AN OXFORD City Football Club managing director who worked with Harry Redknapp and Bobby Moore during their time at the club has died aged 76.

Les Goodchild came to the club in 1979 as managing director, after local firm Free Newspapers Ltd, owned by Tony Rosser, had bought a majority stake.

It was a time of significant change for the club. In December, England’s 1966 world cup-winning captain Bobby Moore was announced as City’s next manager and in July 1980 it was announced it was to become a limited company.

Current Queen's Park Rangers manager Harry Redknapp also marked an early stage in his career by joining Moore as his assistant, chiefly undertaking a search for new players.

But it was the turmoil that engulfed the club in the late 1980s which was the most significant time of Mr Goodchild’s involvement.

The folding of Free Newspapers Ltd in the 1986 and 1987 season cast the shadow of doubt over the fate of the club’s home, the White House Ground, in Grandpont.

A deal for a new 14-year lease was signed in October 1986, but financial troubles with lease payments caused the college to evict the club later that season.

That year Goodchild also took over as chairman, to lead attempts to save the ground from redevelopment, after rumours swirled that a property firm had made a new lease offer.

The club took the college to the High Court over its eviction, but could not afford a lengthy battle and was forced to pull out.

In 1987 more bad news for Mr Goodchild arrived when Brasenose College took the club back to the High Court and in 1988 won the right to terminate the lease, which it argued had been obtained correctly. This came after the club had spent £3,000 on improvements to the grounds.

This proved to be a crucial blow to the club and in May 1988 Mr Goodchild stepped down with vice-chairman Keith Rodgers.

They hoped a new committee could secure an agreement with the college. He remarked at the time: “All we want is for the club to survive and we are quite happy to step back and let a new committee run the club.”

However, the college did not re-lease the ground and its final game took place on May 12 that year. City bean a five-year period in the wilderness, without a proper home.

Mr Goodchild was born in Littlemore in 1938. He was a player at Oxford United’s former incarnation Headington United, but a serious knee injury forced him into coaching, at first with youth teams at Marston Saints.

To take on the job as managing director at City, he left his job at the Cowley-based Pressed Steel Fisher, a principal engineer, where one of his sons, Nick, would also later work.

He also ran youth teams in the Cherwell League and spotted early talent in the likes of Oxfordshire players Geoff Ford, David Hale and Stewart Laudat.

After stepping down as chairman of Oxford City, he moved to Shropshire in 1990 to become a tool estimator.

He worked there until retirement and stayed in the area with his wife, Pauline.

Mr Goodchild died on May 23 in the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital after a period of illness.

He is survived by his wife, three sons, Nick, Paul and Julian, two daughters, Jane and Claire, 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

A funeral will take place at Telford Crematorium on Friday June 13, at 2pm.

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