Another Tribute to Ron Jukes

Today's Express and Star carries a tribute to former Hereford United scout Ron Jukes.

Below is part of the article:

Ron Jukes was the man who, in November 1986, said to Wolves manager Graham Turner: “Get young Bull here.”

A scout for six different Football League clubs in a career spanning almost 50 years, Ron’s discoveries included England internationals Allan “Sniffer” Clarke and Phil Parkes – but it is the signing of Steve Bull for which he will always be remembered.

Turner, the second longest-serving Football League manager after Sir Alex Ferguson, employed Ron at Wolves, Shrewsbury Town and his current club Hereford United.

He described Ron as the all-round scout, one of a dying breed, men who may be watching at Stamford Bridge or St James’s Park on a Saturday and walking around park pitches the following morning hoping for, and occasionally finding, a little gem.

“Nothing was more enjoyable for him than, in his words, ‘getting his feet wet’ – standing in all weathers spectating,” Turner wrote in the foreward to Ron’s 2006 autobiography Superscout.

“His dedication to watching matches knew no limits, nor did his keen eye for seeing little nuances in a younger player that others had missed.”

In the book Ron described a typically unglamorous day watching a promising young player on a boggy pitch in Hinckley in bucketing rain.

“There were four trees adjacent to the pitch – under one was Aston Villa chief scout Jim Easson, under the next was Birmingham City chief scout Don Dorman, under the third tree was Wolves chief scout George Noakes and under the fourth was me.

“All of us were watching the same young player, all of us ended up very wet and, if I remember correctly, the player we were watching went to Southport.”

A grocer’s son, Ron grew up in the Caldmore Green area of Walsall and went to Queen Mary’s Grammar School before signing for Wolves in 1946 as a player.

But he made only the third team and instead went on to carve an alternative career as a highly respected teacher and headmaster.

He started scouting in 1958 for Walsall and within three years the club had enjoyed two back-to-back promotions, into the old Second Division.

Ron took early retirement as head teacher of Mesty Croft Primary in Wednesbury to become full-time chief scout for Derby County in 1985 at the age of 56 but left the following season to join Graham Turner at Wolves, despite the fact that Derby were on their way to a second successive promotion and Wolves were struggling in the Fourth Division.

Along the way he also turned down job offers from Tommy Docherty at Villa and Bertie Mee at Arsenal.

But Wolves were the team he had supported as a boy, when he watched them and Walsall on alternate Saturdays, going to the reserves when neither first team was at home.

Ron’s continued attendance at Midlands reserve games paid off when he heard that rivals West Brom were looking to offload playing staff.

Tipton-born Bull, who could only get into the Baggies reserves, credits Ron for rescuing his career when it was at a crossroads.

By the end of the 1986-7 season “Bully” had clocked up 19 goals in 37 games for Wolves and went on to score over 300 goals, the highest tally ever in the club’s history, as well play for his country.

Ron was let go by Wolves after eight years in a clear-out of staff by new manager Graham Taylor. He wrote of his “wonderful” time there: “I felt that I had contributed to the dramatic recovery of a team I had first followed as a boy half-a-century earlier.

“Promotion had been won in two successive seasons. A Wembley final had been won. Gates had increased dramatically.

“I had enjoyed working with kindred spirits at a club for which I had a lifetime’s affection.”

Rams manager Roy McFarland, who lured him back to Derby and on to Bolton Wanderers when he was appointed manager there, said of him: “Ron loves his job with the enthusiasm of a five-year-old opening presents on Christmas Day.”

He renewed his partnership with Turner at Hereford United before ending his scouting days at Telford United.

But Ron never quite gave up scouting, keeping his hand in right up to the end “doing a little work” for a Southern League Premier Club.

He wrote: “I still find it a real joy to be involved and I still get daily requests from all over the country for information on players. Maybe the wheel has come full circle.”

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