The Bristol Rovers History Group. |
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No 462. Gerald O'Brien. 1973-74.
Born, 10.11.1949, Glasgow. 5’ 6”; 9 st 9 lbs. Début: 19.3.74 v Wrexham. Career: Glasgow Schools; Drumchapel; May 1968 Clydebank; 7.3.70 Southampton (£22,500) [66+12,2]; 15.3.74 Bristol Rovers (loan) [3,0]; 11.3.76 Swindon Town (free) [24+3,0]; August 1977 Clydebank (free) [84,9]; July 1978 Hibernian (free) [2+5,0] (to 1979). Three games during Rovers’ promotion season from Division Three in 1973-74 were counter-balanced by Gerry O’Brien’s 2(+6) matches for Southampton the same season as they were relegated from the top flight. He almost scored as well, in Rovers’ 1-0 victory at Rochdale in March 1974, when his measured shot after 33 minutes was pushed away by goalkeeper Mick Poole. Light of frame, but hard as nails in the tackle, O’Brien was “a clever, skilful player” (Gary Chalk and Duncan Holley). A bricklayer, who had drawn attention from Coventry and Forest, his move to Southampton after sixty games and eight goals for Clydebank constituted a record fee at the time involving a Scottish Second Division club. From his March 1970 début against Liverpool, he did not let the Saints down. He scored League goals against Derby County and Cardiff City, also making sporadic appearances in Southampton’s run to 1976 FA Cup glory, and also playing against Rovers in Division Two in February 1975 and in the League Cup in September 1975, the month he broke his hip in a match against Blackpool. With his career at Swindon held up by a cartilage injury and, after a solitary goal for Clydebank against Partick Thistle in January 1978, an arthritic hip causing his retirement, O’Brien set up a building business based in Glasgow, GOB Builders, now run by his sons. A keen golfer, despite two hip replacement operations, he lives in Duntocher with his wife Maureen; they have two sons, Stephen and Paul, and four grandchildren. |
No 496. Mark Andrew. O'Connor. 1984-86.
Born, 10.3.1963, Rochford, Essex. 5’ 7”; 10 st 2 lbs. Début: 25.8.84 v Bolton Wanderers. Career: Queen’s Park Rangers (professional, 1.6.80) [2+1,0]; 7.10.83 Exeter City (loan) [38,1]; 2.8.84 Bristol Rovers (loan); 13.8.84 Bristol Rovers (£20,000) [79+1,10]; 27.3.86 Bournemouth (£25,000); 15.12.89 Gillingham (£70,000); 3.7.93 Bournemouth (free) [173+13,12]; 11.7.95 Gillingham (trial); 4.8.95 Gillingham (free) [143+13,9]; October 1997 Bristol City (youth coach); 2002 Portsmouth (youth coach); 3.10.05 Plymouth Argyle (youth coach); 10.3.10 Stoke City (reserve coach, to 27.5.13); 23.1.15 West Bromwich Albion (assistant Head Coach, to 1.12.17). Upon the tragically early death of Mike Barrett, Rovers signed a player in a similar mould in Mark O’Connor. The young Essex man could in no way replace his predecessor, but he proved to be an adept, skilful and talented player in his own right. Making his Rovers début in a pre-season friendly at Rochdale, he was an ever-present in 1984-85, scoring in four consecutive matches that autumn and earned one cap for the Republic of Ireland at Under-21 level in a match against England played in 1985 at Portsmouth. He had scored twice when Rovers ran up a comfortable 4-1 victory over Orient at Brisbane Road in October 1984. Large appearance tallies at both Bournemouth and Gillingham were to follow. O’Connor scored for the Cherries against Rovers on Boxing Day 1986 as Bournemouth ran away with the Third Division title in 1986-87 and he gained promotion to Division Two with the Gills in 1995-96 before playing against Rovers in February 1997. When the Gills defeated Fulham 1-0 in November 1995, he broke his leg in a tackle with Martin Thomas which greatly incensed Fulham’s Martin Gray, who was sent off after pushing referee Michael Bailey and the subsequent confrontation sparked a Football Association enquiry. Playing under Tony Pulis at Bournemouth and Gillingham, he coached under him at Plymouth and at Stoke, who reached the FA Cup Final in 2011 at Wembley. |
No 234. Matthew Augustine O'Mahony. 1936-39.
Born, 19.1.1913, Mullinavat (Muilleann an Bhata), Co Kilkenny. Died, 25.1.1992, Norwich. 6’; 12 st 8 lbs. Début: 23.9.36 v Swindon Town. Career: 1933 Liverpool (amateur); 1933 New Brighton; Hoylake; 11.3.35 Southport (professional, 5.4.35) [12,0]; 17.5.35 Wolverhampton Wanderers (£500); 13.3.36 Newport County (loan) [8,0]; 4.5.36 Bristol Rovers (£750) [101,6]; 28.7.39 Ipswich Town (£600) [58,4]; August 1949 Yarmouth Town (player-manager); 1950 Bromsgrove Rovers (manager). Perhaps it may be difficult to imagine, but Matt O’Mahony represented two international countries whilst on Rovers’ books. Ricky Shakes has since played for two nations in international football, but O’Mahony’s achievement is all the more impressive since Rovers finished at the foot of Division Three (South) in 1938-39 and had to apply for re-election to the Football League. Intermingled amongst his six caps for the Republic of Ireland in 1938 and 1939 was a solitary appearance for Northern Ireland in their 2-0 defeat against Scotland in Belfast in October 1938. Moreover, he had been considered as a potential England cap earlier in his career, playing in the 1934 North v South amateur international trial game. Having made just seven reserve appearances, O’Mahony was given his Southport début in the 2-2 draw at Walsall in March 1935 and he was in the Newport side that played Rovers in March 1936, having made his club début seven days earlier against Bournemouth. He was a lynchpin of Rovers’ side for three seasons, being an ever-present in 1937-38 and became an own goal specialist too, scoring in Reading’s favour in consecutive seasons whilst at Eastville and also scoring twice for Notts County, with Rovers in December 1937 and with Ipswich Town in September 1948. He arrived at Ipswich in time to play in the three games of the aborted 1939-40 season, including the match with Rovers that August. After a busy wartime, working at BAC at Patchway in no 3 shop, playing twice for a Football Association XI, scoring four time in 24 unofficial games for Rovers and also representing Aberaman, Bristol City, Tranmere Rovers and Southport, O’Mahony became Ipswich’s penalty-taker, scoring three times and missing once before breaking his arm twice during the 1947-48 season. Having married Daphne Peggy Wright (1918-2000) in Ipswich in 1947, he had a son and a daughter, spent 34 years in the pub trade, starting out at “The Griffin” in Norwich, suffered from Alzheimer’s late in life and died of pneumonia at the age of seventy-nine. |
No 39. (Harry) Henry O'Neil. 1922-23.
Born, 2.11.1894, Heddon-on-the-Wall. Died, 21.1.1971, Sydney, Australia. 5’ 11½”; 11 st 12 lbs. Début: 7.9.22 v Newport County. Career: Wallsend; 14.10.19 Sheffield Wednesday (£100) [49,0]; 2.8.22 Bristol Rovers (£200) [17,0]; 16.6.23 Swindon Town (£100) [26,1] (retired 1928). Patrick O’Neill, a stone worker in the coal mines on Tyneside met Susan, an Irish-born girl and the youngest of the eight children they brought up at Clara Vale, Ryton-on-Tyne was Harry O’Neill, who was part of Rovers’ miserly defence which conceded just 36 League goals in the 42 matches of 1922-23. One of his appearances was in the goalless draw at Aberdare in April 1923, when the referee erroneously blew for time five minutes early and had to be persuaded by a linesman to allow play to continue. Harry, or “Peggy” as he was known at Eastville, was not, as has often been mistaken before, the player who later appeared for Runcorn and Cardiff City before trying his hand in Swiss football with Berne. Instead it is known that he moved to Australia after his time with Swindon. This career in Wiltshire encompassed three memorable return trips to Eastville, for he broke his arm after only fifteen minutes of the League clash with Rovers in March 1924, returned with the reserves in September 1925 and finally scored the only goal of his League career, from the penalty-spot when Swindon travelled to play Rovers three days after Christmas 1925. Formerly in the Navy, O’Neill was still living in Swindon in 1928 but later emigrated to Sydney. |
No 843. John Joseph O'Toole. 2012-14.
Born, 30.9.1988, Harrow, Middlesex. 6’ 2”; 13 st 8 lbs. Début: 1.1.13 v Plymouth Argyle. Career: Watford (professional, 8.9.07) [37+20,10]; 2006 Wealdstone (loan); 25.2.09 Sheffield United (loan) [5+4,1]; 2.9.09 Colchester United (loan); 1.1.10 Colchester United (free) [47+25,2]; 31.12.12 Bristol Rovers (loan); 24.7.13 Bristol Rovers (free) [59,16]; 30.6.14 Northampton Town (free) [143+30,33]; 27.11.14 Southend United (loan) [2,0]; 21.5.19 Burton Albion (free) [37+4,1]; 23.10.21 Mansfield Town (free) [25+2,2]. Born in Middlesex to Irish parents (Kevin O’Toole and Bridget Barry), tough-tackling midfielder John-Joe O’Toole qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland through his grandparents who lived in Mayo. Consequently, he won five caps at Under-21 level, the first in a 1-0 defeat in Montenegro in November 2007, and headed the only goal of the game against Bulgaria four days later. Impressing at Watford, where he was to score in seven of the first eleven League and Cup games in 2008-09, he scored three goals in nine matches on loan at Wealdstone and was sent off when the Hornets defeated Leicester City 1-0 in February 2008. He also replaced Will Hoskins as a substitute as Watford lost an FA Cup fifth round tie to Chelsea in February 2009. A fan of rock music, he had made his first appearance against Southend United in the League Cup in August 2007 and followed this up by heading his first goal for the club five minutes from the end of the match against Bristol City that December. A brief loan spell in Yorkshire included a goal in the local derby against Barnsley, although injury prevented a Wembley appearance, as United’s promotion charge fell short at the play-off final stage. The first signing by Colchester’s new manager Aidy Boothroyd, a former Rovers player himself, long-haired O’Toole played against Rovers on four occasions, scoring one of his two goals for United against the Pirates in February 2010. Although his career was restricted by a cruciate ligament injury suffered when playing against Charlton Athletic, which ruled him out for nine months, he picked up a red card against Brentford in September 2011 and was in the side which lost 6-1 at home to Stevenage on Boxing Day 2011. Newly re-appointed Rovers manager John Ward returned to his former club to pick up O’Toole, whose début marked the first home game of the manager’s second stint at the Memorial Stadium. Popular and effective with the Pirates, O’Toole rifled home from Ryan Brunt’s long throw after just four minutes, as Rovers marked his final appearance of a productive loan spell with a 4-2 victory at Dagenham. Returning to Colchester, he appeared as a team-mate of goalkeeper Sam Walker at the tail end of the 2012-13 campaign. A hugely popular return to The Mem in the summer of 2013 prefaced a last-minute shot in the opening day defeat at Exeter, which was cleared off the line by the former Rovers defender Danny Coles. In becoming Rovers’ top scorer and the lynchpin on whom the club’s hopes of avoiding the drop into the Conference appeared to hinge, O’Toole picked up a number of bookings and earned a suspension that autumn, only to be sent off in stoppage-time of the defeat at Burton Albion upon his return to the struggling side. In May 2014, despite O’Toole’s selection into the League Two Team of the Year, Rovers lost at home to Mansfield Town to surrender the club’s ninety-four-year League status and the talented midfielder triggered a release clause in his contract. After initial misgivings, the Northampton crowd also took to him as a cult figure, the Valentine’s Day 2015 fixture, ironically at Mansfield, being named John-Joe O’Toole Day and almost a thousand away supporters dressing up in wigs; the plan backfired, as the likeable midfielder was sent off shortly before half-time. When Rovers returned to the Football League in August 2015, it was O’Toole who scored the only goal of the Pirates’ first game back, Northampton winning 1-0 at The Mem; he appeared in both fixtures that campaign as the Cobblers ran away with the League Two title, being named that season in the PFA divisional side, and again opposed Rovers twice in 2016-17, playing in the Cobblers’ 5-0 defeat at The Mem, before being sent off against Shrewsbury Town in successive seasons. In addition, he scored in six out of seven League matches in a five-week period during the spring of 2017 and was sent off at Oxford in a Football League Trophy fixture in October 2018 and in Burton’s game at Portsmouth in September 2019. O’Toole was in the Burton side which defeated Premier League Bournemouth 2-0 in the League Cup in September 2019; he suffered the misfortune of being sent off at home to relegated Southend United that December and conceding an own goal in the return fixture. He was sent off at home to Fleetwood on the opening day of the delayed 2020-21 season, scoring his only goal for Burton against Wigan Athletic in December 2020, and was unlucky to concede an own goal five minutes into stoppage time in January 2022, as Mansfield, having recovered from a two goal deficit to draw level, lost 3-2 to Middlesbrough, two divisions above them, in an FA Cup-tie at Field Mill. He again played against Rovers in 2021-22, whilst playing alongside Ollie Clarke at Mansfield, the Stags reaching the League Two play-offs only to lose at Wembley to Port Vale, with O’Toole scoring against Stevenage and Hartlepoool and being sent off in February 2022 at Newport. |
No 155. Albert Eric Oakton. 1931-32.
