Brian Keeble

Playing career Keeble began his football career with his hometown club, Holbeach United. While doing his National Service in the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment, He made his League debut against York City in the following September, and went on to establish himself in the starting eleven. He was ever-present as Grimsby were promoted as Third Division runners-up in 1961–62, and scored once that season – the only goal of his Grimsby career – in a 3–2 win at home to Northampton Town in March 1962.

Earlier that same season, Keeble was the victim of a bizarre occurrence when playing away to Watford, whose Vicarage Road ground had been constructed on the site of an old gravel pit and was prone to subsidence. A hole opened up on the pitch under his feet, expanding to wide and twice as deep, and the referee suspended play for 14 minutes while the hole was filled in.

He played much less frequently at the higher level, making only 49 appearances, which took his total to 172 (181 in all senior competitions), and was released at the end of the 1954–65 season. He played 154 times for Darlington in the League, and scored twice. One of those two goals, against Walsall, was scored from even further out than his Grimsby goal: he "hit the ball forward, the goalkeeper came out to claim it and slipped on his backside and it trickled into the goal." Brigg Town and Barton Town.

Personal life Keeble was born in Holbeach, Lincolnshire. After his football career finished, he worked in a supervisory role for transportation companies in the Grimsby area.