The Bristol Rovers History Group. |
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No 798. Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala. 2010-11.
Born, 16.2.1982, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo. 5’ 10”; 12 st 1 lb. Début: 5.2.11 v Brighton. Career: 1999 OGC Nice [2,0]; June 2005 Grimsby Town (professional, 1.7.05); 22.6.06 Yeovil Town (free); 28.6.07 Oldham Athletic (free) [14+6,0]; 30.10.08 Grimsby Town (loan) [35+7,7]; 29.8.09 Yeovil Town (free) [80+7,2]; 31.1.11 Bristol Rovers (free) [10+1,0]; 27.7.11 Southend United (free) [23+1,1] (retired, 30.8.12). Armed with seven full caps for DRC to his name, Jean-Paul Kalala arrived in English football in 2005 after 118 games and three goals for Nice’s second team. In the national squad at the 2004 and 2006 African Cup of Nations, he played against Guinea, Tunisia and Rwanda in the former and was an unused substitute in the quarter-finals of the latter. Kalala, a slim, forceful midfielder, struck the post from twenty-five yards on his Grimsby début, in a 1-1 pre-season draw with Rotherham in 2005, hit a memorable thirty-five yard goal in the 4-0 drubbing of Notts County and went down in Grimsby folklore when his 87th-minute goal defeated Spurs 1-0 in the League Cup in September 2005. He was on the losing side at Wembley play-offs in successive years, an unused substitute for Grimsby against Cheltenham in the spring of 2006, Ciarán Toner taking his place, and in Yeovil’s side in 2007. He also played against Rovers in the FA Cup for Grimsby and in the League for both Oldham and Yeovil, being sent off at The Mem in August 2010 for two yellow cards. Kalala had received more cards in 2006-07 than any other player in League One and, prior to joining Rovers, had been sent off once in Grimsby’s colours and three times with Yeovil. Unable to prevent Rovers’ relegation to League Two in 2010-11, Kalala then helped Southend to an ultimately unsuccessful play-off campaign in the spring of 2012, his only goal for the Shrimpers coming in January 2012 against Swindon Town, before he returned to France to recover from injury. Once there, he abruptly retired from football and set up a hairdressing boutique, Estika in Nice. |
No 253.Walter Kavanagh. 1938-39.
Born, 27.10.1917, Ireland. Died, March 1991, Bristol. 5’ 11½”; 12 st. Début: 15.10.38 v Notts County. Career: Fearon Athletic; Tunbridge Wells Rangers; August 1937 Fulham; January 1938 Tunbridge Wells Rangers; 11.7.38 Bristol Rovers [6,0]; October 1939 Drumcondra. On the basis of a remarkable 51 goals in a season for Fearon Athletic in Ireland, Walter, sometimes known as “William”, Kavanagh moved to England in search of professional football. Kept out of the Fulham side by the prodigious Ronnie Rooke (1911-85), he scored twenty goals in 25 matches over four months during his second spell in Kent and contributed the only goal of the game as Rovers reserves defeated Folkestone in September 1938. Rovers were to score only three times in his six League outings. He may possibly be the Walter Kavanagh who married Joyce Price in Birmingham in 1946 and had a daughter Patricia the following year. |
No 851. Patrick Joseph Keary. 2013-14.
Born, 22.11.1993, Bristol. 6’; 12 st 4 lbs. Début: 12.10.13 v Mansfield Town. Career: 2004 Bristol Rovers; 2010 Team Bath; 2011 Mangotsfield United; 1.7.11 Bristol Rovers (professional, 20.4.13) [0+1,0]; 18.7.14 Bath City (free); 11.7.15 Weston-super-Mare (free, to 20.5.16). Following an early injury to Lee Brown, dependable left-back Pat Keary played in the final sixty-six minutes of a 1-1 draw at Field Mill in the autumn of 2013. A former Mangotsfield reserve player from Patchway, he played sixteen times for Rovers’ Under-18 side in 2011-12 and, having missed much of the following campaign after damaging a meniscal ligament in his knee, in three pre-season games in 2012 and Rovers’ 2-1 victory over Reading in July 2013. On his sole League appearance he flashed a header from a corner narrowly wide on the stroke of half-time and he headed home from Alefe Santos’ corner as Rovers’ reserve side recovered a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 with Forest Green Rovers in February 2014. However, like speedy Josh Southway, Keary could consider himself unlucky to be released, as Rovers considered the financial implications of losing their Football League status. Revenge was sweet, though, as he made a late appearance from the substitute’s bench to head home the only goal of a pre-season friendly in July 2014, as Bath City defeated a Rovers side 1-0. He scored in the 4-0 Nationwide South victory against Maidenhead United in November 2014, his only goal in 22(+3) appearances for Bath in that division and started all 42 Conference South matches with Weston-super-Mare in 2015-16. He later attempted to further his career in the United States. |
No 97. James Anderson Kedens. 1926-27.
Born, 19.4.1901, Auchinleck, Ayrshire. Died, 9.1.1975, Prestwick. 5’ 6½”; 11 st. Début: 29.1.27 v Brighton. Career: Sherburn Rovers; Ardeer Thistle; 9.12.26 Bristol Rovers (£50) [1,0]; July 1927 Glenburn Rovers (to 1936). With Jack Evans away at his mother’s funeral in North Wales, Jimmy Kedens played in Rovers’ 7-0 defeat at Brighton; despite one early break down the wing, he was never picked again. Rovers had beaten Raith Rovers to the signature of this player with Ardeer Thistle in the Junior Western League in Scotland, apparently securing three trophies in 1925-26, and he made several appearances for the reserves, playing at left-half at Weymouth over Christmas 1926 and making his final appearance in a Rovers shirt when the reserves beat the same opposition 4-0 at home in April 1927. One of thirteen children to William Kedens and Helen Anderson and the grandson of William Kedens and Helen Murray, Kedens was a coalminer by trade and returned to work at Glenburn Pit on the outskirts of Prestwick in 1927. A lifelong bachelor, he lived at 18 Glenburn until retiring to 1 Raith Avenue, Marchburn, near Prestwick. Survived by his younger brother John Kedens, who lived at 19 Beechgrove, Ayr until his death in 1999, Jimmy Kedens was buried at the Monkton and Prestwick Parish Cemetery in Glenburn. |
No 484. Errington Edison Kelly. 1981-83.
Born, 8.4.1958, Sandy Bay, St Vincent, West Indies. 5’ 11”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 9.2.82 v Exeter City. Career: Coventry Boys; Jahbaddis; Hereford United (trial); 1980 AP Leamington; VS Rugby; 1981 Ledbury Town; September 1981 Lincoln City (trial); 22.9.81 Bristol Rovers (£1,000) [12+6,3]; 31.1.83 Lincoln City [0+2,0]; 1.3.83 Bristol City [4+1,1]; 23.7.83 Coventry City; 22.3.84 Peterborough United; May 1986 Grebbestads IF; 1.8.86 Peterborough United [95+23,28]; July 1988 Gimonäs CK. An electronics technician who lived in England from the age of four, who was Terry Cooper’s final signing as Rovers’ manager, Errington Kelly made sporadic appearances in the Rovers side. A first-half hat-trick for the reserves at Charlton in October 1982 hastened a first-team recall which included goals at home to Walsall and Doncaster and in a 4-0 victory at Plymouth. He had begun his career with two goals in six Conference matches for Leamington. Working under Bobby Gould at both Rovers and Coventry, where he could not make the League side, Kelly was with his twin younger brothers at Bristol City, Tony (Omele) and Nyerere, the latter named after a Tanzanian president becoming City’s youngest ever League débutant. A hat-trick for Coventry City reserves, under the watchful eye of Rodney Marsh, earned him an offer from Tampa Bay Rowdies, but international clearance did not come through. Never opposing Rovers in the League, Errington Kelly was Peterborough’s top scorer in 1984-85, after scoring on his début in a 4-0 thrashing of Halifax Town, was out of football for much of 1986 and later tried his luck twice in Swedish football, playing ten times without scoring for Gimonäs. Kelly returned to the Midlands after his father’s death in 2002 and, married to Halima, trained as an English teacher, in which capacity he now works in the Birmingham area. |
No 559. Gavin John Kelly. 1990-94.
Born, 29.9.1968, Beverley. 6’; 12 st 13 lbs. Début: 12.1.91 v Charlton Athletic. Career: Headlands School; August 1984 Hull City (professional, 9.5.87) [11,0]; 22.3.90 Bristol Rovers (loan); 1.7.90 Bristol Rovers (free) [30,0]; 9.7.94 Scarborough (free) [30,0]; July 1996 Golden FC, Hong Kong; North Ferriby United; July 1997 Harrogate Town; 25.7.98 Whitby Town; 12.3.99 Frickley Athletic (loan); 31.3.99 Frickley Athletic; April 1999 Harrogate Town; July 1999 Bradford Park Avenue; March 2001 Scarborough (player-coach); 30.7.01 Bridlington Town (to 2006); AFC Walkington (retired, May 2017); 12.1.18 Bridlington Town (goalkeeping coach). Aston Villa met Rovers in two FA Cup clashes in January 1993, young goalkeeper Gavin Kelly making penalty saves in both games. As Rovers draw at Twerton Park, he stopped Dean Saunders’ spot-kick, before performing likewise against Ray Houghton as Villa won at Villa Park. The following campaign, despite being an unused substitute in 39 League games, he had to be content with one solitary League appearance, in a 2-0 defeat against Port Vale in March 1994. A schoolboy county player in East Riding, Kelly was understudy to Tony Norman at Hull and to the consistent Brian Parkin with Rovers, making his Hull début in a 5-1 win at Brigg Town in a pre-season friendly in July 1986 and helping Scarborough finish 21st in Division Three in 1994-95, above bottom-placed Exeter City on goals scored. Thereafter, he was in Hong Kong, helping his side defeat Eastern 8-2. He was reported to have played excellently on his Whitby début, a 2-1 Unibond Premier League victory over Bishop Auckland but, after 32 consecutive games, lost his place after a 2-0 defeat at Gainsborough Trinity in March 1999. Having made his Frickley début in a 1-1 draw at Chorley in March 1999, he was in the side that crashed 4-0 at his old club Whitby the following month, before appearing alongside Jason Harris during his five years as Bridlington’s regular goalkeeper in the Northern Counties East League. He appeared in 93 Unibond League Division One fixtures with Park Avenue. A son of John Kelly and Jean Webb, he spent several years with AFC Walkington, playing alongside Dean Windass and retiring at the age of forty-eight with a clean sheet in his final match. Now running his own football skills school, Gavin Kelly is a shift worker at Munton’s, a producer of malt drinks. |
No 907. Michael Eamon James Kelly. 2017-18.
Born, 3.11.1997, Kilmarnock. 5’ 11”; 11 st 6 lbs. Début: 7.4.18 v Charlton Athletic. Career: Aberdeen; June 2015 Leicester City; 19.8.16 Hurlford Town (free); 10.7.17 Bristol Rovers (free) [22+5,0]; 8.12.17 Bath City (loan); 26.1.21 Yeovil Town (loan); 30.6.21 Eastleigh (free). After an hour of the Development Squad match with Southend United in October 2017, left-back Michael Kelly overlapped on the wing, collected Cameron Ebbutt’s pass and rifled home to complete a 2-1 victory after Rovers had earlier trailed. Previously captain of Scotland at Under-17 level, he had dropped into Scottish junior football before getting his career back on track with Rovers and he made his League bow as a substitute for James Clarke thirteen minutes from the end of a 1-1 draw with Charlton Athletic. He played in 2(+1) Conference South matches with Bath City. Slowly but surely, Kelly made the position of left wing-back his own with a series of strong performances during the 2018-19 campaign but, falling out of favour, subsequently played in 18(+2) Conference matches with Yeovil Town before joining Eastleigh with Josh Hare and Tom Broadbent, where he played in 26(+5) National League matches, scoring a last-minute penalty in the 3-3 draw at relegated King’s Lynn Town in April 2022. |
No 835. Garry Kenneth. 2012-14.
Born, 21.6.1987, Dundee. 6’ 4”; 13 st. Début: 18.9.12 v Plymouth Argyle. Career: Fairmuir Boys’ Club; Dundee United Social Club; St Joseph’s; Dundee United Social Club; 2003 Dundee United (professional, 7.5.04) [141+22,6]; 14.3.07 Cowdenbeath (loan) [7,0]; 18.7.12 Airdrie United (trial); 28.7.12 Bristol Rovers (free) [18,1]; 16.1.14 Dundee United (trial); 12.2.14 Brechin City (free) [5,0]; 21.8.14 Carnoustie Panmure (free); 2.3.15 Adamstown Rosebud (free); 11.7.15 Montrose (trial); 18.7.15 Skonto Riga (free) [5+2,0]; 20.10.15 Montrose (trial); 20.11.15 Forfar Albion; 25.11.15 Selkirk (trial); 15.2.16 Selkirk (free); August 2016 Douglas Amateurs (free); 8.7.18 Stenhousemuir (trial); 5.8.18 Lochee United (free). Sometimes reputations can go before you and much was expected upon the signing of powerful, Scottish central defender Garry Kenneth. Viewed as “a proverbial rock at the back” (Lance Cook) and having had his début delayed by a calf injury, he stepped up to the captaincy in October 2012 to lead Rovers to their first home victory of the season, 3-1 against Northampton Town, with a man-of-the-match performance coupled with a headed goal shortly after half-time from Eliot Richards’ corner. Despite an own goal at Wimbledon, when he turned Byron Harrison’s cross into his own net, and another own goal at York, Kenneth featured as a vocal, all-action captain but he was sent off twenty minutes from time in Rovers’ 2-1 defeat at Rochdale in November 2012. Thereafter, though, the departure of manager Mark McGhee and injury issues hindered his progress at the Memorial Stadium. At the start of the following campaign, his sixth-minute header from an Alefe Santos corner set Rovers’ reserve side on course for a 2-0 victory over Hereford United reserves, but he did not return to League action and was released shortly before Christmas, making his Brechin bow in a 2-1 defeat at Airdrie in February 2014 and being sent off as the Hedgemen lost at home to Stenhousemuir in the final game of the season. The holder of two full caps with Scotland, he had made his début in August 2010, marking Zlatan Ibrahimović against Sweden after winning twelve caps, scoring once, for the Under-19 side, three caps at Under-20 level and eight more for the Under-21s. A Dundee United supporter, Kenneth had made his début in the Scottish Cup in February 2005, in a 3-0 win against Queen of the South, had scored his first goal in a 1-1 draw at Dunfermline Athletic twelve months later and scored in a 2-1 victory over Rangers in November 2006. In addition, his uncompromising style had earned him 21 yellow cards in his final three campaigns at Tannadice and he was sent off in the 1-0 defeat at Hearts in March 2008. However, the glory days were frequent and, having been in the United side which lost the 2005 Scottish Cup Final to Celtic and the 2008 League Cup Final to Rangers, he played in the 2010 Scottish Cup Final, in which United defeated Ross County 3-0 to lift the trophy for only the second time in the club’s history. Kenneth came forward after 22 minutes of this game, only to head Craig Conway’s free-kick over the bar, but became, in the process, one of only ten Rovers players who have secured a winner’s medal in this tournament. In the spring of 2015, after thirteen games for Carnoustie, he moved with his partner Charlene Buist and two children to Australia and later to Latvia, but returned to play for East Region outfit Forfar Albion against Newburgh, before joining Selkirk, playing part-time whilst also working for the fuel dispenser group Tokheim and later for a sales company in Elgin. Later, when he was exonerated in court in March 2017 from the charge of threatening his partner, Reagan Kelbie, he was living in St Mary’s Street, Dundee. He was a member of the Lochee United side which reached the Scottish Junior Cup semi-final in 2018-19 before losing to Auchinleck Talbot; that season he was an ever-present for the side and scored in the Signature Signs Cup in March 2019 against Hermes of Aberdeen. |
No 6. David Brown Kenny. 1920-21.
Born, 22.5.1891, Maybole, Ayrshire. Died, 11.12.1978, Vancouver, Canada. 5’ 10”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 28.8.20 v Millwall. Career: Maybole; 1910 Girvan; 11.1.11 Falkirk; 26.11.12 Barrow; 5.5.13 Grimsby Town [58,0]; 12.5.20 Bristol Rovers [11,0]; 1921 Nainamo City (Canada). Captain of the Rovers side for the first Football League match following the club’s elevation to Division Three in 1920, David Kenny was a dependable and strong wing-half. Having gained the unenviable record of scoring the first own goal conceded in League football, against Millwall in September 1920, he dislocated his collar-bone against Bristol City in the Gloucestershire Cup that month and was out for six weeks. Returning in a reserve game with Barry Town, Kenny was to score his only goal in a Rovers shirt as hapless Worksop were defeated 9-0 in the FA Cup in December of that year. A shoemaker by profession, David Kenny was born at home at 11 Drumellan Street, Maybole, the fourth surviving child of Robert and Jane Kenny, being registered as “David Kenney” on his birth certificate, and brought up by his mother at 10 Weaver Vennel in Maybole. Unable to make the first-team at Falkirk, he was Barrow’s leading scorer in 1912-13, adding to his ten Lancashire Combination goals a hat-trick in their 4-1 FA Cup victory over Trowbridge Town in December 1912, and his sterling service at Grimsby included seventeen wartime matches and one goal. Upon leaving Rovers, he emigrated to Canada aboard the “Saturnia”, leaving from Glasgow on 2nd June 1921 bound for Montreal, being allegedly the best player on the pitch when Nainamo City defeated Calgary CPR 2-0 in 1922 and married in Vancouver three years later. |
No 920. Alfie George Alexander Kilgour. 2018-23.
Born, 18.5.1998, Bath. 5’ 9”; 11 st 10 lbs. Début: 12.3.19 v Gillingham. Career: Bristol Rovers (professional, 13.10.15) [77+6,4]; 9.9.16 Cirencester Town (loan); 20.3.18 Hungerford Town (loan); 20.7.18 Weston-super-Mare (loan); 7.11.18 Maidenhead United (loan). 12.1.23 Mansfield Town. Strong central defensive player Alfie Kilgour was unused on Rovers’ bench for the match with Accrington Stanley in September 2015 before scoring once in nine matches on loan at Cirencester. Having picked up a long-term anterior cruciate injury in the Gloucestershire Cup in 2016-17, he returned to Rovers’ Development Squad ten months later for the cup-tie with Cheltenham Town in September 2017. In eight Nationwide South matches with Hungerford Town, he scored in the 3-1 home defeat to Wealdstone in April 2018. His first Maidenhead start was the televised FA Cup-tie at home to former winners Portsmouth, which was lost 4-0 and he added three goals, against Aldershot, Maidstone and Dagenham, in 17 Conference matches. He is the son of Melksham-based Mike Kilgour, a dependable central defender with numerous clubs across the south-west, notably with Forest Green Rovers, and who latterly coached at Weston-super-Mare, and Deborah Trickett, who were married in Wiltshire in 1987. Having broken into Rovers’ side, a first goal came a quarter of an hour into the Football League Trophy tie with Orient at The Mem in December 2019, tucking the ball home from Liam Sercombe’s cross, and three days later his first League strike sealed a 4-2 victory over Southend United, after Rovers had been two goals down at the interval. Even more memorable was a swirling thirty-yard strike at The Mem during Storm Dennis in February 2020, as Rovers fought back with two late goals to beat ten-man Blackpool and record a first win after a barren first eleven League games of Ben Garner’s slot as manager. However, he also conceded an own goal at Southend the following month, the Shrimpers’ third in a comfortable win, and played regularly as the side suffered relegation to the basement division in the spring of 2021. He was sent off during the 3-1 home defeat to Swindon Town in October 2021 and, having struggled to adapt to the level required in League One, in the defeat to Ipswich Town at Portman Road in September 2022. In January 2023 Alfie signed for Mansfield Town. |
No 107. Alfred King. 1927-30.
