- Bert Millichip
Sir Frederick Albert Millichip (
August 5 ,1914 -December 18 ,2002 ) was an Englishassociation football er best known for his sometimes controversial contributions to the administration of the game.Raised in the West Midlands and educated at
Solihull School inSolihull , Millichip played for the third team of West Bromwich Albion in the years beforeWorld War II . During the war, he served inNorth Africa ,Canada ,Sicily andItaly , rising from an enlisted man to the rank of captain.On demobilisation in 1945, he returned to his
solicitor 's practice and became a director of West Bromwich Albion. He took on the role of chairman in 1974 when the club was failing to make progress in the Second Division under managerDon Howe . Under Millichip's chairmanship, the club re-established itself in the First Division and recruited talented and energetic managerRon Atkinson , building a team that was among the most exciting in English football "circa" 1980. It was during this time that West Bromwich Albion were the first club to field simultaneously three black players. The young talented three,Brendon Batson ,Laurie Cunningham andCyrille Regis , made a huge impression and became known as the "Three Degrees", in comparison to the vocal trio of the same name.In 1981, Millichip was elected chairman of
The Football Association at the start of a period during which the English game was to be rocked by a succession of crises including theHeysel Stadium disaster , theHillsborough disaster , growing problems ofhooliganism , the national team's repeated international failure and the founding of thePremier League . His leadership on these issues has been claimed by some as weak.Who|date=December 2007 In particular, his vacillation over the appointment ofTerry Venables as manager of the national team, when the latter was under investigation and criticism for his business dealings, led journalistBrian Glanville to dub him "Bert the inert".He retired from the FA in 1996 but maintained an active interest. In 1950 he married Joan Brown. They had a son and a daughter.
External links
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,862449,00.html Obituary from "The Guardian"]
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