One Time Luton Player Paul Futcher Has Died

[oakroader]

Paul Futcher has died.
a great former luton town centre half/sweeper who played with style and panache...R.I.P.

 

[Super_horns]

Grimsby and Barnsley too I think

 

[oakroader]

Grimsby and Barnsley too I think

yeah S.H.....also remembered though for a while at man city too
towards the end of his career i think he turned out a few lower/non league teams
always went with his twin Ron.....the weakest link in the futcher brand in my opinion

 

[rudebwoyben]

He can't have been very old, how old was he?

 

[oakroader]

He can't have been very old, how old was he?

only 60 years old.....cancer!

 

[mowgli]

only 60 years old.....cancer!

Christ 60 is no age. He's a player i remember from my youth(ish).

 

[les.gtfc]

Absolutely gutted by this news. Futch was one of the best players ever to wear the famous black and white stripes of The Mariners. We only picked him up at the tail-end of his career when he was 35. We signed him for £10,000 (possibly the best £10,000 we have ever spent) when he was lamguishing in Halifax reserves, but he helped us to win promotion to the 2nd tier in 1991 and went on to have 4 great seasons with us and was voted Player Of The Year twice.

He'll always have a place in my all-time Mariners XI as I had printed on a t-shirt and I'm sure he'll never be ousted as I doubt we will ever see his like again. Legend is a word used far to often but a Mariners legend is exactly was Futch was.

RIP Futch, sleep well mate. x

 

[oakroader]

Absolutely gutted by this news. Futch was one of the best players ever to wear the famous black and white stripes of The Mariners. We only picked him up at the tail-end of his career when he was 35. We signed him for £10,000 (possibly the best £10,000 we have ever spent) when he was lamguishing in Halifax reserves, but he helped us to win promotion to the 2nd tier in 1991 and went on to have 4 great seasons with us and was voted Player Of The Year twice.

He'll always have a place in my all-time Mariners XI as I had printed on a t-shirt and I'm sure he'll never be ousted as I doubt we will ever see his like again. Legend is a word used far to often but a Mariners legend is exactly was Futch was.

RIP Futch, sleep well mate. x

did ron not follow him to grimsby les?
he seemed to to be everywhere that paul went on to

 

[oakroader]

16:08 24th November 2016

Former Hatters defender dies, aged 60.

Paul was simply a class above"
Gary Sweet

Everyone at Kenilworth Road has been shocked to hear of the death of Paul Futcher at the age of only 60.

No sooner had promotion back to the top flight been achieved in 1974 when Luton manager Harry Haslam announced that the club’s transfer fee record was about to be broken with the signing of 17 year old Paul Futcher from Chester City.
The eventual fee agreed was £100000 for a teenager who, according the Chester manager Ken Roberts, was a certainty to play for England. Even so this was a massive price to pay for a virtually untried teenager who had played only 20 League games.

Harry Haslam, in snatching Paul from under the nose of Manchester City, declared that he was buying for the future and was confident that the youngster would be worth three times the amount paid in 12 months.

Soon after the signing it was announced that Paul’s twin brother Ron would be joining the Town for £25000 in order ‘to keep him company’ although supporters knew that Haslam was not daft and that he had other reasons for the signing which were eventually shown with the almost telepathic understanding between the brothers on the pitch.

Paul made his debut in central defence for a struggling Hatters side at Chelsea in December 1974 where he played with a maturity which belied his tender years, stroking the ball around like a veteran. He was joined by his brother for the Christmas games and the fun then really started as all balls played out of defence by Paul seemed to home in on Ron.

The Town almost escaped the drop that season and although wise with hindsight fans were left wondering what would have happened had the Futcher twins been given their chance earlier.

Paul continued to earn rave reviews in Division Two (now the Championship) and became a regular in the England under-21 set-up which bought about continued transfer speculation and which ended in June 1978 when Manchester City finally got their man in exchange for £350000.

After two years at Maine Road, Paul went on to Oldham, Derby, Barnsley, Halifax and Grimsby before managing a number of non-League clubs which included Southport who he took to the F.A. Trophy final in 1998.

Latterly, Paul was working at a Huddersfield college close to his home in Holmfirth.

Hatters chief executive Gary Sweet remembers watching Futcher in his second season as a Luton Town supporter. “Paul was simply a class above. He joined in my second full season as a fan and became an instant hero of mine. He was up there with the very best I’ve ever seen play for the Club and has remained there. Paul was a silky, rock-steady defender who had such amazing technical ability and, more than anything, a cool-head that left thousands in awe. He will live long in the memory of anyone who saw him play.” he said.