Born, 6.6.1906, Wallyford, Edinburgh. Died, 1980, George Square, Edinburgh. 5’ 6½”; 10 st 8 lbs. Début: 17.3.28 v Exeter City. Career: Wallyford Bluebell; 7.3.28 Bristol Rovers (£35) [44,10]; 1930 Tranmere Rovers; August 1932 St Bernard’s [31,1] (to 1933). Signed from arguably the most picturesquely-named of all Scottish junior clubs, outside-left Alf King had represented Scotland against England in a schoolboy international and won the Midlothian League title with Bluebell in 1927-28. His time at Eastville was marked by the fact that the majority of his goals came away from home, especially the two first-half goals at QPR, after eighteen and 31 minutes, as Rovers won 3-0 in February 1929. He also scored the final goal, two minutes from time, as Rovers defeated Fulham 5-2 and “pleased the crowd with his tricky footwork”. Making his St Bernard’s début in a 4-1 home victory over Albion Rovers, he helped Saints finish fifth in the Scottish Second Division in 1932-33 and appearing in the 10-1 home victory over Morton in October 1933, in which Saints ran up eight unopposed first-half goals. His only strike for the club came at Stirling in January 1933 when, following a series of corners early in the second-half, he forced the ball home from close range before a 1,200 crowd as St Bernard’s won 4-2 away to King’s Park. The son of Alfred King senior and Jane Ann Kinnoch, he may be related to Herbert King, equally Wallyford-born, who joined Barrow from Tranmere Rovers in 1938. |
No 28. Joseph Gartshore Kissock. 1921-22.
Born, 5.6.1893, Coatbridge. Died, 1.9.1959, San Francisco, USA. 5’ 11”; 12 st 7 lbs. Début: 24.9.21 v Northampton Town. Career: Black Watch Regiment; Albion Rovers (trial); Vale of Clyde; 1.7.19 Bury [6,0]; 13.6.21 Bristol Rovers [18,0]; August 1922 Peebles Rovers; May 1923 Hospital AFC (New Zealand). Only two New Zealand internationals have played for Rovers, Paul Nixon and Joe Kissock, the tall, well-built and tough-tackling Scottish-born left-back. Kissock is registered as gaining fifteen full caps, although many of these games would not be recognised today, scoring once on his début in a 3-1 defeat against Granville in May 1923. Later that year, he played at full-back for New Zealand against Australia, a fixture most certainly recognisable as an international encounter. A team-mate of the future Rovers forward Bobby McKay at Vale of Clyde, Kissock appeared in Rovers’ pre-season trial game in August 1921 and represented the club in the second Football League campaign, having earlier made his Bury début against Bristol City in September 1920, the Gigg Lane club accumulating just one point in his six matches. After Eastville, he returned north of the border to appear for Western League Peebles Rovers. He emigrated on the “Rimutaka”, which left Southampton Dock on 16th October 1922 bound for Wellington, travelling alone, but was soon joined by his Coatbridge-born girlfriend Bethia Cowie Clark (1897-1997), who sailed from Liverpool to Wellington to marry him in October 1924. In 1927 the couple moved to San Francisco, settling in 168 Southwood Drive, Bethia dying in Contra Costa, California in July 1997, five months short of what would have been her hundredth birthday. |
No 254. Norman Kitchen. 1938-39.
Born, 26.7.1911, Sunderland. Died, 5.11.1998, Northampton. 5’ 7½”; 10 st 12 lbs. Début: 5.11.38 v Orient. Career: Sunderland Boys; Millfield FC; 1928 Ferryhill Athletic; 1932 Eden Colliery; Sheffield Wednesday (trial); October 1935 Hull City (amateur); October 1935 Ferryhill Athletic (loan); December 1935 Hull City (professional) [4,1]; 13.7.36 Southport [58,15]; 6.7.38 Bristol Rovers [2,0]; 28.7.39 Workington. Dogged by a knee injury which required a cartilage operation whilst at Eastville, Norman Kitchen was “a bold raider, dangerous on either flank” who made all but four of his League appearances in the third tier of English football. He scored on successive Saturdays in January 1939 for Rovers reserves, in a 2-1 defeat at Bath City and a 4-4 draw with Exeter City reserves and played alongside two Rovers players in Jack Howshall and Frank Curran at Southport. During his time at Haigh Avenue, he scored a hat-trick in a 3-3 draw in Division Three (North) at Tranmere Rovers in September 1936 and, scoring against Darlington in the semi-final, played in the Third Division (North) Cup Final against Chester in April 1937. After wartime football with Southport, he saw service with the Royal Engineers, during which he was involved in the Normandy D-Day Landings, A joiner by trade, he worked for Southport Water Board as a fittings inspector until his retirement in 1975; believed to be the youngest in a large family to William Kitchen and Mary Ann Haffey, who had married in 1883, Norman married Maggie Hooton in 1939, their daughter Vera was born in Southport in 1942 and he moved in retirement to Northamptonshire. |
No 472. David Philip Kite. 1980-84.
Born, 26.10.1962, Kingswood, Bristol. 6’ 1”; 14 st 7 lbs. Début: 10.1.81 v Derby County. Career: 10.7.79 Bristol Rovers (professional, 26.10.80) [96,0]; 16.1.84 Tottenham Hotspur (loan); 15.8.84 Southampton (£50,000) [4,0]; 27.3.86 Middlesbrough (loan) [2,0]; 7.2.87 Gillingham [70,0]; 12.7.89 Bournemouth (£270,000 with Gavin Peacock) [7,0]; 10.8.90 Sheffield United (£25,000) [11,0]; 21.11.91 Mansfield Town (loan) [11,0]; 9.9.92 Plymouth Argyle (loan) [2,0]; 24.10.92 Rotherham United (loan) [1,0]; 27.11.92 Crewe Alexandra (loan) [5,0]; 25.3.93 Stockport County (loan) [5,0]; 1.7.93 Cardiff City (loan) [17+1,0]; 11.8.94 Bristol City (free) [5+1,0]; 14.5.96 Bristol Rovers (physiotherapist, to 17.5.15). Not just an outstanding goalkeeper in his day, Phil Kite has served Rovers for almost two decades as a top-quality sports physiotherapist. An England Schoolboys cap in the 1978-79 season and an England Youth international in 1981, Kite made his club début in the Gloucestershire Cup against Bristol City in May 1980, prior to signing professional forms on his eighteenth birthday. He also appeared at Preston in the FA Cup in January 1981, when beleaguered Rovers undermined their precarious League position by racing into a 4-0 half-time lead before winning 4-3, prior to making his League bow. He saved a penalty from Bournemouth’s future Rovers striker Trevor Morgan at Dean Court in September 1983 as well as from Exeter players in both 1981-82 and 1982-83. An ever-present in 1982-83, he lost his place to the veteran Ray Cashley and set off on a remarkable career which enabled him to equal a then-record tally of playing in League football for thirteen different clubs, before a prolapsed disc ended his playing career. Relegated with Gillingham and Bristol City, he was Peter Shilton’s understudy at Southampton and his final Cardiff game was a demoralising 7-2 home defeat against Cambridge United in April 1994. Kite was in goal when the Gills won successive home games in the autumn of 1987 8-1 against Southend and 10-0 against Chesterfield and, following a rule change in the summer of 1993, became the first goalkeeper to be used as a substitute, when he replaced Mark Grew in Cardiff’s 2-0 win at Orient in August 1993. His solitary game for Rotherham was a 2-2 draw at West Brom in the autumn of 1992, in Billy Mercer’s absence. Rovers’ physiotherapist for nineteen years, he played for the reserves in a goalless draw at Swindon in November 1996 and scored a hat-trick when a Rovers XI defeated a Charity XI 9-1 at Clevedon in September 1997. He retired from his post with Rovers at Wembley, as Rovers defeated Grimsby Town in the 2015 Conference play-off final. The youngest of three children to John Kite and Miriam Edgell, Phil Kite lives in Westbury-on-Trym, he and his wife Flora having a daughter and two sons, Chris and Alex, who were both on Rovers’ books. |
No 766. Joshua David Klein-Davis. 2007-09.
Born, 6.7.1989, Bristol. 5’ 11”; 11 st 1 lb. Début: 29.12.07 v Carlisle United. Career: Bristol City (trial); Stoke Lane; Cadbury Heath; 11.5.07 Bristol Rovers (free) [2+8,1]; 16.11.07 Yate Town (loan); 8.8.08 Luton Town (loan); 28.11.08 Newport County (loan); 30.12.08 Lewes (loan); 17.3.09 Bath City (loan); 1.5.09 Weymouth; 1.9.09 Weston-super-Mare; 30.7.10 Cheltenham Town (trial); 17.9.10 Brislington (trial); 29.10.10 Weston-super-Mare (free); 12.12.10 Almondsbury Town (free); 10.1.11 Hastings United (loan); 1.7.11 Clevedon Town (free); 2.10.11 Shepton Mallet; 15.8.12 Mangotsfield United; 1.8.13 Paulton Rovers (free); 31.10.14 Frome Town (free); 9.1.15 Shortwood United (free); 16.7.15 Taunton Town (free); 19.11.15 Bridgwater Town (free); 19.9.17 Prescot Cables (free); 28.5.19 Widnes (dual registration); 29.11.19 Skelmersdale United (dual registration); 20.7.22 Sandbach United (free). Sleek and swift, Josh Klein-Davies from St George, the son of Andrew Davies and Sharon Rundle, scored past the former Rovers keeper Matt Glennon after twenty minutes of Rovers’ 3-2 defeat against Huddersfield in March 2008, when he headed home, Stuart Campbell’s corner having been knocked across the face of the goal by Rickie Lambert. In addition, he scored all the goals when Rovers won 4-0 against MABI Malmö on the tour of Sweden in July 2008, but no further goals were forthcoming for the former Wales Under-17 and Under-19 international. One of twelve players signed on the same day by Luton, he played once for the Hatters and for Hastings, twice at Newport, six games for Bath and eight times for Lewes, as well as scoring once in five matches with Weymouth. He also scored twice in eleven matches for Weston-super-Mare and, having worked at the Royal Bank of Scotland, was a chef at Smiffy’s Caribbean food shop in St George, Bristol. After three goals in 24(+8) matches with Mangotsfield United, his first Paulton goal was a second-half strike in his first full start, a 6-3 victory at Shortwood United in August 2013 and he was sent off on his Frome début, in a 3-1 defeat at Chippenham Town in the FA Trophy; he did not score in 3(+2) Southern Premier matches for the Robins. Nine goals followed in 8(+10) Southern League Division One matches with Shortwood, including a brace against both Wantage Town and Fleet Town in February and March 2015 respectively. Another goal against Wantage proved his only strike in 3(+5) Evo-Stik League matches with Taunton Town and he scored against Winchester City on his Bridgwater début in the Southern League. He added 27 goals in 67 matches with Prescot Cables, contributing their fourth goal as they defeated Marine 4-0 in May 2018 to lift the Liverpool Senior Cup; the following year he missed a penalty in the shoot-out as Cables lost to Southport following a goalless draw in the final, but his eleven goals that campaign included a hat-trick in a 6-1 victory over Chasetown. His first goal for Widnes came when he came on as substitute against Droylsden in August 2019 and, recovering from an injury which rules him out of most of the 2021-22 campaign, he scored twice for Sandbach, as they lost 4-3 at home to Cheadle Town in the North-West Counties League in September 2022. |
No 637. Michel Kuipers. 1998-99.
Born, 26.6.1974, Amsterdam. 6’ 3”; 14 st 3 lbs. Début: 9.3.99 v Bournemouth. Career: 1981 Blauw-Wit Amsterdam (schoolboy); 1994 Dutch Commandoes; 1997 Door Wilskracht Sterk (Amsterdam); 18.11.98 Bristol Rovers (trial); 23.1.99 Bristol Rovers [1,0]; 13.2.00 Brighton (loan); 23.3.00 Chester City (loan); 10.6.00 Brighton (free) [246+1,0]; 28.8.03 Hull City (loan) [3,0]; 24.11.05 Boston United (loan) [15,0]; 19.5.10 Crawley Town [41,0]; 28.3.13 Barnet; August 2013 VV Rhelico. Of two Amsterdam-based players offered trials with Rovers in November 1998, midfielder Abdul Aitelfski was released and goalkeeper Michel Kuipers made one League appearance, being beaten by Eddie Howe after 66 minutes of a 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth. Having spent three years in the Dutch Army, Kuipers joined Rovers ahead of Haarlem and Utrecht and first appeared in the reserves’ 5-2 win against Bournemouth in February 1999, as well as being an unused substitute in both major cup competitions. It was during his decade with Brighton, although, that the tall custodian’s career took off. Living in Burgess Hill, he was the stalwart keeper as Brighton won three promotions and suffered relegation once, notably winning successive titles in Division Three in 2000-01 and Division Two in 2001-02. He played five times against Rovers, saved Michael Ball’s shoot-out penalty as Manchester City were knocked out of the League Cup in September 2008 and was sent off in the 7-1 defeat at Huddersfield Town in August 2009. Recovering from a serious car crash in November 2003, when his yellow Mazda crashed en route to training at the University of Sussex, and a shoulder injury in 2005, he was an ever-present in 2007-08. Having also enjoyed promotion on loan at Hull, Kuipers moved locally in 2010 to join Crawley Town and, astonishingly, was sent off in two of his first five matches, being one of four dismissed in a crazy thirteen-minute spell after half-time against Forest Green Rovers in which two penalties were also awarded. Nonetheless, Crawley were promoted to the Football League as Conference champions, Kuipers playing in 26 Conference games as well as saving a penalty as Derby County were shocked 2-1 in the FA Cup and appearing at Old Trafford as the West Sussex side lost gallantly 1-0 in the fourth round. His first Football League game for Crawley was the 4-1 victory over Rovers in September 2011 and Crawley were promoted to League One that campaign, but he did not get a game as Barnet dropped temporarily out of the Football League in April 2013. From March 2015 he worked as the UK Players’ Agent for the SEG Sports Entertainment Group, specifically recruiting overseas players for Brighton and Hove Albion. |
No 950. Abd-al-ali Morakinyo Olaposi Koiki. 2020-21.
Born, 22.8.1999, Chelsea. 6’ 2”; 12 st 11 lbs. Début: 3.11.20 v Peterborough United. Career: 2007 Crystal Palace; 2011 Kinetik Academy, Croydon; 22.8.16 Burnley (professional, 6.7.18); 10.1.19 Swindon Town (loan) [13+2,0]; 25.8.20 Charlton Athletic (trial); 22.10.20 Bristol Rovers (free) [3+7,0]; 21.7.21 Northampton Town (trial); 23.7.21 Northampton Town (free) [37+5,0]. Ten goals as an aspiring left wing-back for the Burnley Academy side led Ali Koiki to a place on the bench for Burnley’s Premier League fixtures with Arsenal and West Ham United in December 2018. However, the young defensive player, of Nigerian descent on his father’s side, was unable to break into Sean Dyche’s side and enjoyed a loan spell alongside Tom Broadbent and Kyle Bennett at Swindon. He made his League bow as a sixty-seventh-minute substitute for Matt Taylor in a 2-2 draw at home to nine-man Lincoln City in January 2019, picked up a yellow card against Forest Green Rovers and arrived at The Mem offering attacking options down the left flank. Breaking into the side, he scored Rovers’ opening goal in a 2-1 victory at Orient in the Football League Trophy in December 2020, but was unable to help the Gas avoid relegation to the basement division in 2020-21. Koiki became an integral part of a successful Northampton side who looked destined to promotion from League Two in 2021-22 until an extraordinary final day of the campaign; whilst the Cobblers won 3-1 at Barrow, they were overtaken dramatically by Rovers, whose five second-half goals in a 7-0 mauling of Scunthorpe United enabled them to move above Koinki’s side on goals scored and snatch promotion from under their noses. He scored in the play-off match against Mansfield Town, but the Cobblers lost on aggregate. |
No 291. Frederick James Laing. 1948-49.
Born, 25.2.1920, Glasgow. Died, 25.8.1975, Glasgow. 5’ 11”; 12 st 6 lbs. Début: 28.8.48 v Notts County. Career: Ashfield Juniors; June 1938 Luton Town; February 1940 Third Lanark; Airdrieonians; 1942 York City; 1945 Blackburn Rovers; 1945 Blackpool; 1946 Shelbourne; July 1947 Middlesbrough; 28.7.48 Bristol Rovers (free) [2,0]; 4.8.49 Trowbridge Town (released, 31.5.50). In Len Hodges’ absence, tall, Scottish forward Freddie Laing stood in for two League matches, at Notts County in August 1948 and at Port Vale three months later. Without a League game to his name elsewhere, Laing had served in the Royal Air Force, before making one wartime appearance in York’s 2-1 home defeat against Gateshead in August 1942 and he also guested for Lincoln City in their 3-0 home defeat against Sheffield Wednesday in November 1944. He married Audrey Docherty in Fylde in 1945 and their son, Freddie Laing junior, was born the following year, whilst his father was winning the League of Ireland with Shelbourne. In April 1950 he scored a hat-trick when Trowbridge Town defeated Peasedown Miners’ Welfare 11-0 in the Western League. Upon his release by Trowbridge, Laing returned to Scotland to work at Butlin’s Holiday Camp in Ayr. |
No 262. Victor David Lambden. 1946-55.
Born, 24.10.1925, Oldland, Bristol. Died, 4.7.1996, Bristol. 5’ 10½”; 10 st 9 lbs. Début: 31.8.46 v Reading. Career: Longwell Green; Bence Motor Works XI; Oldland Juniors; Notts County (trial); 1943 Bristol Rovers (professional, 18.10.45) [268,117]; 4.8.55 Trowbridge Town (£3,000); August 1961 Oldland (manager; chairman, 1964). Vastly significant in Rovers’ history, Vic Lambden forged a formidable striking partnership with Geoff Bradford and scored in the first nine post-war League seasons. An ever-present in the Third Division (South) championship season, the only man to score four goals in a League match for Rovers twice and the club’s fourth highest League scorer of all time, Lambden’s rôle cannot be underestimated. The fourth child of Arthur Egbert Lambden (1898-1953), himself the youngest of five to David and Mary Anne Lambden of Keynsham, and of Ethel Chinn, Vic scored 96 goals in a season with Oldland Juniors and once added eight goals in a match with Bence Motor Works. His 21 wartime goals for Rovers, which included a hat-trick against Reading in November 1945, constitute a club record, so he was consequently not unknown to Rovers’ supporters when he scored on his League début in the first match after World War Two. What could not perhaps have been predicted was how prolific a marksman Lambden would become. Four goals, including a first-half hat-trick after eight, fifteen and 27 minutes, helped defeat Aldershot 7-1 in March 1948 and four more, another first-half hat-trick coming after one, eight and fifteen minutes, eased Rovers to the comfortable 6-0 home victory over Colchester United over Easter 1952. An ever-present in both 1950-51 and 1952-53, Lambden contributed both goals in the 1-1 draw with Brighton in April 1952, scored two stunning goals at Walsall in August of that year, added a goal after just eight seconds en route to an FA Cup hat-trick against Aldershot in January 1951 and he even played in goal when Bert Hoyle was injured in an FA Cup-tie at Huddersfield in January 1953. Lambden scored a club record sixteen goals in the FA Cup, one coming as First Division Preston were stunned 2-0 at Eastville in a shock result in January 1952. A milkman for Dunford Dairies on the Oldland Common round, Lambden scored five goals for Somerset Cricket Club as a guest player against Chard Town in November 1954 and recovered from a knee injury to captain Trowbridge to the 1955-56 Western League title and be their top scorer in 1957-58 with 33 goals. Club captain at Trowbridge, he scored 64 goals, his six hat-tricks including a treble against Rovers’ Colts side in the Western League in December 1955, before retiring after a May 1961 benefit game against Rovers and subsequently ran the village side in Oldland. A very fast front man, once recording 10.3 seconds over 100 yards, Lambden was a keen cricketer with Oldland and Bitton and ran a poultry business with his former Rovers colleague, Peter Sampson, before working as a postman. His marriage to Rovers supporter Grace Ford, the younger daughter of Charles Ford (1897-1935) and Ruth Davis (1902-82), on the last day of February 1949 at Oldland Parish Church drew a large crowd of well-wishers and their daughter Julie was born the following year. |
No 756. Rickie Lee Lambert. 2006-10.
