FOOTBALLER TURNED JOURNALIST
Gregor ROBERTSON

STEVE Baines was something of a pioneer. The first former professional footballer of note to become a referee.
The Newark-born centre-half made almost 450 League appearances for Nottingham Forest, Huddersfield Town, Bradford City, Walsall, Bury, Scunthorpe United and Chesterfield.
Then one morning, soon after his retirement in 1987, he opened up his paper and came across an article that piqued his interest.
The former Liverpool defender, Tommy Smith, and the former Chelsea defender, Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris, were talking about how they thought ex-p...