Roy Alexander Cheetham (21December 19398December 2019) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played for

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, Detroit Cougars,

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

and

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

Career

As a boy Cheetham watched Manchester City and

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

on alternate Saturdays. His career began when he signed for

as an amateur in 1956. Later that year he turned professional. He made his debut in the 1957–58 season in a 2–1 win against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

. In the following match he was given a torrid time by

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Jimmy Bloomfield James Henry Bloomfield (15 February 1934 – 3 April 1983) was an English football player and manager. He made nearly 500 appearances in the Football League, including more than 300 in the First Division with Arsenal, Birmingham City and West H ...

, and returned to the reserves. The following season he began to play more regularly, and he progressed to make 137 first team appearances over the course of a decade. On 30 August 1965 he became the first Manchester City player to be used as a substitute, replacing

Mike Summerbee Michael George Summerbee (born 15 December 1942) is an English former association football, footballer, who played as a Forward (association football), forward in the successful Manchester City F.C., Manchester City side of the late 1960s and ...

in a match against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

. He played for the Division One championship-winning side in 1967–68, although he had not played enough games to qualify for a medal. He moved to Detroit Cougars of the NASL in January 1968. During his season in Detroit he scored three penalties in a single match against Dallas. In total, Cheetham made 17 apps in the NASL. He then returned to England, signing for Charlton Athletic. He did not make any first team appearances for Charlton, and transferred to Chester in December 1968, where he became club penalty taker. He made 124 league appearances at Chester before leaving in 1972, with his final appearance being a goalless draw at home to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

on 22 April 1972. This marked the end of his

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 ...

career. A second spell in North America followed in the form of a period at

Windsor Stars Windsor City FC (formerly Windsor Border Stars, Windsor Stars, and Windsor TFC) is a Canadian soccer team, based in Windsor, Ontario, that plays in League1 Ontario. The club was founded in 2004 and has previously competed in the Canadian Profe ...

in Canada. In 1999 Cheetham made a trip to

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

to meet childhood hero

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; né Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward and an attacking ...

, and in 2006 represented Manchester City at Puskás' funeral. As of 2007, Cheetham was treasurer of Manchester City's Former Players' Association.

Managerial career

He later managed non-league club Great Harwood Town. In 1975, he became the

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

for

in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

, and secured the Second Division title for the club. He re-signed for the 1976 season as Windsor was promoted to the First Division, but was relieved from his duties on 5 August 1976.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheetham, Ron 1939 births 2019 deaths English men's footballers English football managers Charlton Athletic F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from Eccles, Greater Manchester Detroit Cougars (soccer) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Canadian National Soccer League players Canadian National Soccer League coaches Men's association football wingers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers 20th-century English sportsmen