Born, 16.2.1982, Kirkby, Liverpool. 6’ 2”; 12 st 1 lb. Début: 3.9.06 v Stockport County. Career: Millbrook Primary School; Ruffwood Community School; 1992 Liverpool; 1998 Marine (trial); Blackpool (professional, 1.8.98) [0+3,0]; 2.3.01 Macclesfield Town (free) [36+8,8]; 26.4.02 Stockport County (£300,000) [88+10,18]; 17.2.05 Rochdale (free) [58+3,28]; 31.8.06 Bristol Rovers (£200,000) [114+14,51]; 10.8.09 Southampton (£1,000,000) [197+10,106]; 2.6.14 Liverpool (£4,000,000) [7+18,2]; 31.7.15 West Bromwich Albion (£3,000,000) [5+15,1]; 31.8.16 Cardiff City (undisclosed fee) [13+5,4] (retired, 2.10.17). Sometimes patience is an essential asset for any football fan and, for those Rovers supporters complaining that new signing Rickie Lambert had not scored in his first nine games for the club, it is interesting to hear the nostalgic yearning for the services of a proven goal-scorer who has gone on to achieve international recognition, scoring three goals in eleven full internationals for England. Rickie Lambert, who initially worked in a beetroot factory, had made his Blackpool début in August 1999 against Wycombe Wanderers, scored a hat-trick for Macclesfield against Luton Town in November 2001 and was in the Stockport side knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Stevenage Borough in November 2003. The son of Ray Lambert and Maureen Sudbury and brought up in the Westvale district of Kirkby, he was well-known to Rovers fans by the summer of 2006, for he had played against the Gas on five occasions in the League, scoring for Macclesfield in February 2002 and for Rochdale in April 2006, a game in which he converted one penalty but missed another. Appearing alongside Paul Tait at Spotland, he had been Rochdale’s top scorer in 2005-06 with 22 League goals. Making his Rovers début against one former club, he scored the winning goal against Rochdale after 54 minutes of the January 2007 game as Rovers prepared to mount a promotion challenge. Lambert’s strength and guile appeared to be the missing element, as Rovers put together an astonishing run of results that spring. His winning goal after 65 minutes against Bristol City, struck with venom past Adriano Basso, took the club to the Millennium Stadium for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final, which was lost 3-2 to Doncaster Rovers. Another goal, a dramatically spectacular long-range strike defeated Swindon and meant Rovers had to win at table-topping Hartlepool on the final day to make the play-offs; with Lambert heading home five minutes from time, Rovers duly won 2-1 and, on a sunny May afternoon at Wembley, defeated Shrewsbury Town 3-1 to secure promotion to League One. In pre-season 2007 Lambert scored three times and almost added a fourth, in a 3-3 draw with West Brom, which proved a prelude to a goal-scoring spree after the birth of his son, Carter, in January 2008. After playing in Rovers’ third ever FA Cup quarter-final, in March 2008 against West Brom, Lambert scored a sensational thirty-five yard goal against Oldham, added another from even further out against Luton and contributed four goals in the opening 55 minutes, with two shots and two headers, as he apparently single-handedly defeated Southend 4-2 in October 2008, before contributing a hat-trick in the 3-0 win at Hereford in March 2009 past Péter Gulácsi,a Hungarian goalkeeper who later enjoyed domestic and European success with German club Red Bull Leipzig. He was selected for the divisional PFA Team of the Year in 2008-09 and was, with Swindon Town’s Simon Cox, the highest goal-scorer in the four divisions of the Football League that season. His “large stature and physical performances”, not to mention his sharpness in front of goal and propensity for reliability from the penalty-spot attracted much attention and Southampton signed him to ensure their promotion from League One in 2010-11 and to the Premier League in 2011-12. A goal at Wembley in April 2010 as Saints defeated Carlisle United 4-1 in the Football League Trophy, two goals against Rovers at The Mem in April 2010, a red card at Brighton and a plethora of goals and successful penalties characterised his spell on the South Coast, where he was successful with each one of his 34 spot-kicks. Player of the Year for the second time in three seasons as Saints were promoted back to top-flight football, Lambert’s 27 League goals in 2011-12 included four hat-tricks and earned him the honour of Football League Player of the Year for that campaign. Successful in top-flight football, he was again Saints’ top scorer in 2012-13 and 2013-14, his tally including fifteen goals in the Premier League in the former season, which made him the highest-scoring English striker. Belatedly called up to the England squad on the day in August 2013 his wife Amy gave birth to their third child, Bella Rose (the older two being Carter and Maison), Rickie Lambert “wrote another chapter into his incredible rags-to-riches story” (Paul Hirst, Western Daily Press) when he replaced Wayne Rooney after 67 minutes at Wembley and rose to meet Leighton Baines’ left-wing corner, his powerful, near-post header securing a 3-2 victory over the Scots and justifying the claims so many had been making on his behalf as a potential international striker. “Dreams can come true. The look of unrestrained joy on the face of Rickie Lambert as he sprinted away from the Scotland goal, his first touch in international football having almost broken the net, spoke of football’s ability to conjure up fairy-tales” (Henry Winter, The Telegraph). A first-half close-range header and two assists marked his second cap, in a World Cup qualifier the following month against Moldova, commentators stating that “England’s talisman” “has added an old-fashioned dimension to England’s attack, a rampaging figure leading the front-line” (Neil Ashton, The Daily Mail). Astonishingly good in the air, an excellent finisher and a fine link player, with a remarkable first touch and great upper-body strength, he matured relatively late as a footballer to become an “authentic cult hero” with the Saints and command a huge transfer fee on his return to his boyhood club in 2014. He appeared briefly in the match against Uruguay during the 2014 World Cup tournament in Brazil, his final cap for his country, but his time at Anfield did not yield the goal return he had experienced elsewhere, even though he appeared briefly in an FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa. Goals arrived in away games at Crystal Palace and Aston Villa and sparked rumours of a summer 2015 move to champions Chelsea. However, it was West Brom who next signed him, Lambert scoring twice at The Mem on the evening of the day he signed, as the Baggies comfortably defeated Rovers in a pre-season friendly, but scoring only against champions-elect Leicester City during the 2015-16 campaign. Until his record was overtaken by Sheffield United’s Billy Sharp on New Year’s Day 2019, Lambert was the highest-scoring Englishman in the Football League in the twenty-first century. |
No 588. Marcus William Law. 1994-95.
Born, 28.9.1975, Coventry. 5’ 10”; 11 st 1 lb. Début: 8.10.94 v Brentford. Career: Ernsford School; East Midlands Boys; 1991 Derby County (trial); Coventry City (trial); 13.7.92 Bristol Rovers (professional, 13.7.94) [2,0]; 15.2.95 Yeovil Town (loan); 16.3.95 Stafford Rangers; November 1995 Bridgnorth Town; 1996 Sacramento Knights; 1999 Coventry Sphinx (manager); 30.3.01 Bedworth United (assistant manager); 13.3.03 Rugby United (first-team coach); 1.8.03 Mount Nod Highway (manager); 13.10.03 Racing Club Warwick (manager); 10.5.06 Quorn (manager); 12.2.08 Barwell (manager); 29.9.10 Kettering Town (manager); 25.5.11 Tamworth (manager); 19.8.13 Forest Green Rovers (coach); 26.1.15 Chasetown (manager); 29.5.15 Kettering Town (manager, to 15.6.19); 8.8.19 Bradford Park Avenue (interim manager). Young custodian Marcus Law made his Rovers Youth début in an 8-0 defeat at Luton Town in August 1992 and was an ever-present in 1992-93 with 32 games for that side, in addition to four matches for the reserves, his first appearance being against Birmingham City reserves that September. As Rovers tried a range of keepers, he made two League appearances in the autumn of 1994, suffering the misfortune to concede twice in the first five minutes of a 3-0 defeat on his début at Griffin Park. Stafford Rangers were relegated from the Conference in 1994-95 along with his former club Yeovil, Law adding to his five Conference matches with thirteen more in 1995-96 as Rangers finished second from bottom in the Beazer Homes League Premier Division. Signed by Greg Downs, he played eight times for Bridgnorth in the same league before trying his luck in the States. Reinvented as a manager of some distinction in the Midlands, he signed ten players in his first fortnight at Warwick and coached in the Midland Alliance, Coventry Alliance and ICIS Midland Combination before making his name in the Conference. He signed the former Rovers striker René Howe, full-back Chris Carruthers and midfielder Craig Stanley for Southern League Kettering Town and led his side to victory over Corby Town in the Northamptonshire Senior Cup Final of April 2017 before they were runaway champions of the Southern League Central Division in 2018-19. Park Avenue appointed Law as interim manager after losing 5-0 in both their opening Nationwide North matches of 2019-20. |
No 327. David Lawrence. 1956-57.
Born, 12.5.1933, Poole, Dorset. Died, 14.7.2006, Bristol. 5’ 10”; 11 st FB Début: 8.9.56 v Middlesbrough Career: 20.3.53 Poole Town (amateur); 13.6.55 Bristol Rovers [5,0]; 11.6.57 Reading [23,0]; 20.8.59 Poole Town; 6.8.60 Trowbridge Town (released, 4.5.61). “Robust, tough-tackling” David Lawrence worked as a clerk for the Dorset Yacht Shipyard Company in Poole, playing as a weekend cricketer for Poole CC, before replacing Les Edwards at left-back for five League matches for Rovers. Dropped after his fourth game, a 5-3 defeat at Ashton Gate in September 1956, he was recalled for the 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough in January 1957. The only child of Cecil Percy Lawrence (1905-71) and the verbally rhyming Doris Morris, he made his Reading début in a 1-0 defeat at Plymouth in August 1957 and appeared in the 7-0 victory over Colchester United the following month, his 22 games in 1957-58 all being as a right-back, before he played left-back against Chesterfield in January 1959. A policeman after his playing days were over, the polite and well-mannered Lawrence was cremated at Westerleigh after his death from cancer at the age of seventy-three. |
No 876. Liam Lawrence. 2015-16.
Born, 14.12.1981, Retford, Nottinghamshire. 5’ 11”; 11 st 3 lbs. Début: 9.1.16 v Barnet. Career: 1988 Retford United; 1991 Nottingham Forest; 1996 Mansfield Town (professional, 1.8.99) [123+16,35]; 25.6.04 Sunderland (£175,000) [49+24,10]; 17.11.06 Stoke City (loan); 2.1.07 Stoke City (£500,000) [99+14,23]; 9.9.10 Portsmouth (loan); 1.1.11 Portsmouth (free) [51+3,7]; 1.3.12 Cardiff City (loan) [12+1,1]; 24.8.12 PAOK (free) [22+7,3]; 16.1.14 Barnsley (free) [10+4,1]; 4.7.14 Shrewsbury Town (free) [40+11,5]; 7.1.16 Bristol Rovers (free) [9+7,1] (released, 31.1.17); 7.8.17 Rushall Olympic (free). Ambitiously pushing for a double promotion through the spring of 2016, Rovers signed the experienced Liam Lawrence to add some guile in midfield. He contributed a degree of composure to Rovers’ midfield and scored with an exquisite free-kick in the 3-0 victory over Crawley Town that April. The following month, thanks to Lee Brown’s very late winning goal against Dagenham, Rovers were promoted to League One on goal difference. A veteran with four club promotions to his name, Lawrence had also enjoyed international football, winning fourteen caps for the Republic of Ireland between 2009 and 2011. The son of Richard Lawrence and Monica Atkinson, he had qualified through his Kerry-born grandfather, made his international bow against Nigeria in May 2009 and scored in a 1-0 victory over South Africa in Limerick that September and in a 2-1 win against Paraguay in Dublin the following May. Lawrence had made his name initially at Mansfield, for whom he scored the 56th-minute winner against Rovers at The Mem in November 2001, played against the Gas in both fixtures of the 2003-04 campaign, and appeared alongside Craig Disley, another future Rovers midfielder, as well as Darrell Clarke, who signed him for Rovers. To braces in League encounters against Scunthorpe, Bury, Cheltenham and Carlisle could be added an FA Cup hat-trick, including two penalties, as Wycombe Wanderers were defeated 3-2 in December 2003, and he was named in the divisional Team of the Season for 2003-04. His first appearance had come against Blackpool in the Football League Trophy in January 2000, a League bow following the next month in the home defeat to Halifax Town, and he enjoyed promotion from the basement division with the Stags in 2001-02, relegation the following campaign and a play-off berth in the spring of 2004, where he missed a shoot-out penalty as Huddersfield were promoted after a goalless draw. A high-profile move to Sunderland led to two excellent goals in the 3-1 victory over Wolves in November 2004 and setting up several critical goals for former Rovers striker Marcus Stewart as promotion as champions to the Premier League was accomplished in 2004-05. Once in the top-flight, Lawrence scored against Fulham, Chelsea and at St James’ Park in a local derby, but the Black Cats were relegated at the close of the 2005-06 season and he joined Stoke, initially on loan. Once again, promotion to the top-flight was achieved in 2007-08, Lawrence being named Stoke’s Player of the Season and the Championship Player of the Season for good measure. The only League hat-trick of his career came on Boxing Day 2007, a brace of penalties including a last-minute equaliser as Stoke drew 3-3 away to his future club Barnsley. Having scored Stoke’s first home Premier League goal, an August 2008 penalty in a 3-2 victory over Aston Villa, he suffered the ignominy of requiring ankle surgery after tripping over his pet labrador at home. A spell at Pompey included two first-half strikes in a 6-1 victory over Leicester City in September 2010 and red cards accrued in a 1-1 draw with Queen’s Park Rangers in November 2010 and the exciting 4-3 defeat at West Ham ten months later, and he added a goal in Cardiff’s 1-0 victory over his future club Barnsley in April 2012. August of that year saw Lawrence try his luck in Thessalonika, making his début in a 2-1 friendly win against Rapid Vienna and scoring with a magnificent volley against Aris Salonika in the Greek League in September 2012; he was sent off later in that match and again in the next fixture, against AEK Athens. A short stint at Barnsley encompassed relegation from the Championship, although he scored in a 4-1 victory away to relegation rivals Yeovil Town, before he joined Shrewsbury as captain. Adding a degree of authority to midfield, he was sent off against Northampton in August 2014, but his two goals against Oxford in March 2015 proved pivotal as the Shrews secured promotion to League One behind champions Burton Albion. Nonetheless, League One proved a tougher proposition and, with Shrewsbury forced to sell key players, his final game was the demoralising 7-1 crushing at Chesterfield in January 2016, prior to his move to The Mem. He now works in local media in the Stoke area. |
983 Jerry Lawrence.
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No 35. Thomas "Tancy" Lea. 1922-24.
Born, 2.9.1890, Shrewsbury. Died, 9.11.1979, Shrewsbury. 5' 9"; 10 st 7 lbs. Début: 26.8.22 v Portsmouth. Career: Ditherington Athletic; 1910 Whitchurch; 28.8.11 Chester; 26.9.12 Oswestry United; 2.5.13 Wolverhampton Wanderers [47,3]; 3.8.22 Bristol Rovers (£500) [49,1]; July 1924 Shrewsbury Town (to 1925). Ginger-haired outside-left Tancy Lea, so named as a result of his perceived likeness to a contemporary boxer Tancy Lee, was the son of Thomas Lea senior and Ellen Such (1864-1939). With a quick turn of speed, he helped Whitchurch secure the Welsh Combination and Shropshire Senior Cup in 1911-12 and his spell at Molineux included an appearance, this time on the right wing, as Wolves lost the 1921 FA Cup Final 1-0 to Spurs. After shaking hands in a downpour with King George V, Lea produced an excellent cross early in the second-half, which came to nothing, shortly before the Londoners’ 53rd-minute winning goal. Having served in wartime from 1915 with the Mechanical Transport Division, scoring the only goal as the BEF defeated Egyptian Contingent at Aldershot and representing the British Army against both Belgium and France, his signing at Eastville came as something of a coup for manager Andrew Wilson. Lea scored once in the League for Rovers, the solitary goal of a home win against Aberdare Athletic in April 1923, before losing his place in the side to Jack Pattison and ultimately Jimmy Lofthouse. Having made his Shrews début against Stafford Rangers in the Birmingham and District League, the first of fourteen goalless appearances, he helped his final side to become Walsall Senior Cup winners in 1924-25. Tancy Lea married Annie Mitchell in 1912 and they had two daughters, Violet, who married William Thelwell, and Annie. |
No 862. Daniel William Leadbitter. 2015-18.
Born, 7.10.1990, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 6’ 1”; 12 st. Début: 8.8.15 v Northampton Town. Career: Gosforth High School; Wide Open Juniors; 1998 Newcastle United (professional, July 2007); 26.4.11 Lincoln City (trial); 28.6.11 Torquay United (free) [9+6,0]; 1.8.13 Hereford United (free); 27.7.14 Bristol Rovers (free) [82+9,0]; 20.6.19 Newport County (free) [3,0]; 4.9.20 Yeovil Town (loan); 2.2.21 Gloucester City (loan); 5.7.21 Gloucester City (free). Quick and athletic right-back Daniel Leadbitter scored the second goal in September 2014 as Rovers defeated his former club Lincoln City 3-2 at Sincil Bank to embark on a run of five successive Conference victories; it was to prove his only goal in a Rovers shirt. In addition, he was sent off at home to Forest Green Rovers that autumn and again at Millwall in November 2016. A centre-back until he was eighteen, he appeared in 20(+4) matches for Rovers in the Conference, the Pirates reaching a Wembley play-off final in May 2015 against Grimsby Town, where Leadbitter was an unused substitute as the Pirates secured an immediate return to the Football League. He was a pivotal figure in the side the following campaign, his invasive runs down the flank causing opposition defences problems with Rovers securing a second successive promotion thanks to a very late final-day goal, to move up to League One on goal difference. Thereafter he made his mark in League One with Rovers, although he conceded an own goal at Shrewsbury in September 2018. He later played in 9(+1) Conference matches with Yeovil and in one National League North game at Gloucester. Unable to make the mark at St James’ Park, where the lithe full-back had made his first appearances for the Under-18 side against Middlesbrough in March 2007, scoring against Leeds United seven months later, he had made two reserve appearances at Lincoln before arriving at Plainmoor. His League début came in a 1-0 defeat at Bradford City in October 2011 and he also featured as the Gulls were unceremoniously knocked out of the FA Cup by Harrogate Town. In Torquay’s side against Rovers in October 2012, he played exceptionally well against Fleetwood in February 2013. A season at Hereford under Martin Foyle encompassed 30(+8) goalless Conference matches, this tally including a 7-0 drubbing against eventual champions Luton Town nand his 30(+2) National League North games with Gloucester City in 2021-22 included a goal at Chester in October 2021; he also scored at Darlington on the opening day of the 2022-23 campaign. His athletic strength exemplified by the fact that he was a 400m finalist at English Schools level, Leadbitter and his younger sister Dayna boast an English-Jamaican background, their uncle being Roger Palmer, Oldham Athletic’s all-time top goal-scorer. Roger, the son of Enos Palmer and Icylyn Berry, whose surname is variously given as Campbell, has four younger sisters, the eldest Cynthia having married Steven Leadbitter. Daniel Leadbitter’s cousin Marcus Wood was on the books of Manchester City Academy, whilst another cousin, Tyrell Palmer, was with Bolton Wanderers Academy. |
No 925. Luke Leahy. 2019-21.
