Geoff Bradford E-Book

Mike Jay

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Bristol Rovers' most famous player is undoubtedly Geoff Bradford. He holds the club record for goals scored (242 in 461 Football League appearances) and remains the only player to win a Full England International cap while with the club. To research this book, the authors have been given access to an archive of information and original photographs from his family. Bristol-born Geoff was a loyal one-club man having turned down the option of a transfer to First Division Liverpool. He suffered two very severe career-threatening knee injuries and returned to play football for his club, who rewarded him with a Testimonial match at the end of his fifteenth season. Besides representing England, he also won other honours for Rovers winning the Third Division (South) Championship in 1952/53 and also played in many representative matches for the English Football Association including a six-week tour to the West Indies in 1955. There has never been a biography of Bradford, so this will be a welcome title for all dedicated Rovers fans.

Leseprobe

GEOFF BRADFORD

GEOFF BRADFORD

BRISTOL ROVERS LEGEND

IAN HADDRELL & MIKE JAY

First published 2012

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2013

All rights reserved

© Ian Haddrell & Mike Jay, 2012, 2013

The right of Ian Haddrell & Mike Jay to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7524 9463 0

Original typesetting by The History Press

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Foreword

1. Early Family Life

2. A Career in Professional Football

3. Cup Glory and a Championship Medal

4. Representative Honours and Full England Debut

5. Two Career-Threatening Injuries

6. Comeback and the Quest for First Division Football

7. Relegation and the Great Escape

8. The Twilight Years

9. Life After Football

10. Statistics and Records

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The greatest thanks of all are, of course, due to the authors’ wives, Julie and Diane, without whose love, care and support this book would never have been possible. No book containing this degree of information could be a feasible proposition without recourse to considerable help from a number of sources. Stephen Byrne, a fellow Rovers historian, has given tirelessly and unstintingly of his time and has unearthed many snippets of invaluable information during his long hours in the newspaper vaults at Bristol Central Library. Despite a move with his family to work in Kenya three years ago he has continued to contribute greatly. We are as indebted to him for his input and proof reading, as we are to Dennis Payter, the former Bristol Evening Post journalist, for loaning us the many items he obtained from the Bradford family archive. We thank Lynn and Nichola, Geoff’s daughters, for their willingness to share otherwise inaccessible memorabilia and information on their father’s life, as well as Geoff’s sister Joan and nephew Paul for their help. Bristol Rovers programme editor Keith Brookman kindly allowed access to both the many images collected over the past fifteen years and to the Bristol Rovers records in his possession. The late Alan Lacock was always an excellent source of statistical details relating to Rovers players.

Of the many people whose help has contributed to the production of this volume, we are also indebted, in no particular order but with very grateful thanks in every case, to former team-mates of Geoff, namely: Bill Roost, Josser Watling, Harold Jarman, Ray Mabbutt, Bernard Hall, Joe Davis, the late Peter Hooper, Howard Radford and the late Alfie Biggs. Of course many generations of supporters will have seen Geoff play and have a view on Geoff’s contribution over the fifteen years he was at Bristol Rovers. These include former Bristol Evening Post journalist Eddie Giles, Peter Missen, Mo Bell, and Bernard Brain. We also would like to thank Phil Turner, Mike Heal, George Belcher and Ray Hazzard for their contributions. Thank you to you all for your time, energy and encouragement. While every effort has been made to ensure that the details included in this book are as accurate as possible, errors are an inevitability in a work of this magnitude and the authors apologise for these in advance. We are also keen to point out that any opinions stated are our own views, reflecting on the statistics to hand, and not necessarily those of Bristol Rovers Football Club.

