Former Hereford United Player 'Discovered' Morgan Gibbs-White

Brian Punter (bottom left) pictured with team-mates in November 1965.

 Former Hereford United player Brian Punter 'discovered' Morgan Gibbs-White who is now an attacking midfielder for Nottingham Forest.

Punter, who is now 89, joined Hereford in 1964. After his career on the pitch he became a scout for Wolverhampton Wanderers Academy.

And during his time scouting he discovered Morgan Gibbs-White.

Recently 'The Athletic' spoke to Punter who now lives in a care home near Wolverhampton.

Punter still has his scouting report from September 28 2008. He went to a Mid-Staffs Junior League tournament and saw eight year old Gibbs-White for the first time.

"I can still remember it,” said Punter.

"It was the way he headed the ball that really stood out. He wasn’t big. Most of the other lads were two years older than him.

"But when the ball came up to him, he set himself for the header and I thought, ‘Christ, he heads the ball like a professional’. He was running the game, making the difficult things look easy."

"It wasn’t hard to see he had a lot of ability.

"He had bags of confidence. So I took his details, filled out the trialist’s form — which I have kept all these years — and invited him to the Wolves academy. I went with him on his first night and he wasn’t out of his depth at all."

Until 'The Athletic' spoke to Punter it appears no one had realised that he had found Gibbs-White.

"You always hope to find a player who goes all the way.

"Morgan is mine. But until now, I’ve never had any recognition for it."

These days Gibbs-White is playing for Nottingham Forest which Punter finds 'bloody annoying.' 

More about Brian Punter

Brian Punter Talking To Matt Healey At Edgar Street In April 2019

Brian Punter started his career with Wolverhamton Wanderers, moved to Leicester and then Lincoln where he made 75 appearances scoring 21 goals.

At the beginning of the 1964/65 season he moved to Edgar Street. Manager Bob Dennison signed him along with Alan Rodgerson, Freddie Jones and Ronnie Burbeck.

Punter scored the winning goal on his home debut on August 26th 1964,  a game against Stevenage in the Southern League Division One which Hereford won 4-3

Initially Punter played centre forward with Albert Derrick as his number 10. But after Ron Fogg arrived, he moved to the right wing and continued to impress. 

Punter was in the side that defeated Millwall 1-0 in the FA Cup in front of 11,940 during the 65/66 season. 

 

Also noteworthy that season was his first half hat-trick in the Welsh Cup against Newtown.

 

He left at the end of that season to work in South Africa only to return a year later when John Charles was manager.

Even close to the end of his time with Hereford United he still featured regularily for the club.

In a report of a FA Trophy Tie against Brentwood Town FC in January 1970 it says that 'United's man-of-the-match however, is left-winger Brian Punter, who never stops running and covers every inch of the pitch.'

He moved on after the 69/70 season having scored 82 goals during his time at Edgar Street.