Graham Turner

Graham Turner is part of football folklore in the English-Welsh border region for his achievements with Shrewsbury Town and Hereford United, and is fondly remembered at Wolves who he dragged for the fourth tier to the second. Turner, a LMA hall of Fame member, has achieved five promotions in a managerial career spanning over 1,000 games and scooped a prestigious LMA award for services to the game in 2009. Graham ended a lower-division career as a midfielder-turned centre back by moving to Shrewsbury Town where he became player-manager in 1978 and won the Third Division championship in his first season. He twice led the Shrews to the quarter finals of the FA Cup and landed the Welsh Cup on two occasions during a six-year reign. After two seasons with Aston Villa, Turner joined Wolves who were then in the bottom division and heavily in debt. After reaching the play-offs in his first season, he won two successive promotions before establishing the famous old club back in the second tier. Wolves also collected the Sherpa Van Trophy in his time at Molineux. At Hereford, Turner took charge of a club steeped in debt. Although they reached the play-offs in his opening campaign, United plunged into the Conference in 1997. Graham's offer to quit was refused and when the chairman resigned he kept the club afloat by buying a majority stake in partnership with Joan Fennessy. Enforced player sales prevented progress for a protracted period but Turner eventually fashioned a new team from free transfers. Hereford reached the Conference play-offs in three successive seasons, finally winning promotion with a win over Halifax Town in 2006 at the Walkers Stadium. Two years after their return to the League, Hereford were promoted again to reach the third tier for the first time in over 30 years. Following relegation in 2009, Graham stepped down as manager and appointed John Trewick in his place. When Trewick parted company with Hereford, Turner again took caretaker charge for the remainder of the 2009/10 season, before he then sold his majority share and left the club. Remarkably, he paid money for only three players during 15 years with Hereford. In his first full season with the Shrews (2010/11), Turner guided the club to the play-offs after just missing out on automatic promotion, by finishing fourth in npower League Two. Graham was also awarded the manager of the month for February 2011. In the 2011/12 season, Turner was awarded with the Contribution to League Football prize, at the Football League Awards. In a very successful campaign, Turner also restored Town to the third tier of English football for the first time in 15 years. Later, he successfully retained his side's League One status in 2012/13 with a 16th place finish.