Research for this book has necessitated a thorough investigation of local newspapers, primarily the Bristol Evening World, Western Daily Press and Bristol Evening Post. The authors have visited a wide range of libraries to consult all manner of newspapers and journals and our thanks are due to the staff at each of these. Other books which have provided valuable information and may be of further interest to the reader include:

Atyeo: The Hero Next Door, Tom Hopegood & John Hudson, Redcliffe Press, 2005

Bristol Rovers: The Definitive History 1883–2003, Stephen Byrne & Mike Jay, Tempus, 2003

Bristol Rovers Miscellany: Rovers Trivia, History, Facts and Stats, Stephen Byrne, Pitch, 2010

Bristol Rovers On This Day: History, facts and figures from every day of the year, Stephen Byrne, Pitch, 2009

Inspection of Bristol Rovers Football Club Limited, Board of Trade, HMSO, 1951

Pirates in Profile: A Who’s Who of Bristol Rovers Players 1920–1994, Stephen Byrne & Mike Jay, Potton, Baber & Murray, 1994

The Bert Tann Era, Edward Giles, Desert Island Football Histories, 2007

FOREWORD

I have three main memories of Geoff Bradford, Bristol Rovers’ record scorer with a hunger for hat-tricks. Above all, the courageous and indefatigable manner in which he battled back from those two truly horrendous injuries. Next, the strength of character he also showed when called a blackleg and threatened with being ostracised by team-mates against whom he stood alone in refusing to vote for a strike aimed at abolishing the maximum wage. He foresaw drawbacks that have since become all too apparent, with power concentrated into an elite band of the wealthier clubs.

Thirdly, there was the unfairness of Bradford’s exclusion from the England team after scoring in the victory on his international debut. Strong as the competition for places was, notably from a young upstart named Johnny Haynes, it clearly counted against the Rovers sharpshooter that he was outside the First Division with a so-called unfashionable club. Which raises the intriguing question of how he would have fared if he had played regularly at that level instead of loyally remaining a one-club man? I am with those who fancy that the goals would still have flowed.

Eddie Giles

Eddie Giles started his journalistic career with the Derby Evening Telegraph in 1944 where he spent twelve years – less three away while on National Service in the RAF. Moving to Bristol in 1956, Giles became deputy sports editor of the Bristol Evening Post and later chief sports sub-editor until 1970 when he joined the Daily Telegraph, first in Manchester and then in London. For the last eight years until his retirement in 1993 he was that newspaper’s northern sports editor. He has written many football books on Derby County, Bristol City and Bristol Rovers plus one on perhaps England’s finest international centre forward, Tommy Lawton. He is a life member of the National Union of Journalists.

Geoff and manager Bert Tann were featured in a 1950s newspaper cartoon depicted at the famous Nails in Corn Street, Bristol.

1

EARLY FAMILY LIFE

On 18 July 1927 Mr Albert and Mrs Emily Bradford’s (née Lambourne) fourth child, Geoffrey Reginald William, was born at 2 Belle Vue Cottages, Clifton Wood, a cul-de-sac of terraced houses, a continuation of Belle Vue Crescent located on the slopes behind the public baths on Jacobs Wells Road. One of the oldest and most affluent areas of Bristol situated to the west of the city centre, Clifton was at one time a separate settlement but became attached to Bristol by continuous development during the Georgian period and was formally incorporated into the city in the 1830s. Grand houses that required many servants were built in the area, and while a good number were detached or semi-detached properties, the bulk were built as terraces, many with three or more floors. Little did Albert, a police constable with Bristol Constabulary’s ‘E’ Divison, and Emily appreciate at the time that their newborn son, Geoff, as he would be known, was destined to be Bristol Rovers’ most famous footballer.

A year after Geoff’s birth, the Bradford family vacated Belle Vue Cottages and moved to 36 Holly Grove, Hillfields, a north-eastern suburb of Bristol adjacent to the Soundwell and Staple Hill districts of the city. Geoff and his siblings, Donald, Joan and Mabel (known as Bett), attended Soundwell Primary School, located in Church Road opposite Soundwell’s football ground, half a mile from the family home.

