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Next Game: Pre-Season

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Bulls Advent Calendar - No.19


Number nineteen on the Bulls Advent Calendar is Graham Turner.



Having managed local rivals Shrewsbury as well as Aston Villa and Wolves, Turner had been out of management for 15 months before his appointment at Edgar Street in the summer of 1995. 

Building on a string of useful signings from John Layton's spell in charge, including Dean Smith, Murray Fishlock, and Steve White, Turner got the Bulls into the 4th Division play-offs for the first time in the club's history, losing out to Darlington.



Failure to win promotion would prove to be more costly than anyone knew at the time, with the club's board having taken a last throw of the financial dice. Heavy budget cuts saw the experience of White, Tony James, and Richard Wilkins replaced with teenagers and the Bulls sank out of the Football League and to the brink of oblivion.

Turner bought Peter Hill's stake in the club in May 1998, becoming a fairly unique Chairman/Manager in the professional game. It took several years to repair the damage before the Bulls took 10,000 to Leicester and a return to the League.



After 15 years as manager, chairman, and odd-job man, he left Edgar Street in 2010. Now 66, Turner still lives in Herefordshire, and spends his weekends looking after a small village side up the road.