Derek Kevan

Derek Tennyson Kevan (6 March 1935 – 4 January 2013) was an English footballer. He spent the majority of his club career playing as a centre-forward for West Bromwich Albion, where he earned the nickname "The Tank". In 1961–62 he was the joint leading scorer in Division One – alongside Ray Crawford of Ipswich Town – with 33 goals. He also won 14 caps for the England national team, scoring a total of eight goals, including two in the 1958 FIFA World Cup Finals.

Club career Kevan was born in Ripon. His father Albert, formerly an officer in the Royal Marines, worked as a pipe-layer. Kevan started his career in his native Yorkshire with Bradford Park Avenue. Kevan was the first signing made by the former Tottenham Hotspur full-back Vic Buckingham after he had taken over from Jesse Carver as manager of West Bromwich Albion in February 1953. Signed for £2,000, Kevan completed his National Service in the Army before establishing himself full-time at The Hawthorns.

Coached by the club's former striker W. G. Richardson, Kevan had to wait until August 1955 to make his West Bromwich Albion League debut, a 2–0 home win over Everton in which he scored twice after being selected in place of the injured Ronnie Allen. He became a regular in the first team during the 1956–57 season, and his committed and powerful style of play earned him the nickname "The Tank" from the Albion supporters.

Kevan scored 20 goals in the 1956–57 season, which included a run to the FA Cup semi-finals where Albion lost to Aston Villa. He added 18 in 1960–61 and then claimed 33 League goals the following season, when he finished joint top scorer in the First Division with Ipswich Town's Ray Crawford. This remains the highest post-war League total by an Albion player.

In March 1963, after scoring 16 goals in 28 appearances that season, including four against Fulham, In a decade at Albion, he had scored 173 goals in 291 games. His spell at Stamford Bridge under Tommy Docherty was short and unsuccessful, and in the close season of the same year he moved to Manchester City for £35,000 just after their relegation to the Second Division.

Kevan made his Manchester City debut on the opening day of the 1963–64 season against Portsmouth, and scored his first goal for the club four days later, at Cardiff. From late November to the end of December, Kevan scored in eight consecutive matches. This included a run of six league games in which Murray and Kevan scored 21 goals between them. before moving to Peterborough United in March 1966, and then Luton Town. In March 1967, Kevan joined Stockport County, in an exchange deal involving Keith Allen. At Stockport, he gained the first medal of his career, the Fourth Division title in 1967. After winding down his career in non-League football, he was the landlord of the Moss Rose pub, adjacent to Macclesfield Town's ground of the same name. leaving a wife, Connie. In tribute to Kevan, West Bromwich Albion players wore black armbands for their FA Cup match the day after his death.

International career Kevan scored eight goals in 14 appearances for England. He scored on his debut against Scotland at Wembley in a 2–1 win in April 1957, and netted twice in the 1958 World Cup Finals in Sweden, against the Soviet Union and Austria, after he was selected for the squad in preference to Brian Clough. His last England appearance came against Mexico in 1961. He also gained under-23 honours and netted a hat-trick for the Football League against the Scottish League in 1958.