It's a testimony to the popularity of Terry Hennessey that so many of his former teammates turned up to join him at The City Ground for our last Championship home match against Blackpool.

Hennessey was back in England - and his native Wales - from his 'adopted' country Australia, where he now lives with his family near Melbourne.



But his contemporaries were lining up to meet up with the former defender, who was such an outstanding player for us in the 1960s.

Sammy Chapman, Henry Newton, Peter Grummitt, Peter Hindley, Barry Lyons, Colin Addison and Dave Hilley along with 70s midfielder George Lyall made sure they were back at The City Ground to share what was a memorable occasion for the Hennessey family.

Said Terry: "I was overwhelmed by it all and it was just a fantastic to be back at The City Ground where I had the happiest time of my playing career. The only problem was the result!

"It was great to meet up with so many of the players who were my teammates in the 1960s, sharing so many old stories.

"But it was also a tremendous moment for me to be able to walk out onto The City Ground pitch again. It's such a lovely surface these days that I told everyone that if you can't play on that you can't play on anything."

Hennessey, his son, daughter and grandchildren are now heading back to Australia but they had just one unhappy note from their visit.

Not one of his former teams managed to avoid defeat when he saw them.

He started off by watching Wales lose to Russia, then his former Birmingham City side lost to Aston Villa, Derby were beaten by Barnsley and we lost to Blackpool.

Added Terry: "After the way things went I doubt whether I'll every get invited back again. But not even the results could take the shine off my visit. I can't thank everyone enough."