Graham Paul Cox (30 April 1959 – 17 May 2024) 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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

and

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

Career

Brentford

, Cox joined

as an apprentice during the 1975–76

pre-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

. He made his debut in a 3–1 Fourth Division defeat to

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

on 1 January 1977. He also played in the following matches against

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 level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

and

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

and conceded seven goals. With the team leaking goals,

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 buildin ...

keeper Tony Burns was brought in on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

, which ended Cox's involvement in the first team in the 1976–77 season. Cox signed his first professional contract in April 1977, but his final competitive appearance for the Bees came on 26 September 1977 in a 1–1 draw with

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

. He joined Southern League Premier Division strugglers

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

on loan in September 1978 and made one appearance as cover for regular goalkeeper Steve Bowtell. Cox departed Brentford at the end of the 1978–79 season.

Later career

After his release from Brentford in 1979, Cox dropped into

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

and played for

Wokingham Town Wokingham Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Nicknamed "the Satsumas" in reference to their orange shirts, they are currently members of the and play at Lowther Road. History Wo ...

, Addlestone & Weybridge Town, Hillingdon Borough and South Ascot. He made a return to the

with

in January 1985 and made 16 Fourth Division appearances before departing in 1986. Cox joined

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

Premier Division club Slough Town on loan in October 1985 and made 12 appearances before suffering a double arm fracture and a broken collarbone in a league match versus

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional association football club from Sutton, South London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Sutton started out playing in junior, ...

on 23 November. After recovering, he joined the Rebels permanently in April 1986 and made the last of a further 22 appearances in November that year. He stayed on at the club and became assistant manager.

Personal life

In the 1990s, Cox worked in

Bracknell Bracknell () is a town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies to the east of Re ...

with former Aldershot teammate

Tommy Langley Thomas William Langley (born 8 February 1958) is an English retired footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s as a striker. He is currently one of the hosts of ''Matchnight Live'' on Chelsea TV. Club career Chelsea Langley began his career ...

, as a

photocopier A photocopier (also called copier or copy machine, and formerly Xerox machine, the generic trademark) is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers ...

and

fax machine Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other out ...

salesman.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Graham 1959 births Footballers from the London Borough of Brent People from Willesden English men's footballers Brentford F.C. players English Football League players Margate F.C. players Wokingham Town F.C. players Addlestone & Weybridge Town F.C. players Hillingdon Borough F.C. players Aldershot F.C. players Slough Town F.C. players Southern Football League players Isthmian League players Men's association football goalkeepers 2024 deaths