Born, 19.11.1992, Coventry. 5’ 9”; 11 st 8 lbs. Début: 3.8.19 v Blackpool. Career: 2011 Rugby Town; May 2012 Birmingham City (trial); May 2012 Bradford City (trial); May 2012 Peterborough United (trial); 24.5.12 Falkirk (free) [104+23,11]; 14.6.17 Walsall (free) [90,5]; 9.7.19 Bristol Rovers (free) [68+2,8]; 17.5.21 Shrewsbury Town (free) [42,8]. Signed ahead of the 2019-20 season, experienced left-back Luke Leahy had been a virtual ever-present for two seasons with Walsall, playing against the Gas twice in both campaigns. Heading north of the border initially to further his career, he had made his Falkirk début against Stirling Albion in the Scottish Challenge Cup in July 2012 and scored his first goal two minutes before half-time of the defeat against Raith Rovers at Stark’s Park that November. In and out of the side, he had even once been named as the substitute goalkeeper for a cup-tie with Raith in September 2013. However, he soon became a reliable and dependable left-back and started the 2015 Scottish Cup Final, alongside another Rovers name in David McCracken, as Falkirk lost 2-1 to Inverness Caledonian Thistle. He played 46 times in all competitions in 2015-16 as his side finished second in the Scottish Championship and registered the club’s Goal of the Season against Livingston at Almondvale in August 2015. A Walsall goal against Plymouth on his first appearance was swiftly followed by strikes on successive Saturdays against Pompey and Bradford City and seventeen assists over two seasons. Most impressively, playing in December 2018 against the club he supports, Coventry City, Leahy scored twice in the ninetieth-minute, to turn anticipated defeat into a 2-1 victory for Walsall; after this, though, a poor run saw the Saddlers relegated to League Two. Without a goal in the League in 2019-20, Leahy scored in the FA Cup-tie at home to Bromley in November 2019, firing home left-footed with his first touch after coming on as a substitute. However, it took him less than three minutes of the following campaign to get off the mark, firing home a very early penalty as Rovers drew 1-1 with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on the opening day and he added his second goal for the club at Doncaster in the second away fixture before missing a penalty in the Football League Trophy against Oxford United. Despite another missed penalty at home to MK Dons in April 2021, Leahy confounded the odds in becoming, from left-back, Rovers’ top scorer for the 2020-21 relegation campaign with eight League goals. Equally, when Rovers put Darlington to the sword in the FA Cup that November, he became, after George Dennis in 1931, the second Rovers player to convert two penalties in a match in that tournament, helping the Gas to a comfortable 6-0 victory. He scored regularly at Shrewsbury too, including a brace against Morecambe in March 2022, and was in their side which took a shock first-half lead at Anfield before losing 4-1 to Liverpool in the third round of the FA Cup in January 2022. His assist led to Shrewsbury’s equaliser in League One at The Mem in August 2022. |
No 279. Frederick William Leamon. 1946-48.
Born, 11.5.1919, Jersey. Died, 27.8.1981, London. 5’ 8”; 11 st 9 lbs. Début: 7.12.46 v Brighton. Career: football in Jersey; Royal Marines; Bath City; February 1946 Newport County [4,3]; 26.11.46 Bristol Rovers [43,21]; July 1949 Brighton [11,4]; 2.8.50 Chippenham Town; July 1951 Street. Brought up in Chepstow, centre-forward Fred Leamon nonetheless represented a Channel Islands XI before serving as a Commando in the Royal Marines. “Not very tall but got up to the ball well”, a contemporary reporter diagnosed him, “a good, hard player without frills”. Leamon scored an impressive 23 goals in sixteen wartime games with Newport and his League record encouraged Rovers to sign him in the autumn of 1946, Leamon becoming Rovers’ top scorer in the first post-war League campaign. He scored a brace of goals when Rovers defeated Notts County 4-1 in March 1947 and in a 5-1 victory at Norwich in September of that calendar year. The only time he opposed Rovers was at the Goldstone Ground in October 1949, when he scored past Jack Weare only for Rovers to defeat Brighton 2-1. Leamon, who was fined £50, plus £7 costs, in August 1948, for the “illegal transfer of clothing coupons”, scored a hat-trick for Chippenham Town, when they defeated Rovers “A” 8-1 in August 1950. He married Jean Stewart in Chepstow in 1941 and they had three children. Representing Wales over twenty times at bowls, he won the singles championship at the 1973 Bath tournament before working as a security man for the BBC. It was in this rôle that he suffered a heart attack, whilst working at St Paul’s as the Prince of Wales’ wedding to Diana Spencer was taking place; Fred Leamon died in hospital a few weeks later. |
No 746. Michael Antonio Leary. 2005-06.
Born, 17.4.1983, Ealing. 5’ 10”; 12 st 4 lbs. Début: 3.9.05 v Orient. Career: Queen’s Park Rangers (schoolboy); Ruislip Manor; 2000 Luton Town (professional, 19.7.02) [9+13,2]; 31.8.05 Bristol Rovers (loan) [12+1,0]; 6.1.06 Walsall (loan) [12+3,1]; Torquay United (loan); 4.1.07 Brentford (loan) [17,0]; 4.7.07 Barnet (free) [43+7,3]; 10.7.09 Grimsby Town [19+9,0]; July 2011 Gainsborough Trinity (free); 12.7.14 Spalding United (free; retired, 1.7.15). Dynamic midfielder Michael Leary had the unusual experience of playing his first two games of the 2005-06 season away to Orient. He was in the Luton side which won away at Brisbane Road in the League Cup and then made his Rovers début on the same pitch. Brought up in Greenford, this “highly combative midfielder”, made his Luton début at Woking in an LDV Vans Trophy tie in October 2002 and his League bow eleven months later in a 1-1 draw with Queen’s Park Rangers. Having scored in a friendly against Rushden as a Luton trialist in 2000, he scored both his League goals for the Hatters in a 4-3 defeat at Hartlepool in April 2004 and picked up yellow cards in the League, FA Cup, League Cup and LDV Vans Trophy. Described as “a neat and tidy midfielder” by the Luton Town website, seven of Leary’s eight games for Luton in 2004-05 were at home, as the Hatters won the League One title, and he was then booked in three of his first four appearances for Rovers. Relegated to League Two with Walsall and to the Conference with Grimsby, he was sent off in the FA Cup in January 2007, thereby missing Barnet’s next round tie against Rovers, and against MK Dons in February 2007 as well as against Dagenham in January 2009. He was also in the Barnet side which trailed 5-0 after just 31 minutes of a League Cup-tie against Norwich City in August 2007. He played in 32(+16) games for Grimsby in the League and Conference and added six goals in his 100(+6) games for Trinity, latterly as captain, as they reached the Conference North play-offs in May 2012, only to lose 1-0 to Nuneaton Town. He missed five months of the 2013-14 campaign through injury, before returning to help Trinity in their relegation battle at the foot of Nationwide North. Leary captained Spalding to seventh place in the Northern Premier League Division One (South) in 2014-15, his goal in a 2-1 win at Coalville Town being the solitary one in 34(+4) appearances. Working as a personal trainer in a gym, Michael Leary lives in Louth with his wife Charlene and their daughter, Elsie, who was born in May 2010; he is working towards a career on the North Sea oil-rigs. |
No 669. Christian Earl Lee. 2000-01.
Born, 8.10.1976, Aylesbury. 6’ 2”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 24.3.01 v Swindon Town. Career: 1.8.94 Doncaster Rovers; 13.7.95 Northampton Town (free) [26+34,8]; 2.8.99 Gillingham (£35,000) [1+2,0]; 20.10.00 Rochdale (loan) [2+3,1]; 6.3.01 Orient (loan) [3,0]; 22.3.01 Bristol Rovers (free) [8+1,2]; Colchester United (trial); Peterborough United (trial); Swindon Town (trial); Carlisle United (trial); 7.9.01 Farnborough Town; 28.9.01 Rushden and Diamonds (loan) [1,0]; 20.11.01 Eastwood Town (free); 19.1.02 Farnborough Town (free); 13.5.03 Halifax Town (free) (to 2004). Goals against Bristol City, with a close-range header after 53 minutes, and the first of six at home to Oxford could not prevent Rovers’ relegation to Division Three in 2000-01, but marked the contribution of Christian Lee to Rovers’ cause. His seven League goals had helped Northampton to the play-offs in 1996-97, from where they earned promotion to Division Two. A 76th-minute goal in Rochdale’s 2-2 draw with Macclesfield in October 2000 was his only strike at Spotland and he played 59 minutes for Rushden against Hartlepool, although he also appeared in their 7-1 LDV Vans Trophy defeat at Cardiff City. A knee injury at Gillingham then restricted his career. Lee scored eight goals in 40 Conference matches during his two spells at Farnborough but was sent off at Chester as well as in an FA Cup-tie against Arsenal for a 28th-minute foul on Francis Jeffers. In addition, one solitary League appearance for Rushden came in a 2-1 home victory over Hartlepool in October 2001. He was a West Riding Cup winner with Halifax in 2003-04, but struggled in the Conference, where he scored six times in 17(+9) appearances. In 2006 he was reported to have signed up for the sports division of the Chinese fashion label Giordano to model cycling shorts. |
No 631. David John Lee. 1998-99.
Born, 26.11.1969, Kingswood, Bristol. 6’ 3”; 15 st. Début: 28.12.98 v Colchester United. Career: 1983 Chelsea (professional, 1.7.88) [118+32,11]; 30.1.92 Reading (loan) [5,5]; 26.3.92 Plymouth Argyle (loan) [9,1]; 12.8.94 Portsmouth (loan) [4+1,0]; 19.12.97 Sheffield United (loan) [5,0]; 23.12.98 Bristol City (trial); 24.12.98 Bristol Rovers [10+1,1]; 28.10.99 Crystal Palace (free); 30.11.99 Heart of Midlothian (trial); 10.1.00 Colchester United (free); 24.2.00 Exeter City [3+1,0]; June 2000 Parramatta Power; 21.12.01 Havant and Waterlooville; 15.3.02 Forest Green Rovers; 3.7.02 Weston-super-Mare (player-coach, 11.11.02); 1.6.03 Yate Town (player-coach); 21.9.03 UK Flooring; 24.12.03 Mangotsfield United; 26.8.05 Weston-super-Mare; July 2008 Canvey Island; June 2010 Bristol City (chief scout); 29.6.11 Northampton Town (assistant manager; caretaker manager, 14.11.11; released, 22.11.11). Veteran Chelsea defender David Lee made his Rovers début in the first away win of the 1998-99 season and scored on his home début with a low drive on the stroke of half-time, the third of Rovers’ first-half equalisers in a 4-3 defeat against Burnley. Strong and uncompromising, he was one of the heaviest players to wear the quartered shirt. A defender of great experience, he had made his Chelsea début in October 1988, scoring in a 2-1 win against Leicester City as the Blues won the 1988-89 Second Division championship. During his time with Chelsea, he notoriously scored from a fifty-yard free-kick inside his own half in a reserve fixture against Rovers. He was also an unused substitute at Wembley in May 1990 as Chelsea won the Zenith Data Systems Trophy Final, beating Middlesbrough 1-0. The winner of ten caps for England Under-21 between 1990 and 1992, on top of appearances for England Youth, Lee played under Glenn Hoddle and Ruud Gullit at Stamford Bridge and appeared in the 1991 League Cup semi-final, which was lost over two legs to Sheffield Wednesday. Scoring a penalty against Spurs in his final Chelsea appearance in October 1996, Gullit and Roberto di Matteo being the Blues’ other scorers, he was then stretchered off with a broken leg following a challenge from Sol Campbell. A remarkable loan spell at Reading had seen the defender score five goals in five League matches, all of them in February 1992, including both his side’s goals in a 2-2 draw at Preston North End. Lee then enjoyed a nomadic career for some years, scoring twice in eleven games for Parramatta in Sydney, playing alongside Rovers’ Gareth Taylor at Bramall Lane, being sent off after twelve minutes at York on his Exeter début and not making the side at all at Hearts, Palace and Colchester. He even appeared in the 2004 FA Sunday Cup Final at Anfield, as UK Flooring lost 3-1 to Nicosia of Liverpool. He scored once in six games at Forest Green and once in two matches for Weston, before playing fourteen times with Mangotsfield. Briefly caretaker manager at Northampton for one game, a 7-2 home defeat against Shrewsbury Town, he had found himself in disciplinary trouble for comments made after a hat-trick from the former Rovers striker Jo Kuffour had led to a 4-3 defeat at Gillingham in November 2011. |
No 696. David John Francis Lee. 2002-03.
Born, 28.3.1980, Basildon, Essex. 5’ 11”; 11 st 8 lbs. Début: 19.10.02 v York City. Career: Tottenham Hotspur (professional, 1.8.99); 3.8.00 Southend United (free) [37+5,8]; 1.6.01 Hull City (free) [2+9,1]; 11.1.02 Brighton [0+2,0]; 17.10.02 Bristol Rovers (loan) [5,0]; 3.2.03 Yeovil Town (trial); 25.10.03 Thurrock (loan); 1.10.04 Oldham Athletic (free) [5+2,0]; 3.12.04 Thurrock; 6.1.05 Kidderminster Harriers (free); 18.2.05 Stevenage Borough (free); 24.2.05 Aldershot Town (free); 23.2.07 Harlow Town (free); 2.3.07 Braintree Town (free); July 2007 AFC Hornchurch; 29.7.08 Canvey Island. Number 27 in his month’s loan with Rovers, midfielder David Lee played for the Pirates against his former club Southend. Having scored on his Shrimpers début against his future club Brighton in August 2000, he had been Southend’s joint top scorer in 2000-01 before joining other Rovers players Bobby Zamora, Michel Kuipers and Graham Barrett at Brighton, where he made just two substitute appearances in their Division Two championship season. His solitary goal for Hull was in the final minute of a 4-0 victory over York City in September 2001 and he also played for the Tigers as a substitute against Rovers that November. With Brighton relegated in 2003, he played in Thurrock’s FA Cup-tie against Luton Town in November 2003 and contributed a first-minute goal in their 2-1 win at Welling United that December. David Lee made one substitute appearance for Stevenage, scored once in 12(+1) games with Aldershot and played just once for Harlow, against his future club Canvey Island in February 2007. |
No 469. Robert Gordon Lee. 1980-81.
Born, 2.2.1953, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. 6’ 1½”; 14 st. Début: 23.8.80 v Bristol City. Career: Blaby Boys’ Club; July 1971 Leicester City (professional, February 1972) [55+8,17]; 16.8.74 Doncaster Rovers (loan) [14,4]; 30.9.76 Sunderland (£200,000) [101+8,32]; 10.8.80 Bristol Rovers (£70,000) [19+4,2]; 30.7.81 Carlisle United (£11,000) [47+8,12]; 26.3.83 Southampton (free); 26.8.83 Darlington (free) [5,0]; 25.10.83 Boston United; 1984 football in Hong Kong; 1984 Boston United (to 1985). Whilst with Rovers, striker Bob Lee suffered the sort of barren spell all strikers fear. To just two goals during Rovers’ relegation campaign of 1980-81, in 2-1 defeats at both Derby and Cardiff, can be added a spectacular long-range own goal after 68 minutes of the game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in October 1980. With Rovers ground-sharing after the Eastville fire, four of his first six League appearances came at Ashton Gate and Lee never settled fully with Rovers. Leicester’s leading scorer in 1975-76, he suffered relegation the following campaign at Sunderland and enjoyed, alongside Rovers’ David Rushbury and Paul Bannon, as well as a very young Peter Beardsley, promotion to Division Two with Carlisle in the spring of 1982. Having scored in three different League matches against Rovers whilst with Sunderland, Rovers conceding five goals in consecutive seasons at Roker Park, Lee almost inevitably scored the winning goal when Carlisle defeated Rovers 1-0 over Christmas 1981, his close-range eleventh-minute strike deciding the game. The youngest of three children, his mother being part of the large Italian Brusaferro family, Lee scored 27 goals for Boston in 1984-85, two goals in an FA Trophy semi-final leading to his career ending with a Wembley appearance, as Boston lost 2-1 to Wealdstone in the final. Subsequently, he ran a Leicestershire pub for many years. |
No 14. (Syd) Alfred Sydney Leigh. 1920-22.
Born, 23.6.1893, Osmaston, Derbyshire. Died, 1958, Nottingham. 5’ 10½”; 11 st. Début: 9.9.20 v Newport County. Career: Osmaston; 6.6.14 Derby County [2,0]; 16.5.20 Bristol Rovers [68,37] (to May 1922). Originating from a family of footballers, Syd Leigh had experienced wartime football for Bradford City, Leicester City and Chesterfield, scoring twice each for the first two named, prior to making his League bow. Despite scoring all the goals in the pre-season trial game, as Blues beat Reds 3-0, he missed the opening game of Rovers’ inaugural League season, before being top scorer at the club in each of the first two campaigns. His tour de force was scoring four times as Rovers beat Exeter City 5-0 in May 1921, including a first-half hat-trick, a League tally often equalled but yet to be improved upon. Leigh also appeared in the 8-1 hammering at Swansea in April 1922, only for an ankle ligament injury against Watford two days later to end his career prematurely. Returning to Derbyshire in 1922, he was unable to find a League club and worked as a boot repairer alongside his father. The eldest of seven children to boot-maker Alfred Leigh (1872-1946) and Elizabeth Taylor (1876-1955), Syd Leigh married Sarah Ellen White (1886-1951) in Derby in 1916 and their son Sydney, born in Belper the following year, later married Audrey Jeffrey in Shardlow in 1939. Syd’s father, Alf, of 649 London Road and later 48 Wilmot Street, had been on Derby County’s books as a goalkeeper and often formed football sides alongside his ten brothers, played local cricket with Osmaston and later ran the Station Inn in Midland Road, Derby and the Globe Inn in Secheverl Street, Derby; Syd’s younger brother Willie was British isles junior billiards champion in 1923, aged fourteen. |
No 80. George Ferguson Lennon. 1925-26.
Born, 24.5.1889, Corsehill, near Kilwinning, Ayrshire. Died, 7.9.1984, Irvine. 5’ 8”; 10 st 7 lbs. Début: 28.12.25 v Swindon Town. Career: Kilwinning Rangers; 25.11.12 Third Lanark [93,0]; 19.2.13 Forfar Athletic; 6.3.13 Abercorn; January 1920 St Mirren [15,0]; 19.7.20 Luton Town [107,0]; March 1923 Stoke City (£500) [3,0]; 29.7.24 Weymouth; 25.7.25 Bristol Rovers (£80) [4,0]; June 1926 Airdrieonians; 12.2.27 Llandudno; 19.2.27 Colwyn Bay United. Returning from wartime service with the Glasgow Highlanders, George Lennon enjoyed a successful career both north and south of the border, before enjoying an Indian summer in Welsh football. His time in Scotland included an Abercorn début in the 3-1 home victory over Cowdenbeath in March 1913 and encompassed St Mirren’s success in the Victory Cup of 1919, although he missed the final, a 3-0 win against Hearts, and he later could not make the side at Forfar or Airdrie. Arriving at Luton Town on the Hatters’ re-election to the Football League, he played five times against Rovers, including their 5-0 defeat at Eastville in March 1921, before representing Stoke in both the top two divisions. Valued by Stoke at £1,200, Lennon moved to Southern League football, where he played 38 times without scoring as Weymouth finished sixth in 1924-25. He also appeared for the Dorset side in the Western League, his début in fact coming in that tournament, in a 5-1 win against Swindon Victoria and he appeared against Rovers in the two December 1924 FA Cup-ties. Replacing Jimmy Haydon on occasion, his time at Eastville included a demoralising 6-3 defeat at Gillingham, although he scored a rare goal after twenty minutes when the reserves beat Taunton United 5-1 in the Western League in February 1926. |
No 310. (Paddy) Patrick Desmond Leonard. 1952-54.
