Notts County regret to report the death of Ken McPherson, a centre forward who had a short but well-remembered spell at Meadow Lane.
He was a former paratrooper, easily identified by his flame-coloured hair, who Notts plucked from the obscurity of non-league football with Horden Colliery Wellare in West Hartlepool in 1950.
For a couple of seasons he played in the reserve team, understudying Tommy Lawton, and when he got his senior chance in 1952-53 he took it with relish, scoring four goals against Blackburn Rovers in the December of that season, helping Notts romp to a 5-0 triumph.
He continued to show a remarkable scoring touch, with a total of seven goals in five games and at the end of the season finished with 14 goals in 19 league and cup appearances.
It drew him to the attention of other clubs and, before the start of the following campaign, Middlesbrough paid £15,000 to take him back to the north-east. In a career spanning five league clubs he amassed 117 goals in 382 appearances, as well as playing for New York side Americans during the closed season.
Ken died on 5 February, a month short of his 91st birthday, and his funeral takes place at Wilford Hill at 12.40pm on Thursday 15 March.
We offer our sincere condolences to his wife, Connie, his son, Dean, the rest of his family and friends.