Colin Addison obituary: The Yorkshire-raised architect of the FA Cup's greatest upset

Addison, who has died at 85, was also the last Englishman to manage Atletico Madrid.

It was in February 1972 that Hereford and Newcastle met in an FA Cup third-round replay of classic David and Goliath proportions.

Hereford were a fifth-tier side in the Southern Football League. Newcastle played in the First Division, the top tier, and boasted English football’s most feared forward, Malcolm Macdonald.

Addison was 31 and Hereford’s player-manager. He had actually scored in the first tie, a 2-2 draw at St James’ Park, and what happened next on a quagmire of a pitch passed into football folklore.

Ronnie Radford’s 35-yard rocket would be voted the FA Cup’s greatest goal, Ricky George bagged the winner, a young John Motson did the television commentary and an army of parka-wearing fans invaded the pitch.

Hereford had become the lowest-ranked non-league side to beat top-flight opponents in English footballing history.

A week later, Newcastle beat a Manchester United side featuring George Best, Denis Law and Sir Bobby Charlton at Old Trafford.

“It was a magnificent cup run,” Addison reflected years later.

“People also forget that after we beat Newcastle in the replay we drew 0-0 with West Ham four days later before we went out 3-1 at Upton Park to a Geoff Hurst hat-trick.”

Colin Addison was born in Taunton in May 1940 and brought up in York.

An inside-forward, he made over 370 appearances at York, Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and Sheffield United before succeeding John Charles as Hereford player-manager in October 1971.

After FA Cup glory, Hereford gained election to the Football League and won promotion the following year.

Addison’s own managerial journey took him to Newport and Derby and spells abroad in South Africa, Qatar, Spain and Kuwait.

He took Celta Vigo back into La Liga and, having worked as Ron Atkinson’s assistant at West Brom, headed back to Spain when the former Manchester United boss became Atletico manager in October 1988.

But Atkinson lasted only two months and Atletico’s volatile president Jesus Gil appointed Addison as his successor.

“The man was completely irrational. You never knew what was coming next,” Addison said. “Atletico were fourth bottom when we went there and they were fourth top when I got the sack.

“We were in the semi-final of the Spanish Cup – 2-0 down to Real Madrid from the first leg – and we needed three points from our last three league games to qualify for the UEFA Cup. We could have won the cup. We could have still got into Europe.

“But that was Jesus Gil. If I had been in the same position in England I probably would have got a new two-year contract.”

Further spells followed at Cadiz, Hereford, Al-Arabi Kuwait, Badajoz, Merthyr Tydfil, Scarborough, Yeovil, Swansea, Forest Green and Barry and he was also a regular summariser on radio and television.

Addison was married to Jean and had two daughters.