Born, 28.12.1906, Kiveton Park, Sheffield. Sied, 5.8.1981, Sheffield. 5’ 9½”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 29.8.31 v Bournemouth. Career: Kiveton Park School; Kiveton Park Colliery; November 1924 Grimsby Town (amateur); 10.5.26 Rotherham United [7,3]; May 1927 Worksop Town; October 1927 Sheffield United; August 1930 Scunthorpe United; 12.5.31 Bristol Rovers [40,9]; 10.5.32 Chelsea (£750) [107,27]; 12.6.37 Nottingham Forest [7,1]; August 1938 Boston United. “A fast, direct winger with a flair for scoring goals”, Eric Oakton was an essential ingredient of Rovers’ side in the 1931-32 season, missing just two League matches. He scored as Rovers ran up a 5-0 half-time lead against Gillingham in November 1931 and played in the side which conceded five before half-time at Northampton Town the following month. He also scored twice in a 3-1 victory over Luton Town over Easter 1932, only to play in the 8-1 defeat at Torquay United two days later. An outside-right who had been an electrical works employee before appearing in Rotherham’s first seven games of the 1926-27 campaign, he could not make the side at Bramall Lane and joined Rovers on the back of forty Midland League matches and ten goals with Scunthorpe United. A member of the same Chelsea side as the legendary Hugh Gallagher, Oakton played over a hundred First Division games for the Stamford Bridge club and scored the opening goal as Forest defeated Coventry City 2-1 in February 1938. He is perhaps the man who, the son of Tom Oakton, a local amateur footballer, married Chesterfield-born Pattie Highfield in Bristol in the autumn of 1931. |
No 508. Anthony Lloyd Obi. 1985-86.
Born, 15.9.1965, Birmingham. 5’ 6”; 9 st 3 lbs. Début: 7.9.85 v Newport County. Career: Aston Villa (professional, September 1983); 28.12.84 Walsall (loan) [1+1,0]; 21.2.85 Plymouth Argyle (loan) [5,0]; 8.8.85 Bristol Rovers (free) [1,0]; 22.10.85 Oxford United (free) [0+1,0]; 28.8.86 Brentford (loan) [10,0] (released by Oxford United, 13.5.87); August 1987 Oostende, Belgium. Diminutive and slight, fast winger Tony Obi, a former England Youth player, appeared in the opening 77 minutes of Rovers’ 3-0 defeat at Newport, before being substituted by John Scales, and had earlier played at Eastville on his Plymouth début in February 1985. His Oxford career encompassed the final fifteen minutes of a 3-0 defeat at Watford in August 1986, after he had come on as substitute for Ray Houghton and he played for Walsall against Lincoln City and, as a substitute, against Doncaster Rovers in consecutive fixtures over New Year 1985. He is the son of Alan Obi, whose parents were Albert Obi (1910-1986), son of Albert Obi (1873-1942) and Annie Driscoll (1873-1951), and Charlotte Wheeler (1915-1974), the daughter of John Wheeler and Jane Tustin. Although he now lives in Holland, Tony Obi’s son continues to live in the Oxford area. |
No 919. (Abu) Abumere Tafadzwa Ogogo. 2018-21.
Born, 3.11.1989, Epsom. M 5’ 8”; 12 st 4 lbs. Début: 2.2.19 v Southend United. Career: Beacon School, Banstead; 2000 Wimbledon; 2004 Fulham (trial); July 2004 Arsenal (professional, 3.5.07); 2.10.08 Nottingham Forest (trial); 13.11.08 Barnet (loan) [7+2,1]; 29.6.09 Dagenham and Redbridge (free); 1.6.15 Shrewsbury Town (free) [102+1,4]; 26.6.18 Coventry City (free) [6+4,0]; 31.1.19 Bristol Rovers (free) [44+2,3]; 23.10.20 Dagenham and Redbridge (loan) [218+7,17]; 9.6.21 Southend United (trial); 29.6.21 Southend United (free). Seasoned Rovers supporters had seen tough-tackling midfielder Abu Ogogo play on a number of occasions against the Gas. Six League appearances for Dagenham against Rovers, the first being Rovers’ crushing 4-0 defeat in May 2012 and the run including a goal ten minutes into Rovers’ 2-0 loss in September 2013, had preceded three matches in a Shrewsbury side containing future Rovers players in Stefan Payne and Alex Rodman. It was on the day that Payne left on loan that the lifelong Chelsea fan, brought up in the Surrey village of Tadworth of Nigerian descent, arrived at The Mem to attempt to save the Pirates from relegation to League Two. “A real warrior on the pitch”, as Rovers’ manager Graham Coughlan described him, he brought with him the experience of well over 300 League matches. Having joined Arsenal from Fulham alongside Kieran Gibbs, who won ten England caps, Ogogo was converted from a striker to a midfielder into a rapid full-back in the Gunners’ side which reached the FA Youth Cup semi-finals in 2006-07, even making the bench in the League Cup in 2008. After a trial game for Forest’s reserves against Shrewsbury Town, he scored for Barnet against Luton Town but also picked up two red cards in his brief spell at Underhill. Indeed, for a while indiscipline threatened to derail his burgeoning football career, as he was also sent off three times each with both Dagenham and Shrewsbury; he also pleaded guilty, in May 2010, to grievous bodily harm and actual bodily harm during an assault in Croydon in August 2008 and received a suspended eight-month prison sentence as well as being asked to complete 120 hours of unpaid community service. Thereafter, Ogogo developed into a fine midfielder, well-respected through the lower leagues, growing in stature under the watchful eye of the former Rovers coach John Still at Dagenham. He was in the Daggers’ side, with Anwar U’ddin an unused substitute for his team, which defeated Rotherham United 3-2 at Wembley in May 2010, before an attendance of 32,054, in the League Two play-off final, but which was relegated twelve months later after crashing 5-0 at Peterborough on the final day. Captain of the Daggers from 2012, he was named as their Player of the Year in 2013-14. He even played in the astonishing 6-6 draw with Brentford in the League Cup in August 2014, a match which also featured Jamie Cureton and Tony Craig. Player of the Year for the Shrews in 2015-16, he started the 2017-18 season as captain but was no longer in the side as they suffered agonising Wembley defeats in both the Football League Trophy and the League One play-off final. He played briefly alongside both Jonson Clarke-Harris and Tom Davies with Coventry. Ogogo’s first goal for Rovers was a header from a Tom Nichols cross at Wimbledon in September 2019, an equaliser on the half-hour mark in a match Rovers went on to win 3-1, and his firm right-footed shot secured a dramatic late 4-3 victory in an absorbing November 2019 fixture away to his former club Shrewsbury. His red card, following a tussle with Chris Maguire after an hour at the Stadium of Light in February 2020, preceded Rovers conceding three quick goals to lose 3-0 to Sunderland. He was in the Dagenham side which defeated Ian Holloway’s Grimsby Town 3-1 in the FA Cup in November 2020 and played a further nine National League games for them, as Rovers endured relegation to League Two in 2020-21. Ogogo was sent off when Southend lost 1-0 at Boreham Wood in the National League in October 2021 in his sixth and final game for the Shrimpers. |
No 760. Samuel Udoka Oji. 2006-07.
Born, 9.10.1985, Westminster. Died, 28.8.2021, Highgate. 6’; 14 st 5 lbs. Début: 6.3.07 v Accrington Stanley. Career: Arsenal; 1.7.04 Birmingham City; 23.11.05 Doncaster Rovers (loan) [1+3,0]; 16.2.07 Bristol Rovers (loan) [5,0]; July 2007 Southend United (trial); 28.8.07 Orient (loan); 8.1.08 Orient (free) [9+4,0]; 23.7.08 Hereford United (trial); 7.8.08 Hereford United (free) [4,0]; 30.3.09 Ljungskile (free) [6,0]; 5.8.09 Tranmere Rovers (trial); 19.8.09 Diyabakispor (trial); 8.9.09 Orient (trial); 22.12.11 Tamworth (free); 26.8.13 Limerick (free) [32+2,0]; 22.2.15 Galway (free) [19+1,2]; 5.8.16 Worcester City (free); 28.7.17 Hednesford Town (free); 20.7.18 Highgate United (free; 27.7.21 assistant manager). Booked on his début at Accrington and conceding a second-minute penalty converted by Albert Jarrett at Boston, Sam Oji had left Rovers before the ugly duckling which season 2006-07 represented had transformed into the glorious swan of promotion. Previously, he had made one FA Cup appearance at Birmingham, as a final-minute substitute for Jamie Clapham against Reading in the spring of 2006 and a brief Doncaster career had included five minutes in the League Cup against Arsenal. An unused substitute for Orient at The Mem in September 2007, he played in Hereford’s 6-1 defeat against Rovers in August 2008 and was an unused substitute when Tamworth played Everton in the FA Cup in January 2012. Replaced at Hereford by the French international Bruno N’Gotty, “Dodgy” Oji’s career took in six games in Sweden and a trial in Turkey, whilst knee trouble ruled him out of football for two years before he accumulated red cards for Tamworth against both Grimsby Town and Fleetwood Town; he scored two goals in 35(+4) Conference games. His first of sixteen appearances for Limerick came in a 2-0 defeat at Sligo Rovers and his time at Galway was certainly interesting, a nineteenth-minute goal against Derry City and red cards against both Drogheda United and Longford Town all arriving in home games during March 2015. Against Bray Wanderers in July 2015, he arrived on the field as a substitute to score a last-minute own goal in a 1-0 defeat. Over Christmas 2016, Worcester played a double-header against Kidderminster Harriers in Nationwide North, Oji being sent off in the first game and conceding an own goal in the second; he appeared in 24(+1) fixtures with Worcester, who were relegated by a point at the end of the 2016-17 campaign and scored twice for Hednesford in the 2017-18 season. Following a foul on Ruben Wiggins-Thomas, he was one of two red cards in December 2018 as nine-man Highgate lost 3-0 at Long Eaton United in the Total Motion MFL Premier League and he was one of four Highgate men sent off in a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Sporting Khalsa in March 2019; he scored once in 40(+4) matches with Highgate, a side he captained. Apparently a cousin of the singer Lemar, who is in turn a cousin of Jonathan Obika, formerly of Yeovil Town, Sam Oji trained as an accountant and lived in Solihull with his wife Michelle and their children, but tragically died after a short illness, aged just thirty-five. One of his four brothers, Franki Rozay, set up a fund-raising enterprise which raised £12,000 in little more than a day to support Sam Oji’s widow and children. |
No 351. Terence James Oldfield. 1960-66.
Born, 1.4.1939, Bristol. Died, 28.3.2018, Clevedon. 5’ 10”; 11 st 2 lbs. Début: 5.11.60 v Sunderland. Career: Bristol Boys; Bristol City; Clifton St Vincent’s; February 1958 Bristol Rovers (professional, February 1959) [131+1,11]; 5.7.66 Wrexham (free) [39+1,6]; August 1967 Bradford Park Avenue (trainer); Bristol Rovers (scout); Clifton St Vincent’s (manager); Red Lion. Regular wing-half Terry Oldfield was a staunch member of Rovers’ side following relegation to Division Three in the spring of 1962. The younger son of Charles Oldfield and Kathleen Smith, who had married in Bristol in 1931, he had helped St Vincent’s reach the Norman Hardy Cup Final in 1957 and represented the Saltford golf club. Fielded at centre-forward on Boxing Day 1960, he scored a hat-trick as the reserves defeated Swindon Town reserves 6-0. Tall and strong, he offered tactical nous in Rovers’ half-back line and his tally of seven League goals in 1962-63 was critical to the club’s eventual achievement of surviving the potential drop into the basement division. He had scored twice when the reserves defeated Shrewsbury Town reserves 4-3 in November 1959. One season as captain at Wrexham ended with the knee injury, sustained in the Welsh Cup Final which was lost to Cardiff City, which necessitated his retirement and led him to become, at just twenty-eight, trainer at Park Avenue. This knee injury left him with a permanent dropped foot. Prior to his professional career, Oldfield had played in the Bristol City side which reached the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals. A club cricketer with Brislington, latterly alongside his son, and who had made sporadic appearances with the Somerset 2nd XI, Oldfield became an estate agent at Cooper and Tanner and an auctioneer at Keynsham, ran the “Red Lion” at Odd Down, for whose pub side he played, and latterly lived in Backwell, working as a taxi driver in the Bristol area. Married with both a son, Darrell, married to Helen, and a daughter, Lisa, he died at 1.10pm on the Wednesday before Easter weekend 2018. |
No 679. Sergio Melvin Ommel. 2001-02.
