GORDON FINCHAM

Born: 08 January 1935

Came from: Leicester City   Went to: Luton Town

First game: 07 March 1959   Last game: 23 February 1963

Appearances: 148 (148/0)   Goals: 4

Born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, Fincham started his career in his home town ahead of their election to the Football League in 1960.

He started out as a junior with local side Fletton United, who were the works-associated team of the Fletton area of Peterborough, which was also the hub of the massive Fletton brick industry, dominated by the London Brick Company. The club was nicknamed 'The Brickies'. Fletton United became Peterborough & Fletton United in 1923-24 but in November 1932 went into voluntary liquidation with debts and the new club, Peterborough United, was formed as a replacement in 1934, but had to wait 26 years until gaining entry to the Football League.

Spotted by Leicester City playing for Fletton and the Huntingdonshire County side he duly signed for the Foxes, in 1952, making 54 appearances for City across both Divisions One and Two, between 1952-1958. He was a well-respected centre-half but saw his games limited due to military duties. Fincham was still on National Service with the Army Catering Corps in Aldershot, when he made his Leicester debut. Whilst serving, he played for both his unit and battalion sides and for the full British Army XI, which included a visit to Home Park. During the 1955-56 campaign he made regular appearances, but he picked up an unfortunate cartilage injury, which required that era's equivalent of reconstructive surgery and was, by that stage, already his second cartilage operation, when barely out of his teens. Recovery saw him saw him side-lined for the next two seasons. With other players having established themselves whilst he was out, he was to make only one further league appearance for Leicester, in the 1957-58 season.

Moving to Home Park in the summer of 1958 under Jack Rowley, he was still only 22 years old when he arrived, on the same day as John (L) Williams from Cardiff City. Fincham, perhaps still not fully recovered from his knee injury but later also a minor ankle issue, did not make his debut until March the following year, but then played in the last 13 games of the 1958-59 Third Division (South) championship-winning campaign. At Home Park he played alongside former Filbert Street team-mates Dave MacLaren and Johnny Newman. A well-built defender, he was a consistent performer for Argyle, for the next four years, before ending his Football League career with 69 appearances for Luton Town, with whom he suffered a relegation, in what was to be the final stage of his English career.

He emigrated to South Africa, along with his Plymothian wife, where he played for Port Elizabeth City and ran a sports shop. Fincham joined City in the burgeoning National Football League (NFL). The club had gained promotion to the NFL First Division in 1963 and shortly after their chairman found that his promoted team could not hold their own in the higher standard of football, so he took the bold step of flying to England and purchased more than a dozen players. This was the start of the crest of the wave which helped the league's popularity and saw many English players have spells in South Africa. The NFL folded after 18 years in 1977 and was superseded by a non-racial league and was to go through several more iterations before landing on the present-day Premier Soccer League (PSL).

City went on to be the first South African club to employ players as full-time professionals. Fincham's signing was timely, 1967 proved to be their best season when they won the National Football League title under the guidance of Scottish manager and their former player, Matt Crowe, giving Fincham a champions medal from his time abroad, to add to the one that he won at Home Park.

On retirement, Gordon moved back to his native Peterborough, with his wife, where he sadly passed away in June 2012, aged 77 years old.