Kenneth Henry Albert Fish (20 February 1914 – August 2005) was a South African footballer.

Playing career

Fish played for Railway Association (in South Africa) before moving to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 to play for Aston Villa

Aston Villa F.C.

Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...

. He signed with Port Vale

Port Vale F.C.

Port Vale Football Club is an English football club currently playing in Football League Two. They are based in Burslem, Staffordshire — one of six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The club's traditional rivals in the city are Stoke City, and games between the two clubs are known as...

 for a sizeable fee in November 1937. Despite the fee, and his goal in one of his 6 games (5 in the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 and 1 FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

) he was unable to break into the first team and so was sold to Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 side Young Boys

BSC Young Boys

Berner Sport Club Young Boys 1898 is a Swiss sporting club based in the capital city of Bern. The name is often abbreviated to YB . Abroad, YB is often referred to as Young Boys Bern. The club's colors are yellow and black....

 in October 1938. He returned to Vale as the assistant trainer in July 1939 and re-signed as a player the following month.

WW2 and post-war coaching career

World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 disrupted football in 1939 and as a result Fish enlisted in the Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 in September 1939. He guested for Stafford Rangers

Stafford Rangers F.C.

Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts...

 during the war and was after its conclusion was appointed as Vale's trainer in July 1946. He was temporarily in control of team affairs in November and December 1951, after Ivor Powell

Ivor Powell

Ivor Verdun Powell MBE is a Welsh former footballer who gained eight Welsh caps and later became a manager. He was born in Gilfach, Bargoed....

's unsuccessful tenure.

In March 1958 he moved on to Birmingham City

Birmingham City F.C.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...

 as trainer-coach, a position he later held at Oxford United

Oxford United F.C.

Oxford United Football Club is an English association football club based in Oxford, Oxfordshire. The club play in League Two, following promotion from the Conference National in May 2010. The club had been a non-League side since their relegation from the Football League in the 2005–06 season. The...

. Fish worked at Oxford United for more than twenty years. At the end of the 1986 League Cup Final

1986 Football League Cup Final

The 1986 Milk Cup Final was a football match held on 20 April 1986 between Oxford United and Queens Park Rangers. Oxford won the match 3–0 to capture the League Cup — their first major honour. Trevor Hebberd opened the scoring in the first half, and Ray Houghton added a second...

 at Wembley, in which Oxford beat QPR

Queens Park Rangers F.C.

Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...

 3–0, the manager, Maurice Evans

Maurice Evans (footballer)

Maurice George Evans was a football player with Reading Football Club, and later manager of Shrewsbury, Reading and Oxford United....

, insisted that Fish go up to the royal box to receive the medal that would usually have gone to the manager.