Born, 2.9.1977, ’s-Gravenhage, Holland. 6’ 3”; 13 st 6 lbs. Début: 24.11.01 v Hull City. Career: Lagere Detailhandel School; Middelbare Detailhandel School; DIO Groningen; GVAV Rapiditas; FC Groningen (professional, 1996) [33,6]; 1999 Stormvogels Telstar (free); 1.8.00 KR Reykjavík [8,0]; 24.11.01 Bristol Rovers (free) [18+5,8]; 26.7.02 Stormvogels Telstar (free) [119,29]; 30.7.04 Shrewsbury Town (trial); 7.8.04 Omniworld (free); 21.9.04 Grimsby Town (trial); March 2005 APOK Kyniras Peyia-Pafos; June 2005 Quickboys; 2007 Ter Leede; 8.6.10 SV Huizen; 26.2.11 FC Lisse; 1.6.12 Alphense Racing Club, Alphen aan den Rijn (retired, May 2014). Second highest scorer in Rovers’ first season in the basement division, playing alongside Nathan Ellington, tall, powerful front man Sergio Ommel was surprisingly released by the club in April 2002. He had scored the critical late winning goal against eight-man Kidderminster which practically ensured Rovers’ Football League survival. A team-mate in Iceland of another Rovers forward in Moussa Dagnogo, Ommel could not score as Reykjavík became Icelandic champions in 2000 and he appeared in two UEFA Cup matches. Previously in the Groningen side that defeated Celtic 3-0 in a friendly in July 1997, he later scored freely for Telstar, a side from Uijmuiden, and also appeared for Quickboys of Katwijk and Omniworld, who play in Almere. In September 2003 he scored a hat-trick as Telstar defeated Cambuur 4-2 and, five days later, added three more in a 5-3 cup win at Go Ahead Eagles, a seventh-minute tap-in from Benjamin Pinto’s cross, a nineteenth-minute strike from Andwélé Slory’s long pass and a long-range volley four minutes from time. Having been top scorer at Ter Leede, a club from Sassenheim, he then missed a penalty five minutes from time when SV Huizen drew 0-0 with his former Ter Leede team-mates in October 2010, before scoring four goals in seven games at Lisse. The third son to a player once on the books of FC Groningen, Ommel is now married with a son and works in Holland for the Sport United group which encourages young people to take up sport. |
No 101. Arthur Ormston. 1927-29.
Born, 3.6.1900, Waterside House, Denwick, Northumberland. Died, 13.10.1947, Oldham. 5’ 10”; 12 st. Début: 1.10.27 v Queen’s Park Rangers. Career: Amble School; 11.6.19 Radcliffe United; 12.10.20 South Shields (£25); 9.8.21 Chesterfield [22,6]; 2.9.22 Durham City [17,1]; 12.3.23 Coventry City [3,0]; 20.8.23 Barrow [32,10]; 27.3.24 Wigan Borough (£30) [20,5]; 15.6.25 Oldham Athletic (£25); 23.10.26 Bradford City (£650) [14,6]; 13.6.27 Bristol Rovers (£300) [27,15]; 17.11.28 Oldham Athletic (£425) [43,22]; January 1930 Tunbridge Wells Rangers; September 1930 Blyth Spartans; 17.10.30 Stalybridge Celtic; 14.8.31 Macclesfield Town (contract cancelled, January 1932). Harking back to the days of muddy, baggy shorts and heavy brown footballs conjures up the image of a rumbustious, all-elbows, goal-scoring centre-forward and this man was undoubtedly Arthur Ormston. “One of football’s happy wanderers” (Garth Dykes), scoring goals for fun appeared to be his forte. “He works like a Trojan”, revealed the Durham Advertiser, “and simply revels in harassing full-backs and goalkeepers”. Leading scorer at Barrow, Oldham and Rovers during his peripatetic travels, Ormston certainly enjoyed a varied career and held winner’s medals in the Derbyshire, Gloucestershire and Durham county cup competitions. Having scored twice when Chesterfield played Durham over Christmas 1921, he reversed the rôles twelve months later in scoring his only goal for Durham City against his former club. Suspended at Coventry for a breach of club conduct, he was in the Chesterfield side defeated 7-0 at Hartlepool in February 1922 and, despite scoring on his début against Hartlepool, was in the Barrow side which finished bottom of Division Three (North) in 1923-24. Unquestionably, Ormston’s greatest moment was his arrival at Oldham in September 1925; a début hat-trick was followed two days later by five goals against Stoke in his second game. His four goals in five Cheshire League matches with Macclesfield were braces against both Chester and Nantwich, after which he scored 59 goals for Stalybridge. By the time of his desperately early death, he was running the Gardeners Arms at Waterhead, Oldham. It is the stuff that heroes are made of. The third son of William Ormston and Mary Dodderhill of Waterside House, near Alnwick, his paternal grandparents James Ormston and Margaret Chisholm (1853-1929) were agricultural labourers who had come into money; whilst his brother Albert (1896-1972) married Bertha Chambers and Ernest (1898-1975) married Sarah Handyside, Arthur himself married Phoebe Manders (1894-1958) in 1920 and they had two daughters, Doreen (1920-2000) and Gwenda (1923-1992), who married Lewis Greaves. |
No 774. Jonathon Osei-Kuffour. 2008-12.
Born, 17.11.1981, Edmonton. 5’ 7”; 10 st 3 lbs. Début: 6.9.08 v Peterborough United. Career: 1.8.98 Arsenal; 25.8.01 Swindon Town (loan) [4+7,2]; 18.10.02 Torquay United (free) [111+36,29]; 16.6.06 Brentford (free) [38+1,12]; 19.6.07 Bournemouth (free) [39+5,12]; 29.8.08 Bristol Rovers (free) [104+26,32]; 30.9.11 Gillingham (loan); 12.1.12 Gillingham (free) [26+4,9]; 27.8.12 Wycombe Wanderers (free) [22+10,2]; 9.9.14 Sutton United (free) (to October 2014). Clearly not reading the script, Rovers signed Jo Kuffour, who had suffered relegation with each of the previous four clubs he had represented in the League; in 2010-11 Rovers were relegated to League Two. It would be harsh on this likeable, lively and busy striker to attribute any blame for relegation directly at his quick feet. A Londoner with Ghanaian antecedents, Kuffour played with spirit and verve, with genuine fairness that is reflected in his paucity of yellow cards and with touches of brilliance on occasion. Red cards for Brentford at Bradford City in February 2007 and Wycombe at Port Vale in October 2012 were out of character. A Rovers débutant in an astonishing 5-4 defeat at London Road, the punchy striker had in fact made his League bow in Swindon’s home defeat against Oldham Athletic in August 2001. Rovers supporters certainly knew all about him prior to his signing, on account of his two goals for Torquay in the opening seventeen minutes of a 2-2 draw at The Mem in March 2004 and a goal for Bournemouth at Dean Court in April 2008. Kuffour’s club form at Torquay had even earned a call-up to the Ghana squad for a game against Nigeria in February 2006, although no full cap was forthcoming. A brilliant volleyed goal at Leicester in the autumn of 2008 announced his arrival with Rovers and he will be remembered for two great goals in a 3-0 victory at Yeovil in March 2010. In November that year, he hit a hat-trick after 21, 39 and 58 minutes at Wycombe in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, Rovers’ first three goals in a 6-3 win, and he later hit the crossbar, but Rovers’ relegation to League Two in the spring of 2011 spelled the end of his time with the club. A burst of goals for Gillingham, including a first-half hat-trick against Northampton in November 2011, gave his new club hopes of a play-off berth, but Kuffour’s injury not only meant he missed the Good Friday fixture in Horfield, but also dashed the Kent side’s ambitions for that season. A further injury led to him having to miss the December 2012 game against Rovers at Adams Park, although he appeared in Wycombe’s 1-0 defeat at The Mem two months later and scored for Wycombe against both Chesterfield and AFC Wimbledon. He was in the Chairboys’ side which recorded a 1-0 victory at The Mem in October 2013, but remained on the bench as Rovers secured a critical 2-1 end-of-campaign victory at Adams Park; the Gas lost their Football League status seven days later with the Chairboys winning their final fixture. He made his Sutton début alongside Matt Lockwood and Charlie Clough in a 1-0 victory at Whitehawk, appearing in three Nationwide South fixtures. Having lived in Hotwells whilst on Rovers’ books, he lives in East London with his girlfriend, Chanel Brown. |
No 668. Ansah Ossei Owusu. 2000-01.
Born, 22.11.1979, Hackney. Died, 19.3.2022, Finchley. 5’ 11”; 11 st 2 lbs. Début: 10.2.01 v Notts County. Career: 1.8.99 Wimbledon [1+3,0]; 2.3.00 Raith Rovers (loan) [8+2,3]; 9.2.01 Bristol Rovers (loan) [11+6,0]; 2001 Team Bath; 13.8.02 Chelmsford City (free); December 2002 Enfield (to May 2003); 29.6.06 Metropolitan Police; 2009-10 Larsens. Born in London of Ghanaian heritage, Ansah Owusu appeared briefly in the Rovers side relegated to the bottom tier in 2000-01. Goals in Scotland against Airdrieonians, Ayr United and Livingston preceded one in nine games at Chelmsford City, in a 1-1 draw at home to Hinckley United. He later played twenty times for Enfield and scored three goals in eleven Waltham Sunday League matches with Larsens, where he played alongside his former Wimbledon team-mate Russell Williamson. A cousin of Lloyd Owusu, who played against Rovers for Brentford, Yeovil Town and Cheltenham Town, Ansah Owusu married Beatrice Opuku and lived in Folkestone Road, Edmonton, where he worked a Police Constable in the Metropolitan Police, patrolling the Barnet area. He died at the age of forty-two in the North London Hospice after suffering for several years with an incurable disease. |
No 849. Erhun Oztumer. 2020-21.
Born, 29.5.1991, Greenwich. 5’ 3”; 9 st 5 lbs. Début: 17.10.20 v Burton Albion. Career: 1999 Charlton Athletic; July 2007 Fisher Athletic; 22.2.08 Manisaspor (19.9.08 amateur); 16.7.09 Sivasspor (free); 18.1.11 Anadolu Üsküdar [34,5]; 3.9.12 Dulwich Hamlet (free); 9.6.14 Peterborough United; [39+11,7]; 17.6.16 Walsall (free) [75+11,30]; 13.6.18 Bolton Wanderers (free) [9+9,0]; 16.8.19 Charlton Athletic (free) [13+3,0]; 15.10.20 Bristol Rovers (loan) [10+12,0]; 2.7.21 Fatih Karagumruk (free) [8+10,0]; 27.1.22 Adana Demírspor (free) [1+6,1]. An undeniable frisson of excitement accompanied the announced arrival of diminutive midfielder Erhun Öztümer at the Mem. An exciting, creative player of Turkish Cypriot heritage, he had controlled the four fixtures between Walsall and Rovers in 2016-17 and 2017-18, scoring at The Mem in September 2016, when he was playing alongside Neil Etheridge, and Rovers’ long-suffering supporters greeted his arrival with no shortage of enthusiasm. “The Turkish Messi”, he was the son of Kezban and Aksel Öztümer, who had married in Lewisham in the spring of 1985. Following an upbringing in Greater London, he had spent four years in Turkish football, licensed there as no.1852701, representing Manisaspor at youth level and scoring eight goals in 29 matches for Sivasspor’s reserve side. An absolute success story at Dulwich hamlet, he scored from the penalty spot at Godalming in his first appearance, helped the side to promotion to the Isthmian League Premier Division, was Player of the Year in 2012-13 and scored a hat-trick in a 4-3 win at Enfield the following campaign. He scored 49 goals in 78 Isthmian League matches, totalling sixty goals and twenty-five assists in 96 games in all competitions and earning a high-profile move to Peterborough United. At London Road, his Football League career opened with an appearance alongside Jack Baldwin in Posh’s 2-2 draw with Oldham athletic and he could add six assists to his seven League goals. He was sent off after just twenty-five minutes of the 3-2 defeat to Bury in September 2015. Walsall were not to be disappointed with their new signing, as he made the PFA League Team of the Year in both his seasons with the Saddlers, scoring against Wimbledon in his first match and contributing fourteen assists over two campaigns. He scored a hat-trick, after 57, 66 and 85 minutes as Walsall won 3-0 at Southend United in March 2018. Bolton were in freefall by the time he moved to join them, and he scored in the League Cup for the Trotters against Leeds United as well as adding a Football League Trophy goal for Charlton Athletic against Wimbledon in September 2020. The fourth of Rovers’ six FA Cup goals against Darlington in November 2020 proved his only strike in Gas colours, Rovers enduring relegation to the basement division in 2020-21 and Öztümer returning to Turkish League football. He scored for Adana Demírspor on his first full start, in their 7-0 victory over relegated Göztepe in May 2022, claiming the fifth goal on the stroke of half-time in a match in which he was overshadowed by Mario Balotelli, who scored five times, one of which involved seven step-overs and an outrageous rabona. He captaind Demírspor’s reserve side in 2022-23, scoring the fifth goal as Ümraníespor were defeated 7-0 in October 2022 and scored a hat-trick as a substitute, after sixty, 64 and 74 minutes, when the first team defeated Adiyaman 5-0 in a Turkish Cup-tie later the same month. |
No 853. William James Packwood. 2013-14.
