TRIBUTE | Former Hereford United manager John Newman sadly passed away over the weekend aged 91 . Matt Healey spoke to former player Stewart Phillips this lunchtime and has penned the following tribute to him 
“A proud Herefordian Newman was born in the city on the 13th December 1933. He regularly watched Hereford United as a youngster but he signed professional terms with Birmingham City in 1951.
Newman played in the 1956 FA Cup final for the Blues against Manchester City where his team were defeated 3-1. The game is remembered as the one where City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann broke his neck.
Newman later played for Leicester City, Plymouth Argyle and player managed Exeter City, after retiring from playing he managed Grimsby Town and Derby County and arrived at Hereford United in 1983.
The glory days of the early to mid seventies were now over. Hereford United were regularly having to apply for re-election to stay in Division Four (Now League Two) and in freefall. The club was nearly liquidated in 1982 and only saved at the last minute when Chairman Peter Hill brokered a deal with the council.
Just before Newman arrived a paltry Saturday afternoon crowd of 1,294 witnessed a 1-0 home defeat to Stockport County on the 2nd March 1983. Things needed to change and a couple of weeks later Newman took over from caretaker manager Tommy Hughes.
Newman took charge for the final 12 league games of the season and achieved 4 wins, 1 draw and 7 losses. The club finished bottom of the league but luckily managed to be reprieved from relegation at the end of season league AGM.
With the club still in the Football League Newman used his experience to wheel and deal in the transfer market.
He had a big clear out of players that only Stewart Phillips and Jimmy Harvey survived from the side that had kicked off the previous campaign. In came the likes of John Delve, Ian Dalziel, Gary Beacock, Ollie Kearns and Carleton Leonard. Hereford consolidated and finished a respectable 11th place.
The 1984/1985 season is remembered fondly by supporters. Hereford held top flight Arsenal to a 1-1 draw at Edgar Street in the FA Cup 3rd round.
Sadly after being top of the league in March, Hereford fell away and finished 5th, unfortunately there were no play offs back then with the top 4 clubs going up. The beginning of the decline was an injury to John Delve and later to Jimmy Harvey. Newman wasn’t supported by the board and with a thin squad he had no one on the books to cover the midfield. Newman showed loyalty to the club by turning down an approach from Plymouth Argyle to stay at Edgar Street.
The 1985/1986 season saw Keith Hicks, Ian Bray and Steve Emery leave. In came the likes of Wayne Cegielski, Bruce Halliday & Ian Wells.
The team finished 10th that campaign, but suffered heartbreak in the Freight Trophy area final against Bristol City. Winning the 1st leg 2-0 the Bulls headed to Ashton Gate and kept the first half tight at 0-0. City wiped out the deficit in three crazy second half minutes. The game went to extra time where City won it in the 119th minute and Hereford would miss out on a lucrative Wembley final appearance.
A major change at the start of the 1986/1987 season saw Chris Price depart to Blackburn Rovers. Hereford would finish a disappointing 16th and were knocked out of the League Cup and FA Cup in the 1st round.
There was the emergence of a striker called Phil Stant. Newman had spotted the potential of the striker who was scoring regularly in Herefordshire league football, and brought him out of the army for £600. (He was later sold to Notts County for £175,000) That season also saw a famous 6-0 away win at Burnley where Stewart Phillips scored a hat trick.
The 1987/1988 pre season saw FA Cup winners Coventry City be defeated by The Bulls 2-1 and optimism was high, new arrivals included Nottingham Forest two time European Cup winner Ian Bowyer as well as Paul McLoughlin and Mark A Jones.
Sadly Hereford were bottom after six games and supporters were turning against Newman, a couple of back to back wins over Colchester and Darlington eased the pressure, but a 1-0 home defeat to Peterborough United on the 30th September 1987 was his last game. Newman departed with dignity and left the club in a much stronger position to the mess he had inherited in March 1983.
Former Hereford United player Stewart Phillips told Your Herefordshire “𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡”
𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 “𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧, 𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫, 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝 𝟖𝟎’𝐬, 𝐊𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞, 𝐊𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐇𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬, 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐉𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞.
𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 , 𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐎𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥.
𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐀 𝐂𝐮𝐩, 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝟓-𝟑 𝐚𝐭 𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐚𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞, 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟔-𝟎 𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐟 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐫. 𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞”
Newman later became assistant manager at Notts County and Mansfield Town before retiring in the 1990’s.
RIP John” 
MJH
