Colin Grainger (10 June 1933 – 19 June 2022) was an English footballer, as well as being a former singer and recording artist. As a footballer, he played as an outside left and had a 16-year career in the Football League from 1950 to 1966. He came from a footballing family: brother Jack Grainger, brother-in-law Jim Iley, and first cousins Dennis Grainger, Jack Grainger and Edwin Holliday all played professionally. He got married in 1956 and had two children.
Raised in the mining village of Havercroft, he was working as a car mechanic when he was signed on apprentice forms at Third Division North club Wrexham in July 1949. He turned professional the following year and made his first-team debut in February 1951. Though National Service prevented him from establishing himself at the club, he still managed to build a reputation as an exciting young prospect. He was purchased by Sheffield United for a £2,500 fee in June 1953. A regular in the starting eleven in the First Division, he was called up for the first of his seven England caps in May 1956. His international career lasted just 11 months, though he did score two goals against Brazil and one against West Germany. He was also twice selected for The Football League XI.
His career then declined as he struggled with an ankle injury sustained on England duty, and he was sold to Sunderland for £17,000 plus Sam Kemp (valued at £6,000) in February 1957. Sunderland were relegated out of the First Division at the end of the 1957–58 season, and he was sold to Leeds United of the Second Division for a club record £15,000 in July 1960. His damaged ankle hindered his form at Leeds, and he was sold to Third Division side Port Vale in October 1961 for £6,000. He helped Vale to knock former club Sunderland out of the FA Cup the following January but missed the end of the season with a groin injury that dogged him for the remainder of his time at Vale Park. He was not retained at the end of the 1963–64 season and signed with Fourth Division side Doncaster Rovers in August 1964. He made 41 appearances across the 1964–65 campaign, though he was dropped the following season and was released in the summer of 1966. He then had a brief spell with Macclesfield Town in the Cheshire County League, before retiring to focus on his singing career. He later spent 1969 to 1972 as player-manager of non-League village team Newmillerdam, before playing for Woolley Miners Welfare in the Yorkshire League from 1972 to 1978.
Grainger performed his first professional music gig in 1956, supporting the Hilltoppers. He appeared on television and radio and also had a ghostwritten column in the Sport Express. He was signed with the His Master's Voice label and released "This I Know"/"Are You" as a single in 1958. His footballing career restricted his singing opportunities, though he did share a bill with the Beatles in June 1963. He ended his singing career in August 1970 to focus on his new career in sales. He also supplemented his income scouting for a succession of clubs: Barnsley, Leeds United, Huddersfield Town, Oldham Athletic, Bury and Sheffield United.
Early and personal life Born in the mining village of Havercroft on 10 June 1933, his father – Daniel Grainger (1894–1967) – was a coal miner at Monckton Colliery. He had five older brothers: Leslie (born 1920), George (born 1922), Jack (born 1924), Eric (born 1926) and Horace (born 1929), though Leslie and George both died before he was born from diphtheria. His mother, Lily Grainger (née Holliday; 1900–79), gave birth to a total of seven children, with the one daughter also named Lily (born 1935). He represented Barnsley boys' team during the 1946–47 season, alongside future Munich air disaster victim Tommy Taylor and cricket umpire Dickie Bird. He attended Ryhill Junior, Ryhill Middle School, and then Felkirk Secondary School. After leaving school at the age of 15, he was employed as a car mechanic on wages that initially started on £1-a-week.
Grainger came from a footballing family, and his younger brother, Jack, spent ten years at Rotherham United just after World War II. His younger sister, Lily, went on to marry Jim Iley, who played as a wing-half for Sheffield United, Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest. His cousin, also named Jack Grainger, played in the Football League for Barnsley and Southport in the 1930s. Jack's younger brother, Dennis, played for Leeds United and Wrexham in the late 1940s. Another cousin, Edwin Holliday, went on to represent England whilst playing for Middlesbrough in 1959.
Grainger married Doreen Rowe on 3 January 1956. They had a son, Colin Junior, born on 3 July 1956. A daughter, Kim, followed on 27 February 1964. Grainger wrote his autobiography, The Singing Winger, which was published by deCoubertin Books on 17 October 2019.
Club career Wrexham Grainger spent his youth with South Elmsall Boys before being invited for a trial at Wrexham in July 1949. He impressed Wrexham manager Les McDowall enough to earn a professional footballing apprenticeship on wages of £5-a-week. He spent the 1949–50 season playing for the reserve team in the Cheshire County League. McDowall moved on to manage Manchester City in June 1950 and invited Grainger to take a tour of Maine Road in an attempt to poach him away from Wrexham, an attempt that was thwarted when the Wrexham board heard of the news and reassured Grainger that he would be sold to a bigger club if he first proved himself at Wrexham. However, he was called up for National Service in 1951 and spent the next two years serving in the Royal Air Force. He turned professional with Wrexham on his 17th birthday, seeing an increase in wages to £8-a-week, in addition to a £10 signing-on fee. He made his first-team debut on 24 February 1951, taking Billy Tunnicliffe's spot at outside-left in a Third Division North match against Hartlepools United at the Racecourse Ground, which ended in a 1–0 home victory. His National Service limited his first-team chances under manager Peter Jackson. He failed to make an appearance in the 1951–52 season, before playing just four games of the 1952–53 campaign.
