The making of a local hero: How Graham Hodson saved Bilston Town FC
We look at Graham Hodson's remarkable achievements ahead of the former football club chairman's funeral.
The fairytale story of how Graham Hodson helped to save 120-year-old Bilston Town FC from extinction in 2009 has been told and retold many times.
Every time they won promotion or were presented with some new accolade, the tale of how club chairman Hodson, along with vice-chairman Denise Frankham and secretary Paul Lloyd, rescued the club from going bust is trotted out. And it is worth the retelling.
Eight years ago, bailiffs came knocking at their door when it emerged the club owed thousands of pounds. The gas had been cut off, the water supply was about to be cut off. The club had no players, no kit and had lost its good name.
The trio set up their own company, vowing never to buy anything they could not afford, and began to turn around both the club’s fortunes and its reputation.
See the bottom of the article for funeral details
The Steeelmen are now in the top flight of the West Midlands Regional League and last year unveiled a £28,000 stadium upgrade.
Integral to that renaissance was Graham Hodson, a 60-hour-a-week security officer on nights who devoted much of his days to building up Bilston Town FC.
Denise Frankham said: “It wouldn’t have happened without Graham. He just wouldn’t give up. If something didn’t work, he moved to Plan B, and then Plan C.
“He knew so many people who thought so much of him that when he asked for favours, they’d say yes. Because of the club’s previous dealings there was no goodwill in the community, so it was done through sheer hard work. But football at this level was Graham’s passion.”
Club officials, including the late Lord Bilston, Dennis Turner, and his councillor brother Bert, had sought him out because of his phenomenal achievement setting up Bilston Partnership Youth Football League with Mike Ball in 1998.
Graham, a goalkeeper in his playing days, had got involved with the Stourbridge League when his eldest son started playing football. But after frustrations with the way it was ran, he decided to set up his own league, which today is one of the biggest in the West Midlands.
At one stage he was running the club, running the league and refereeing at weekends as well as keeping down a job and trying to maintain a family life with wife Teresa and their two sons, Lee, 40, and Steven, 35.
Steven said: “Football was ingrained in our family life. Mom used to do secretarial and treasury duties and me and my brother played. He was a fantastic dad and husband, and an inspiration. He still had such grand plans for the club but I’m sure they will still be carried through.”
He also did more than his bit for charity, raising almost £40,000 with club chaplain Mel Perry on annual cycle rides.
His working partnership with Denise started when she protested about a new Birmingham FA rule which effectively meant her son had to play with boys younger than him, instead of with his peers. Someone advised her to get in touch with Graham.
“He said ‘That ain’t right bab. Come over and join our league and we’ll sort it’. That was 17 years ago. We got the rules changed on that one. In 2013 when the club got promotion and the league tried to block us, saying our ground wasn’t good enough for the Premier Division, we went to London and fought it and we won again.
“If something was morally wrong, that was it for Graham. It didn’t matter who he was up against. He was very direct, like a bull in a china shop . I’ve got more of a customer services background so we tempered each other.”
The club, now called Bilston Town Community FC after registering as a charity, also battled back in 2014 when vandals caused £8,000 of damage to the bar.
Then last year came the ultimate accolade, when the club was given the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the charity world’s equivalent of an MBE. It was his second visit to Buckingham Palace after picking up a prestigious FA150 Award for his services to grassroots football.
New club chairman Denise paid her own tribute. she said: “It’s an act that can’t be followed, and they’re boots that can’t be filled. They broke the mould with Graham.”
Graham's funeral will be held at St. Leonard’s Church, Walsall Street, Bilston, on September 4 from 11.45am. A wake will be held afterwards at the club’s Queen Street ground.
