This came just a fortnight after his older brother Graham had played his final game for the club and seven months before Ron made his debut for the Blues.
Futcher quickly turned professional and had made 20 Football League appearances when Luton Town snapped him up for £100,000 in the summer of 1974.
[4] He replaced club stalwart Tommy Booth in the side which failed to live up to expectations and as the major new signing he attracted criticism.
Booth won his place back, and on 1 July 1979 Futcher left Maine Road for a fee of £150,000 and joined Second Division Oldham Athletic.
Then his son Ben Futcher joined the club for their League Two play-off final season of 2005–06 before he left for Peterborough United.
Following the arrival of Brian Laws as manager and a poor performance in a match against Oldham Athletic, he departed in 1994, but remains thought of as one of the club's best-ever players.
The Sandgrounders narrowly lost to Cheltenham Town, and the remainder of the former Manchester City man's Haig Avenue tenure was blemished by successful relegation scraps.