After starting this interview series in November. I always wanted to speak to David Icke, a lot of people are not aware that Icke played for Hereford United from 1971-1973 and was Hereford United’s most successful goalkeeper. He won two promotions in his two seasons at Edgar Street, in terms of goals conceded per games played he had the best ratio of any goalkeeper who ever played for the club. I contacted him via his website last week and to my surprise he replied that he would do it, we arranged a Skype call for Saturday 30th January.
Matt Healey continues the series
David Icke was born in Leicester on the 29th April 1952. He started his football career at Coventry City, but never played a first team game. He joined Hereford United in the summer of 1971. The manager at Edgar Street then was the late great John Charles. I asked Icke how the move to Hereford happened.
Icke told me “I wanted to be a footballer from an early age. I wanted to play for my hometown club Leicester City but they had Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton on the books at the time (Two of England’s greatest ever goalkeepers), so I thought I better go somewhere else. I joined Coventry City and we got to the final of the FA Youth Cup. My left knee started to swell up for no reason and I had six months out of the game, I came back but was still having problems with my joints. I got a medical opinion and I was diagnosed with arthritis. I was told I needed to give up the full time game or I could be in a wheelchair in my 30’s. I was only 19 and needed an income so I had to retire from professional football and I started working in a travel agency for a guy called John Camkin, who was also a former journalist”
Read More: My Hereford United Story David Icke
