Raymond Straw (22 May 1933 – 13 May 2001) was an English professional footballer. During a professional career that lasted twelve years, he scored over 140 goals in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

in spells with

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

and

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

. His 37 league goals for Derby during the 1956–57 season remains a joint club record.

Career

Derby County

Straw was born in the village of

Kirk Hallam Kirk Hallam is a village in the Erewash district, in the south-east of Derbyshire, England. It was part of the former Ilkeston borough and is largely regarded today as an area of the much larger town of Ilkeston which adjoins it to the north eas ...

Ilkeston Ilkeston ( ) is a town located in the Borough of Erewash in Derbyshire, England, with a population of 40,953 at the 2021 census. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/textiles, have now all but disappeared. Part of t ...

. After leaving school, he worked as a coal miner, He played football for non-league side Ilkeston Town, having previously represented his county school level. In August 1951, he joined

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

side

and made his professional debut in the last match of the 1951–52 season against Chelsea at the age of 18. However, he was called up for his national service soon after and did not become a regular in the Derby first team until they had been relegated again. His breakthrough season came in 1955–56 when he scored fourteen goals for Derby as they finished second in the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

behind

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

. The following year, Straw's brother offered him a bonus of half a crown for every goal he scored and ten

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s for every hat-trick. During the season, Straw went on to score 37 goals in league games, equalling the club record set by Jack Bowers during the 1930–31 season, as Derby finished as winners of the Third Division North.

Coventry City

In November 1957, Straw joined

after impressing manager Billy Frith, making his debut in a match against

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

on 23 November 1957. After arriving at the club, he was given the nickname "toffee" due to his penchant for chewing sweets. Straw finished as Coventry's top goalscorer in all four seasons he spent at the club, helping them achieve promotion to the Third Division during the 1958–59 season after scoring 27 goals. His total included a streak of scoring in eight consecutive league and cup matches, the longest streak of any Coventry player after World War II. By appearing in the Third Division the following season, Straw became the first player to have played in all six divisions of the

, from the First Division to the Fourth Division and the North and South sections of the Third Division. He left Coventry in 1961 to join

where he finished his professional career. He later played for non-league side Lockheed Leamington.

Honours

Derby County *

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated t ...

winner: 1956–57

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Straw, Ray 1933 births 2001 deaths English men's footballers Ilkeston Town F.C. (1945) players Derby County F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Leamington F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football forwards Footballers from Ilkeston 20th-century English sportsmen