Boothferry Park Memories

Jimmy Graham

A little while ago Jimmy Graham who played for Hull City between 1994 & 1996 chatted to Boothferry Park Memories a Facebook group for City fans to remember the days of the former stadium. He Looked back on his career and his time and as Tigerby answering some standard questions. Thanks to Boothferry Park Memories, we will be able to bring more insights to former players over the coming months.

NICKNAME WHEN PLAYING

Early days at Bradford it was Letchy after Bulgarian player Letchkov, or Slap!!

BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON CAREER

Oh, how far back do you want to go? I was the youngest of 11 in my family and my sisters were good at football. The janitor at my primary school Mr McKeown was a big influence in playing for the school team. My brother Arthur when I first went down to Bradford was a brilliant coach. Growing up watching Celtic is also a big influence on how football should be played.

DEBUT MATCH

Crystal Palace v Bradford City 1989 I came on as sub.

FAVOURITE MATCH YOU PLAYED IN

Probably Rochdale away to Gretna believe it or not. It was in the FA Cup, and it was the first time in a century or something that a Scottish team played in the first-round proper.

I think the Gretna one was the first time an English team played in Scotland in the FA Cup in a century. 👍

It was a great occasion, a lot of my family went, and we were brought onto the pitch by a pipe band lol.

For Hull, probably when big Alan Fettis scored when we beat Oxford, I think it was.

WORST MATCH YOU PLAYED IN

Any against Doncaster, I always had a nightmare against them.

FAVOURITE GROUND

The old Boothferry Park 👍

Lucky enough to have played at Anfield, Old Trafford, Maine Rd, Goodison, Villa Park, St James Park & Elland Road.

WORST GROUND

Ach, honestly, a lot of similar grounds back in the day - I didn't have a particular one I disliked most.

BEST PLAYER YOU PLAYED WITH

Dean Windass, daft as a brush but unbelievable vision and striker of a ball, I loved playing in the same team as Deano.

BEST PLAYER YOU PLAYED AGAINST

I've been lucky enough to play against a lot of top-class players, on my debut Ian Wright was up front for Palace. I was captain of Rochdale against Southampton and a young Alan Shearer scored a hat trick against us. Played against Man Utds great midfielders of Butt Scholes & Beckham.

But my most difficult opponent I'd say was Trevor Sinclair. I played against him a few times and he was very quick and skilful too.

BEST GOAL YOU SCORED

I scored a diving header for Hull City against Bournemouth I think it was. Someone sent me a photograph of it, and I was at full stretch heading it, don't know why I was so far up the pitch.

I actually scored a free kick in my last game at Boothferry Park. It was in the reserves not long after Terry Dolan told me I wasn't getting my contract renewed.

BEST GOAL SCORED AGAINST YOU.

Ach, I hated anyone scoring against us...

WHO WERE YOUR FAVOURITE MANAGERS?

Maybe I should say Terry Dolan as he was my coach at Bradford then took me to Rochdale and then Hull City. But he also let me go at a time I feel I needed more time to recover from my knee op. So, I'd say Tony Heskith at Lancaster City when I played semi pro. He encouraged me to be more attack minded and got the best out of my ability at set pieces.

WERE THERE ANY MANAGERS YOU DIDN'T LIKE?

John Docherty at Bradford. To say he was Scottish is the only good thing I can say about him.

FUNNIEST INCIDENT YOU SAW ON FOOTBALL PITCH

Ooft! Almost weekly at Hull. The celebration for big Fettsgoal when we had a pile on him. Deano picking up a bottle thrown at him at Cardiff as he's about to take a penalty, he picks it up, has a swig, then bangs the ball in the net for a 1:0 win.

INCIDENT AT TRAINING GROUND

Not so funny but I remember training at the park across from the old ground and there would be dog dirt everywhere, brutal. It was a Friday before a league game on the Saturday and we had to wear shin pads and get 'stuck into each other' people limping off all over the place. Abbo (Greg Abbot) was in his glory though, somehow, I don't think it's like that now.

ANY STRANGE REQUESTS FROM FANS

Haha nothing out of the ordinary. Just ticket requests and a few for autographs. Somebody asked me for a comb, cheeky b***** 😁

ANY SUPERSTITIONS AS A PLAYER

I always kept the same tie ups for my socks if we didn't lose.

FIRST CAR YOU BOUGHT

Austin mini metro.

A wee car story:  My first game for Hull was a pre-season friendly. I had got a lovely Astra off my brother Arthur only had it a few months, anyway, parked at the players car park and after the game I couldn't find it, I thought it was a wind up from the players, but it was found burned out in Hessle a day later. I was gutted especially as my golf clubs were in the boot.

FAVOURITE FOOD AS A PLAYER, HAS IT CHANGED SINCE YOU RETIRED?

My brother Tom played for Barnsley, and he still lives there, my sister-in-law made me chilli which I loved I'd go through there as much as possible for a bowl 😁

I can eat anything, except liver and kidneys and stuff like that... Love a Chinese 👍

HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED WRITING AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY?

Err, no... I get bored reading; I've never read a book since school, I think. I've got some great books on Celtic and my other love U2, but I only flick through these.

CLOSEST FRIEND IN FOOTBALL

I started living in digs in Bradford with Peter Costello. The youth team I was in have reunions, so we catch up annually.