Halesowen Town legend Colin Brookes dies aged 83

Brookes was taken ill during Tuesday’s Southern League Central match at Stratford Town and passed away despite the efforts of members of the crowd and medical staff to save him. The match was abandoned at half-time.

A club statement read: “Everyone who knew him would know that if he had chosen a way to go, it would have been watching his beloved Yeltz and a quick passing.”

Brookes was a well-known and much-loved figure in West Midlands non-league football who spent 70 years in the game - more than 30 of them at the Grove.

Born in Barnsley, he played in the same England Schoolboys team as Nobby Stiles as a teenager and signed professional forms with Matt Busby’s Manchester United in 1957.

He returned to Yorkshire after just three months at Old Trafford due to feeling homesick and signed with his hometown club, turning down an offer to join Huddersfield Town from their then manager, Bill Shankly.

Brookes made more than 50 appearances for the Tykes before moving to the West Midlands and joining Albion. 

He never made a first-team appearance in the Baggies but settled in the Black Country, where he became a police officer following his retirement from professional football aged just 24.

Working in Netherton and Brierley Hill, he became a key member of the West Midlands Police team, later becoming manager.

He joined Halesowen as assistant manager to Stuart Hall in 1994. Later becoming general manager, he was a constant presence at the Grove, notably during some of the club’s toughest years under the chaotic ownerships of Morell Maison and Steve Lynch.

Brookes bought the club from the latter in 2017, saving it from financial disaster. His daughter, Karen, became club chairman.

The club statement announcing his death finished: “Our thoughts are with Karen and the family and all their friends at this time.”