Born, 21.5.1993, Concord, Massachusetts, USA. 6’ 3”; 11 st 8 lbs. Début: 19.10.13 v Wycombe Wanderers. Career: Fenn School; August 2007 Bromsgrove School; August 2007 Birmingham City (professional, 1.3.12) [17+1,0]; 17.10.13 Bristol Rovers (loan) [8,0]; 24.11.14 Colchester United (loan) [1,0]; 11.3.15 Cheltenham Town (loan) [5,1]; 22.6.15 New England Revolution (trial). Having not won in six League games, Rovers signed tall, dark-haired central defender Will Packwood on loan and he became the first player born in the States to appear for the club in the Football League. Man of the Match in his first appearance, he was composed, organised the defence well and gave plenty of vocal advice throughout. With an English father and American mother, Packwood had moved to England from Boston in 2007 and represented the country of his birth at various age levels. His three caps at Under-17 level included squad membership at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria, and he secured five caps at Under-18 level and nine for the Under-20 side. Having captained the Birmingham Under-18 team during 2010-11, the young defender played in the League Cup-tie against Barnet in August 2012 and made his League bow in the 1-1 draw with Charlton Athletic on the opening day of the 2012-13 campaign. However, multiple fractures of his tibia and fibula, suffered at Elland Road during an FA Cup-tie against Leeds United in January 2013, ruled him out of the game for eight months and his loan move to Rovers constituted a part of his rehabilitation process. Packwood’s return to the Birmingham side saw him appear regularly through the latter part of the 2013-14 campaign, being named Football League Young Player of the Month for February 2014 and conceding an own goal at Hillsborough the following month, City narrowly avoiding relegation to League One. He was sent off at MK Dons on his solitary Colchester appearance in a 6-0 defeat, the former Rovers goalkeeper Sam Walker being in goal that day and arrived at Cheltenham in time for a relegation battle at the foot of League Two. Despite a goal at Fratton Park for the Robins, they dropped out of the Football League in April 2015, whilst Colchester avoided relegation to League Two with a dramatic final-day victory. Unable to make the break with New England, he remained in the States. |
No 458. David John Palmer. 1977-80.
Born, 10.4.1961, Bristol. Died, 2.3.2011, Papworth Everard, Cambridgeshire. 5’ 9”; 11 st. Début: 10.5.79 v Wrexham. Career: Grange School, Warmley; North Avon Schools; Frampton Rangers; 11.7.77 Bristol Rovers (professional, January 1979) [1,0]; January 1980 Cork United; 13.9.80 Bath City (assistant manager, January 1992-8.7.96); 10.8.96 Clevedon Town; 17.8.96 Brislington; 18.12.96 Trowbridge Town (assistant manager, to 30.5.97); January 1998 Keynsham Town; July 1998 Bristol Rovers (Under-10 coach); September 1998 Oldland Juniors (coach). Schoolboy Bristol City fan David Palmer was part of Rovers’ youngest ever League side, which secured a 1-0 win at Wrexham and added one goal in 39 reserve team matches during the 1979-80 campaign. The youngest of four children, and only son, of Stanley Palmer and Brenda Poole, he captained North Avon Schools from Under-13 level upwards but, unable to become a permanent part of Rovers’ plans, played twice for Cork United on the recommendation of Miah Dennehy before joining Bath City. Palmer’s career as club captain at Twerton Park encompassed an impressive 443(+2) League matches and 23 goals, despite the fact that he missed all of the 1991-92 season through injury; he was Player of the Year in 1986, helped City secure the runners-up spot in the Beazer Homes League Premier Division in 1989-90 and was sent off in a 2-0 defeat at Kettering Town in December 1985. He worked from 2002 at Laneshealth, a medication company for whom he served as Sales and Marketing Director from 2004. The father of James Palmer, who made his début for Rovers’ reserve side in the 5-0 victory over Swindon Town reserves in February 2006 and was on the club’s books until 2009, David Palmer lived in Hanham and died in Papworth Hospital whilst awaiting a heart transplant, just six weeks short of what would have been his fiftieth birthday. |
No 7. William Palmer. 1920-22.
Born, 22.11.1887, Barnsley. Died, 1956, Havercroft, near Wakefield. 5’ 8½”; 12 st 6 lbs. Début: 28.8.20 v Millwall. Career: 14.8.06 Ardsley Nelson; 3.5.07 Barnsley; 6.3.08 Mexborough Town; 9.6.09 Nottingham Forest [12,1]; 5.8.10 Rotherham County; 1912 Bristol Rovers; 30.5.13 Everton (£800) [22,1]; July 1919 Bristol Rovers (£350) [44,10]; August 1922 Gillingham [36,5]; June 1923 Doncaster Rovers [2,0] (to 1924). “Lady Palmer”, so named for his reputation stipulated that he never muddied his shorts, scored four times in 57 Southern League matches with Rovers and was part of the Rovers side that produced an FA Cup shock in January 1913 by defeating First Division Notts County 2-0 at Eastville. Palmer served as no. 188607 in the 4th Depot of the 64th Battery within the Royal Garrison Artillery; wartime football with Barnsley, Chesterfield, Notts County and Hull City interrupted a career in which he had won a League championship medal in 1914-15, scoring once in seventeen matches for Everton, played in 64 consecutive matches with Midland League Rotherham County and represented the Rest of the Midland League XI against champions Lincoln City in 1909. In addition, he had scored Forest’s opening goal as they drew 2-2 with Spurs at White Hart Lane in Division One on Christmas Day 1909. He was also a member of the Rovers side against Gillingham in February 1913, after which Rovers were fined by the Southern League for fielding a weakened side. After the war, he helped Rovers in the final Southern League campaign, played in the club’s first League fixture and was a regular in the side into the second campaign. He also scored Gillingham’s first goal on his first appearance for them, scooping the ball home from Wally Battiste’s cross after seventy-five minutes of the 2-0 home win over Brentford in August 1922. Thereafter, he played for Gillingham against Rovers in February 1923 before appearing in Doncaster’s goalless draw with Wigan Borough in August 1923, their first League match after an eighteen-year absence. Club form also earned him a representative game when the Southern League played the Central League in March 1922 at Wolverhanpton. The third of six children to William Palmer and Amelia Woodhead, he was baptised on 15th December 1887 at St Mary the Virgin’s in Barnsley and brought up with his five sisters in a coal-mining family at 3 Mence’s Square, Barnsley; a colliery worker by profession, he married Ethel Pleasant (1888-1960) in Barnsley in 1911 and they had two sons, Thomas and Eric. |
No 8. William Charles Allen Panes. 1920-22.
Born, 9.10.1887, Bristol. Died, 12.1.1961, Bristol. 5’ 7”; 9 st. Début: 28.8.20 v Millwall. Career: 1913 Bath City; August 1916 Bristol Rovers [73,0]; 5.7.24 Sneyd Park. Diminutive and slight of build, Bill Panes was in Rovers’ side for the first Football League fixture of the club’s history, a 2-0 defeat at Millwall in August 1920. A Somerset player against Gloucestershire in 1913-14, he scored in the 7-0 win against Somerset Light Infantry in December 1916, missed a penalty the following Easter against Brazil Straker & Company and, incredibly, completed a hat-trick in the astonishing 20-0 win against Great Western Railway in February 1919. Having made his peace-time début in a goalless draw with Fulham in a friendly twelve months earlier, he played eighteen times in the Southern League in 1919-20 and represented the club in the first two football League campaigns. He even refereed Rovers’ pre-season trial game in 1919 and, having become the first Rovers player sent off in the League, for retaliation against Henry Higginbotham of Luton Town at Eastville in February 1922, he was in the side that crashed 8-1 at Swansea that Easter. Having featured in the Bristol XI against an International XI in Billy Wedlock’s testimonial game in May 1921, he was awarded his own benefit game against Swindon Town reserves in April 1924. The second in a large family to carpenter William Panes and his wife Ellen Greedy of 2 Belle Vue Road, Brislington, his older brother Alf serving in the Royal Navy and a younger brother Fred being killed in the second Relief of Kut in 1916, Bill Panes married Mabel Rosina Tucker (1890-1937) in 1912 and they had no children; his father-in-law William Tucker ran the Berkeley Castle pub in Berkeley Place from 1928 to 1934. Bill Panes died in Southmead Hospital and his funeral service at Canford Crematorium five days later attracted a large crowd, including four of his brothers and two sisters. |
No 241. Ernest Simmonds Henry Parker. 1937-38.
Born, 18.12.1913, Anerley, near Croydon, Surrey. Died, 29.1.1983, Brighton. 5’ 9½”; 11 st 6 lbs. Début: 31.8.37 v Northampton Town. Career: Anerley Argyle; November 1932 Crystal Palace (professional, January 1933) [2,0]; June 1934 Mansfield Town [15,4]; 31.8.36 Bournemouth [6,0]; 14.7.37 Bristol Rovers [9,1] (to January 1938); 1938 Dartford; 1939 Short’s. The eldest child of Ernest Simmonds Parker (1881-1955) and Winifred Ford (1883-1959), who had married in 1912 in Croydon, dark-haired Ernie Parker joined Rovers in 1937 as a part-time player on a free transfer. In a handful of League appearances, he managed to score once, against his former club Bournemouth in September 1937. Fast and incisive on the left wing, he had made his League début for Palace against Rovers in August 1933 before winning the Bass Charity Vase with Mansfield Town in 1935, in which they defeated Ripley Town 1-0 at Burton. Amongst his goals at Field Mill were two strikes in May 1936 as Mansfield defeated Rotherham United 8-2 in a Third Division (North) fixture. From his reserve début against Watford reserves in the London Combination in September 1936, his Bournemouth career never really took off and, having missed pre-season training with an ankle injury, he first appeared for Rovers’ second string in the 3-2 win against Dartford in August 1937. Shortly after the war Ernie Parker married Kathleen Everett in 1947 and they lived on the edge of Brighton, where their daughter Ann was born in 1952; he died at home, at 84 Ladies Mile Road, Patcham, Sussex. |
No 37. John Parker. 1922-24.
Born, 6.8.1897, Longton, Staffs. Died, 1967, Shrewsbury. 5’ 8”; 11 st. Début: 26.8.22 v Portsmouth. Career: Longton; Army football; Port Vale; August 1919 Shrewsbury Town; 11.2.20 Nottingham Forest [5,0]; June 1920 Tranmere Rovers; 23.10.20 Shrewsbury Town; 12.5.22 Bristol Rovers [27,6]; August 1924 Winsford United; August 1926 Stockport County; September 1926 Ashton National; October 1927 Stalybridge Celtic; August 1928 New Brighton; July 1929 Rhyl Athletic; October 1929 Stafford Rangers; November 1930 Witton Albion (trial). Frustratingly difficult to research, Jack Parker’s identity remains slightly enigmatic. The frequency of the name in the Shropshire and Staffordshire area precludes any accurate assessment as to which one of several births was his and as to whether he married. What is clear is that Jack – or “Tosh” – made his Shrewsbury début against Walsall in August 1919, scored a hat-trick against Worcester City the following month and ran up 47 goals in 77 Birmingham League matches prior to his arrival at Eastville. His Forest career had opened with a Second Division match against Grimsby Town in February 1920. Appearing for Whites against Stripes in the annual trial game, he made his League bow on the opening day of the 1922-23 campaign, scored twice when Rovers defeated a Gloucestershire XI 3-0 and became the first Rovers player to score direct from a corner, in the 1-0 win at Swansea in May 1923. Suspended in January 1924 following poor conduct in a game against Plymouth Argyle, he never played for the club again, although Rovers retained his signature until 1st May 1926. Some historians maintain he died in the second quarter of 1958 in Stoke. |
No 703. Sonny Parker. 2002-04.
