Kicking Back: Reagan Remembered (Martin Reagan tribute)

Martin Reagan, England women’s manager from 1979 to 1990, died on Boxing Day 2016 aged 92. A tank commander in the Second World War who played for York City, Hull, Middlesbrough, Shrewsbury, Portsmouth and Norwich, and scored Middlesbrough’s thousandth league goal, he took the part-time England job at fifty-five on expenses only while working self-employed six days a week. He published his home telephone number in the WFA magazine. He took England to the inaugural European final in 1984, losing on penalties to Sweden with Pia Sundhage scoring the winner, and won the Mundialito in 1985 and 1988. Recollections come from his daughter Helen, from Linda Whitehead and from Pat Gregory.