceland superma ...

for

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

in June 1977, when he dropped down a division to sign for

. A regular in the first half of the 1977–78 season, he made 20 league and seven cup appearances for the "Valiants", keeping his first-team place despite manager

Roy Sproson Roy Sproson (23 September 1930 – 24 January 1997) was an English footballer and football manager for Port Vale. A one-club man, he holds the all-time appearance record for Vale, making 837 starts (and 5 substitute appearances) for Vale ...

being replaced by Bobby Smith. However, McGifford suffered a serious

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury in December 1977, and was given a free transfer in May 1978 to

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

side

. He later entered the finance industry and took up residence in

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGifford, Grahame 1955 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Sutton People from Carshalton English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players English Football League players Northern Premier League players