Born, 25.7.1929, Dublin. Died, 18.10.1975, Dublin. 6’; 11 st 4 lbs. Début: 23.8.52 v Shrewsbury Town. Career: Bath City; 15.7.52 Bristol Rovers [14,2]; June 1954 Southend United (trial); 29.6.54 Colchester United [34,5]; July 1955 Tonbridge (to 1956). Six League games during Rovers’ 1952-53 Third Division (South) title-winning season included a goal in a 2-1 defeat at Brighton that April, before Paddy Leonard left the field injured. He scored once more the following campaign, as Rovers drew 1-1 away to title-chasing Birmingham City in March 1954. A tall inside-forward, he was later a team-mate of fellow Rovers player Frank McCourt at Colchester, who finished the 1954-55 campaign in bottom place in Division Three (South), three points adrift of Walsall. Retiring from football in 1956, Leonard became a car salesman in his native Dublin. |
No 626. Stephane Leoni. 1998-2000.
Born, 5.3.1976, St Mihiel, France. 5’ 9”; 13 st. Début: 22.8.98 v Gillingham. Career: St Mihiel; 1991 Metz (professional, 1.8.98) [23+2,0]; July 1997 Swindon Town (trial); 18.8.98 Bristol Rovers (trial); 1.9.98 Bristol Rovers [27+11,0]; 18.9.99 Oxford United (trial); 7.9.00 Dundee United [5+1,0]; July 2001 Orient (trial); 2.8.01 Chesterfield (trial); 9.8.01 Rushden and Diamonds (trial); 29.9.01 Oldham Athletic (trial); 28.1.02 CS Sedan Ardennes (free) [3+5,0]; 20.6.02 AS Beauvais Oise [36,0]; 2003 Stade Brestois 29 (trial); 2.2.04 Sp Vgg Greuther Fürth (free) [3,0]; 28.7.04 FC Rouen [32+3,0]; 2.10.05 Racing Club de Strasbourg; 14.12.05 FC Sète (free) [12,0]; 20.6.06 FC Metz (£150,000) [31+5,0]; 2.12.08 AC Ajaccio (trial); 27.5.09 AS Cannes [14+3,0]; 8.8.10 FC Differdange 03 [37+11,0]; 21.6.12 Amiens SC (assistant manager; caretaker manager, 15.9.13-25.9.13); 2.8.14 CSO Amnéville-les-Thermes (coach); 9.6.15 FC Trémery (coach); 4.6.18 US Sarre-Union (manager, to 19.5.20); 25.11.20 Progrès Niederkorn (manager, to 25.5.22); 19.10.22 FC Differdange 03 (manager). The eldest of five children brought up in the small town of St Mihiel on the river Meuse, Stéphane Léoni had won twenty caps for the French Under-21 side as a midfielder and, with Metz in second place in the French League, had been in their squad for a European game in Newcastle in December 1996. Arriving at Rovers, after one friendly on trial at Swindon, and with Guy Ipoua acting initially as his translator, he was converted into a powerful full-back who complemented Rovers’ squad. After a substitute appearance in the League Cup against Orient, he made his League début in a goalless draw in which both sides were reduced to nine men and scored his only goal for the club in a 1-0 away win at Rotherham in the FA Cup in January 1999, with a left-foot shot after a one-two with Jason Roberts on the stroke of half-time. His good looks endeared him to Rovers’ female support, but it was his girlfriend Alex who proved most useful in getting him to Frenchay Hospital, after he fell downstairs in October 1999 and required 28 stitches in a head wound after colliding with plate glass. After a spell in Scotland and an appearance in Steve Castle’s testimonial for Orient against Spurs, not to mention two games for Rushden reserves, Léoni returned to France. His Sedan début at Marseilles in January 2002 preceded a yellow card in a Cup quarter-final against Strasbourg and, following a Beauvais début in a 1-0 defeat at Châteauroux, he was sent off in the 2-0 defeat at FC Gueugnon in January 2003 for a fourteenth-minute head-butt on Christophe Aubanel. A transfer into German football took him to Greuther Fürth, German champions in 1914, 1926 and 1929 but, with opportunities limited, he first appeared for Rouen in the 1-0 defeat at Roye, picking up the first of six yellow cards at that club. A 2-1 defeat at home to Guingamp was Léoni’s début on the south coast, with Sète relegated from Division Two in 2005-06 before, returning to Metz despite interest from Gueugnon and Châteauroux, he played alongside Chérif Touré, a member of Togo’s 2006 World Cup squad, as the Alsatian side were Second Division champions in 2006-07. Cannes finished tenth out of twenty sides in the Ligue Nationale in 2009-10, despite Léoni’s red card six minutes from the end of a 1-0 defeat at Cassis-Carnoux in February 2010, before he experienced European football again with Differdange, a Luxembourg side. Saint-Trémery, despite being top of their division, suffered a 7-1 defeat at Saint-Avold in February 2017; they held on, though, to win the Division d’Honneur title for 2016-17. |
No 723. Aaron Anthony Lescott. 2003-10.
Born, 2.12.1978, Birmingham. 5’ 8”; 10 st 11 lbs. Début: 27.3.04 v York City. Career: Aston Villa (professional, 1.8.95); 13.3.00 Lincoln City (loan) [3+2,0]; 3.10.00 Sheffield Wednesday (£100,000) [19+18,0]; 14.11.01 Stockport County (£75,000) [65+7,1]; 24.3.04 Bristol Rovers (loan); 26.8.04 Bristol Rovers (free) [197+10,5]; 5.3.10 Cheltenham Town (loan) [7+1,0]; 16.7.10 Walsall (free) [34,1]; 13.7.11 Yeovil Town (trial); 9.8.11 Halesowen Town (to 2012). Arguably one of the most influential players in Rovers’ recent history is the full-back Aaron Lescott. In his six years with Rovers he helped steer the club from towards the foot of League Two to mid-table respectability in League One, games at the Millennium Stadium and Wembley and an FA Cup quarter-final against West Brom. Tidy and effective, he was indeed realistically Rovers’ best player in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final in Cardiff in 2007, whilst victory at Wembley that May sealed an unlikely promotion push and Rovers’ return to League One. Lescott, captain for the day in the 3-0 win against Grimsby in 2004-05 and sent off at Notts County the following season, finally scored his first two goals for the club in his 174th League appearance for the side, playing away to his future club Walsall in March 2009. He had scored in a pre-season friendly against Bath City in July 2007, but this long-awaited first League strike was his first League goal in just over six years. Not content with one goal that day, he added a second as Rovers ran up a 5-0 victory. He was also sent off on Rovers’ visits to Barnet and, in the FA Cup, Derby County. Aaron Lescott’s career started with a substitute appearance for Villa in the FA Cup against Hull City in January 1999 and, a team-mate at Lincoln of Lee Thorpe and Wednesday of Michele di Piedi, he was relegated to Division Two with Stockport in 2001-02. Playing alongside Lee Jones, Ali Gibb and Neil Ross at Edgeley Park, where he became club captain, he was sent off at Ashton Gate in January 2003 and scored his only League goal seven minutes from the end of a 5-2 defeat at Swindon the same month. After leaving Rovers, he managed one further goal, against Rovers naturally, as these things are wont to happen, an 83rd-minute equaliser for Walsall at The Mem in Dave Penney’s first game in charge. He also played in Cheltenham’s remarkable 6-5 win at Burton Albion in March 2010 and appeared five times for Halesowen. His younger brother Joleon, having survived an horrific childhood car accident which left a prominent scar on his forehead, has enjoyed a highly successful Premier League career, winning the first of his 26 England caps against Estonia in October 2007 and scoring with a header against France in England’s opening game at Euro 2012. |
No 176. Dudley Reginald James Lewis. 1932-34.
Born, 19.11.1909, Kensington. Died, 24.4.1987, Bath. 5’ 11”; 12 st. Début: 7.9.32 v Southend United. Career: Bath City Secondary School; Weston All Saints; Camerton; Bath City; 15.10.28 Queen’s Park Rangers (professional, 1.5.31) [13,5]; 28.7.32 Bristol Rovers [27,4]; May 1934 Exeter City [16,2]; 27.8.35 Newport County [10,0]; 19.5.36 Milford United (to 1937). A “thrustful player”, as a contemporary report described him, Doug Lewis was a tall, versatile wing-half, who played in the League for four sides before cartilage trouble curtailed his career at Somerton Park. He could “play a useful game anywhere in the half-back line and forward line” (South Wales Argus). Despite not making the first-team at Bath City, he scored on his début for Queen’s Park Rangers against Bournemouth and was in the Exeter side which drew an incredible game 5-5 at Eastville in November 1934. Remarkably, all Lewis’ goals came away from home, four in the League, another in the Division Three (South) Cup and one as Rovers lost 3-2 to an East Holland XI in Amsterdam in February 1933. His Exeter goals came in successive weeks in the autumn of 1934, in home defeats against Reading and Luton Town. A keen cricketer and tennis player, he underwent a nasal operation at Bristol Homoeopathic Hospital just after his transfer to Exeter and he was sidelined with knee problems at Newport. He was living at 159 Southdown Road, Bath at the time of his death. |
No 263. Idris Lewis. 1946-47.
Born, 26.8.1915, Trealaw. Died, March 1996, Swansea. 5’ 8”; 10 st 12 lbs. Début: 31.8.46 v Reading. Career: Ton Boys’ Club; Gelli Colliery; May 1935 Swansea Town [78,4]; 20.6.38 Sheffield Wednesday (£50 plus Dick Rhodes) [18,7]; 31.7.46 Bristol Rovers [13,2]; 12.11.46 Newport County [27,4]; 13.2.47 Swansea Town (trial); 2.9.47 Sheffield Wednesday (trial); 30.7.48 Haverfordwest County; Pembroke Dock. So many footballers of a certain generation lost the greater part of their playing career to World War Two and diminutive outside-right Dai Lewis certainly fits this bill. The younger son of Arthur Lewis and Sarah Ann Price, his elder brother Cyril scored four goals in Grimsby’s 6-2 victory over Preston in October 1936 and a hat-trick when they defeated Manchester United by the same score the following month. Dai Lewis was a great crosser of the ball with both feet, “a traditional style winger, whole-hearted, [who] trained hard” and had made his Swansea début against Sheffield United on Boxing Day 1935 before helping the other steel city side finish third in Division Two in the final inter-war League season. A Welsh Cup winner against Shrewsbury Town in 1938, he also represented the Welsh Servicemen against Metropolitan Police in May 1942 before making wartime appearances with both Cardiff and Swansea. Lewis played for Rovers in the first thirteen post-war League games, scoring in home autumnal defeats against Watford and Southend, before returning to South Wales, owing to illness and his young family not settling in Bristol; he had married Mairwen Jones in 1940. Indeed, Lewis’ 51st-minute goal against Watford in September 1946 was the second of three goals in ten minutes as Rovers fought back from three goals down only to lose an eventful game 4-3 to the Hornets. Lewis played in both Newport’s games against Rovers in the 1947-48 campaign before appearing in 1951 in the Pembroke side against his former club, Swansea, in the FA Cup. |
No 435. Paul Samuel Lewis. 1975-76.
Born, 27.9.1956, Rhondda. 6’ 1”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 28.4.76 v Bolton Wanderers. Career: 1972 Bristol Rovers (professional, October 1974) [1,0]; Everton (trial); March 1979 Barry Town; 10.11.79 Merthyr Tydfil; 26.9.80 Haverfordwest County; January 1981 Barry Town; August 1982 Merthyr Tydfil; 1983 Haverfordwest County (to 1984). Welsh Youth international goalkeeper Paul Lewis was restricted to an appearance in a 3-1 defeat at Burnden Park by the consistent form of Jim Eadie. Half an hour into this game, Bolton scored three goals in a torrid five-minute spell, John Byrom claiming two of them. He had earlier played as a second-half substitute for Richard Crabtree in the August 1972 friendly away to Trowbridge Town. In the Welsh squad for the 1974 UEFA Youth Cup finals, he underwent a knee operation in March 1975 and was released in the summer of 1976. Research showing he is in all probability the son of Colin Lewis and Grace Jones, Lewis reinvented himself as a striker after leaving Rovers, scoring thirteen goals in 39(+6) games with Barry and, having scored on his reserves’ début against Milford Haven, first appearing for Merthyr in a shock 3-0 away victory at Kettering Town in the FA Trophy in January 1980. A consistent goal-scorer also at Haverfordwest, he moved to North Wales in 1984 and now lives near Liverpool. |
No 953. Ben George Liddle. 2020-22.
Born, 21.9.1998, Durham. 5’ 7”; 10 st 3 lbs. Début: 6.2.21 v Fleetwood Town. Career: Middlesbrough (professional, 12.10.16) [0+1,0]; 22.3.18 Blyth Spartans (loan); 31.1.19 Forest Green Rovers (loan) [0+2,0]; 31.1.20 Scunthorpe United (loan) [2+2,0]; 8.10.20 Bristol Rovers (free) [1+2,0]; 27.8.21 Queen of the South (loan) [9+8,1]; 18.8.22 Darlington (free). Left-footed Ben Liddle, armed with a “great range of passing”, according to Rovers’ manager Ben Garner, arrived at the Mem early in the 2020-21 season. He had enjoyed three loan spells away from his mother club, appearing twice for Blyth Spartans, playing fifty-six minutes in all for Forest Green and turning out for Scunthorpe at home to Cambridge United and in three away fixtures. With Middlesbrough, he had first made the bench for the Football League Trophy game at Cambridge United in October 2016 and could add six games (five of which ended in defeat) in that competition to his twenty minutes of League action, when he replaced Lewis Wing at the end of a 4-0 defeat away to champions-elect Leeds United in November 2019. A team-mate at Boro of Marc Bola, Liddle also started in the 2-1 FA Cup defeat away to Spurs in January 2020. His father Craig Liddle, the son of Alan Liddle and Patricia Watson of Chester-le-Street, had enjoyed a long career with Boro and Darlington, captaining the latter at Wembley in a play-off final in 2000; a youngest child and only son, Craig married Samantha Yarwood, the elder of two daughters to Joseph Yarwood and Vera Evans. After a substitute appearance in the FA Cup at Walsall, Ben Liddle started in same tournament against his father’s old club Darlington in November 2020, Rovers running out comfortable 6-0 winners at The Mem but he only appeared briefly in League One action. In March 2022, playing for Queen of the South, he was sent off for two first-half yellow cards in the 1-0 defeat Hamilton Academical, meaning that he was only an unused substitute the following weekend for the Challenge Cup Final, which was lost to Raith Rovers; his side was relegated at the end of the season, despite his goal against Raith Rovers that February. His Darlington début was as a forty-eighth-minute substitute for the injured Jake Lawlor in a 2-1 home defeat to Banbury United in August 2022. |
No 22. James Brown Liddell. 1921-23.
Born, 10.1.1898, Partick. Died, 12.1.1963, Partick. 5’ 8”; 10 st 6 lbs. Début: 27.8.21 v Plymouth Argyle. Career: Glasgow Ashfield; Albion Rovers; 11.5.21 Bristol Rovers [31,4]; January 1924 Preston North End; July 1924 Albion Rovers; August 1925 Clyde [133,5]; December 1929 Connah’s Quay; October 1930 Albion Rovers; 16.10.31 Dumbarton [52,3]; June 1933 Albion Rovers. Lightweight, skilful inside-forward Jimmy Liddell appeared for Rovers in their second and third Football League seasons. Goals appeared against Charlton Athletic, Luton Town, Newport County and Watford, as well as in the abandoned Gloucestershire Cup Final of April 1923. The Newport goal eased Rovers to a two-goal lead inside ten minutes, only for the Welsh visitors to run out 4-3 winners. He also scored for the reserves in October 1921 in a 7-1 defeat at the hands of Bristol City reserves and, the following week, gave the reserves a sensational start against the same opposition, scoring before an opponent had touched the ball, in a 3-0 victory. If he found Division Three (South) physically tough, life at Preston proved even more so, and he did not make the first-team. A Clyde début in the 1-1 draw at Dumbarton in August 1925 preceded a long career at Shawfield Park. He was in the side that crashed 7-0 at Celtic, Jimmy McGrory scoring five times, in January 1927, but he also scored one of six first-half goals his side scored in the astonishing 7-3 win at Bathgate in March 1926 and added a goal after just seven minutes in the 1-1 draw at Airdrie on Christmas Day 1926. In November 1927, he was one of two Clyde players sent off for rough play in a 4-2 First Division defeat at Falkirk, yet he also played in the side which defeated Celtic 2-1 to win the Glasgow Cup Final in October 1925. He appears not to have made the Scottish League side at Albion, although he made his Dumbarton bow in a 5-0 thrashing at Arbroath. Jimmy Liddell was brought up at 20 Tower Street, Govan in Glasgow, the third child of John and Jane Liddell, his father being a dock labourer born in Calderbank in 1857. A ship’s plumber by profession, this inside-left died two days after his sixty-fifth birthday. |
No 271. Henry John Gerald Liley. 1946-50.
Born, 19.8.1918, Trowbridge, Wiltshire. Died, 17.9.2001, Weston-super-Mare. 6’ 4½”; 13 st 10 lbs. Début: 12.10.46 v Queen’s Park Rangers. Career: Newport Schools; Aldershot Army School; Dockland Settlement; 1936 Bristol City (amateur); August 1946 Bristol Rovers (professional, 13.10.46) [27,0]; 8.8.51 Bath City; 21.7.56 Chippenham Town (retired, May 1958). Incredibly tall for his generation, Harry Liley played in each of Rovers’ first four post-war League seasons. An athletics champion with Newport Schools, which he also captained in two football games, once as a centre-forward and once in goal, Liley was known as “Lofty” whilst on Bristol City’s books prior to the war. Heavily involved at Dunkirk, and later in fact the chairman of the Bristol branch of the Dunkirk Veterans’ Association, Liley also played in goal for Southern Command against Eastern Command and for the British Army against the Dutch National XI in Amsterdam. Joining Rovers for two-and-a-half pounds a week, he worked at Kodak in Oakfield Road whilst making sporadic appearances for Rovers. Indeed, when he was awarded a winner’s medal after the 2-0 Gloucestershire Cup Final victory of May 1949, Liley sportingly passed his medal to his ill colleague Jack Weare, saying “this belongs to you, Jack”. Whilst with Rovers, he also appeared against an England XI at Eastville, in a fixture organised by Phil Taylor. After over 200 games for Bath, including a run of 130 in succession, the giant custodian was rewarded with a benefit game in April 1956, a Harry Liley XI drawing 1-1 with a Billy Lucas XI, and he and the former Rovers reserve Peter Stiff both joined Chippenham in July 1956. A painter and decorator and later a window cleaner, Liley lived in Southmead, in Great Anne Street, St Jude’s and later in Stoke Bishop. Married to Vera Pendlebury (1926-2008) in the spring of 1943, he had a son John, a daughter Jennifer and grandchildren. Struck by a Vauxhall Astra as he and his wife crossed Regent’s Street in Weston-super-Mare one Sunday morning, he suffered a broken leg, died the following evening and was cremated at Canford Crematorium. |
No 749. Christopher John Lines. 2005-11 and 2015-18.
