Graham French

Last updated

Graham French
Personal information
Full name Graham Edward French [1] [2]
Date of birth (1945-04-06) 6 April 1945 (age 79)
Place of birth Shrewsbury, England
Position(s) Winger
Youth career
Shrewsbury Town
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1961–1963 Shrewsbury Town 27 (1)
1963–1964 Swindon Town 5 (0)
1964–1965 Watford 4 (0)
1965 Wellington Town
1965–1973 Luton Town 182 (22)
1973 → Reading (loan) 3 (0)
1974 Boston Minutemen 3 (0)
1976 Southport 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Graham Edward French (also known as Graham Lafite) is an English former professional footballer, who was best known as a winger for Luton Town.

Contents

Football career

Early career

French started his career as an apprentice with his home town club Shrewsbury Town, and signed professionally in 1961. [3] The talented young winger became an England youth international, and Chelsea boss Tommy Docherty was interested in bringing him to Stamford Bridge – however, Docherty was put off by French's suspect temperament, and he signed for Swindon instead. [2] [4] He left for Watford a year later, who let him go after only four games to join non-League Wellington Town. [1] [5]

Luton Town

French was given another chance by Luton Town in 1965. French led a life off the pitch atypical of a professional sportsman, often starting games worse for wear as his sessions at the local pubs were common knowledge. [1] [2] Fortunately, French had great stamina, and once the ball was wormed out to French on the wing his hangover seemed to evaporate into thin air. French was regarded as one of the best wingers in the Football League, and he used his strength, pace and two-footed ability to help Luton to two promotions. [6]

French scored what is often regarded as Luton Town's greatest ever goal in a match against Mansfield Town on 18 September 1968. He collected the ball on the edge of his own penalty area and set off on a mazy run through the Mansfield team. He then drew the goalkeeper off his line, rounded him and slotted the ball into the net. [6]

Later career

A shooting incident in a pub in 1970 resulted in him serving a three-year prison sentence. [1] [6] [7] Luton Town gave him the chance to return on his release, but prison life had taken its toll on French, and he was unable to regain his place in the team. [1] [6] A short loan spell at Reading proved to be a last hurrah, and he soon left to play in the United States with the Boston Minutemen. [8] He only made three appearances for the Minutemen, and spent two years out of the game before reappearing in 1976 with Southport under the assumed name of Graham Lafite. [1] [2] [9] [10]

Related Research Articles

The 1987–88 season was the 108th season of competitive football in England.

Paul Kevin Allen is an English former professional footballer and delegate liaison officer for the Professional Footballers' Association.

Harry Haslam was an English football player and manager in the Football League between the 1940s and 1980s.

Charles Anthony Henry is an English former professional footballer, born in Acton, London, who played in the Football League for Swindon Town, Torquay United, Northampton Town and Aldershot.

William John Young was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a winger in the Football League for Aston Villa and Torquay United. He was educated at St Mirin's Academy, Paisley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaun Whalley</span> English association football player (born 1987)

Shaun James Whalley is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for EFL League Two club Accrington Stanley. Born in Prescot, Merseyside, Whalley played for Norwich City and Southport as a youth before making his Football League debut with Chester City in 2004.

James Joseph Lawson is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger in the Football League for Middlesbrough, Huddersfield Town and Halifax Town, where he later became player-manager.

Don Shanks is an English professional football manager and former footballer who manages Egyptian fourth division team Makadi F.C. He played in the Football League as a full back for Luton Town, Queens Park Rangers, Brighton & Hove Albion and Wimbledon, before moving into non-league football with Wealdstone.

Richard Edward Cooke is an English former footballer who played as a winger in the Football League for Tottenham Hotspur, Birmingham City, AFC Bournemouth and Luton Town. He was capped once by England at under-21 level.

Peter Spiring is an English former footballer who played in the Football League playing as a winger for Bristol City, Luton Town and Hereford United, and in the North American Soccer League (NASL) for Washington Darts.

Steven Mark Cowe is an English footballer who played in the Football League as a forward for Swindon Town. He began his career with Aston Villa, but never played for their first team, and went on to play for numerous non-league teams. He retired from football in 2009.

Geoffrey Peter Davies is an English former professional footballer who played in the United Kingdom and the United States as a midfielder.

Kofi Nyamah is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. He was born in Islington.

Norman Lawson was an English footballer and cricketer.

Alan Steen was an English professional footballer who played as a winger, active between 1939 and 1952.

Kinear Burns, more commonly known as Ken Burns, was a Manx footballer, who played as a winger in the Football League for Tranmere Rovers and Southport F.C.

Johnny Thomas was an English footballer, who played as a winger in the Football League for Swindon Town, Chester and Stockport County.

Philip Priest is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Douglas Frederick Beach was an English footballer who played as a full back in the Football League. His career began with Sheffield Wednesday as an amateur, joining Colchester United after World War II had ended. He played in the Football League for Luton Town and Southend United, before rejoining Colchester.

Terence Edmund Price is an English former footballer who played in the Football League as a winger for Leyton Orient and Colchester United.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wash, Roger (2008). Hatters Heroes. Roger Wash. ISBN   978-0-9560832-0-3.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Graham French". Luton Town F.C. Archived from the original on 1 November 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  3. ↑ "Shrewsbury Town: 1946/47 – 2007/08". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  4. ↑ "Swindon Town: 1946/47 – 2007/08". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  5. ↑ "Watford: 1946/47 – 2007/08". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Denis O'Donoghue (14 April 2009). "The top 50 Luton Town players" . The Times. London. Retrieved 20 April 2009.[ dead link ]
  7. ↑ "Herts rule Beds". When Saturday Comes. March 2002. Archived from the original on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  8. ↑ "Luton Town: 1946/47 – 2007/08". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  9. ↑ "North American Soccer League Rosters – Boston Minutemen". nasljerseys.com. Retrieved 13 May 2009.[ permanent dead link ]
  10. ↑ "Southport Season 1975–76". southportfcstats.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 November 2007. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.