Born, 28.3.1983, Middlesbrough. 5’ 11”; 11 st 11 lbs. Début: 21.12.02 v Cambridge United. Career: 1993 Nunthorpe Athletic; George Smith Academy; 1998 Sunderland (trial); 1999 Leeds United (trial); 1999 Birmingham City; 27.11.02 Bristol Rovers (trial); 16.12.02 Bristol Rovers (professional, 10.5.03) [26+4,1]; 13.8.05 Gateshead Low Fell (trial); 25.8.05 Gateshead (free); 16.1.06 Bishop Auckland (free); 1.7.06 Horden Colliery Welfare (free) (released, November 2006). Three reserve games, the first against Reading, and an FA Cup-tie at Rochdale preceded Sonny Parker’s Football League début. When it came, Rovers fell to their eighth consecutive defeat and hit the bottom place in the Football League for the first time ever, Parker having the misfortune to divert Tom Youngs’ cross into his own net for a seventeenth-minute début own goal in a 3-1 defeat. Alongside Johnny Hills in 1961and Bob Harris in 2017, he is one of only three Rovers players to concede an own goal on his League début for the club. Called Sonny as it was his father Alan’s nickname (Alan Parker married Julie Shildrick in Middlesbrough in 1982), Parker had England caps at Under-16 and Under-17 level and had played for Leeds against Middlesbrough in a trial friendly, but Rovers were the only club he represented in the League. After his 37th-minute header had been brilliantly saved by Kidderminster goalkeeper Stuart Brock in May 2003, he did succeed in heading home a Gary Twigg cross for Rovers’ 52nd-minute equaliser in a 2-2 draw at home to Torquay in March 2004, having earlier trailed to two Jo Kuffour goals. He was popular with Rovers’ supporters – “apart from the fact that it was outside the box, it was definitely a penalty”, he was quoted as saying. Whilst with Rovers, Parker’s partner Emma gave birth to their eldest of their three daughters, Lexi. Supporters’ Club Young Player of the Season for 2002-03, and scorer of two goals for Low Fell against Ferryhill Athletic in August 2005, Parker later made his Gateshead début in a goalless draw at Marine and scored his only goal in seventeen matches with a low shot after 57 minutes of the 3-2 October 2005 victory over Ashton United, for whom Mark Foran was playing; the previous week he had hit the crossbar in the FA Cup against Bradford Park Avenue. As Bishop Auckland finished bottom of the Northern Premier League First Division in 2005-06, Parker made twelve appearances, the first being that January in the 4-0 defeat at home to Shepshed. He now lives in Thornaby-on-Tees and works as a company director for his family’s business on Teesside. |
No 827. Thomas Peter Wilson Parkes. 2011-16.
Born, 15.1.1992, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire. 6’ 2”; 12 st 4 lbs. Début: 11.2.12 v Morecambe. Career: 2006 Leicester City (professional, 1.1.10); 22.1.10 Burton Albion (loan); 1.12.10 Yeovil Town (loan) [0+1,0]; 24.3.11 Burton Albion (loan) [28+2,1]; 9.2.12 Bristol Rovers (loan); 20.8.12 Bristol Rovers (£100,000) [127+2,2]; 15.6.16 Orient (free) [41,1]; 4.7.17 Carlisle United (free) [71+5,2]; 27.5.19 Exeter City (free) [53+9,3]; 3.6.21 Livingston (free) [6+2,1]. A left-sided central defensive player, used also in a central midfield rôle, Tom Parkes is a tall, strong footballer who appeared alongside Cian Bolger at both Leicester and Rovers. The son of football supporter Peter Parkes, he played eighteen times, scoring once, for England at Under-17 level, including appearing in all three games of the unsuccessful 2009 Euro Championships, yet his only involvement with Leicester prior to joining Rovers had been the position of unused substitute for an FA Cup-tie against Swansea City in January 2010. Nonetheless, extended loan spells with Burton had brought nine yellow cards and two reds, at Torquay and at Oxford, as well as a goal in the 2-0 victory at Aldershot in March 2010 and Parkes played in the extraordinary 6-5 defeat at home to Cheltenham Town the same calendar month. Signed for Rovers when Aaron Downes was injured, manager Mark McGhee said of Parkes that “we believe he is a great option for us”. His time was certainly eventful, with Rovers slipping to the foot of the Football League over Christmas 2012, whilst he also received red cards at Port Vale in April 2012 and at Wimbledon in October 2012. Port Vale games proved a challenge, for he suffered a broken ankle against Vale with Burton in August 2011, was sent off there for Rovers and suffered a suspected broken leg at Vale Park in November 2012, which fortunately proved to be bone bruising. At Home Park in September 2012, when played in by David Clarkson, left-footed Parkes scored his first goal in a Rovers shirt to earn a 1-1 draw with Plymouth Argyle. Appointed club captain, he led Rovers on a winning run away from the relegation zone in the month he turned twenty-one and was voted League Two Player of the Month for January 2013 as well as Rovers’ Young Player of the Year that season. As Rovers strove to escape from the foot of the table in the run-up to Christmas 2013, Parkes scored his second League goal for the club, with a powerful header from Lee Brown’s cross after half an hour of the 3-0 home victory over Wimbledon. However, losing tamely at home to Mansfield Town in May 2014, Rovers dropped out of the Football League. Parkes was named in the England C training squad at the end of September 2014 and played alongside Lee Brown as the team defeated the Estonia Under-23 side 4-2 at Halifax that November. During Rovers’ 2014-15, he evolved into a critical component of the Rovers side which amassed 91 Conference points and reached the play-offs. Named as both Supporters’ Club and President’s Club Player of the Year, he added a goal in the final seconds of the regular season as Rovers trounced Alfreton Town 7-0 in April 2015. Parkes appearing in 45(+1) Conference matches and scored four goals 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. The following campaign proved tougher, epitomised by the home fixture with Newport County in October 2015, in which Parkes headed the visitors in front with an own goal and later hit the crossbar at the other end. However, Rovers emerged from this campaign having secured a dramatic double promotion, Lee Brown’s injury-time goal on the final day ensuring that the Gas went up to League One on goal difference. Tom Parkes became a father for the first time in March 2016, when his partner gave birth to a daughter, but was given a twelve-month community order and a twenty-one-month driving ban later that year after crashing his stepfather’s car in Nottinghamshire whilst drunk. On the field, his career dipped in the 2016-17 season as Orient, despite his consistent presence at the heart of their defence, lost their long-standing Football League status, Parkes scoring against promoted Doncaster Rovers in March but being sent off the following month against Wycombe Wanderers. He was also sent off at both Lincoln and Crawley early in his Carlisle career, for whom he scored at Cambridge in August 2017 but conceded an own goal at home to Tranmere Rovers thirteen months later. In May 2019 he played for Carlisle at Huish Park in Yeovil Town’s final fixture as a Football League club. Scoring against Plymouth and Crewe in 2019-20, he was one of three players sent off as Exeter lost at Bradford City in November 2019 and played as the Grecians were knocked out of the FA Cup the following month by non-league Hartlepool United. Remarkably, he scored following a corner in the first minute of his opening game for Livingston, a League Cup-tie at Brechin City in July 2021 and added a Premiership goal at Ross County that October, in a season blighted by a knee injury. |
No 553. Brian Parkin. 1989-96 and 1999-2001.
Born, 12.10.1965, Birkenhead. 6’ 1”; 13 st. Début: 25.11.89 v Swansea City. Career: 9.12.82 Oldham Athletic (professional, 31.3.83) [6,0]; 29.11.84 Crewe Alexandra (loan); 22.7.85 Crewe Alexandra (free) [98,0]; 4.12.87 Crystal Palace (loan); 1.7.88 Crystal Palace (free) [20,0]; 11.11.89 Bristol Rovers (loan); 11.1.90 Bristol Rovers (free); 28.6.96 Wycombe Wanderers (free) [24+1,0]; August 1998 Shrewsbury Town (trial); 15.10.98 Notts County [1,0]; 18.11.98 Yeovil Town (loan); 31.10.99 Bristol Rovers (goalkeeping coach; retired from playing, 24.11.00) [243+1,0]; 6.8.03 Team Bath (player-coach). Talented shot-stopper Brian Parkin gave Rovers great service over three decades of League football. The tall Merseysider, who had previously worked in an oil refinery at Ellesmere Port and played alongside England internationals Geoff Thomas and David Platt at Crewe, joined Rovers as part of the deal which took Nigel Martyn to Crystal Palace. The son of Brian Parkin senior and Eileen Corrigan, he had already almost 100 League games with Crewe to his name. Rovers had started the 1989-90 campaign promisingly enough, but a glorious run of victories through the spring of 1990 set the club up for the Third Division title, which was secured in May as Parkin kept clean sheets in the final two vital games at home to Bristol City and at Blackpool. Later that month, he was part of the first Rovers side to walk out at Wembley, losing 2-1 to Tranmere Rovers, his local boyhood club, in the Leyland Daf Cup Final. This was the start of many years in which a Rovers side was practically unrecognisable without the affable goalkeeper between the sticks. Sent off at home to Brighton in March 1991 and again, somewhat harshly, at Bournemouth in December 1993, Parkin played in almost every game of Rovers’ three-year Division Two tenure and, once the club was relegated in the spring of 1993, set about ensuring the side would not slip into the abyss of the basement division. The 1994-95 campaign saw Rovers reach the play-offs and, after an exciting two-legged semi-final, Parkin walked out once again at Wembley, only for Rovers to lose by the same 2-1 score-line, this time at the hands of Huddersfield. Conceding six goals when Wycombe lost 6-3 at Peterborough in September 1996, Parkin was sent off at Ashton Gate that season and played against Rovers at Adams Park in March 1997. He appeared just once at Notts County, in a 3-2 home defeat against Lincoln City in October 1998, and not at all for Yeovil, before a surprise return to Rovers saw him introduced as a half-time substitute for the injured Lee Jones against Cambridge United in January 2000, his first game for the Pirates since January 1996. A keen penalty-kick stopper, Parkin twice saved three penalties for Rovers in a shoot-out and his vital penalty save against Northampton in January 2000 showed he had lost none of his old magic. Amiable and friendly, Brian Parkin now works in Bath as a taxi-driver. |
No 479. Timothy John Parkin. 1981-86.
Born, 31.12.1957, Penrith, Cumbria. 6’ 2”; 13 st 3 lbs. Début: 29.8.81 v Chester. Career: Blackburn Rovers (professional, March 1976) [13,0]; 2.7.77 Fort Lauderdale Strikers (loan) [1+3,0]; January 1980 Malmö (£20,000) [41,1]; 26.8.81 Almondsbury Greenway (£15,000); 26.8.81 Bristol Rovers (£15,000) [205+1,12]; 14.7.86 Swindon Town (£28,500) [109+1,6]; 8.12.89 Port Vale (£60,000) [41+7,1]; 19.9.91 Shrewsbury Town (loan) [5,0]; 30.7.92 Darlington (free) [40,2] (player-coach; caretaker manager, 4.10.93); 2.11.93 Barrow (assistant manager); May 1994 Middlesbrough (Football in the Community Officer). Effective and efficient at the heart of Rovers’ defence for five seasons, Tim Parkin had arrived at Eastville as the result of an extraordinary transfer deal. Having made his Blackburn début against Rovers in March 1977, he had tried his luck in Swedish football, where he made his début for Malmö in their World Club Championship match against Olimpia of Paraguay and helped the side secure the Swedish Cup by defeating IK Brage on penalties in the final. In order to return to English football, he could not, for legal reasons at that time, be transferred directly from a professional club in Sweden, so was technically on the books of Almondsbury for half-an-hour. Once safely arrived, Parkin established a hugely successful defensive partnership with Aidan McCaffery, the tall Cumbrian playing his final game for Rovers in the last League fixture ever played at Eastville. In March 1982, he had scored at both ends when Rovers lost 5-2 to Swindon and, oddly enough, it was the Robins who were his next port of call, where he played twice against Rovers, helped the side gain promotion from Division Three via the play-offs in 1986-87 and lose out to Crystal Palace in the 1988-89 play-offs, representing three further League clubs, scoring for Darlington against both Torquay United and Chesterfield, and playing in nineteen HFS Loans League games for Barrow, adding a goal at Morecambe, before a broken leg accrued in the February 1994 home fixture with Boston United ended his playing career. Still living in Bristol throughout his playing career, he once spent the night in his car in a motorway traffic jam on his way home after a fixture in December 1990 had been postponed. Early in his career, a spell in the States had enabled him to play twice against his idol, Pelé, one of these games being an 8-3 defeat against New York Cosmos in front of a crowd of 77,000, although Parkin would certainly be keen to point out that he was a half-time substitute, his side trailing 6-1 at the interval. The elder of two sons to Kenneth Parkin and Sarah Guy, Tim Parkin married Jane in 1978 and they live in Appleby, their two grown-up daughters now living in London; he is a policeman, working initially in Middlesbrough and, from September 1994, with the Cumbrian Police and rising to the rank of Inspector. |
No 462. Noel David Parkinson. 1979-80.