Born, 30.11.1985, Bristol. 6’ 2”; 12 st. Début: 21.1.06 v Chester City. Career: Orchard School; St Vallier; 2000 Bristol Rovers; Filton College; 2002 Bristol Rovers (professional, 10.12.04); 13.7.11 Crystal Palace (trial); 11.8.11 Sheffield Wednesday (£50,000) [41+6,3]; 23.1.13 MK Dons (loan) [11+5,0]; 6.7.13 Port Vale (free) [52+9,3]; 9.3.15 Bristol Rovers (loan) [274+32,30]; 15.5.19 Northampton Town (free) [26+9,3]; 5.1.21 Stevenage (free) [42+9,3]; 19.6.22 Bath City (free). A late substitute for Lewis Haldane on his Rovers début, midfielder Chris Lines became a reliable member of Rovers’ midfield for many seasons. The son of Terry Lines (1957-2005), who died twelve months before Chris’ League début, and Julie Hickman and with a sister Jodie, he had made six appearances for the Under-18 side and 22(+1) for the reserves prior to being named on the substitutes’ bench for the first time, at home to Macclesfield Town in December 2004. “An accomplished midfielder with a deceptive turn of pace”, Lines had scored seven goals in St Vallier’s 12-0 win against Thornbury Falcons and thirteen times as Keynsham were unceremoniously defeated 28-0 by St Vallier but, rejected by Rovers as a fifteen-year-old, had forced his way back into the reckoning. Hot on the heels of goals for the reserves against Swindon, Swansea and Bournemouth in the spring of 2006 came a certain degree of reliability about his midfield play and, as a result, a steady place in the Rovers side became his. After two goals in eleven reserve games in 2006-07, Lines appeared as a substitute at the Millennium Stadium in April 2007 in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final and, having watched Rovers secure promotion to League One at Wembley, played in the March 2008 FA Cup quarter-final against West Brom. The President’s Club’s Young Player of the Year for 2007-08, Lines’ first League goal came eight minutes into Rovers’ 3-0 victory over Carlisle United at Christmas 2007 and he was controversially sent off for celebrating his 94th-minute equaliser against Swindon Town in November 2008. With Rovers relegated to the basement division in the spring of 2011, Lines enjoyed promotion in 2011-12 with Sheffield Wednesday, as they returned to the Championship. He scored his first Vale goal at Tranmere Rovers in September 2013 and was sent off for a foul on Conor Hourihane as Vale secured a 3-2 win at Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup in January 2014, and after 38 minutes of the 1-0 defeat at MK Dons in November 2014, after an incident with Dele Alli. He returned to The Mem on loan as Rovers, top of the Conference table, were to be without playmaker Stuart Sinclair for much of the remainder of the 2014-15 season, playing in eight Conference matches as the Gas finished one point behind champions Barnet; he scored against Forest Green Rovers in the play-off semi-final and played in the Wembley play-off final in May 2015, scoring in the penalty shoot-out as Rovers dramatically secured promotion back to League football. A pivotal figure in Rovers’ midfield, he helped steer the club up to League One at the first attempt in May 2016, becoming in the process the only Rovers player to enjoy three promotions with the club. When Rovers lost at home to Pompey in August 2018, Lines contrived to come on as substitute, score a penalty and then be sent off, all in the space of nine minutes, but he left at the end of that campaign to join Keith Curle’s Northampton side, playing alongside Joe Martin and Cian Bolger. Lines scored his first Stevenage goal two minutes from the end of a fixture against Rovers at The Mem in August 2021. He became a father for the first time in the spring of 2016. |
No 132. George Charles Littlewood. 1929-30.
Born, 15.9.1899, Prince’s End, Tipton. Died, 5.8.1965, Cheltenham. 5’ 11”; 12 st. Début: 12.4.30 v Bournemouth. Career: August 1924 Brierley Hill Alliance; 1925 West Bromwich Albion (trial); May 1927 Worcester City; 14.2.30 Bristol Rovers [1,0]; 29.10.31 Badminton and Acton Turville FC. “Quickly in favour with the crowd, with his splendid skill and fearless tackling”, George Littlewood appeared once for Rovers, eschewing a second appearance when injury precluded him. His reserve team début had come in February 1930 in a 3-0 victory over Lovell’s Athletic and he scored in the 2-2 Western League draw with Yeovil and Petters United that April; he was still in the team when the reserves defeated Ebbw Vale 10-1 in January 1931. A wicketkeeper and opening batsman for Cotham, Littlewood later taught at Badminton School, from where he organised a cricket game in September 1952, in which the Duke of Beaufort’s XI, with Littlewood top-scoring on 26, scored 164 all out, to which Bristol Rovers hit 75-5, Ronnie Dix scoring 23. George Littlewood later lived at 201 Cirencester Road, Charlton Kings, Gloucestershire. He was the son of warehouse furnaceman Joseph George Littlewood (1870-1964, the son of John Littlewood and Phoebe Shaw, 1845-1907) and draper Florence Whitehouse and, although born at Prince’s End, Tipton, was brought up in North Wales; the family can be found in the 1901 census at 11 Spring Street, Connah’s Quay in Flint, and his sister Elsie Gwendoline was born two years after him. He married Charlotte Mabel Blewitt (1897-1994) in 1926 and they had three daughters, Lorna, Gwendoline, who married William Houghton, and Margaret, the wife of Ronald Horseman. Lorna (1926-2009) married Alan Otaki and left, at her death, five grandchildren and one great-grandson. |
No 926. Mark Daniel Little. 2019-21.
Born, 20.8.1988, Worcester. 6’ 1”; 12 st 7 lbs. Début: 3.8.19 v Blackpool. Career: Nunnery Wood High School; 2001 Wolverhampton Wanderers (professional, August 2005) [19+8,0]; 10.1.08 Northampton Town (loan); 22.8.08 Northampton Town (loan) [26,0]; 6.10.09 Chesterfield (loan) [12,0]; 2.3.10 Peterborough United (loan); 25.5.10 Peterborough United (free) [139+18,3]; 25.6.14 Bristol City (free) [71+17,1]; 16.6.17 Bolton Wanderers (free) [28+2,1]; 4.6.19 Bristol Rovers (free) [13+5,0]; 25.6.21 Yeovil Town (free); 3.6.22 Penybont (free). Having already gained promotion twice from League One as a player, right-back Mark Little was a welcome addition to Rovers’ squad in the summer of 2019. “He adds quality and is a real all-rounder”, purred manager Graham Coughlan. “He is a fantastic character and he takes that charisma onto the pitch”, Lee Johnson had said during his earlier time at Ashton Gate, “he’s powerful and athletic and you wouldn’t want to go toe-to-toe with him”. Making the grade at Wolves, Mark Little played in the FA Youth Cup semi-finals in 2005 before making his breakthrough in a League Cup-tie at Chesterfield, his future club, in August 2006. Early career form earned him six caps for the England Under-19 side in the 2006-07 season. He was sent off before half-time in the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace in April 2007, but impressed at Molineux and in a series of loan moves. He was in the Northampton side which drew 1-1 at The Mem in March 2008 in League One, Sean Rigg scoring Rovers’ goal and played in both Posh’s 2010-11 fixtures against the Gas, helping his side accumulate three second-half goals on the opening day of the campaign and then being sent off at The Mem four minutes after half-time in March 2011, as his side gained promotion to the Championship via the play-offs. He also picked up red cards for Chesterfield against Sammy Igoe’s Bournemouth side in the FA Cup in November 2009 and Posh at MK Dons in September 2013; he scored three times for Peterborough, against Tranmere Rovers, Leeds United and his future employers Bolton; and he was in the Posh side which contrived to throw away a 3-0 half-time lead and lose 5-4 at Oldham in January 2014. Signing for Bristol City in 2014 proved a master stroke as the Robins swept all before them, late-season victories 6-0 at Bradford City and 8-2 at home to Walsall helping secure the League One title with a whopping 99 points and 96 goals, eight points clear of Dele Alli’s MK Dons; Little’s solitary goal came in a 3-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers in September 2014, but he also scored at Wembley, knocking home a rebound after Richard O’Donnell had saved his initial header, six minutes after half-time in a Man of the Match performance as City defeated Walsall 2-0 to win the Football League Trophy. For Little this was the second successive year he had lifted this trophy, Peterborough defeating his former club Chesterfield 3-1 at Wembley twelve months earlier, the final goal coming from a penalty he had won. A regular for two seasons with the Robins in the Championship, he was to spend two years with Bolton, scoring twenty-one minutes from the end of a 3-1 victory over Barnsley in December 2017 but being sent off at Queen’s Park Rangers two months later. Such was his joy in May 2018 after a 3-2 victory over Nottingham Forest meant Bolton had avoided relegation that he gave his jacket to a supporter, only to realise later that his wallet and wedding ring were both in the pocket; both were later retrieved. Having only appeared in two League games in 2018-19, as the Trotters suffered relegation from League One, Little arrived at The Mem on a free transfer. His close-range finish from Tareiq Holmes-Dennis’ swirling left-wing cross earned Rovers victory over Swindon Town in the Football League Trophy in November 2019. He was sent off for two bookings when Yeovil won a National League match at Woking in January 2022, one of nineteen matches for the Glovers in that division and played alonghside the former Rovers squad player Rhys Kavanagh at Penybont. Worcester-born of Jamaican heritage, Mark Little married Jessica Rees in 2018, the couple making a sizeable donation to Children’s Hospice South West and, in addition to sizeable property investments, he runs a removals company. |
No 706. Christopher Mark Llewellyn. 2002-03.
Born, 29.8.1979, Merthyr Tydfil. 5’ 11”; 11 st 6 lbs. Début: 22.2.03 v Macclesfield Town. Career: Gorseinon; 1.8.96 Norwich City (professional, 21.1.97) [103+39,17]; 22.2.03 Bristol Rovers (loan) [14,3]; 21.5.03 Swansea City (trial); 3.7.03 Wrexham (free); 4.7.05 Hartlepool United (free) [24+5,0]; 30.6.06 Wrexham (free) [168+2,27]; 30.6.08 Rhyl (free); 7.7.08 Grimsby Town (free); 17.5.09 Neath Athletic; 9.6.10 Llanelli (free); 5.1.12 Aberystwyth Town (loan); 16.6.12 West End (player-assistant manager); October 2012 Swansea City (Under-14 coach; July 2015 Under-15 coach; 21.7.16 Under-18 coach); 5.7.17 Colchester United (Under-18 coach); 24.7.19 Carmarthen Town (Head of Coaching); 12.8.21 Swansea City Ladies (Head Coach). Making his Welsh international début against Malta in 1998, winger Chris Llewellyn, a great crosser of the ball, won six full caps for his country, scoring once, sweeping in Craig Bellamy’s cross past Liechtenstein goalkeeper Peter Jehle in the final minute of a 4-0 victory at Swansea in November 2006. Llewellyn scored a late equaliser on his Rovers début and added a brace at Wrexham, his future club, as Rovers recovered a two-goal deficit only to lose 3-2. At Norwich with Jamie Cureton, Jamie Shore, Tom Ramasut and Che Wilson, he played for Wales at youth level and won fourteen Wales Under-21 caps as well as appearing once for Wales “B”. After a début in a friendly against Den Bosch, Llewellyn suffered relegation to League Two with Hartlepool and two relegations with Wrexham. He was in the Wrexham side which defeated Southend United 2-0 in the LDV Vans Trophy Final but also lost 2-1 to Swansea in the Welsh Cup Final and scored the Robins’ final Football League goal, in the last minute of their farewell game, a 4-2 win at Lincoln in May 2008. Playing against Rovers at the Racecourse Ground in October 2006, he scored, was sent off and was named Man of the Match as Rovers lost 2-0 and he also received a red card that season against Bury. After nine goals in 34 games at Neath, he added three in fourteen matches for Llanelli, also scoring against the Lithuanian side FK Tauras in the Europa League, and played once on loan at Aberystwyth. Chris Llewellyn also runs the organisation “Soccer Skills Swansea”. |
No 393. (Larry) Laurence Valentine Lloyd. 1968-69.
Born, 6.10.1948, Bristol. 6’ 2”; 12 st 4 lbs. Début: 10.8.68 v Watford. Career: Lockleaze School; Bristol Rovers (professional, 6.7.67) [43,1]; 23.4.69 Liverpool (£55,000) [150,4]; 20.8.74 Coventry City (£225,000) [50,5]; 1.10.76 Nottingham Forest (loan); 30.11.76 Nottingham Forest (£60,000) [148,6]; 1.3.81 Wigan Athletic (player-manager) [52,2]; 7.7.83 Notts County (team manager; manager, 1.7.84-21.10.84); 2009 Real Marbella (manager). Few players have enjoyed such an illustrious career after leaving Eastville as tall, dominant central defender Larry Lloyd. Tom Lloyd and René Linham had seven sons and a daughter, Marjorie, who was for a time Rovers’ club secretary, the fifth son Larry being a Gloucestershire Youth and Senior XI player. Breaking into Rovers’ side next to the giant Stuart Taylor, Lloyd scored once for Rovers, a twenty-fourth minute goal, Rovers’ third in a comfortable home win over Mansfield Town in March 1969, and his consistent form attracted the interest of Liverpool who paid Rovers what constituted the Pirates’ record club sale fee, scoring his first Liverpool goal in a 3-0 victory over Manchester City in February 1972. In May 1971, in a goalless draw with Wales, he won the first of four full England caps to add to England Youth appearances and eight games with the England Under-23 side. Over the next decade, he won major honours in football, although not before his harsh sending-off on the opening day of the 1972-73 season had been overturned in a landmark case, the first when the Football Association accepted television footage as evidence. Having played in the 1971 FA Cup Final, when two extra-time goals enabled Arsenal to defeat Liverpool 2-1 on a sunny Wembley afternoon, Lloyd won the League title in 1972-73 with Liverpool and was also a winner with the Reds in the 1973 UEFA Cup Final when they defeated the German side Borussia Mönchengladbach over two legs. After being sent off against Manchester United whilst with Coventry in August 1976, he secured a second League title with Brian Clough’s (1935-2004) unfashionable Forest side in 1977-78. As Forest swept all before them, Lloyd proved himself to be a lynchpin of their side. He scored in the European Cup quarter-final against Grasshoppers of Zurich in March 1979, Forest were League Cup winners at Wembley in both 1978 and 1979, beating his former club Liverpool in a Wembley replay in the former year and coming from behind to defeat Alan Ball’s Southampton in the latter and then, remarkably, European Cup winners in 1979 when they defeated Swedish club Malmö in Munich. Almost amazingly, this under-rated side set about defending their European title, Lloyd’s sixteenth-minute free-kick teeing up Trevor Francis’ critical goal at Dynamo Berlin in March 1980, which set them on course to retain their trophy by beating Hamburg in the final in Madrid. Later sent off at Eastville, when League newcomers Wigan were heavily defeated 4-0 in October 1982, Lloyd ran the “Stagedoor” pub in central Nottingham for eleven years, a village hotel near Nottingham and then a pub on the Costa Del Sol, where he now sells properties. His autobiography, “Hard Man, Hard Game” was published in 2009. A part-time football expert on Radio Trent, he married Susan Justice in 1969 and they have a son Damian and a daughter Yolanda. |
No 299. Maurice Reginald Lockier. 1949-50.
Born, 27.11.1924, Bristol. Died, 23.12.2001, Bristol. 6’; 11 st 6 lbs. Début: 1.5.50 v Northampton Town. Career: Derby County; Chester; 21.7.47 Bristol Rovers [2,0]; 2.5.52 Bath City; 20.7.56 Trowbridge Town (released, 29.3.57). Outside-left Maurice Lockier, who joined Rovers after seven years in the Army, played in a goalless draw with Northampton and a 1-0 win five days later at Reading. He is also credited with a goal when Rovers defeated Racing Club Haarlem 4-2 in August 1948 on the pre-season tour to Holland and a brace of goals in the Warminster Cup as Rovers beat Warminster Town 4-1 in April 1951. He was second highest scorer for Rovers’ reserves with nine goals during the 1948-49 campaign and, converted to full-back, partnered the former Rovers defender Ralph Jones at Trowbridge for most of 1956-57. The third of six children to George James Lockier (1892-1973) and Florence Emily Bessell (1895-1976), who married in Bristol in the autumn of 1916, Maurice Lockier married in 1949 Lilian Haines, the eldest of four children to Arthur Henry Haines (1903-76) and Lilian Elizabeth Caswell (1913-74). |
No 600. Matthew Dominic Lockwood. 1996-98.
Born, 17.10.1976, Rochford, Essex. 5’ 9”; 10 st 12 lbs. Début: 17.8.96 v Peterborough United. Career: 1987 West Ham United (schoolboy); 1993 Southend United; 2.5.95 Queen’s Park Rangers; 22.7.96 Bristol Rovers [58+5,1]; 10.8.98 Orient [278+9,39]; 5.7.07 Nottingham Forest [11,0]; 3.6.08 Colchester United (free) [6,0]; 2.2.09 Barnet (loan); 30.10.09 Dagenham and Redbridge (loan) [4,0]; 22.1.10 Barnet (loan) [31,2]; 21.8.10 Dundee (15.10.10 assistant manager) [105+2,9]; 10.6.14 Sutton United (player-coach, to 16.10.14). Shortly before Christmas 1996, when Rovers lost 4-3 at home to Wycombe Wanderers, left-back Matt Lockwood scored his only goal for the club. Rovers’ Young Player of the Year for 1996-97, he had not made the League side at Southend or Queen’s Park Rangers, although he was a team-mate of Rovers’ Steve Parmenter at both, and he had scored once in 17(+6) games as Queen’s Park Rangers reserves were Avon Insurance Division One champions in 1995-96. It was the charismatic persona of Ian Holloway which attracted him to Rovers, and Lockwood still mentions the former Rovers manager as an essential ingredient in his success on the football field. Making his début in the final game played by Rovers at Twerton Park, Lockwood provided the cross for Barry Hayles’ goal which took Rovers to the 1998-99 play-offs, but developed into a cultured penalty-taking left-back elsewhere. In the Orient side which knocked Rovers out of the League Cup in August 1998, he scored a penalty against Rovers on Boxing Day 2004 during almost a decade at Brisbane Road. Orient’s all-time record penalty scorer, he helped them to a Wembley play-off final in 1999, which was lost 1-0 to Scunthorpe United, and to promotion to League One in 2005-06. In PFA divisional sides in both 1999-2000 and 2005-06, despite missing most of 2001-02 after rupturing his spleen against York City, he scored an eleven-minute hat-trick against Gillingham in September 2006, as Orient fought back from 3-0 down to draw and was sent off at Torquay, along with Tony Bedeau, in September 2003. A team-mate of Junior Agogo at Forest, he made his Dagenham début against Port Vale and conceded what were apparently the first two penalties of his career in the space of four minutes at home to Dunfermline in October 2010. Reliable from the spot, he missed penalties for Dundee against Morton on Boxing Day 2011 and Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup a fortnight later, and lost the rôle at Dens Park, before being sent off in a 5-0 defeat against Celtic in February 2013. Married to Sally and with daughters Bella and Heidi, Matt Lockwood, a non-smoker and teetotaller and a director of the company Scotland Golf Holidays, was a pivotal figure in the Dundee side which suffered relegation from the Scottish Premier League in the spring of 2013. Twelve months later they returned to the Premier League as champions, despite nearest rivals Hamilton Academical scoring ten against Morton on a frenetic final day of the campaign. He appeared in nine Nationwide South matches with Sutton United and now runs Scotland Golf Holidays. |
No 845. Thomas Alun Lockyer. 2012-18.
