R.I.P. Frank Worthington.

[TIL 1010 5,246]

Sadly passed at the relatively young age of 72. A flamboyant player both on and off the field and who can forget ' that ' goal against 1p5wich.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56495453

[TIL 1010 5,246]

Here it is.

 

 

[Midlands Yellow 4,682]

One of the most skilful players I’ve ever seen in the flesh. Watching his warm up routine alone was a privilege, very sad news. 

[Mr Angry 2,016]

A true one-off who should have played more for his country. Sad news.

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,220]

Sad news, such a wonderful, skilful football, rest in peace Frank, wherever you may be........

[PurpleCanary 6,381]

In my mind I can still see a goal against us at Carrow Road created by a no-look reverse pass he made to their winger, Len Glover. RIP.

[dylanisabaddog 6,133]

Once failed a medical at Liverpool, allegedly because of sheer excitement affecting his BP. Absolutely wonderful player. I can remember him doing juggling tricks during the warm up in front of the Barclay 

[Midlands Yellow 4,682]

1 minute ago, dylanisabaddog said:

Once failed a medical at Liverpool, allegedly because of sheer excitement affecting his BP. Absolutely wonderful player. I can remember him doing juggling tricks during the warm up in front of the Barclay 

You couldn’t help looking at him doing those tricks pre match. Rolling the ball down the back of his neck and back heeling it to continue the show. 

[sgncfc 1,330]

10th November 1976. I'm in the queue at Luigi's fish and chip shop in Queens Road, Leicester. In comes Frank Worthington for his cod and large. The night before Leicester had lost 5-1 at Liverpool, so Luigi shouts, "Eh, Frankie, what happened last night?". He replies, "What do you mean what happened? It was a good game. I scored."

An absolute hero.

[ricardo 8,033]

Classy player, R.I.P. Frank.

[Midlands Yellow 4,682]

30 minutes ago, sgncfc said:

10th November 1976. I'm in the queue at Luigi's fish and chip shop in Queens Road, Leicester. In comes Frank Worthington for his cod and large. The night before Leicester had lost 5-1 at Liverpool, so Luigi shouts, "Eh, Frankie, what happened last night?". He replies, "What do you mean what happened? It was a good game. I scored."

An absolute hero.

Queens road near Victoria park? Nice part of the city. 

[Capt. Pants 5,007]

RIP Frank.

Memory of my youth the Barclay chanting the unclean version of his name.

Hugely respected talent and such a cool dude.

[keelansgrandad 6,680]

Only got England caps because of Joe Mercer. Shame that this country didn't realise what he brought to the game. Everything looked easy to him.

[FenwayFrank 2,716]

1 hour ago, dylanisabaddog said:

Once failed a medical at Liverpool, allegedly because of sheer excitement affecting his BP. Absolutely wonderful player. I can remember him doing juggling tricks during the warm up in front of the Barclay 

 

1 hour ago, Midlands Yellow said:

You couldn’t help looking at him doing those tricks pre match. Rolling the ball down the back of his neck and back heeling it to continue the show. 

I remember this too, as Capt Pants has said, he was getting the w*nky worthington chant until he did that, finished up getting a round of applause. I remember watching football focus and he said he was a big fan of The Jam which helped change my opinion of him 😁

[sgncfc 1,330]

3 hours ago, Midlands Yellow said:

Queens road near Victoria park? Nice part of the city. 

Yes - Knighton area. Just looked on Google Maps and the chippie is still there, but in a new name.

[Crabbycanary3 994]

A player who was very glad social media wasn't around in his era

[Sheva 146]

Fantastic ball player and great guy.

Many years ago my oap parents holidaying in Spain, called into a lively Irish bar on their last night. Two glamorous couples invited them over to their table and they got chatting/ laughing etc. One was Frank Worthington, hair slinked back, cowboy boots the lot!

Dad was a player of old, they talked about the game, mum danced with his mate and girlfriends. Dad joked, ' you were a bloody talented player but  a  play boy' ...'Yes I was and still am' 😂

'Your mate was a player also, can't place him'

'That's Tony, Tony Currie'.

 

Sad day, but he did it his way

RIP.

 

'

[TIL 1010 5,246]

Reading about his long illness i was unaware that it was in fact Alzheimer's. Absolutely dreadful.

[ron obvious 1,711]

I remember when Huddersfield got promoted he & Trevor Cherry were the stand out players. But it soon became obvious that Big Frank was something else. He should have been a fixture in the England team; as demonstrated above he could do things nobody else could do. R.I.P. Frank, fabulous footballer & entertainer.

[Mr Angry 2,016]

4 hours ago, keelansgrandad said:

Only got England caps because of Joe Mercer. Shame that this country didn't realise what he brought to the game. Everything looked easy to him.

Not just him though-look at the list of players in the 70s who only got a handful of caps each-Alan Hudson, Tony Currie, Rodney Marsh, Stan Bowles, Peter Osgood, Charlie George. Is this perhaps the reason why we failed to qualify for the World Cup finals in 74 and 78?

[......and Smith must score. 1,596]

One hell of a player who managed to burn the candle at both ends and get away with it. Shows how good he was.

Wouldn’t have minded if he’d scored that Ipswich goal against us. Great skill.

I remember he was in the Leicester team that beat us in the FA Cup in ‘79 but my1 main memory from that game is of Keith Weller in his sexy white tights 😀

RIP

[Midlands Yellow 4,682]

57 minutes ago, ......and Smith must score. said:

One hell of a player who managed to burn the candle at both ends and get away with it. Shows how good he was.

Wouldn’t have minded if he’d scored that Ipswich goal against us. Great skill.

I remember he was in the Leicester team that beat us in the FA Cup in ‘79 but my1 main memory from that game is of Keith Weller in his sexy white tights 😀

RIP

I suffered that game too, weren’t we top flight and they were in the old 2nd division? 

[Midlands Yellow 4,682]

The story of that failed medical:

 

Bill Shankly had identified the Huddersfield Town centre-forward as the kind of skilful goalscorer he wanted in his emerging second great Liverpool line up. Following successful transfer talks - a club record £150,000 deal was agreed in 1972 - the move was put on hold when Worthington failed a medical after having high blood pressure.

 

Shankly was unfazed, instructing Worthington to take a holiday to Majorca to reduce his blood pressure. "My father had just died so I was probably suffering from some form of anxiety, but I was also enjoying the fruits of being young," he explained. He was dating Miss Great Britain at the time, but chatted up another woman on the plane to the Balearic Islands before having a 'threesome' with a Swedish mother and daughter, and then another romp with a Belgian lady.

 

He returned to Anfield for a second medical, andfailed again, leading Liverpool to call the move off.

Edited March 24, 2021 by Midlands Yellow

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

17 hours ago, Mr Angry said:

Not just him though-look at the list of players in the 70s who only got a handful of caps each-Alan Hudson, Tony Currie, Rodney Marsh, Stan Bowles, Peter Osgood, Charlie George. Is this perhaps the reason why we failed to qualify for the World Cup finals in 74 and 78?

What a list of great players. We will never see their type again in the game. RIP Frank

[Crabbycanary3 994]

The story goes that Frank was playing for Leicester at Anfield. Waiting in the tunnel before running out, Tommy Smith handed Frank a piece of paper. On it was that evenings menu at Liverpool Royal Infirmary 😉 

[ron obvious 1,711]

Selection of Frank goals here. My god the pitches were awful!

 

[Ken Hairy 4,272]

Great goal vs the binners, just been shown on ITV 👍