Tranmere Rovers
Legends (4): Rimmer
By Matthew Jones
June 9 2010
Total Tranmere brings you our fourth article in the Past Legends series, with a special feature on a man without whom Tranmere Rovers may no longer be here today
Over the years, there have been many, many people who could and would be considered as Tranmere Rovers legends by many, but there is one many who is often missed off that list, as he sits in the background, happy to continue his work behind the scenes.
One of the best moves Tranmere Rovers Football Club have ever made was to re-establish the clubs youth system when Peter Johnson bought the club in the 1980s.
Due to finances, the Tranmere academy, which had produced the likes of Roy McFarland and Steve Coppell, had closed down, but Johnson's first act as Tranmere chairman was to re-establish the academy, and the man entrusted with leading the new system was Warwick Rimmer.
Since Peter Johnson left the club in the 1990s, Warwick Rimmer must surely be one of the most important men at the club, if not the most important.
As a player, Rimmer represented Bolton Wanderers for twenty years, despite being born and bred in Birkenhead. Having done some coaching in Africa, including managing the Sierra Leone national team, and briefly managed Crewe during the late 1970s, Rimmer returned to Birkenhead and was working in Tranmere's commercial department when Johnson bought the club. Thankfully, he was almost immediately put in charge of the new youth system.
Using old fashioned but effective training methods, Rimmer has managed to compete against the likes of local sides Liverpool, Everton, Manchester United, Manchester City and Blackburn to keep up and coming players at the club, and develop them into something special.
Rimmer is the Youth Development officer at Ingleborough Fields, where Tranmere Rovers' youngsters train, and over the years he has produced some quite increadible footballers, who have been sold on for big fees by the club, therefore keeping the club in existence.
Hiding behind the scenes, Rimmer is a man rarely, if ever, heard from by Tranmere fans. But if you wander down to a Tranmere youth team match, he is almost certain to be there, and the work he has done for the club can niether be forgotten nor underestimated.
At reserve team matches, home or away, he can always be seen joking with the coaching staff and players, as well as watching eagerly as he tries to pick up a gem and enhance a players ability.
Using old fashioned but effective training methods, Rimmer has managed to compete against the likes of local sides Liverpool, Everton, Manchester United, Manchester City and Blackburn to keep up and coming players at the club, and develop them into something special.
Some refer to Rimmer as "The face of Merseyside football", as everywhere you go within the game in the North West, coaches, managers and players know of him. But many refer to Rimmer as "The 14 million pound man", as this is a rough estimate of just how much money Warwick Rimmer has made for Tranmere Rovers over the years with his youth development system.
Under his stewardship, Rimmer has developed players such as Ged Brannan, Tony Thomas, Alan Rogers, Clint Hill, Ian Thomas-Moore, John McGreal, Kenny Irons, Steve Simonson and more recently the likes of Jason Koumas, Iain Hume and Ryan Taylor who have all flourished whilst at the club before leaving for big money deals to bigger clubs.
Indeed, the work is still on going. In the summer of 2006, three youngsters left Tranmere Rovers for money upwards of £1,000,000, whilst the likes of Ryan Fraughan, Ashton Taylor, Craig Curran, Joe Collister, Terry Gornell and Ian Thomas-Moore are all currenty first team players who have progressed through the Rovers academy.
Along with John Aldridge, Rimmer is very few men to have been awarded the "Dave Russell Memorial Award" by Tranmere Rovers F.C, having recieved the accolade in 2007.
The award is handed out to people who have served the club greatly in their life, and it cannot be argued that either of these legends deserve the award.
Devoting over twenty years to Tranmere Rovers, Warwick Rimmer has been a key figure in the clubs question, and you could ask whether, without his increadibly hard yet profitable work, the club would still be here today. He has worked tirelessly, and perhaps at times thanklessly, for the club, but Rimmer has definately recieved endless enjoyment from seeing his players make the step up to first team, and sometimes international level.
Earlier this year, Rimmer underwent surgery on his heart in a Liverpool hospital, but is thankfully now back on his feet with the recovery process well underway.
Warwick Rimmer has been a true ambassador to Tranmere Rovers Football Club for many years and there is no doubt that when he retires from his role at the club, it will be to the detriment Tranmere's youth system.
Don't forget to check back into Total Tranmere next Wednesday for our fifth article in our legends series.
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09/06/2010 23:33
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