It's Graham Turner's 78th birthday today.
So as a tribute to the former Hereford United manager, and several other clubs including Wolves, we've looked back through the BN archives.
One other manager of a similar age, Neil Warnock, has crossed swords with Turner quite a number times including at least eight times when Turner was in charge of Hereford.
But he's always had a good word for him.
One of the first times they met was when Warnock was at Scarborough and Turner at Wolves.
"The fixture computer
gave us Wolves and they brought thousands with them. It was a bank
holiday so they'd all been on the beach all morning drinking and having a
laugh," wrote Warnock in his books 'Made in Sheffield'.
"It was a great atmosphere when the game started but it
always felt like it had the capacity to get a bit tasty and, sure
enough, when half time came around, it all kicked off.
"We had gone ahead but they equalised and Steve Bull put them in front.
"During
the interval, the Wolves fans set about destroying new toilets we had
put in for the away supporters. They were smashing the hell out of them.
One bloke climbed up onto the corrugated iron roof of the stand and
started jumping up and down.
"Next thing you know, the idiot's
fallen straight through it. An ambulance crew took him off to hospital.
He discharged himself later, which amazed me.
"Because he was so pissed, the medical people said his body was relaxed when he hit the floor and it limited the damage.
"The
ref was talking about abandoning the game because of the crowd trouble
so before the teams came out for the second half, they asked me and the
Wolves boss, Graham Turner, to walk over to the away fans to pacify
them.
"As I was walking over towards them, I could tell that a lot of them were pretty smashed.
"We
got to within about thirty yards of where they were standing and
suddenly this Coca-Cola can came flying through the air out of nowhere
and just missed my head. I picked it up and it was full of sand. It was
like a piece of concrete.
"I said to Graham, 'Feel that.'
"He was a bit timid, Graham, and he looked aghast."
"I think we'd better leave them to it," he said.
"He turned on his heels and trotted off.
"He was one of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet in football so I trotted off after him.
"They let the game continue eventually. It finished 2-2."
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Warnock has lot of respect for Turner
For the
second time recently former Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock has
gone out of his way to heap praise on Hereford United manager Graham
Turner.
In his 'What I've Learnt This Week' column in the Independent he writes about his manager of the year so far.
"For
my manager of the year so far you have to look to the Fourth Division –
sorry, I can't get used to all the name changes, I mean League Two. I'm
thinking of Graham Turner, at Hereford," wrote Warnock.
"I met
Graham at a function a few months ago. I told him how much respect I had
for what he's done. People may recall he left Wolves in 1994.
"The following year he took over at Hereford but he couldn't stop them falling into the Conference. He ended up, when the chips were down, buying the club and taking over as chairman. Now they are back in the League and pushing for promotion.
"I can't get over how well he has done, and I don't think anyone can meet a nicer man. And that's not so common in the modern game. Maybe that why I've had a decent career."
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Warnock: GT Was "Nutter"
Speaking to the South London Press, Crystal Palace boss Neil Warnock admitted he retains an admiration of Bulls boss Graham Turner ahead of the Carling Cup clash:
"That's a great story - Hereford and Graham Turner. I thought he was a nutter when he went there, I thought he would never last five minutes.
"My first game in the Football League was against him - he was Wolves manager and I was at Scarborough. He's a super man and a gentleman, one of the best I've ever met.
"It's fantastic how he's done and what he's achieved managing and as the chairman - I suppose one advantage is he can't sack himself!"
Saturday, April 25, 2009
I Thought His Brains Had Gone
In his Independent column this morning, Neil Warnock comments on Graham Turner's decision to quit as manager at Edgar Street.
"A
word, though, for Graham Turner who's stepped down at Hereford after
doing a fantastic job. I remember thinking his brains must have gone
when he went there.
"I thought he would last two minutes, instead he did 14 years, even becoming owner-chairman and keeping the club alive."