Sheffield United On 27 June 1953, Grainger was signed by Second Division champions Sheffield United for a fee of £2,500. United manager Reg Freeman had signed his brother Jack at Rotherham United six years previously. He was placed on the maximum wage of £20-a-week and received a £10 signing-on fee. Demobbed from National Service in October, he made his first-team debut in a 1–1 draw with Charlton Athletic at Bramall Lane on 14 November, taking the place of Derek Hawksworth at outside-left. He played with his wrist in plaster as he suffered a fracture just before his demobilisation. He featured in only two further First Division matches in the 1953–54 season.
He scored his first goal in the Football League in a 4–1 home win over Tottenham Hotspur on 30 October 1954, having got the better of right-back Alf Ramsey, with one journalist reporting that "Ramsey never even attempted to match [Grainger] in speed". He scored his second goal for the "Blades" in a 3–0 home win over Manchester United two weeks later, this time getting the better of right-back Bill Foulkes. United went on to secure their First Division status with a 2–1 victory at Blackpool on 30 April, with Grainger scoring one of the goals. Another goal on the final day of the 1954–55 season took his tally to six goals in 25 appearances and helped to secure a 5–2 win over Portsmouth to leave United 13th in the table.
Freeman died of cancer in August 1955, and the team struggled at the start of the 1955–56 campaign. However, Grainger scored both goals in a 2–0 home victory over Tottenham Hotspur on 5 September, providing Joe Mercer his first win as a manager. He impressed Birmingham City manager Arthur Turner sufficiently in a 2–0 Christmas Eve victory that Mercer was forced to reject a transfer offer, as he told the press that "The answer [to enquiries for Grainger] will always be the same: no!" However, United struggled in the second half of the season and were relegated with a 3–1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on 28 April, Grainger scoring United's goal before centre-back Howard Johnson was forced off with injury to leave United with only ten men.
United opened the 1956–57 Second Division campaign away at Rotherham United, the first match where the two Grainger brothers would play on opposite teams, and it was the away side who claimed a 4–0 victory, with Grainger scoring two goals. As an England international playing in the second tier he found the league relatively easy, and on 1 September he secured his first career hat-trick in a 6–1 win at Barnsley after taking the bus to Oakwell as it was near the family home in Havercroft. However, an injury picked up on England duty caused him to miss six weeks going into the new year and upon his recovery Mercer informed him that the club's directors had ordered him to sell Grainger for the best possible price as quickly as possible. Wolverhampton Wanderers made an offer of £23,000, but could not pay the full amount immediately, and so Sheffield United instead accepted an offer of £17,000 plus Sam Kemp (valued at £6,000) from Sunderland. Grainger was firmly against the move, but the Sheffield United board of directors were determined to bring in a large fee to pay off creditors and Mercer illegally handed him £300 as recompense.
Sunderland Grainger's arrival at Sunderland's Roker Park in February 1957 came at a difficult time as Bill Murray's 18-year reign as manager was coming to an end. The club was freely spending money, paying out £22,000 for Don Revie in addition to the £23,000 fee for Grainger, but were struggling near the bottom of the First Division. Sunderland spent the second half of the 1956–57 season in the bottom four and lost their final three matches, but avoided relegation as they ended the season one position and three points ahead of relegated Cardiff City. Sunderland were also charged by The Football Association with making illegal payments to players and chairman Bill Ditchburn was handed a lifetime ban from football whilst the club were fined £5,000 and Murray resigned his post.
Murray's successor as manager, Alan Brown, alienated senior players such as Billy Bingham, Don Revie and Len Shackleton, leaving Grainger to later comment that "Brown's presence had created discordance out of harmony, anxiety out of tranquillity" and "football felt like work and training felt like prison". Having been dropped to the reserves a month in the 1957–58 season, Grainger and goalkeeper Ray Daniel requested transfers. However, he stayed on Wearside and despite beating Portsmouth on the last day of the season, Sunderland occupied the final relegation place after finishing level on points with Portsmouth but with an inferior goal average; it was the first relegation in Sunderland's history since they became founder members of the Football League in 1890 and was the last time Grainger would play in the top-flight.
Grainger scored the club's first goal in the Second Division on 23 August 1958, in a 3–1 defeat at Lincoln City. He broke his collarbone in a 1–0 win over Huddersfield Town, causing him to miss five matches at a crucial time when his form was good. He was being considered again for the England squad. He totalled three goals from 37 games in the 1958–59 campaign, finding that he gelled well with new signing Ernie Taylor.