Micky Stewart elected President of Corinthian-Casuals FC

Corinthian-Casuals Football Club are proud to announce that Micky Stewart OBE has agreed to become their new President following the death of Jimmy Hill just before Christmas.  Jimmy had been President since 1996.
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Stewart, former Surrey County Cricket Captain, England Test cricketer, England Team coach and manager, has been a member of Corinthian-Casuals since 1955/6.  Before that he played for Wimbledon while still at school and then for Hendon.

In 55/6 he played in the C-C team which reached the F.A Amateur Cup Final, giving up an England Amateur cap to play in an early round, 'though he did win a later cap against France.   At the time of the Final against Bishop Auckland Micky was on cricket tour in the West Indies with an unofficial Test Team.  When the match at Wembley was drawn 1 - 1 the club arranged to fly him home for the replay at Middlesbrough.  But the plane was delayed and Micky arrived only five minutes before the kick-off.  In those days there were no substitutes so Micky could only watch as Casuals lost 4- 1.

That wasn't his only football disappointment.  In 1956 he was also selected for the British Olympic team for the games in Melbourne only to be told by Sir Stanley Rous,  then Secretary of the F.A., that as a professional cricketer he was ineligible; and that at a time when virtually every footballer in the Olympic side was getting the proverbial "pound in the boot".    Disillusioned with "amateur" football Micky turned professional with Charlton Athletic for whom he played for three seasons.

Meanwhile he was establishing a formidable cricket career.  He was first chosen for Surrey Young Amateurs while still at school at Alleyns where he was captain of both cricket and football; after two years National Service he went on to play for Surrey for 20 years, a right handed opening batsman, scoring 27,000 runs, including a top score of 227 plus 50 centuries, helping them to a record run of 7 Championships.  He was an outstanding close catcher, in 1957 taking 77 catches in a season, including 7 in an innings against Northamptonshire.   He captained Surrey for 10 years leading them to the Championship in 1971.  He played 8 Tests Matches for England, averaging 35 with a highest score of 87 and touring India as Vice-Captain in 63-64. 

In 1979 he returned to the Oval as Manager of Surrey for seven years, leaving in 1986 to become the first Manager of the England Test team, a post he held for six years, with a particular brief to oversee discipline, fitness and technical supervision.   The Telegraph said "Stewart was way ahead of his time, not least in the aspects of fitness and planning."   Graham Gooch, captain during the later years of Micky's time as England Manager, said:  "We laid the foundations for what you see in the England set-up now.   The fitness, the monitoring of fitness, the nutrition, it was the birth of all that on a team scale."   

In 1992 he moved on to become Director of Coaching at the England Cricket Board where he received widespread credit for modernising the coaching set-up and laying the groundwork for the modern day coaching structure that's widely lauded as one of the best in the world.

Geoff Arnold, one of his protégés at Surrey said:  "Undoubtedly, over the last fifty years, he has been the biggest influence as to where Surrey are now.  People in the club always respect his views on what should happen and if they have a problem, they always go to Micky."   Another of his protégés, of course, was his own son Alec who went on to become Captain of Surrey and the most capped England Test player of all time - and who's also a playing member of Corinthian-Casuals.  
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In the middle of all this Micky took time away from cricket to manage Corinthian-Casuals   from Jan 1971 to Sept 1975, seeing them through difficult years when the club had no ground and shared with Tooting & Mitcham.  He's still actively involved in cricket, finding and helping to bring on young players at grass roots level.   Now we welcome him to a new role in the club and a return to Tolworth where he and his wife have been regular visitors over recent times.  Welcome home Micky and Sheila.

David Harrison - Vice Pres CCFC

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