Colin Addison was born on 18 May 1940 in Taunton, Somerset and he played for Arsenal 32 times, his first match being 17 August 1966.
He signed for York in 1957, moving to Nottingham Forest in 1961, Arsenal in 1966, Sheffield United in 1967 and Hereford in 1971.
He was signed by Bertie Mee in his first season for £45,000 but was hampered by injury and was sold on in 1967. He played in a variety of positions wearing the number 8, 10 and 11 shirt, playing 17 leagues in the first season and 10 in the second.
As a player he is not well remembered and the 160 games played for Forest will give him a place in that team’s annals which he did not attain with Arsenal.
But it is as a manager that he made history. They are, in sequence Hereford, Durban City, Notts County, Newport County, Al-Ahli, Celta Vigo, WBA, Athletico Madrid, Cadiz, Herford Utd, Al Arabi, Badajoz, Merthyr Tydfil, Scarborough, Yeovil Town, Swansea City, Forest Green Grovers, Barry Town.
His success at Hereford where he achieved promotion to the League and then up a division as a player manager, and a famous cup run, was his an initial high point but he repeated this many times over, taking teams up and securing their future then moving on. He also did well at Newport, and took Celta Vigo up from the Second Division.
He worked with Ron Atkinson at WBA and Atletico Madrid and later took Cadiz up a league. He won the league with Al-Arabi, and took Forest Green to their highest ever finish.
After retiring from the eternal whirlwind of management he worked as a pundit and is now retired.
Other 17 August anniversaries.
- 17 August 1909. Wilf Copping born
- 17 August 1943: Wally Barnes joins Arsenal
- 17 August 1955: Wally Barnes final appearance
- 17 August 1977: Thierry Henry born
Elsewhere….
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
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Colin Addison I believe was Bertie Mee s first signing.
There was a rumour that Colin signed because Arsenal couldn’t get the all the money from Forest for Joe Baker.