From about the age of 6 Geoff showed a keen interest in football and as most young boys do he enjoyed joining in kick-abouts with his friends and older brother. Despite his lack of size Geoff had a real passion for the game and tried to improve at every opportunity – if Geoff didn’t have a ball to play with he would resort to kicking a tin can instead. On numerous occasions his football was kicked into the garden of Mrs Jones, a neighbour who lived opposite the Bradford family. She constantly threatened that she would keep the young lad’s ball if it came over again – but she never did. On one occasion after Geoff’s mother had bought him a new pair of shoes and he was outside kicking a ball while wearing them, she told him to stop playing and come into the house or his new footwear would be scuffed and worn out in no time. But Geoff, in common with all young boys, took no notice. Despite his obvious enthusiasm for the game, his talent (if it had manifested itself at the time) was not recognised. His junior school games master once told a disappointed Geoff to forget about football because he considered him to be too small for the game. This acted as a challenge to Geoff to prove the teacher wrong and frequently he would walk from his house with his football to the common land which led to Soundwell Football Club to play and practice the game he loved.

The Bradford family photographed at Laurence Studios in Bristol, c. 1931. Standing: Donald (born 1920). Seated, left to right: Joan (born 1923), Geoff (born 1927), Mabel (born 1924).

Geoff and his sister Joan, with their dog Jim, standing outside their home in Lincombe Avenue, Downend, c. 1937. Geoff’s mother used to send Jim to school to bring Geoff home, which he dutifully did!

Staple Hill Torchbearers Youth Football Club played in the Kingswood & District Youth Association League. Geoff is pictured sixth from the right wearing a snake belt to keep his shorts up.

On one occasion the family was getting ready in their best clothes to visit Laurence Studios, the photographers in the centre of Bristol, to have a family portrait taken. Geoff was dressed and ready wearing his new teddy bear coat, and when his mother popped into another room to collect something she asked his sister, Bett, to keep her eye on him. Regrettably, she neglected to do this and the four-year-old Geoff made his escape into the street where he managed to fall into a muddy puddle, ruining the new coat. Fortunately a young friend of the family, Nellie Johnson, came to the rescue. She was studying music and dance and having a number of costumes was able to lend Emily an outfit for Geoff to wear, and so he ended up visiting the photographers in a blouse and satin trousers. ‘He was always getting into trouble,’ remembered his sister Joan, ‘with kicking things and wearing his shoes out. From morning ’til night it was football. Football was his life and he gave it all he had. Brother Don was always playing war with him, as he was small and always getting in Don’s way, and he would complain to Mum, but when she told Geoff off it went in one ear and out the other. Football was his life and he lived it.’

In about 1936, when Albert Bradford left his wife Emily and their four children, she moved from Hillfields initially to the Downend area, followed by a move to the Frenchay district on the outskirts of Bristol. In order to support the family, Emily ran a tea room serving drinks, sandwiches, cakes and cream teas to order. During the Second World War meals were cooked for the troops stationed on Frenchay Common, who used to walk down to the tea room through the woods for a good meal that was cooked on a large range and an electric cooker.

Geoff’s sister Joan recalls two troops, Frank and Tom, who used to walk down to the tea room to buy food. Frank had a wonderful singing voice and on hearing him approaching singing, she would shout out to the others ‘Frank is on his way.’ Emily, her daughter Joan and daughter-in-law Pat (she married Geoff’s brother Don), worked in the Frenchay Road establishment, named the Bungalow Tea Rooms. It was located on the riverside near the bridge that crosses the River Frome linking Frenchay Road with Pearces Hill and Frenchay Hill. The family lived in the bungalow next to the tea room, and it was at this rural location that Emily kept geese, chickens and pigs, with guard dogs to look after the property.

Disappointingly for Geoff the village school did not have an organised football team and he had to content himself with Friday afternoon football games when two teams were picked, coats put down for goalposts and matches maybe lasting several hours were enjoyed by the football-crazy lads. Attending Mangotsfield School (located in North View, Downend) from the age of 11 his football ability began to show as he was selected to play in the school’s under-13s team in his first year at senior school – a fine achievement for such a young player and an indication of his burgeoning talent. Like most boys of his age at that time, Geoff left school at 14 and joined the world of employment, working as a driver’s mate for a lemonade delivery firm, Keystones, in Fishponds. On his days off from delivering ‘pop’ bottles, football continued to play a significant part in his formative years.

