All at Bolton Wanderers were saddened to hear of the passing of former winger and club record signing Terry Wharton.
Bolton-born Wharton, who died on 3rd January at the age of 83 following a short illness, made 110 appearances for Wanderers, scoring 30 goals, after signing for his hometown club from Wolverhampton Wanderers for £70,000 in November, 1967.
Wharton – whose father Jackie had been a youth player with Wanderers before going on to enjoy a successful senior career with clubs including Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End – started out as an amateur with Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1957 before turning professional two years later.
He scored on his First Division debut for Wolves in a 2-0 win against Ipswich Town in November 1961 and became a fixture in the side as he went on to net 69 goals in 224 League games for the Molineux club.
In the summer of 1967, he was part of the Los Angeles Wolves that took part in the experimental US Soccer Association before joining Wanderers as a replacement for the Manchester-City bound Francis Lee for a club record fee that was to remain unbeaten until the signing of Frank Worthington 10 years later.
Wharton went on to make the number seven shirt at Burnden Park his own and reached double figures in the goalscoring charts in both 1968/69 and 1969/70.
He started the 1970/71 season with an opening-day hat-trick against Luton Town before being sold to Crystal Palace in January 1971 for £12,000 as Wanderers struggled to keep afloat. Two of his goals against Luton came from the penalty spot, with Wharton converting 43 of the 44 penalties he took during his career.
After a short spell at Selhurst Park, Wharton moved to Durban City in December, 1971 and went on to score the opening goal in the South African Cup Final the following year.
He returned to England in 1973 to play once for Walsall and then Kidderminster Harriers and had spells as manager with Stourbridge and Wednesfield as he continued to live in the West Midlands.
The thoughts of everyone at Wanderers are with Terry’s family and friends at this sad time.
An obituary by Whites’ club historian and vice-president Simon Marland will also be carried in the digital edition of next Tuesday night’s match-day programme for Wanderers’ Vertu Trophy tie against Port Vale.
Image: Terry Wharton (centre) with Crystal Palace manager Bert Head (left) and Nat Lofthouse ahead of the player's move to Selhurst Park.