Football
Fans remember Jimmy Knox

FORMER Brakes manager Jimmy Knox sadly passed away on Christmas Eve.

A minute's silence was impeccably observed prior to the home match against Bedworth United for Knox who played in the professional game with Raith Rovers and Coventry City, before moving to Rugby Town in 1958.

He played and managed at Oakfield before the club folded in 1973, when he took over at Brakes.

He presided over some of the most successful seasons in the club's history, winning the Southern League Cup, gaining promotion to the Premier Division plus regular appearances in the first and second round proper of the FA Cup.

The biggest achievement leading Brakes into a position to qualify as founder members of the Alliance Premier League (now the Blue Square Bet Confeerence Premier Division) in 1979.

Knox left the club early in November 1980 after an FA Cup defeat by Barton Rovers, believing he could not take them any further.

He was not out of management for long however, and just two months later took over at VS Rugby who he led to an FA Vase success at Wembley as well as guiding them back into the Southern League.

There was further success during his 11 year spell at Butlin Road with Southern League and Birmingham Senior Cup victories, plus promotion to the Premier Division for the first time in 1987, the same season that Brakes dropped out of the league.

Knox left VS Rugby in 1992 but continued to live in the town.

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