John Victor "Johnny" Vincent (8 February 1947 – 23 December 2006) was an English

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...

 professional football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

er who played as an attacking midfielder

Midfielder

A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

 or inside forward

Inside forward

In football, the position of inside forward was popularly used in the late nineteenth and first half of the 20th centuries. The inside forwards would support the centre forwards, running and making space in the opposition defence, and, as the passing game developed, supporting him with passes...

. He made nearly 300 appearances and scored 59 goals 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...

. After a spell in non-League football

Non-league football

Non-League football is football in England played at a level below that of the Premier League and The Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top football clubs in England all belonged to The Football League; all clubs who were not a part of The Football...

 he finished his playing career in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Born in West Bromwich

West Bromwich

West Bromwich is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands, England. It is north west of Birmingham lying on the A41 London-to-Birkenhead road. West Bromwich is part of the Black Country...

, Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

, Vincent joined 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...

 from school. He made his first-team debut in March 1964, shortly after his 17th birthday. His style of play was elegant and he was consistent in his ability to launch an attack, whether by good passing of the ball or by purposeful running. When he became a first team regular, some three years after making his debut, he was creating chances for Barry Bridges

Barry Bridges

Barry John Bridges is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Chelsea, Birmingham City, Queens Park Rangers, Millwall and Brighton & Hove Albion and was capped four times for England....

, Geoff Vowden

Geoff Vowden

Geoffrey Alan "Geoff" Vowden is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward in the Football League for Nottingham Forest, Birmingham City and Aston Villa, and in the North American Soccer League for the New York Cosmos.-Career:Vowden was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire and raised...

 and Fred Pickering

Fred Pickering

Frederick "Fred" Pickering is an English former professional footballer. He played as a forward.-Domestic career:...

; later he supplied Jimmy Greenhoff

Jimmy Greenhoff

James "Jimmy" Greenhoff is an English former football player. He was a skilful forward and although capped five times at under-23 level, once as an over-age player, he never played for the full side, and is labelled as the finest English player never to play for England...

, Bob Latchford

Bob Latchford

Robert Dennis "Bob" Latchford is an English former association footballer who played as a centre forward. He made more than 500 appearances in the Football League, playing for Birmingham City, Everton, Swansea and Coventry City in the First Division, and won 12 full caps for England.Latchford was...

 and Bob Hatton

Bob Hatton

Robert James "Bob" Hatton is an English former association footballer who played as a centre forward. He played more than 600 matches in the Football League for a variety of clubs and scored at a rate better than one goal in every three matches.Wolverhampton Wanderers recognised his potential and...

. He had a powerful shot himself; for Birmingham he scored 44 goals in 194 appearances in all competitions. He remained first choice under Stan Cullis

Stan Cullis

Stanley Cullis was a professional footballer and manager, most notably for Wolverhampton Wanderers. During his term as manager between 1948 and 1964 Wolves became one of the strongest teams in the British game, winning the league title on three occasions, and playing a series of high-profile...

's management, but Cullis's successor Freddie Goodwin

Freddie Goodwin

Freddie Goodwin is a former English professional football player and manager.-Career:A half back, Goodwin was signed as a trainee from Cheshire Schoolboys by Manchester United on 1 October 1953 as one of the Busby Babes. He made his senior debut for the club on 20 November 1954 against Arsenal...

 traded him for Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough F.C.

Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...

's more physical George Smith, both players being valued at £40,000. He spent one season at Middlesbrough followed by three years with Cardiff City

Cardiff City F.C.

Cardiff City Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Cardiff, Wales. The club competes in the English football pyramid and is currently playing in the Football League Championship. Cardiff City is the best supported football club in Wales, averaging approximately 22,500 for...

, before returning to the Midlands

English Midlands

The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...

 with Atherstone Town

Atherstone Town F.C.

Atherstone Town Football Club is a football club based in Atherstone, Warwickshire, England.They were officially established in 2004 after a previous club bearing the same name folded in 1979...

. He finished his playing career with a season in the NASL

North American Soccer League

North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...

 with Connecticut Bicentennials

Connecticut Bicentennials

The Hartford Bicentennials was a soccer team based out of Hartford, Connecticut that played in the North American Soccer League. The team played at Dillon Stadium....

.

After football he spent 13 years in the licensed trade

Licensing laws of the United Kingdom

Licensing laws of the United Kingdom regulate the sale and consumption of alcohol, with separate legislation for England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland being passed, as necessary, by the UK parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the Scottish Parliament respectively.Throughout the...

 in the West Midlands

West Midlands conurbation

The West Midlands conurbation is the name given to the large conurbation that includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton and the large towns of Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Solihull, Stourbridge, Halesowen in the English West Midlands....

 area. He died of cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 in a Kidderminster

Kidderminster

Kidderminster is a town, in the Wyre Forest district of Worcestershire, England. It is located approximately seventeen miles south-west of Birmingham city centre and approximately fifteen miles north of Worcester city centre. The 2001 census recorded a population of 55,182 in the town...

, Worcestershire

Worcestershire

Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...

 nursing home

Nursing home

A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...

at the age of 59.