Greats of football world at Greaves funeral

Jan 13 2009 by Dougie Thomson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Tributes from the footballing world for ‘top man’ Ian Greaves

FRANK WORTHINGTON led the tributes to “the second-best manager I ever played under” as some of football’s biggest names attended former Town boss Ian Greaves’s funeral.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Old Trafford hero Denis Law were among the congregation at Christ Church in Heaton, near Bolton.

So too were Sam Allardyce and Peter Reid, who along with Worthington, played under Greaves, a former Manchester United player, at Bolton.

Town fans, of course, will remember Worthington as the flamboyant centre-forward in the side Greaves, who died aged 76 on January 2, led into the top flight as champions of the old Second Division in 1969-70.

Roy Ellam, Geoff Hutt, Jimmy McGill, Steve Smith and Jimmy Lawson, who all figured in that memorable campaign, were also present yesterday, as were ex-Town players Terry Dolan and Billy Legg and former coach Robin Wray.

So too was former Town manager Stan Ternent, a close friend of Greaves, who also managed Oxford, Wolves and Mansfield.