One of his friends persuaded Geoff to play for a football team organised by Torchbearers, a Staple Hill club run by the Salvation Army Youth Club. Geoff’s prowess at centre forward was shown by him scoring the only goal of the final which helped the club win the Kingswood & District Youth Association Challenge Cup in 1944. The cup-winning celebration involved Geoff and his team-mates marching from Kingswood to Staple Hill proudly displaying the cup. Torchbearers enjoyed two successful seasons towards the end of the Second World War, winning the Challenge Cup and finishing as league runners-up in 1943/44 and were runners-up in both competitions the following season.

Certificate awarded to Geoff and members of the Torchbearers team for finishing as league runners-up in the 1944/45 season.

The Torchbearers Youth Football team were Kingswood & District Youth Challenge Cup Winners in 1943/44. Geoff Bradford, aged 17, is seated third from right.

Geoff, pictured right, and army pals, during his spell of National Service. He served with the Gloucestershire Regiment at Catterick, Colchester, Repton and Belfast.

Geoff was a key member of that successful team in both of those seasons, riding his motorbike to the club for practice and matches. Some ten years later when nearing the pinnacle of his fame as a nationally known professional footballer, Geoff still found time to meet up with thirteen of his former Torchbearers team-mates at a reunion held in May 1953.

During the Second World War Geoff helped men to remove the railings that surrounded Frenchay church, ostensibly to be melted down in a morale-boosting drive to help the war effort. In 1945 between VE Day (8 May 1945) and VJ Day (15 August 1945) Geoff, then aged 18 years, was called up for National Service. The summons came a few weeks after the medical, delivered by the postman in a plain brown envelope, with the instruction that the prospective recruit had to report to barracks for the start of ten weeks of basic training. Geoff joined the Gloucestershire Regiment with whom he was initially stationed at Catterick in Yorkshire. Bradford, the young soldier, was later posted to Colchester, by which time he had been promoted to the rank of corporal in charge of corps training. Not particularly happy during his time spent in Essex, in an effort to temporarily get away Geoff volunteered with six others to undertake additional training on a small arms course in Warminster.

On returning to his unit Geoff was even more displeased when he discovered that his whole battalion had been flown out to the West Indies for a tour of duty. A six-month posting to Retford followed before moving to Belfast, this time as an NCO in charge of the demobilisation of young conscripted servicemen, who were leaving the armed forces. While in Ireland, football opportunities arose playing for his battalion team all over the country. During his time there he was invited for training by the Irish League Club, Bangor Town, after they spotted him playing in an army match, but they did not follow up their initial interest. His commanding officer, who had served in the Indian Army, was a keen hockey player and actively encouraged his charges to play the game. Geoff was selected for the battalion hockey team, once it was formed, with matches played on the barrack square after duties were completed. This was followed by evening football matches which really suited Geoff as a sports-loving teenager. Playing on the left wing Geoff excelled at hockey and was selected to represent Gloucestershire against Cheshire in the Army Hockey Cup final at Chester, where his team was beaten by a penalty. However, it was playing hockey that almost ended Geoff’s football career before it had even started.

In one match he received a serious blow from an opponent’s stick to the bridge of his nose and the corner of his right eye, which almost resulted in him losing the sight in that eye. Following this near miss he informed his CO that he did not want to risk another possible injury and decided not to play hockey again. While in the army Geoff also participated in a number of athletics disciplines, winning a medal for the second place he achieved in a battalion long jump event in 1947. Geoff certainly enjoyed the army life which for him lasted for over 14 months, so much so that he seriously considered joining as a regular soldier and forging an army career. However, his battalion was spilt up and when his time came to be demobbed, he decided to return to Bristol and civvy street instead.