Born, 3.12.1994, Cardiff. 6’; 12 st 6 lbs. Début: 12.1.13 v Fleetwood Town. Career: 2003 Cardiff City (Academy, 2006); 2010 Bristol Rovers (professional, 18.4.13) [203+8,5]; 10.11.11 Basingstoke Town (loan); 28.6.19 Charlton Athletic (free) [43,1]; 1.9.20 Luton Town (free) [45+4,1]. As Rovers strolled to a morale-boosting 3-0 away victory in the struggle against relegation, newly re-appointed manager John Ward gave a début to Tom Lockyer, who replaced Ellis Harrison with five minutes remaining. Lockyer was to appear in a spate of cameo appearances from the bench as Rovers enjoyed a successful conclusion to a previously disappointing campaign. The young Welshman had made his début for the Under-18 side against Swansea City in March 2011 and had played 39 times for that side prior to his League bow, the most recent of his four goals coming from Dominic Thomas’ cross in a 1-1 draw at Torquay in November 2012. The son of Stephen Lockyer and Ann Chappell, he had also made 3(+1) appearances in Rovers’ 2012 pre-season games and played for the reserve side in the autumn of 2012 against both Bournemouth reserves and Cheltenham Town reserves, as well as playing for Basingstoke in the FA Cup against Brentford in November 2011. Tom Lockyer was a major figure in the Rovers Under-18 side which secured the league and cup double in 2012-13 and he scored twice as that side defeated Rovers Legends 3-0 in Lewis Haldane’s testimonial game at the end of the same season. A strong display at the heart of Rovers’ side in the League Cup defeat against Watford in August 2013, during which he set up Eliot Richards’ consolation goal four minutes before half-time, heralded a run partnering Oli Norburn in central midfield and a first goal for the club, heading home Lee Brown’s left-wing cross after just 96 seconds of the 1-0 home victory over Northampton Town. As Rovers lost their League status, Lockyer was named The Supporters’ Club Young Player of the Year for 2013-14; he won the award again in 2016-17. His winning goal in the critical six-pointer at Grimsby on Valentine’s Day 2015 reopened Rovers’ promotion push in earnest, prompting manager Darrell Clarke to praise his work ethic, saying that “he’ll kick his own grandma if it means winning a football match”. That campaign, Rovers pushed hard for an immediate return to the Football League, Lockyer appearing in 44 Conference matches, scoring just the once, as the Gas finished one point behind champions Barnet; he played in the Wembley play-off final in May 2015 as Rovers dramatically secured promotion back to League football. On-field success with Rovers was rewarded with a first cap for Wales at Under-21 level in the goalless draw with Denmark in October 2015; he was named the Football League Young Player of the Month in December 2015. Astonishingly, Rovers pushed for an unpredicted second successive promotion, achieved through a dramatic final-day victory over relegated Dagenham at a heaving Memorial Stadium in May 2016. With eight minutes remaining Lockyer cleared a shot off Rovers’ goal-line, prior to Lee Brown firing home an injury-time winner to send Rovers rapturously into League One on goal difference. He conceded an own goal at home to Scunthorpe United in February 2017, as Rovers drew a fifth consecutive League One fixture and his impressive form in the third tier earned a first call-up to the full Wales squad in the summer of 2017 and he won the first of thirteen full caps as a half-time replacement for Ben Davies in the 1-1 draw with Panama in November of that year. Captaining Rovers, he received a red card during extra time of the League Cup-tie at Wolves in September 2017. Having played over 200 times in the League for Rovers and already represented his country, Lockyer was only twenty-four when he left the club. His only League goal for Charlton was a late equaliser at home to Premier League-bound West Bromwich Abion in January 2020. Despite a late-season injury in the spring of 2021, Lockyer made the Welsh squad for the delayed Euro 2020 championships, although he did not get on the pitch. During 2021-22 Luton Town made an inspired bid for the play-offs, Lockyer scoring against Bristol City in January 2022 but also featuring in the 7-0 thrashing by champions Fulham that May; the Hatters did indeed make the play-offs, but lost over two legs to Huddersfield Town. |
No 975. Ryan Loft. 2022-
Born, 14.9.1997, Gravesend, Kent. 6‘ 3“; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 15.1.22 v Hartlepool United. Career: Northfleet Technology College; Dartford; Ebbsfleet United; June 2013 Tottenham Hotspur (professional, 28.7.15); 4.3.16 Braintree Town (loan); 7.1.17 Stevenage (loan) [0+9,0]; 22.1.18 Exeter City (loan) [1,0]; 14.7.18 Leicester City (free); 2.8.19 Carlisle United (loan) [9+17,4]; 31.8.20 Scunthorpe United (free) [46+9,12]; 4.1.22 Bristol Rovers (£50,000) [2+11,1]. Requiring a target man to turn around the club’s first season in the fourth tier, Rovers signed Ryan Loft, leading scorer at divisional rivals Scunthorpe United. A school high jump champion, Loft had come through the ranks at Spurs, for whom he appeared in three Football League Trophy matches, scoring at Luton in August 2017, and at Leicester, for whose Under-21 side he scored three goals in three Football League Trophy appearances. Loan spells at Stevenage, where his first League experience came as a seventy-fourth-minute substitute for Tyler Walker in a home fixture with Newport County in January 2017, and Exeter soon followed, although forty-five minutes constituted his career at St James’ Park, being substituted by Hiram Boateng at half-time in the February 2018 League Two home game with Mansfield Town. Having scored League goals for Carlisle against Scunthorpe, Macclesfield, Port Vale and Walsall, it was the first of these that he next joined, contributing goals regularly in a struggling side. Prior to joining Rovers, he scored twice after half-time as a substitute, enabling Scunthorpe to defeat fellow strugglers Oldham Athletic 3-1 on Boxing Day 2021, but leaving the club with The Iron occupying one of the two relegation places. Loft was well known to Rovers’ manager Joey Barton, having scored twice against Barton’s Fleetwood in September 2018 for Leicester City’s Under-21 side, in a match which saw the former Rovers defender Cian Bolger sent off. Although he struggled for goals at The Mem, one ebullient performance at Stevenage saw Loft’s emphatic strike rebound from the crossbar during a strong performance. Finally, when it arrived, Loft’s goal for Rovers was a critical one, a well-struck injury-time goal to secure a critical victory at Vale Park in the promotion six-pointer with Port Vale on Easter Monday 2022, Rovers progressing from that to secure a dramatic final-day promotion to League One. Retained for the following campaign in League One, Loft hit a run of goals through the autumn of 2022, one being a last-gasp equaliser at Exeter City which hinted at becoming a pivotal moment in revitalising Rovers’ dwindling League fortunes. |
No 54. James Lofthouse. 1923-26.
Born, 24.3.1894, St Helens. Died, 15.7.1954, Windsor. 5’ 6”; 11 st 4 lbs. Début: 8.12.23 v Northampton Town. Career: Windmill Villa; Cabbage Hall; Parr Rovers; St Helens Recreation; April 1913 Stalybridge Celtic; 5.5.13 Reading; 19.7.20 Sheffield Wednesday (£650) [95,13]; 8.3.23 Rotherham County (£900) [27,7]; 1.12.23 Bristol Rovers (£350) [105,15]; 21.5.26 Queen’s Park Rangers (free) [80,30]; August 1928 Aldershot Town (free); 1.9.34 GPO (Reading). Any career of over 400 top-class games is substantial and Rovers were fortunate to benefit from the services of this experienced if diminutive left-winger. The younger of two children to Thomas Lofthouse and Jane Knowles, who had married in 1887, Jimmy Lofthouse grew up at 179 City Road, St Helens and worked as a sand wheeler. Either side of World War One he scored seventeen goals in 102 Southern League games with Reading, contributing goals against Rovers in Reading’s 2-1 win in October 1913 and their 3-1 win in March 1915, and played as a wartime guest for Manchester United. He also scored eight London Combination goals during 1915-16 for Reading, including a hat-trick as Luton Town were defeated 4-2 in February 1916. His time at Rotherham included a League brace against both Derby County in March 1923 Barrow the following November. On the back of much experience, he arrived at Eastville in 1923 only to break his elbow after just thirty-five minutes of the game with Luton Town. Returning to the side, he gave ample service, his nine League goals in 1925-26 including five goals away from home and he scored against his former club Reading at Eastville on Good Friday 1926. He also contributed the cross that led to the first-minute own goal by Southend United’s Ernie Edwards at Eastville in December 1925. Having already set up a goal for the former Rovers player Jonah Wilcox in March 1927, whilst playing for QPR against Rovers, Lofthouse then added two goals of his own as Rangers defeated Rovers in February 1928. He married Annie Dorothy Eynott (1894-1959) in 1919 and, after becoming a steward at the Tilehurst Constitutional Club in Reading he worked for many years as a postman, before running a pub in Aldershot; he was buried, four days after his death, in the churchyard at St John the Baptist, Crowthorne. |
No 800. Conrad Joseph Logan. 2010-11.
Born, 18.4.1986, Ramelton, Co Donegal. 6’ 2”; 14 st. Début: 19.2.11 v Oldham Athletic. Career: St Mary’s, Ramelton; St Eunan’s College, Letterkenny; 2002 Swilly Rovers; 1.7.04 Leicester City [21+2,0]; 23.12.05 Boston United (loan) [13,0]; 9.8.07 Stockport County (loan); 13.1.09 Luton Town (loan) [22,0]; 27.3.09 Stockport County (loan) [41,0]; 18.2.11 Bristol Rovers (loan) [16,0]; 12.7.11 Rotherham United (loan) [19,0]; 18.8.14 Rochdale (loan) [19,0] (released by Leicester City, 11.5.15); 30.3.16 Hibernian (free) [2,0]; 10.8.16 Rochdale (free) [24,0]; 10.5.17 Mansfield Town (free) [84,0]; 24.1.20 Forest Green Rovers (loan) [5,0]; 19.11.20 Anstey Nomads (player-coach; 1.7.21 Director of Football); 14.1.21 Stamford (trial). Rovers’ 800th Football League débutant, tall Irish goalkeeper Conrad Logan made his first appearance in a much-needed victory over Oldham, courtesy of René Howe’s 73rd-minute goal. Rovers had conceded 27 goals in ten matches prior to his arrival and Logan shored up a leaky defence, yet the side nonetheless suffered relegation to the basement division that spring. Joe Logan, his father, had been a goal-scoring midfielder at Sligo Rovers and Finn Harps, scoring 47 Irish League goals for the latter between 1975 and 1986 and playing in the infamous 12-0 defeat against Derby County in 1976. Conrad Logan, a Republic of Ireland Youth international and horse-racing afficionado, was Leicester’s longest serving player, having made his début in the League Cup against Macclesfield in August 2006 and his League bow against Colchester the following month. The majority of his time, though, had been spent on loan elsewhere, including his very first League appearance for Boston at Lincoln on Boxing Day 2005. With Stockport he had played at Wembley in a play-off final, defeating Rochdale 3-2 to gain promotion, although he was also sent off at home to Bury. In November 2008 he had saved three penalties in Luton’s shoot-out against Altrincham, even if he then missed that season’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final, in which the Hatters defeated Scunthorpe United 3-2. Logan had played for both Stockport and Boston against Rovers and had conceded twenty goals in only seven League and Cup games for Leicester in 2010-11, including a 6-1 defeat at Portsmouth. On Rotherham’s bench when Rovers defeated the Millers 5-2 at The Mem in October 2011, he conceded an own goal at Northampton a fortnight later. He did not feature in Leicester’s side as they ran away with the second-tier title in 2013-14 to secure a return to Premier League action and secured a dramatic escape from potential relegation twelve months later, but saved penalties in consecutive League fixtures with Rochdale. Astonishingly, after sixteen months without a game, Logan was offered a chance with Hibs and saved two penalties in a shoot-out on his début, as the Edinburgh side defeated Dundee United in a Scottish Cup semi-final. Having only appeared in two League matches, he then played in both legs of the scintillating play-off semi-finals which were lost 5-4 on aggregate to Falkirk in an exciting finish, before playing in the Scottish Cup Final, in which Hibernian defeated Rangers 3-2 to win the cup for the first time in 114 years. The following year he helped unfashionable Rochdale to the League One play-offs, before joining Mansfield Town on the day they released the former Rovers goalkeeper Scott Shearer, only for the Stags to miss out on promotion to League One on the final day of the 2018-19 season and then lose to Newport County in the play-offs. With Graham Coughlan in charge, he was loaned out to Forest Green Rovers and then worked for many years, training younger players at Anstey Nomads, for whom he played in a televised FA Cup fourth-round-qualifying tie against Chesterfield in October 2022. |
No 676. Rik Alexander Lopez. 2001-02.
Born, 25.12.1979, Northwick Park. 5’ 10”; 11 st 4 lbs. Début: 27.8.01 v Darlington. Career: 1996 Arsenal (schoolboy); Queen’s Park Rangers (professional, 1.3.97); 2000 Watford (trial); July 2001 Colchester United (trial); 9.8.01 Bristol Rovers (free) [5+2,0] (released, 18.3.02). Arriving at the Memorial Stadium on the back of seven youth games at Arsenal and no experience with Queen’s Park Rangers, left-sided midfielder Rik Lopez suffered a troublesome calf problem whilst with Rovers. Coming on as substitute for Scott Jones on his début, he was used primarily at left-back, ultimately losing his place to Trevor Challis. The son of Richard Lopez and Kathleen White, he married Karie Lopez and lives in Weighton Road, Harrow, Middlesex, where he has worked since February 2007 for Arlo Cleaning Limited. |
No 742. Jefferson Lee Louis. 2004-06.
Born, 22.2.1979, Harrow, Middlesex. 6’ 2”; 12 st 5 lbs. Début: 7.5.05 v Wycombe Wanderers. Career: Aylesbury West Indies; Risborough Rangers; 1.8.00 Thame United; 28.3.02 Oxford United [18+37,7]; 2.8.03 Woking (loan); 28.8.04 Gravesend and Northfleet (loan); 24.9.04 Forest Green Rovers (free); 3.12.04 Woking (free); 6.5.05 Bristol Rovers (trial) [3+6,0]; 1.11.05 Hemel Hempstead Town (free); 14.11.05 Lewes (free); 4.12.05 Worthing (free); 29.12.05 Stevenage Borough (free); 1.8.06 Eastleigh; 16.9.06 Yeading; 24.12.06 Havant and Waterlooville; 28.6.07 Weymouth; 5.1.08 Maidenhead United (free); 30.1.08 Mansfield Town (free); 6.6.08 Wrexham (free); 25.5.09 Crawley Town (free); 12.11.09 Rushden and Diamonds (loan); 19.6.10 Gainsborough Trinity (free); 8.10.10 Darlington (loan); 3.1.11 Weymouth; 21.1.11 Hayes and Yeading; 14.3.11 Maidenhead United; 27.8.11 Brackley Town; 31.1.12 Lincoln City (free); 16.7.12 Newport County (free); 23.11.12 Whitehawk (loan); 11.1.13 Brackley Town (free); 15.7.13 Hendon (free); 21.2.14 Margate (free); 11.6.14 Lowestoft Town (free); 14.12.14 Wealdstone (free); 3.6.16 Staines Town (free); 14.10.16 Oxford City (free); 5.6.17 Banbury United (free); 15.12.17 Chesham United (free); 18.5.18 Farnborough (free); 22.9.18 Chesham United (free); 18.12.18 Hendon (player-coach); 1.7.19 Chesham United (free); 13.9.19 Hampton and Richmond Borough (free); 24.12.19 St Albans City (free); 8.9.20 Beaconsfield Town (free); 29.10.21 North Leigh (free); 14.7.22 Risborough Rangers (free); 1.11.22 Thame United (free). “All I ever wanted to do was play football”, said tall, gangly striker Jefferson Louis who, brought up in Harlesden and then Aylesbury by a single mother Lorna Max, took his father’s surname and was named by his uncle Charles after a former American president. His incredibly varied, nomadic and peripatetic footballing career included a brief spell with Rovers and an international cap for Dominica, partnering his cousin Richard Pacquette of Havant and Waterlooville in attack in a 1-0 defeat against Barbados in Bridgetown in a World Cup qualifying tie in March 2008. A spell at Oxford early in Louis’ career, beginning with a League début in a 2-1 defeat at home to Darlington in April 2002, had included three appearances against Rovers and a goal at The Mem in December 2002, a heroic performance in the penalty shoot-out against Charlton in the League Cup and semi-naked celebrations live on BBC’s Match of the Day after Oxford had drawn his boyhood favourites Arsenal in the next round of the FA Cup. After eight goals in two spells at Woking in 29(+2) Conference games, playing alongside Justin Richards in the second stint, Louis added two goals in 3(+2) games for Gravesend, nineteen in 49 matches with Risborough Rangers and three in 21(+2) for Forest Green, plus an FA Cup goal against Bournemouth in November 2004. The Jefferson Louis story is one of huge highs and lows; in 2001 he was imprisoned in Woodhill Prison for six months for driving offences, during which time his pregnant girlfriend lost their baby and the couple split up. He scored for Rovers against Hereford United in a pre-season friendly in July 2005 and appeared in the first four home fixtures of the 2005-06 campaign. After his time at Rovers, Louis played for an almost unfathomable quantity of clubs, scoring in his only game for Hemel Hempstead, adding two games at Lewes, six games and two goals for Worthing, six goals in 18 matches at Stevenage before a final-day red card at Forest Green, one goals in six starts at Eastleigh, eight matches and four goals for Yeading, five goals in twenty matches for Havant and seven goals in 16(+6) fixtures with Weymouth. A belated return to Conference football in 2008 added four goals in eighteen games with Mansfield and fifteen in 42 for Wrexham as well as five goals in eighteen matches at Crawley and seven in 26 games for Rushden, who lost in the Conference play-offs in 2009-10. Whilst at Rushden, Louis was sent off at Mansfield, but scored twice in the 8-0 thumping of Gateshead. After this, he scored once in nine games for Gainsborough, appeared six times in the Conference for Darlington, added one goal in ten games in the same league at Hayes, three in twelve at Maidenhead, thirteen in just eight matches in his first spell for Brackley, six in fourteen Conference fixtures for Lincoln and appeared 11(+6) times in the Conference for Newport. He added a headed goal after just nineteen seconds for Lincoln in their 3-3 draw at home to Braintree in February 2012 but, unable to find the net at Newport, was released by the South Walian club. In December 2012 he scored a hat-trick after coming on as a substitute, as Whitehawk defeated Enfield Town 6-0. After four goals in six matches at Whitehawk, he added a further five in nineteen Nationwide North fixtures in a second stint at Brackley and added a goal in each leg of the play-off semi-finals against Altrincham, although the final was lost to Halifax. After 25 games and 22 goals with Hendon, he scored four times in seven Ryman Premier League appearances with Margate and three times in fifteen matches with Lowestoft. Over Easter weekend 2015, Louis scored a first-half hat-trick at Farnborough before being sent off in Wealdstone’s home fixture against Ebbsfleet. He scored twenty-three times in 42(+16) Nationwide South appearances with Wealdstone, where he played alongside Scott McGleish and Scott Davies. After three goals in ten Isthmian League games with Staines, he scored on his Oxford City début away to Poole Town, again playing alongside Davies, totalling eight goal in 25(+4) Nationwide South games with City and added seventeen goals in 27 matches at Banbury and twenty in 48(+15) at Chesham; he added a hat-trick for Hendon as relegated Staines Town were defeated 7-0 in April 2019. His solitary goal in six Nationwide North matches for Hampton and Richmond Borough came in November 2019 against Weymouth. It took just four minutes for forty-year-old Louis to score for North Leigh, the first of two début goals against Biggleswade Town in the autumn of 2021; he played regularly all season in the Southern League, scoring a thirty-five-yard goal in the December 7-0 thrashing of Kidlington. Astonishingly, substitute Louis, aged forty-three, scored twice in stoppage time in May 2022, as North Leigh recovered from two goals down to defeat Ware 4-2 in their Southern League play-off final. A BBC report described him a “the world’s most-transferred player”. He now works in a child referral unit. |
No 599. Joshua David Low. 1995-99.
