Frank Upton (18 October 1934 – 17 May 2011) 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.

Playing career

Upton, a hard tackling central defender, began his football career with

Nuneaton Borough Nuneaton Borough Football Club is an English football club that is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The men's 1st team competes in the , the seventh tier of English football. In 1889, Nuneaton St. Nicholas FC was the first team in Nuneaton t ...

. He moved to

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 ...

in March 1953, making his league debut the same season. In June 1954 he moved to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

, making over 200 appearances before a £15,000 move to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in August 1961. He helped Chelsea to promotion back to the First Division in the 1962–63 season and won the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

with them in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

. In September 1965 he rejoined Derby County, moving on to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

a year later. He left league football the following summer, joining non-league

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

in July 1967,

Coaching and managerial career

Upton joined

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

as player-manager in January 1968, but lost his job six months later after Workington had finished 23rd in

Football League Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

Division Four and been forced to seek re-election. He joined Northampton Town's coaching staff in October 1969, but moved to coach

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in January 1970. He joined Chelsea's coaching staff in August 1977 and became caretaker manager in December 1978 after the dismissal of

Ken Shellito Kenneth John Shellito (18 April 1940 – 31 October 2018) was an English footballer and manager who played for Chelsea from 1959–1965, and subsequently managed the club from 1977–1978. He worked in a coaching role for the Asian Football Conf ...

. He was later coach of

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

side

Randers Freja Randers Sportsklub Freja (often abbreviated Randers Freja) is a Danish sport club with teams in athletics, handball, table tennis and football. History Randers Freja was founded in 1898, and was accepted into the JBU in 1907. The football d ...

between February 1979 and February 1980. He joined

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

as a coach in August 1980 and coached Al Arabi of

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

in 1981. In 1982, he returned to the UK as coach of

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, a post he held until October 1984 when he was appointed as manager of

Bedworth United Bedworth United Football Club is a football club based in Bedworth, Warwickshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Oval. History The first club from which the modern Bedworth United traces its lineage was Bedworth ...

. He was assistant manager of

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

between December 1985 and April 1987. The following month he took over as coach of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic side Keflavik ÍF. In May 1989 he was appointed as coach to the

Sabah FA Sabah Football Club ( ms, Kelab Bolasepak Sabah) is a football club with ownership by Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd. The football club competes in Malaysia's football league representing the state of Sabah in Borneo. They currently compete in M ...

, but returned to the UK as caretaker-manager of

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

in January 1990. He was appointed as youth coach at

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

side

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 ...

in April 1990, taking a similar position at

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 syst ...

in November 1990. In 1991, he opened a sports injuries clinic in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

, continuing with his coaching career and joined the coaching staff at

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 ...

in 1992. In December 2008 he returned to

for the annual dinner of the Derby County Former Players' Association, and he served on the association's committee. He died just over two years later, in May 2011, at the age of 76.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Upton, Frank 1934 births 2011 deaths English footballers Nuneaton Borough F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players English expatriates in Iceland Derby County F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players English football managers Workington A.F.C. managers Burton Albion F.C. managers English Football League players People from Atherstone Expatriate football managers in Kuwait Expatriate football managers in Malaysia Sabah F.C. (Malaysia) managers Expatriate football managers in Iceland Knattspyrnudeild Keflavík managers Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Bedworth United F.C. managers Worcester City F.C. players Association football central defenders