Bor. 16.11.1959, Kingston-upon-Hull. 5’ 8”; 10 st 6 lbs. Début: 3.11.79 v Queen’s Park Rangers. Career: Hymer’s College, Hull; Ipswich Town (professional, December 1976); 2.11.79 Bristol Rovers (loan) [5,1]; 19.2.80 Brentford (loan) [9+1,0]; July 1980 Mansfield Town (£35,000) [66+4,13]; 15.8.82 Scunthorpe United (£35,000) [39+2,7]; 20.8.84 Colchester United (free) [79+1,13] (retired, 1986). Fast, tricky winger Noel Parkinson was offered a League bow with Rovers and kick-started his career with a goal when the Pirates travelled to Roker Park to play Sunderland in November 1979. Prior to his matches in the quartered shirt of Rovers, he had appeared in both legs of Ipswich’s UEFA Cup tie with the Norwegian side Skied Oslo in the autumn of 1979. Able as a cricketer and rugby union player, this only child of David Parkinson and Dena Lovewell represented England Youth at football and, despite never making the League side at Portman Road, accumulated a large number of League appearances at subsequent clubs. He scored a brace in December 1985, as Colchester defeated Wrexham 5-2 at Layer Road. Mansfield’s Player of the Year in 1981-82, he never opposed Rovers in the League and was forced to retire after being injured in Colchester’s game with Peterborough in March 1986. Following his retirement, he worked as a football commentator for local radio in the Scunthorpe area and was a photocopier salesman. Investing his redundancy package from an online sales job in 2004, he launched a national website to buy used cars; this company now has an annual turnover in excess of £20 million and Parkinson was featured in 2010 in the Sunday Time Rich List. |
No 602. Steven James Parmenter. 1996-98.
Born, 22.1.1977, Chelmsford. 5’ 9”; 11 st. Début: 31.8.96 v Stockport County. Career: Cambridge United (schoolboy); Ipswich Town (schoolboy); 1993 Southend United; 2.5.95 Queen’s Park Rangers; 12.7.96 Bristol Rovers [11+7,2]; 15.9.97 Yeovil Town (loan); 16.2.98 Southend United (trial); 24.2.98 Stevenage Borough (trial); 5.3.98 Yeovil Town; 18.9.98 Dorchester Town; 21.9.98 Kingstonian; 18.11.98 Billericay Town (trial); 20.11.98 Canvey Island; 17.8.04 Wivenhoe Town; 31.8.04 Bishop’s Stortford (free); 19.5.05 Cambridge City (free); 31.12.05 Braintree Town (free); 2007 Southend United (kit manager). During Rovers’ first match at the Memorial Ground, as the club’s home was then known, Steve Parmenter came on as a substitute to replace Paul Miller; it was his Rovers début. Having scored in a friendly at Glastonbury that July and a hat-trick in the 4-1 victory at Clevedon Town a few weeks earlier, Parmenter was ready for the League bow that had eluded him at QPR, despite his eight goals in 17(+5) Avon Insurance games for QPR reserves, who won that division in 1995-96. A team-mate of Matt Lockwood at Southend, Rangers and Rovers, he scored a long-range left-footed half-volley against Exeter City in the FA Cup and, whilst with Rovers, won two Welsh Under-21 caps, against Turkey and Holland, the legacy of being born of Welsh parentage. Three goals at Yeovil in 14 (+5) Conference matches came in addition to a red card received against Gateshead in May 1998 after an hour with his side already 6-1 ahead. Unused at Kingstonian, Parmenter was substituted at half-time on his Dorchester début against Grantham Town and told his services were no longer required. Thereafter, he enjoyed some success at Canvey Island. An 81st-minute début goal against Evesham in the FA Trophy preceded his side being Ryman League champions in 1998-99, five points clear of Hitchin Town, Parmenter being second highest scorer with eighteen goals and he played as Island won the Essex Senior Cup Final that season. An FA Cup game against Port Vale and an appearance at Villa Park, as Forest Green Rovers were defeated 1-0 in the 2001 FA Vase Final, Parmenter narrowly missing a first-half chance of a second goal, preceded Canvey Island eventually gaining promotion to the Conference in 2003-04. He appeared in 4(+3) Southern League matches, without scoring, at Cambridge City and worked as a football coach at Tendring College for the 2007-08 academic year. The son of Brian Parmenter and Christine Hayward, who married in 1974, he has, since September 2015, been working for the Metropolitan Police, based in Tower Hamlets. |
No 297. (Ted) Edward John Parsons. 1949-51.
Born, 22.3.1928, Bristol. Died, 5.1.1996, Brislington, Bristol. 6’; 12 st 10 lbs. Début: 10.4.50 v Exeter City. Career: Frome Town; 12.8.49 Bristol Rovers (professional, 26.9.49) [5,2]; 2.10.51 Barnstaple Town (loan); December 1951 Frome Town; Street; Brislington. Despite having made only a handful of appearances at Western League Frome Town, centre-forward Ted Parsons was signed on by Rovers and scored a hat-trick for the reserves against Ilfracombe in August 1948. On the strength of this, he was given a run-out in the League side and responded with a couple of goals, scoring at Newport and at Reading as Rovers won their final two away fixtures of the 1949-50 season. The eldest of three sons to Henry Parsons and Annie Marks, he married in 1951 Alice Allsworth, the youngest of six children to William Allsworth (1889-1951) and Gladys Roberts; they had two daughters, Karen and Kathryn. Ted Parsons lived for many years in Brislington and died there at the age of sixty-seven. |
No 375. Lindsay William Parsons. 1963-77.
Born, 20.3.1946, Barton Hill, Bristol. Died, 12.4.2019, Bristol. 5’ 9”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 18.4.64 v Notts County. Career: South Gloucester Boys; New Cheltenham; March 1961 Bristol Rovers (professional, 20.3.64) [354+6,0]; 30.7.77 Torquay United (£5,000) [56,0]; 29.9.79 Yate Town; October 1979 Cheltenham Town (free); December 1981 Taunton Town; 1982 Gloucester City (£2,000); 1983 Forest Green Rovers; 1983 Yate Town; 16.7.83 Bristol Rovers (schoolboy coach); 1988 Hanham Athletic; 1989 Frome Town; November 1990 Cheltenham Town (coach; caretaker manager, 23.1.92; manager, 2.5.92); 31.7.95 Gillingham (assistant manager); 6.7.99 Bristol City (assistant manager); 2002 Portsmouth (coach); 12.6.03 Stoke City (assistant manager); 7.10.05 Plymouth Argyle (assistant manager); 2007 Stoke City (coach, to 27.5.13). Solid, dependable and consistent, if small for a full-back, Lindsay Parsons was the long-serving right-footed left-back in successive Rovers sides. From his League début in 1964, through the promotion campaign a decade later, to helping establish Rovers in second-tier football under Don Megson, Parsons was an apparently immovable figure in Rovers’ rear-guard. “A quiet hard man”, Harold Jarman said, “he went about his job every week and played consistently throughout; he was just Mr Reliable”. A Watney Cup winner with the club in 1972, he appeared in 56 first-class games for Rovers in 1971-72 and in 57 the following campaign, his run of 167 consecutive League appearances encompassing the 1971-72 and 1972-73 seasons. Hard-working and reliable, Parsons was in the Rovers side which recorded the celebrated 8-2 victory at Brian Clough’s (1935-2004) Brighton in December 1973, was awarded a testimonial season in 1974-75 and captained the side through the 1976-77 campaign. At Old Trafford in 1972 it was Parsons’ cross which led to Bruce Bannister’s winning goal on an epic League Cup night; famed for his goal-line clearances, Parsons could be efficient at providing goals for others around him. However, that elusive League goal never came his way and he joins an exclusive band of outfield players, often left-backs, who have played in more than 400 League fixtures without once finding the net. He, in fact, claimed a goal against Cambridge United in the FA Cup in December 1971, although Bruce Bannister is always credited with the final, faint touch, and he did score for Torquay in a friendly. He also conceded an own goal after 84 minutes of a defeat at Crewe in August 1968, the fifth goal in a 6-1 defeat, and scored a classic headed own goal against Aston Villa. The son of William Parsons and Ivy Ford, Lindsay Parsons was spotted by Jackie Pitt when playing for New Cheltenham in the Church of England League and, on leaving Rovers, had to choose between former Rovers team-mates, playing under Johnny Petts at Northampton or Mike Green at Torquay. Having played in 72 Southern League matches with Cheltenham, Parsons was coaching there when they finished runners-up in that division three years in succession and a youth team product, Christer Warren, who later played for Rovers, was sold to Southampton for a then club record fee. He was a Southern League Cup winner with Gloucester against Wealdstone, made his Yate début in a 3-0 defeat at Newent Town in September 1979 and worked at Rolls Royce, as well as renovating houses with David Hurford, before serving under several clubs with Tony Pulis, culminating in an FA Cup Final appearance at Wembley with Stoke City in 2011. Married with three children, Lindsay Parsons lived in Downend. |
No 888. Joseph Michael Partington. 2016-18.
Born, 1.4.1990, Portsmouth. 6’ 2”; 12 st. Début: 14.1.17 v Fleetwood Town. Career: 2001 Portsmouth; 1.7.06 Bournemouth (professional, 7.5.08) [21+31,2]; 29.10.10 Eastbourne Borough (loan); 1.1.14 Aldershot Town (loan); 3.1.15 Eastleigh (loan); 4.6.15 Eastleigh (free); 13.1.17 Bristol Rovers (£100,000) [47+6,3]; 13.6.19 Eastleigh (free); 1.7.21 Bromley (free); 16.6.22 Aldershot Town (free). As a show of intent, the signing of fifth-tier Eastleigh’s captain and Player of the Year Joe Partington indicated how Rovers’ manager Darrell Clarke proposed to strengthen his side. Following consecutive promotions, League One Rovers were looking for versatility and to add composure to the midfield and defence. In beating Luton Town, Doncaster Rovers and Partick Thistle to his signature, for what was the Spitfires’ record fee received, Clarke was able to throw an additional ingredient into a potential belated play-off push. Joe Partington’s career had begun with Bournemouth, for whom he had made his League bow in February 2008 as a substitute for Marvin Bartley against Luton Town. His first League goal, when both he and Jo Kuffour scored in stoppage time to record a memorable away win at table-topping Swansea City five days after his eighteenth birthday, came when he had replaced the former England international Darren Anderton three minutes from time and rendered him the Cherries’ all-time youngest League goal-scorer. Despite the ignominy of playing in a 1-0 defeat at Blyth Spartans in the FA Cup, Partington appeared with a degree of regularity for Bournemouth in League One and also enjoyed three loan spells. Seemingly partial to the January transfer window, he was sent off against Newport County in one of four Conference games with Eastbourne and scored a late equaliser for Aldershot at Hyde in February 2014, his only goal in eight Conference matches before a knee injury, suffered against Dartford, ruled him out for ten months. A couple of caps for Wales at Under-17 level, qualifying through his mother’s side of the family, preceded eleven games and two goals for Wales Under-19s and eight caps for the Under-21 side, Partington captaining the two latter sides, the Under-19s against Turkey when aged just seventeen and the Under-21s against Austria in November 2010 at the Parc y Scarlets. His time at Eastleigh proved most fruitful, as he developed into a reliable and dependable defensive player, notably giving the Spitfires the lead at Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup in January 2016, Kaid Mohamed also scoring in that game, and being named as the club’s Player of the Year for 2015-16. The following campaign, becoming club captain and playing alongside David Pipe, he took his appearance total for Eastleigh to 79(+2) Conference matches and six goals, scoring in 2016-17 against Guiseley and Woking but also being sent off after 22 minutes of the 4-3 defeat at Southport. Having played twice against Rovers, as a substitute for Sammy Igoe in Bournemouth’s Football League Trophy win over Rovers in September 2008 and in the Eastleigh side which won 2-1 at The Mem in the Conference in March 2015 to end Rovers’ twenty-match unbeaten run, Partington joined Rovers in the January 2017 transfer window and replaced Mark McChrystal for the final thirty-six minutes on his début. He was sent off in Eastleigh’s home matches with Ebbsfleet United in December 2019 and Solihull Moors fourteen months later; he played in 144(+3) National League matches for the Spitfires, scoring seven times and added 21(+7) National League games with Bromley, scoring in an FA Trophy victory at Aldershot in January 2022 and appearing at Wembley as a substitute in May 2022, having a hand in the goal as his side defeated Wrexham 1-0 to win the FA Trophy for the first time in its history. The founder of Front Foot, an off-season football training programme for professionals and semi-professionals, Partington holds a UEFA B licence and has been a part-time academy assistant at AFC Bournemouth since July 2019. |
No 670. Richard Joseph Partridge. 2000-01.