Born, 15.2.1979, Bristol. 6’ 1”; 11 st 12 lbs. Début: 4.5.96 v Wycombe Wanderers. Career: Henbury School; Manor Farm Boys’ Club; St Vallier; 1990 Bristol Rovers (professional, 19.8.96) [11+11,0]; 27.11.98 Farnborough Town (loan); 26.2.99 Portsmouth (loan); 27.5.99 Orient [2+3,1]; 16.10.99 Cardiff City (loan); 16.11.99 Cardiff City (free) [54+21,6]; 29.7.02 Oldham Athletic (trial); 12.8.02 Oldham Athletic (free) [19+2,3]; 30.7.03 Northampton Town (£165,000) [92+12,15]; 22.6.06 Leicester City (free) [12+4,0]; 4.1.07 Peterborough United (free) [26+8,3]; 1.9.08 Cheltenham Town (free) [101+20,14]; 14.11.08 Forest Green Rovers (loan); 7.6.12 Bath City (free) (retired, 19.6.14). Tenth youngest League débutant for Rovers, tall midfielder Josh Low, a fast, skilful player, appeared at Twerton Park in the final ninety seconds of the 1995-96 season, becoming Rovers’ last substitute at that ground and their first at the Mem. A keen tennis, golf and snooker player, he scored in a friendly against Clevedon Town in August 1996 and twice against Shortwood twelve months later, but never for Rovers in the Football League. His burgeoning club form earned Low a call-up for the Welsh squad in a spring 1997 tournament in Italy. Having made his first full start in a 2-1 win at Preston in November 1997, he became, for a second bookable offence after 71 minutes, the fourth Rovers player sent off on a controversial night at Wigan a fortnight later, as seven-man Rovers lost 3-0. Four Wales Under-21 caps followed, the first in a 3-0 defeat against Portugal in Braganza. After 3(+1) Conference games and two goals at Farnborough and a loan swap with Martin Phillips to Pompey, Low endured a long, protracted transfer to Orient, where he teamed up with Matt Lockwood. Relegation with Cardiff was followed by reaching the play-offs with Oldham before he joined John Taylor and became Northampton’s record signing. The disappointment of a failed play-off in 2003-04 was succeeded by promotion to League One in 2005-06, Low being selected for the PFA divisional team of that season, and he was again promoted to League One the following campaign with Peterborough. He was a team-mate of Julian Alsop at Rovers, Northampton and Cheltenham. In a fruitful spell at Whaddon Road, Low also played alongside Rovers names in Steve Elliott and Daryl Duffy, playing against Rovers twice, being sent off at Huddersfield in March 2009 and appearing in the astonishing 6-5 win at Burton Albion in March 2010. Admired for his dribbling skills by Cheltenham supporters, he was “a classy act with intelligence to match” (Murry Toms). By the time of the play-off final at Wembley in May 2012, which was lost 2-0 to Crewe, Low was out of the squad and, after 3(+1) Conference games for Forest Green, heading for Bath City, where he combined playing with his growing career in law at the Gloucester-based solicitors Iacopi Palmer and later the Bristol-based firm Clarke Willmott. Over two campaigns, he scored nine goals in 48(+19) Conference South matches for the Romans, hitting three goals in January 2013 alone, against Hayes and Yeading, Basingstoke Town and Weston-super-Mare. Josh Low is married to Victoria and, living in Bristol, they have three children, one son Joe, a Welsh Under-19 international, making his début for Bristol City at Middlesbrough in November 2022; Josh’s sister is engaged to Jon French. |
No 858. James Alexander Lucas. 2013-17.
Born, 6.12.1995, Pontypridd. 6’ 2½”; 12 st 7 lbs. Début: 21.4.14 v Rochdale. Career: Bristol Rovers Central; 3.7.12 Bristol Rovers (professional, 20.4.13) [0+3,0]; 8.8.14 Weston-super-Mare (loan); 27.11.14 Gloucester City (loan); 12.2.15 Weston-super-Mare (loan); 7.8.15 Boreham Wood (loan); 1.10.15 Boreham Wood (loan); 15.1.16 Boreham Wood (loan); 31.8.16 Boreham Wood (loan); 17.3.17 Woking (loan); 23.5.17 Bath City (free); 6.12.17 Brackley Town (free); 21.6.18 Weston-super-Mare (free); 21.5.19 Halesowen Town (free); 5.11.19 Redditch United (loan); 20.1.20 Evesham United (loan); 16.9.20 Evesham United (free); 22.6.22 Worcester Raiders (free). Despite the paucity of his Rovers appearances, Jamie Lucas played for Rovers in two separate spells of League football and appeared in the 2015-16 League Two promotion season. Welsh-born, but brought up in Bromsgrove, bustling, old-fashioned-style centre-forward Lucas was a product of Rovers’ Henley-in-Arden nursery club set up by Paul Molesworth. An impressive tally of 28 goals in 43(+7) appearances for the Under-18 side included nine cup goals alone in 2012-13, this figure incorporating braces against both Portsmouth and Cheltenham Town as the side secured the League and Cup double, and ten goals in 2013-14 in all competitions. Having first been an unused substitute against Scunthorpe United in August 2013, he played in the final eleven minutes, replacing Tom Parkes, as Rovers lost 2-1 at home to promotion-chasing Rochdale on Easter Monday 2014 and appeared in the final four minutes of the 1-1 draw at Plymouth in September 2015, as well as eighteen minutes of a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie that November at Southend. A Weston début against Bishop’s Stortford preceded goals against Farnborough, Staines Town, Hemel Hempstead and Ebbsfleet United in nine Conference South matches and he returned to Rovers in time to score in the reserves’ 4-3 defeat at home to Exeter City in November 2014. Lucas played in 0(+4) Conference North games with Gloucester City and scored a ten-minute hat-trick as Weston won 4-3 at Bishop’s Stortford in a Nationwide South fixture in February 2015, scoring thirteen times in 21 games for the Seagulls and being voted divisional Player of the Month for February. During pre-season 2015 he completed a hat-trick, including two penalties, as Rovers won 7-0 at Cirencester Town, and scored against Halifax on his first appearance for Boreham Wood, for whom his 21(+13) Conference appearances in three spells brought eight goals, including two against Dover Athletic on Easter Monday 2016. He scored twice, once each against Barrow and Maidstone, in 6(+3) Conference matches with Woking, added three goals in 5(+8) games at Bath and made 0(+5) appearances at Nationwide South Brackley. When Weston drew 2-2 with Salisbury in the FA Cup in the autumn of 2018, Lucas went in goal after custodian Luke Purnell had been sent off eight minutes before half-time, yet still took and scored a penalty for his side’s second goal; Weston were relegated that season from Nationwide South, despite his four goals in 16(+12) League matches. He was to play eight times for Halesowen, nine times with one goal for Redditch, and 16(+3) times, scoring six goals, over two seasons with Evesham, struggling with injury during 2021-22. |
No 889. Joseph Patrick Lumley. 2016-17.
Born, 15.2.1995, Harlow. GK 6’ 2”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 21.1.17 v Walsall. Career: Tottenham Hotspur (schoolboy); 30.6.10 Queen’s Park Rangers (free) [76+1,0]; 7.3.14 Bishop’s Stortford (loan); 23.8.14 Accrington Stanley (loan) [5,0]; 7.11.14 Morecambe (loan); 7.10.15 Stevenage (loan); 18.1.17 Bristol Rovers (loan) [19,0]; 8.1.18 Blackpool (loan) [17,0]; 29.10.20 Gillingham (loan) [2,0]; 20.11.20 Doncaster Rovers (loan) [8,0]; 19.5.21 Middlesbrough (free) [34,0]; 19.6.22 Reading (loan). With Rovers facing a sixth consecutive away defeat in the League, goalkeeper Joe Lumley was thrown into the side for the trip to Walsall; the Gas lost 3-1. A long-term reserve at Queen’s Park Rangers, Lumley had enjoyed one game in their League side, a 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers in January 2016, having first appeared for the club in the FA Cup at Nottingham Forest earlier that week. Loan spells had offered him four Conference North games with Bishop’s Stortford, a League bow in Stanley’s 2-1 defeat at Bury in August 2014, a final Stanley appearance in an exciting 5-4 victory at Northampton Town the following month and an FA Cup outing with Morecambe. However, that match, at which the goalkeeper on the Morecambe bench was the former Rovers custodian Lee Jones, resulted in a 1-0 defeat to non-league Dover Athletic and Lumley never appeared in the League for the Shrimpers or for Stevenage. His Blackpool début saw him keep a clean sheet on Rovers’ visit to Bloomfield Road and he was in goal in February 2019 when QPR, having trailed 4-0 before half-time, clawed back three goals and then missed a last-minute penalty which would have earned an unexpected point at home to Birmingham City. Lumley helped Boro on an unexpected run to the FA Cup quarter-finals in 2021-22, defeating Manchester United and Spurs in the process. |
No 826. Matthew Charles Lund. 2011-13.
Born, 21.11.1990, Manchester. 5’ 7”; 9 st 6 lbs. Début: 11.2.12 v Morecambe. Career: Crewe Alexandra; 1.7.09 Stoke City; 23.11.10 Hereford United (loan) [2+1,0]; 28.7.11 Oldham Athletic (loan) [1+1,0]; 30.1.12 Bristol Rovers (loan); 26.7.12 Bristol Rovers (loan) [23+8,4]; 15.2.13 Southend United (loan) [10+2,1]; 21.6.13 Rochdale (free); 19.5.17 Burton Albion (free) [10+2,1]; 26.1.18 Bradford City (loan) [7+3,2]; 3.8.18 Scunthorpe United (free) [38+6,6]; 31.1.20 Rochdale (free) [137+12,32]; 1.7.21 Salford City (free) [33+7,7]. Dario Gradi’s Crewe academy produced many footballers, one being midfielder Matt Lund, whose creativity and poise added to the team during a bleak period in the club’s history. As Rovers plummeted to the foot of the basement division over Christmas 2012, his consistency was critical to hopes of survival and, when he was recalled by his mother-club after the New Year’s Day 2013 victory over Plymouth, this represented a major blow to Rovers. On the bench at Premier League Stoke, he scored twice as their reserves defeated Portsmouth reserves 4-0 in March 2010 and was farmed out to Hereford, where he was booked on his League bow against Bradford City, and Oldham, for whom he first appeared in a pre-season friendly against Fleetwood Town. Club form earned a cap for Northern Ireland Under-21s against Wales in February 2011 and he missed Rovers’ draw with Aldershot in September 2012 to win a second cap against Macedonia. Booked as a substitute in his first two Rovers games, Lund also won a penalty on his début, converted by Scott McGleish. As Rovers ended the season in style, defeating Burton Albion 7-1 and Accrington Stanley 5-1, Lund became only the fourth Rovers player to score twice in a match as a substitute, registering after 58 and 78 minutes in the latter fixture. Sent off at Wycombe in December 2012 for a last-minute foul on Stuart Lewis, Lund scored a potentially critical goal with a stunning 25th-minute volley against Plymouth, to ensure victory in his final appearance in a Rovers shirt. He scored on his Southend début against Northampton Town and, omitted from the squad for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at Wembley, was booked in the end-of-season goalless draw with Rovers. The 2013-14 campaign saw Lund again appear against Rovers and he was in the Dale side which defeated Leeds United 2-0 in the third round of the FA Cup in January 2014, as well as being sent off against Northampton Town; more critically for Rovers supporters, his winning goal on Easter Monday at The Mem put Rovers’ Football League status in great jeopardy, Rovers crashing out of the League on goal difference just weeks later. His renewed good form at Rochdale earned call-ups to the full Northern Ireland squad in the autumn of 2014 and again two years later, when he sat on the bench for the opening game of World Cup 2018 qualifiers in Prague. That elusive first cap came in November 2016, when he played the first-half of a friendly against Croatia in Belfast. Despite being sent off against Gillingham, he enjoyed a productive 2014-15 campaign in League One with Rochdale, where he established himself as a regular. He played for Rochdale and Scunthorpe against Rovers and scored a League One hat-trick that December for Dale at Northampton Town, as his side reached the play-offs. Later, he suffered consecutive relegations with Burton from the Championship in 2017-18 and Scunthorpe from League One in 2018-19. He scored a hat-trick of close-range finishes, as Scunthorpe beat Alfreton Town 4-1 in a pre-season friendly in July 2019, but was sent off at home to both Bradford City and Port Vale that season. The following campaign, despite his first-half goal, Rochdale lost at home to Stockport County in a November 2020 FA Cup-tie and were relegated, along with Rovers, to the fourth tier. He was in the Salford side knocked out of the FA Cup in December 2021 by non-league Chesterfield. |
No 36. Frederick Levi Lunn. 1922-23.
Born, 8.11.1895, Marsden, Yorkshire. Died, 2.2.1972, Huddersfield. 5’ 11”; 10 st 11 lbs. Début: 26.8.22 v Portsmouth. Career: Marsden; August 1920 Huddersfield Town (professional, 10.9.20) [6,2]; August 1921 Sheffield Wednesday [11,4]; 18.5.22 Bristol Rovers [31,10]; June 1923 Southend United [7,2]; 21.8.24 Nuneaton Town (to November 1924). Rovers’ leading goal-scorer in 1922-23, his ten goals coming, as with David Mehew in the 1989-90 season, in separate League fixtures, tall forward Fred Lunn nonetheless did not live up to expectations and was released in favour of the more experienced Tommy Howarth. He scored on his home début, but Rovers accumulated just 35 goals in 42 League fixtures and conceded only 36, both club records which lasted for more than fifty years. Lunn, who had also scored in Rovers’ friendly against North Somerset in November 1922 at Midsomer Norton, made his Southend début against Reading in January 1924 and scored for the Shrimpers in a 4-1 defeat at Watford and a 2-1 loss at Swansea in the spring of 1924. He had earlier burst into Wednesday’s side on the back of 24 Midland League goals for their reserves, including two hat-tricks in three matches over Christmas 1921. Five Southern League matches with Nuneaton included a goal in the 3-1 victory in October 1924 away to Guildford United, a header ten minutes before half-time. The second of four surviving children of Levi Lunn (1848-1909) and Sarah Jane Whitwam, he was brought up at Bethel Buildings in Netherton, married Clarissa Haigh (1910-1961) in 1933 and had two sons and two daughters. |
No 315. Michael Charles Lyons. 1953-54.
Born, 31.1.1932, Bristol. Died, 28.2.2017, Bristol. 5’ 11½”; 12 st 4 lbs. Début: 14.11.53 v Swansea City. Career: Bristol City (professional, June 1950) [2,0]; 8.7.53 Bristol Rovers (free) [2,0]; 5.7.56 Bournemouth [105,0]; 30.10.59 Swindon Town (£1,000) [2,0]; 12.7.60 Yeovil Town (retired, 1962); 1965 Bristol Rovers (trainer; reserve team manager, 1974; trainer, January 1980); 1980 Bath City (trainer-coach); Forest Green Rovers (assistant manager); 1987 Bath City (trainer-coach); 30.3.97 Almondsbury Town (chairman, 30.10.97). Tough-tackling Mike Lyons was the first of several replacements for the injured Geoff Bradford in Rovers’ first Second Division campaign. Initially a forward, he was converted into a defensive rôle and forged a strong full-back partnership at Dean Court with Arnold Woollard, although he never played for Bournemouth against Rovers. He was described as “one of the most consistent full-backs in Division Three football “ (Western Gazette, 15.7.60) and made his Yeovil bow in a 2-0 victory over Cambridge City in August 1960, the game in which Tony Pounder’s father scored his first Southern League goal. Having carried out his National Service in the Army Medical Corps, Lyons helped Yeovil secure the Southern League Cup in 1960-61 and played in their side which won an FA Cup-tie 1-0 at Walsall that December, before he established himself as a self-employed insurance broker. For many years on Rovers’ books in a variety of capacities, he was secretary of the Rovers’ Ex-Players’ Club in the late 1960s. The second son of Frederick Lyons (1897-1978) and Olive Maggs (1904-1961), who married in Chipping Sodbury in the spring of 1924, Lyons was the godfather of Anthony Pulis who, along with his father Tony Pulis, also played for Rovers. He died at the age of eighty-five and was cremated at Westerleigh. |
No 450. Philip Lythgoe. 1978-79.
Born, 18.12.1959, Norwich. 5’ 9½”; 11 st. Début: 23.9.78 v Wrexham. Career: Sprowston Junior School; Thorpe Grammar School; Bolton Wanderers (trial); 1974 Norwich Schoolboys; 3.5.75 Norwich City (apprentice, 7.8.76; professional, 23.12.77) [9+3,1]; 22.9.78 Bristol Rovers (loan) [6,0]; 12.8.80 Oxford United (£15,000) [23+5,3]; 1982 Rangers, Hong Kong; July 1982 Witney Town; 1983 Gorleston; October 1983 Lowestoft Town; October 1985 Poringland; 4.1.92 Wroxham (to September 1993); 2005 Norwich City (commercial department; player liaison officer, 24.2.13). Teenage loan signing Philip Lythgoe joined Rovers at the start of his career and was only once on the losing side. A Norfolk Under-16 winger, he chose his home-town club in favour of his grandparents’ local side Bolton, and helped Norwich’s youth side secure the South East Counties Cup in 1977-78, as well as participating in their tour of Holland. He made his League bow in a 3-1 defeat against Manchester City in January 1978. After a brief spell at Eastville, during which time he stayed with Paul Randall at Lindsay Parsons’ mum’s house, one of his few Norwich games was a First Division fixture against Liverpool at Anfield in February 1979 and he gave the Canaries a first-half lead at home to Manchester United in April 1978. He never played Rovers whilst at Carrow Road or with Oxford. Philip Lythgoe and Stuart Lythgoe were twins born to Derrick Lythgoe and Brenda Green; their father, Derrick, the son of Frederick Lythgoe and Jeannie Whittle of Bolton, had played for Bristol City between 1962 and 1964 before settling in East Anglia. Philip Lythgoe, having scored eleven times in 54 games for Lowestoft and ten goals in 74 matches at Wroxham, whom he helped to successive Jewson League titles in 1991-92 and 1992-93 as well as the 1993 Norfolk Senior Cup, now lives in Norwich where, after working for four years for Lyons Bakeries and for eighteen years as an advertising representative for a newspaper, he is a radio sales representative for Radio Broadland. He married Angie Illingworth in 1987 and they have two daughters, Lauren and Kitty. |
No 869. Tyler Lyttle. 2015-17.
Born, 12.11.1996, Birmingham. 5’ 9”; 11 st 10 lbs. Début: 29.8.15 v Orient. Career: Thomas Telford School; Shropshire Schools; Wolverhampton Wanderers; July 2014 Bristol Rovers (professional, 19.6.15) [1,0]; 23.12.15 Nuneaton Town (loan); 9.10.16 Truro City (loan); 10.3.17 Stafford Rangers (free); 15.7.17 Macclesfield Town (trial); 5.9.17 Hednesford Town (loan); 7.10.17 Sutton Coldfield Town (free); 11.7.18 Rushall Olympic (free); 1.9.22 Stourbridge (free). An England Schoolboys cap, having first appeared in a 5-0 victory over Australia, right-back Tyler Lyttle was thrown into Rovers’ starting line-up in an injury crisis. It was barely a month into the club’s first season back in the Football League, but the teenager played the first-half at Orient, conceding a penalty before being withdrawn at the interval; he then appeared as a substitute in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie against Wycombe Wanderers that October. Rovers were promoted to League One in a dramatic end to the 2015-16 campaign. The first footballer from his school to be selected for the England Schools squad and Rovers’ Under-18 Player of the Year for 2014-15, when his 25 appearances for the Under-18 side included a goal in the 1-1 draw with Cheltenham Town in April 2015, a volley from Laurent Davis-Wilson’s left-wing cross, he appeared in six Nationwide North matches with Nuneaton Town and 4(+1) Nationwide South matches with Truro City. A consolation goal in the 2-1 defeat at Ashton United in April 2017 was his only goal in 8(+1) Northern Premier League matches with Stafford Rangers and he added one goal in ten matches with Sutton Coldfield Town. Lyttle also played in the Walsall Senior Cup Final of 2017, Rangers losing 3-1 to Walsall at the Bescot Stadium. In January 2019 he scored two long-range goals as Rushall defeated Barwell 3-1, his first goals of eleven in 107(+1) Southern League matches and he was in the Olympic side which lost 3-0 to Stafford Rangers in May 2019 in the Staffordshire Senior Cup Final. In the May 2022 Walsall Senior Cup Final, Lyttle created both goals as Rushall defeated Sporting Khalsa 2-0. He is the son of Des Lyttle (the son of Leaford Lyttle and Mavlyn Riley), a defender with Nottingham Forest, West Bromwich Albion, Northampton Town and Watford, the two competing against each other in the Great Donnington 10K race in June 2016. |