Kenneth Grenville Arthur Hair (16 November 1931 – 7 March 1968) was a

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 played his entire professional career for

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 ...

between 1948 and 1964. He later became the manager of Wellington Town and

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

. He died of a heart attack, aged 36, after supervising a training session at Bradford City.

Playing career

Grenville Hair was a one-club man playing his entire professional career with

. He had been signed by manager Major Frank Buckley in 1948, and went on to make 474 appearances for the club as a

left-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 ...

scoring just two goals. He was an almost ever-present in the Leeds side for ten years until the emergence of

Willie Bell William John Bell (3 September 1937 – 21 March 2023) was a Scottish football player and manager. He played as a left back for Queen's Park, Leeds United, Leicester City, Brighton & Hove Albion and represented Scotland. Playing career Bell ...

and

Paul Reaney Paul Reaney (born 22 October 1944) is an English former international footballer. He played primarily as a right-sided full-back. He made 745 first-team appearances at Leeds United from 1962 to 1978, winning six major trophies under Don Revi ...

. In a poll of the 100 greatest ever Leeds United players, he was voted in at number 19.

Managerial career

He stayed with Leeds until 1964, when he took up a player-manager position at Wellington Town. He stayed there until 1967, when he became coach at

and was soon promoted to the position of manager. He started an upturn in the club's fortunes in his short role as manager before his death, from a heart attack during a training session in March 1968. He guided City to 11th in

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 ...

in 1966–67. The following season a run of seven wins from eight games was key to City's position towards the top of the table. On the day of his death, Hair had secured the services of Tony Leighton and Denis Atkins. They proved to be key additions to the squad as the club narrowly missed out on promotion but did so a season later.

Career statistics

As a player

As a manager

References

External links

Nigel's galleries of English football cards 1965-66 to 1979-80
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hair, Grenville 1931 births 1968 deaths Sportspeople from Burton upon Trent English footballers Leeds United F.C. players English football managers Bradford City A.F.C. managers Sport deaths in England Men's association football defenders Association football players who died while playing