had played West Bromwich Albion in an FA Cup game in 1937. Club officials and historians could not find his father in their records.

Skinner attended Moat Farm Infant School from 1961 to 1964, St Hubert's Roman Catholic Junior School from 1964 to 1968, and then Oldbury Technical Secondary School from 1968 to 1973. He passed two O-levels in summer 1973 and took A-levels