Born, 12.9.1980, Dublin. 5’ 8”; 10 st 10 lbs. Début: 24.3.01 v Swindon Town. Career: Newcastle United (trial); Everton (trial); Blackburn Rovers (trial); Nottingham Forest (trial); Liverpool (professional, 1.8.00); 20.3.01 Bristol Rovers (loan) [4+2,1]; 27.9.02 Coventry City (loan) [23+4,4]; 1.6.05 St Patrick’s Athletic (free); 26.7.05 Sheffield Wednesday (free) [6+12,0]; 29.6.06 Rotherham United (free) [30+3,3]; 22.6.07 Chester City (free) [49+15,5]; 21.7.09 MK Dons [1+4,0]; 27.11.09 Kettering Town (loan); 19.1.10 Stockport County (loan) [20+2,1]; 10.9.10 The New Saints (retired, 3.8.11); 5.11.12 Airbus UK Broughton (free) [5+10,1]; 26.7.16 Liverpool (physiotherapist); 30.1.20 Qatar (physiotherapist). Terry Owen (the son of Leslie Owen and Rose Donnelly), who played in the Bradford City side defeated 7-1 at Eastville in September 1971, had five children, one of them being Michael Owen, the England striker, and another, Lesley, marrying Richie Partridge, a slightly-built midfielder, who scored after 51 minutes when played in by Robbie Pethick, as Rovers defeated Wrexham 4-0 in May 2001, but could not prevent the club’s relegation to the basement division. He suffered a hamstring injury during his time with Rovers, which restricted his appearances. Having made his Liverpool début in the 8-0 League Cup victory away to Stoke City in November 2000, Partridge won two Republic of Ireland Under-21 caps in the autumn of 2000, one as a substitute for Rovers’ Graham Barrett, but cruciate ligament trouble conspired to prevent him making Liverpool’s League side. Coventry City’s Player of the Year, despite being there only on loan, he scored two well-taken goals as Chester won 2-1 at Stockport in October 2007, only to join his opponents later in his career. As Stockport were relegated from League One in 2010 and dropped out of the Football League in 2011, Partridge played against Rovers in March 2010, having scored his only County goal the previous month in a 4-3 win against Wycombe Wanderers. He scored once in two Conference games at Kettering, where he more notably scored a début goal in the FA Cup in the 1-1 draw with Leeds United. Eleven goals in 26 Welsh League matches for TNS included one on his début as Carmarthen Town were defeated 7-0 and a hat-trick in the 5-0 victory over Aberystwyth Town. Richie Partridge graduated from the University of Salford in 2009 with a physiotherapy degree and completed a two-year Masters in Football Rehabilitation in 2011; he was a director at the Ten Bridge physiotherapy clinic near Chester, before leaving in 2020 to take up a physiotherapy position with the Qatar national side. Richie and Lesley Partridge have a son, Conor, and a daughter, Maggie. |
No 913. Stefan Payne. 2018-19.
Born, 10.8.1991, Lambeth. 6’ 2”; 9 st 11 lbs. Début: 11.8.18 v Accrington Stanley. Career: Croydon (professional, 2009); 2009 Sutton United; 8.9.09 Fulham (£50,000); 17.6.10 Gillingham (free) [1+27,1]; 18.2.11 Braintree Town (loan); 27.1.12 Aldershot Town (free) [0+1,0]; 22.2.12 Sutton United (free); 14.1.13 Macclesfield Town (free); 31.1.13 Ebbsfleet United (free); 22.8.13 AFC Hornchurch (free); 3.6.14 Dover Athletic (free); 18.5.16 Barnsley (free) [0+9,0]; 30.1.17 Shrewsbury Town (loan); 18.8.17 Shrewsbury Town (free); 9.8.18 Bristol Rovers (free) [14+6,2]; 31.1.19 Shrewsbury Town (loan) [28+28,13]; 28.6.19 Tranmere Rovers (free) [12+7,4]; 25.1.21 Grimsby Town (free) [10+3,1]; 2.7.21 Chesterfield (free); 4.2.22 Havant and Waterlooville (loan); 3.7.22 Welling United (free). Six minutes from the end of his first Rovers appearance, strong striker Stefan Payne rose high to head home James Clarke’s right-wing cross at The Mem against Accrington Stanley. Whilst this was no less than his Man of the Match performance deserved, it also marked a fresh start in the career of a player who had developed late. However, supporters soon became impatient at a perceived lack of effort and Payne left for the Wirral. Early promise at Croydon had seen him score in the Southern Youth League Cup Final of June 2010, as Sutton United were defeated 3-1 and he was soon off for two spells with Sutton, where he scored a début hat-trick against Margate and added ten goals in 28 matches. He also played five times for Braintree, scoring a hat-trick in the second of these as Basingstoke Town were defeated 5-2. League opportunities arose, mainly at Gillingham, where he scored as a substitute both at Hereford in September 2011, the sixth goal in a large away win, and in the FA Cup at home to Bournemouth. However, Payne flourished in non-league, building on one ten-minute appearance for Macclesfield at Dartford, to score twice in 12(+1) Conference matches with Ebbsfleet (goals coming against Southport and Telford, although he was also sent off at both his former club Braintree and Luton). Two goals on his first Hornchurch game, at Dulwich Hamlet, proved the first of 35 in just 46 games; thereafter, a hugely impressive spell of Conference football followed at Dover, earning him an England C call-up in 2015 and he hit the post when Rovers played the Kent side that season. He scored 33 goals in 79(+5) Conference matches at Dover, five times scoring two in a game and ending as the club’s top scorer two years in succession and Player of the Year for 2015-16. He was also sent off at Cheltenham in September 2015 and against Bromley on the appropriately-named Boxing Day that year. Showing “raw pace, strength and the right attitude” (Paul Boswell, Dover Athletic manager), Payne enjoyed a wonderful season as top scorer with the Shrews in 2017-18, as the unfashionable Shropshire side lost twice at Wembley, both in the play-off final and in the Football League Trophy Final, Payne and Alex Rodman both appearing and both subsequently moving to The Mem. Having played five times against Rovers, twice with Dover and three times at Shrewsbury, Payne’s début for the Gas was the first time since Dover’s defeat at Halifax in November 2015 that he had scored and ended up on the losing side. A goal on his first Grimsby appearance, a home defeat against Stevenage, proved to be his only one for the club, who dropped back out of the Football League at the end of the 2020-21 campaign. However, his Grimsby career ended in disgrace, released by the club after being sent off for head-butting his own team-mate, Filipe Morais, during a defeat at Bradford City and he later played in 7(+9) Conference matches with Chesterfield, without scoring. Later he was again sent off, when Welling visited Ebbsfleet United in the National League South in October 2022. |
No 828. James Lee Paterson. 2011-14.
Born, 25.9.1979, Bellshill, North Lanarkshire. 5’ 9”; 13 st 2 lbs. Début: 11.2.12 v Morecambe. Career: Dundee United (professional, 3.7.96) [64+37,4]; 14.7.04 Motherwell (free) [91+17,5]; 31.1.08 Plymouth Argyle (£250,000) [46+19,1]; 12.8.10 Kavala, Greece (trial); 1.12.10 Aberdeen (loan) [7,0]; 13.7.11 Yeovil Town (trial); 31.8.11 Shamrock Rovers [8,0]; 17.1.12 St Johnstone (trial); 31.1.12 Bristol Rovers (free) [40+3,1]; 9.1.14 Celtic Nation (loan); 2.9.14 Forfar Athletic (free) [11+1,0]; 6.1.15 Dunfermline Athletic (player-Under-20 coach) [5+1,0]; 13.10.15 Stenhousemuir (free; 23.6.16 player-coach) [15,0] (assistant manager, 6.7.17); 12.11.19 East Kilbride (caretaker manager, to 21.2.20). Left-back and erstwhile left-winger Jim Paterson brought to Rovers a wealth of experience from Scotland as well as from Euro League football during his brief spell in Ireland. A great crosser of the ball, he had apparently scored Scotland Schoolboys’ winning goal at Hampden Park on Ronaldinho’s Brazil début, and represented his country at Under-16 and on nine occasions at Under-21 level, but later suffered a broken leg on two occasions whilst with Dundee United. When at Motherwell, he played in several high-scoring fixtures, two 4-4 draws against Celtic and a 5-4 defeat against his former club, scored twice in the 2-0 home win over Dundee in November 2004 and was sent off after scoring at Kilmarnock over Christmas 2006. A spell at Plymouth included an appearance against Rovers, Plymouth winning 3-2 at The Mem in January 2011 as both sides suffered relegation to League Two and he registered his only goal from the edge of the area against Southampton in February 2008. Injured in a loan spell under Mark McGhee at Aberdeen, Paterson made his Shamrock début in a 2-1 win at Dundalk and, during his brief spell at The Tallaght, helped Rovers secure the League of Ireland title before playing in a Euro League tie against Spurs. Re-joining McGhee four years to the day after he had first moved south of the border, Jim Paterson settled in at left-back, being booked after just ten minutes against Swindon before scoring Rovers’ fourth goal, after 65 minutes of the 7-1 victory over Burton Albion in April 2012. He missed the start of the 2013-14 campaign after fracturing a leg in a pre-season friendly against Hereford United that July and joined the Carlisle-based Northern League side Celtic Nation on loan. Released by Rovers, Paterson was a key figure as early-season strong form swept Forfar to the top of Scottish League One in the autumn of 2014, but was sent off during the 2-0 defeat at Morton that November and joined Dunfermline Athletic. On his Stenhousemuir début, his side recovered from going three goals down to defeat Peterhead 4-3, but he missed much of the 2016-17 season with a back injury, playing in just one fixture, a 4-0 defeat at Albion Rovers, as Stenny were relegated and retired as a player in the summer of 2017. |
No 105. John Wilson Paterson. 1927-32.
Born, 13.4.1904, Kirkcaldy, Fife. Died? 5’ 9”; 11 st. Début: 11.2.28 v Queen’s Park Rangers. Career: Edinburgh Emmet; Dundee in Spain FC; August 1924 Bathgate; 1927 Wellesley Juniors; 4.2.28 Bristol Rovers (trial); 7.2.28 Bristol Rovers (£30) [46,6]; March 1932 St Saviour’s, Vancouver; 1933 Toronto Scottish (to 1941). Notoriously tough to research in the modern era, John Paterson joined Rovers from Fife County League football and made his début in a 4-0 defeat at home to QPR. He scored at Crystal Palace that season and his four goals the following campaign included a 75th-minute equaliser at home to Fulham in February 1929 which proved critical; the sixth goal of the game, it laid the platform for Rovers to run in a 5-3 win. After a final goal in the home defeat against Plymouth Argyle in the autumn of 1929, Paterson emigrated to Canada, where he reputedly played until the age of fifty. He returned to Eastville in September 1977, then aged seventy-two, to visit his former colleague Jesse Whatley. |
No 44. John William Pattison. 1922-24.
