FRED MOLYNEUX

Born: 25 July 1944

Came from: Southport   Went to: Tranmere Rovers

First game: 14 September 1968   Last game: 11 November 1970

Appearances: 83 (83/0)   Goals: 5

Born in Wallasey, at the tip of the Wirral peninsula, and at the mouth of the River Mersey, Molyneux began his career as an apprentice with Liverpool with whom he turned professional, but he was unable to break into their strong first team squad as the reserve to Ron Yates.

After playing 68 games for the Reds' Central League side he was originally transfer listed at £5,000, which was reduced to £1,000 by the Football League when he moved the short distance to sign for Southport in August 1965, under Billy Bingham, in his first managerial role.

He was to spend three years at Haig Avenue, playing 123 times and scoring once and was a pivotal part of their famous 1965-66 FA Cup run, which took them to the Fifth Round as a Fourth Division side. They knocked out higher league opposition in Ipswich Town and Cardiff City, before the Sandgrounders lost to eventual Third Division champions, Hull City.

In 2016 he attended a 50th anniversary reunion of the cup-run team at Haig Avenue, attended by all those who remained and Bingham himself, who was by then in his late 80s.

The momentum of that cup-run continued for "Bingham's Boys" and they were promoted from the Fourth Division, the following season, in 1966-67. After missing the back end of the promotion season after an injury at Newport County, Molyneux was a commanding figure in the Third Division, and voted Player of the Season for 1967-68, when he was an ever-present.

His next move was to Home Park, for £6,750, under Bingham who had accepted the job at Argyle after becoming managerial hot property himself. Suffice to say neither move was well-received by Southport, whose fans were in uproar at the loss of their manager, who then took one of their best players, for what was regarded as a derisory fee. The manager's role at Home Park was one he was to hold whilst also managing the Northern Ireland national team. In green, Molyneux was a tough-tackling centre-half, and Bingham named him club captain, but thigh and cartilage injuries hampered him for much of the three seasons he spent with Argyle.

After a short two-game loan spell with Exeter City in the 1970-71 season, whilst he was on the transfer list at Home Park, he moved back to Merseyside with Tranmere Rovers. This was enabled via a player-exchange deal, that took Jimmy Hinch (later, ironically, to join Southport) to Home Park. In total he had played 83 times and scored five goals for the club, under Bingham and then Ellis Stuttard.

In two seasons at Prenton Park he played 72 times without scoring before returning to Southport, initially on a three-month trial, but ended up being offered a contract for the 1973-74 season. He didn't reach the levels of his previous spell but did add a further 33 appearances, scoring once.

He later went on to play for then non-league club, Wigan Athletic, who were his last club, playing 74 times and scoring once, across two Northern Premier League seasons in the mid-1970s.

Molyneux then spent time with Cammell Laird in the West Cheshire League before breaking a leg in January 1979. Undaunted, he returned again and was turning out for Poulton Victoria in the early 1980s whilst past his mid-30s. He later managed the Vics between 1980 and 1984. After a four year break he managed Sunday side FC George for a further six-and-a-half years. He remained living and working locally to Southport, and became a Former Player Ambassador for the club.

Molyneux tragically died in October 2019, aged 75 years old, after a cycling accident in Pensby, near his home on the Wirral. He was struck by a car on 20th September and after being treated at the scene for head trauma and taken to hospital, he battled for 11 days, before sadly succumbing to his injury and passing away.