The condolences of everyone at Luton Town Football Club go out to all of Paul's family and friends.

 

[les.gtfc]

No, we only got Paul. This is a fitting tribute to Futch by one of our fans published on our OS.

It is with great sadness that Grimsby Town FC have to announce that former great, Paul Futcher has passed away after a battle with illness.

Born in Chester in 1956, the youngest of nine children (his twin Ron was 20 minutes older), Paul started off with his home town club, before a series of big money transfers to Luton, Manchester City, Oldham, Derby, Barnsley and Halifax, before arriving at Town on loan in January 1991, aged 35, apparently past his best. Yet what we Town fans saw was one of the greatest footballers ever to grace Blundell Park. Far from being past his best, at Grimsby he achieved the very first promotion of his career!

What was so magnificent about his play was that he seemed slow, yet his footballing brain was so fast that he didn't need physical speed, he could beat opponents by speed of thought. We town fans would stand on the terraces, watching the opponents strikers in the warm up, clearly fit and very speedy, and wondering how Futch would fare against this week's striker-with-electric-pace. And yet EVERY time, we need not have worried. He simply mesmerised them with his footballing ability, and somehow they could not get past him. Futch would come away with the ball, and amble away upfield before putting in an inch-perfect pass. It is impossible to describe the complete admiration we had for him, or the feeling inside as his wonderful abilities dominated matches. He was a complete one off. Even though you had watched him come away with the ball in the most desperate of circumstances, you could never quite work out how he had done it! He was nothing short of a genius!

We all wanted him to put the icing on the cake by scoring a goal, but he seemed destined never to do so for Town. Then one night, Lincs Cup, Blundell Park versus Boston, Futcher had the ball on the Findus Stand touchline, and struck a forty-yarder into the Pontoon goal! Even his goals were special!

For all those fortunate enough to see Futch in action, there never was a player like him. Personally, he's my favourite GTFC player of all time. A player that out-footballed anyone else we ever saw. An absolute giant in GTFC history, no, THE absolute giant in GTFC history! We will never see his like again. But he will live on in all our memories as he once more faces the fastest striker football can throw at him, simply takes the ball off his opponent's toes, and ambles off up the field once more time.

Kirky

Our thoughts are with Paul's family at this sad time.

 

[GTFCfish]

Christ 60 is no age. He's a player i remember from my youth(ish).

I think anything below about 75 is way too young to die, my mam was only 55 when she died in her sleep and I've never got over it (9 years later).
Futcher was absolutely superb for Grimsby, really sad news, RIP Paul.

 

[Vanni]

RIP and thoughts are with his family.

Btw, that was one fine looking Luton shirt Oakey, not like the crap that is designed nowadays which looks more befitting for a cyclist than a footballer if you ask me.

 

[Limerick Mariner]

Absolutely gutted by this news Futch was one of the best players ever to wear the famous black and white stripes of The Mariners. We only picked him up at the tail-end of his career when he was 35. We signed him for £10,000 (possibly the best £10,000 we have ever spent) when he was lamguishing in Halifax reserves, but he helped us to win promotion to the 2nd tier in 1991 and went on to have 4 great seasons with us and was voted Player Of The Year twice.

He'll always have a place in my all-time Mariners XI as I had printed on a t-shirt and I'm sure he'll never be ousted as I doubt we will ever see his like again. Legend is a word used far to often but a Mariners legend is exactly was Futch was.

RIP Futch, sleep well mate.

Best £10k ever spent - you would think so, however, Joe Waters also cost £10k! including £5k from the fans...
He was an incredible signing, and a consummate professional, would be in my best XI. I agree I can't see us ever again signing a 35 yr old from bottom tier reserves that would help steer us to the championship...and remember the cartoons in Sing When We're Fishing - he appeared as Futchenstein...

Hope he was able to leave something for his family as well as the many great memories for alot of fans of all the clubs he played for. RIP

 

[BelizeHatter]

Brutal. One of those players that leaves to move upwards and onwards and still has a prescense and fondness around the club for ages. He was just before my time but always in people's stories, the Programmes etc. So much so that I had to check up that I'd not seen him play for us. Just Man City etc. Seems a weird comparison as Frank de Boer truely was World Class..... however in my warped mind......

 

[oakroader]

he was on the periphery and radar of the england squad but i dont think he got a full cap.....???

 

[Gladders]

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