Born, 10.4.1897, Stanley, Co Durham. Died, 11.4.1970, Bristol. 5’ 9½”; 11 st 6 lbs. Début: 26.12.22 v Exeter City. Career: Leadgate Park; Framwellgate Moor; 31.1.20 Durham City; 10.4.20 Newcastle United; 27.12.20 Durham City; July 1921 Derby County [15,2]; 18.9.22 Bristol Rovers [12,1]; June 1924 Leadgate Park; 6.8.25 Durham City [6,2]; 28.7.26 Torquay United [26,5]; 31.8.28 Taunton United; 1929 Gray’s Thurrock United; 3.9.29 Dunston United; West Stanley (amateur); December 1929 Durham City (amateur); January 1930 Bath City; 6.12.32 Frenchay United; 6.9.33 Glastonbury; 21.11.36 Warminster Town. Few players can match the extraordinarily meandering football career of Jack Pattison, the elder of two sons to a stationary engineman Thomas Pattison (1868-1917) and his wife Elizabeth Galley (1869-1938). Jack – or “Billy” as he was known on occasions – was known as a sprinter; “he is both fast and clever”, reported the Taunton Courier, whilst the Bristol Evening Times stated that he has “plenty of speed and can cross with either foot”. A goal for Framwellgate Moor against Croxdale in the Spennymoor Charity Cup in November 1919 gave notice of his potential and he made his Durham City début the following January, scoring twice as Palmer’s of Jarrow were beaten 3-0 in the North-Eastern League. He scored five goals in 24 North-Eastern League fixtures; “Pattison gives promise of developing into a fine wing forward”, argued the Durham Advertiser. After a goal on his League début for Derby County against Blackpool in September 1921, he joined Rovers and first appeared for the reserves in November 1922 against Plymouth Argyle reserves. Sporadic appearances on the left-wing led to one goal, Rovers’ equaliser at Portsmouth in a 1-1 draw in October 1923, and he added nineteen goals for Rovers reserves. Pattison returned to Durham once they had secured their League status and scored for his home-town club in Third Division (North) clashes with Walsall and Grimsby Town in the autumn of 1925. Bought to replace the former Rovers man George Pither and making his début in a 4-1 win against Taunton Town, Pattison’s seven goals in 1926-27, alongside a goal in the Devon Professional Trophy, helped ease Torquay United to the Southern League championship and promotion to the Football League. He then played twice for the Gulls against Rovers in Torquay’s first League season and opposed Rovers’ reserves twice whilst at Taunton. A début against St Austell in the FA Cup preceded Taunton hat-tricks against his former club Torquay’s reserve side and in the November 1928 fixture with Barry Town when Taunton recovered a three-goal deficit to win 5-3. Having married Mary Lawther in 1926, Pattison helped Bath City secure the Bristol Charity League in 1929-30, before making his Warminster Town début in a 3-2 win at Salisbury City in the Western League in November 1936. Jack Pattison later lived in East Bristol until his death, one day after his seventy-third birthday. |
No 582. Martin Paul. 1993-96.
Born, 2.2.1975, Whalley, Lancashire. 5’ 8”; 10 st. Début: 11.12.93 v Orient. Career: Ansford School; Queen Camel; Castle Cary; 18.7.91 Bristol Rovers (professional, 19.7.93) [11+11,1]; 5.7.96 Doncaster Rovers; October 1996 football in Belgium; 20.11.96 Bath City; 18.7.01 Newport County (£3,000); 25.7.02 Chippenham Town; 20.1.04 Merthyr Tydfil (trial); 15.2.05 Paulton Rovers (trial); 16.2.05 Bath City (£1,000); 12.12.05 Mangotsfield United (free); 1.8.07 Bath City (free); 8.2.08 Chippenham Town (free); 20.7.08 Bath City (free); 4.6.09 Mangotsfield United (free); 25.1.10 Cadbury Heath (free); Tyrone Mings Academy (Head of Academy). Striker Martin Paul was top scorer for Rovers’ youth side in 1992-93 with eighteen goals in 32 matches, this tally including a hat-trick against Wimbledon in September 1992. That season, his five goals in four FA Youth Cup-ties included a brace against Cheltenham Town at twerton Park. On the strength of this, the young Somerset XI player (the younger son of Gerald Paul and Susan Lapwood who had moved their family south from Lancashire in 1979), who had been trained by the former Rovers player Graham Muxworthy at football camps organised through Millfield School, broke into Rovers’ side shortly before Christmas 1993. Associated on and off with Rovers from the age of eleven, he played against Peterborough on the opening day of the 1994-95 campaign before losing his place to Paul Miller and, having scored a hat-trick against Southampton reserves in November 1994 as well as twice before being sent off against Arsenal reserves in January 1995, appeared more regularly in 1995-96. Having hit the woodwork on four occasions with Rovers, he scored what was to prove his solitary League goal after 67 minutes of the 2-0 victory over Brentford in September 1995. Paul did not make the grade at Doncaster, but was a huge success at Bath City, scoring exactly 100 goals in 193(+27) games by the time he moved to Mangotsfield in 2005. This impressive tally included a hat-trick in twenty minutes in the 8-0 victory over Boston United in April 1999 and three goals in 21 minutes in a 7-0 win against Crawley Town in January 2000, a brief stint back with Bath in 2008 taking his goal tally to 112, equalling Paul Randall’s total as the highest in the Romans’ history. He had been the Southern League Premier Division’s overall top scorer in 1998-99 with 25 goals. Having played under the former Rovers striker Steve White at both Bath and Chippenham, he added three games at Mangotsfield in 2009-10 before a torn hamstring ended his playing career. A recruitment consultant with the Clifton-based Anders Elite, who specialise in the construction industry, Martin Paul lives with his partner Leigh and their son Harvey in Emersons Green. |
No 269. George Peacock. 1946-47.
Born, 10.2.1924, Abersychan. Died, 4.2.1984, Pentwyn, Abersychan. 6’; 12 st. Début: 5.10.46 v Southend United. Career: Newport County (amateur); Pentwyn; 10.5.46 Bristol Rovers [7,0]; May 1947 Gloucester City; 17.9.48 Bristol Rovers (to 1950). Seven League fixtures in his first spell at Eastville constitute the career of tall right-back George Peacock, the last player in this position before the great Harry Bamford. Following his début in the wartime match with Bristol City in May 1946, he spent the first post-war campaign in Rovers’ squad. The summer of 1947 saw him marry Betty Boyland in Pontypool – their son John was born two years later – the daughter of Thomas James Boyland (1895-1974) and Ellen “Nellie” Forrest (1898-1945) of 1 Lethbridge Terrace, Pontypool. After a brief stint with the Tigers, he returned to Eastville, unable to displace Bamford and missing much of the 1949-50 campaign with a broken fibula. The youngest of six sons to Mary Peacock (1881-1940) of 125 The Landing, Pontypool, he died at home six days short of what would have been his sixtieth birthday. |
No 792. Harry David Pell. 2010-11.
Born, 21.10.1991, Chadwell St Mary, Essex. 6’ 4”; 11 st 5 lbs. Début: 13.11.10 v Orient. Career: Hassenbrook School; Standford Wanderers; 1999 Charlton Athletic; 18.1.10 Hastings United (loan); 7.4.10 Gillingham (trial); 20.4.10 Bristol Rovers (trial); 28.4.10 Wycombe Wanderers (trial); 28.5.10 Bristol Rovers (free) [7+3,0]; 31.1.11 Hereford United (loan); 1.7.11 Hereford United (free) [27+10,3]; 22.3.12 Cambridge United (loan); 28.1.13 AFC Wimbledon (free); 29.10.14 Grimsby Town (loan); 28.1.15 Eastleigh (free); 4.6.15 Cheltenham Town (free) [74+5,12]; 10.5.18 Colchester United (free) [75+3,11]; 14.5.21 Accrington Stanley (free) [26+11,6]; 24.8.22 Wimbledon (£100,000) [45+14,6]. Chelsea fan Harry Pell was brought up in Chadwell St Mary, his father George coming from Tilbury and his mother Winifred being a sister of John Snape, formerly with Hereford United. A “box-to-box engine-room player”, tall and a fine passer of the ball, he had made 22 appearances for Charlton Under-18s as well as playing in three reserve games, scoring a memorable goal in the FA Youth Cup against Gillingham in 2009. He scored four times in nineteen Ryman League fixtures with Hastings and added solitary games for Gillingham reserves, where he played alongside Chris Dickson in a goalless draw with Brentford reserves, and Wycombe Wanderers reserves, where he conceded a 73rd-minute penalty in a 1-0 defeat at Carrow Road. One reserve appearance against Hereford in April 2010 and a second in July 2010, when he conceded a first-half own goal against Forest Green Rovers, preceded Pell’s League début as a 74th-minute substitute for Stuart Campbell. Rovers were relegated from League One in 2010-11 and Pell moved to Hereford, fainting at their official photo call before playing for them against Rovers in August 2011; his three goals included one in the final match, as Hereford dropped out of the Football League. Remaining at Edgar Street, he was able to play in the Bulls’ shock 3-1 FA Cup victory over local rivals Shrewsbury Town in November 2012 and in 22(+1) Conference games, scoring at Tamworth in August 2012. After two goals in seven Conference games with Cambridge, he helped Wimbledon effect their escape from the clutches of potential relegation from the Football League in the spring of 2013, scoring against Plymouth and York as well as playing in their 1-0 defeat at The Mem that April and in the final-day victory over Fleetwood Town which secured their survival. He was in the Wimbledon side which crashed 3-0 at The Mem in November 2013 and drew 0-0 in the run-up to Easter that campaign, but was sent off against Southend United in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in September 2014. The following campaign he appeared as a substitute as Wimbledon lost narrowly at home to Liverpool in an FA Cup-tie in January 2015, as well as appearing in five Conference games with Grimsby, before returning to The Mem in the Eastleigh side which ended Rovers’ twenty-game unbeaten Conference run in March 2015. He appeared in thirteen Conference games with Eastleigh, without scoring, they and Grimsby both reaching the Conference play-offs that season. The following campaign he was a key figure in the Cheltenham side which regained its Football League status at the first attempt, scoring seven goals in 34(+5) Conference matches, including three games in succession in November 2015 and being sent off in the closing moments of the April 2016 game at Guiseley. He received another red card when Cheltenham lost 3-0 at home to Colchester United in League Two in November 2016 and conceded an own goal in the 3-0 defeat at Carlisle United in August 2017; he scored in the FA Cup-tie in November 2020 when Colchester lost at home to Marine. With Stanley, he scord twice in a 3-2 win at Charlton Athletic in October 2021; Pell was attacked by a supporter as he waited patiently to take a late penalty for Accrington against Rotherham in February 2022, the supporter’s actions being roundly condemned in the media. |
No 235. William James Pendergast. 1936-37.
Born, 13.4.1915, Pen-y-Groes, near Rhyl. Died, May 2001, Pen-y-Groes. 5’ 7½”; 10 st 7 lbs. Début: 10.10.36 v Southend United. Career: St Mary’s School; Rhyl Athletic (trial); Rhuddlan; Rhyl Juniors; 21.12.34 Crewe Alexandra (amateur); 26.8.35 Wrexham (amateur); October 1935 Rhyl Athletic (professional); 20.12.35 Manchester United (£500); 10.1.36 Wolverhampton Wanderers; 4.5.36 Bristol Rovers [7,3]; 7.12.37 Colchester United; 21.7.38 Chester [34,26]; 1.8.46 New Brighton [69,26]; 1948 Rhyl. Given his goal-scoring record, especially at Chester, it is difficult to comprehend why so many clubs let Bill Pendergast go. Untried prior to his arrival at Eastville, he then returned to Southern League football before scoring freely both sides of World War Two, “toiling with industry, tenacity and ideas” (Garth Dykes). The son of James Pendergast and Elizabeth Jones, he was remarkably never on the winning side for Rovers, despite his three goals, two scored at Newport County and one at home to Reading. However, his 59 goals in 58 games for the reserves incorporated 47 in 45 appearances as the side retained the Western League in 1936-37 and included five in the 14-1 win against Oakengates Town. From Rovers, he appeared in 31 Southern League matches for Colchester, his six goals including a hat-trick in a 6-1 home victory over Barry Town on New Year’s Day 1938. His final game for Colchester was at Eastville, breaking his leg during the 2-1 defeat to Rovers’ reserve side. Arriving at Chester, Pendergast became a national sensation, scoring sixteen goals in a run of twelve consecutive Football League matches and an FA Cup-tie, a League record he shares with Wolves’ Tom Phillipson, being the club’s leading scorer in 1938-39 and representing them in wartime football, in which he accumulated 24 goals in forty matches. This run began with a hat-trick as Stockport County were defeated 4-3 that September and ended with a goal against Crewe Alexandra at the start of December. The only New Brighton player during their Football League odyssey to score a hat-trick and end up on the losing side, this coming against Accrington Stanley in September 1947, he also played against Rovers in the FA Cup that December. A dental apprentice by profession, Bill Pendergast married Dorothy Finchett, the only child of Thomas Finchett (1889-1938) and Violet Margaret Woods (1882-1969), in Chester in the spring of 1940. |
No 482. Garry James Sidney Pendrey. 1981-82.
Born. 9.2.1949, Winson Green, Birmingham. 5’ 10”; 12 st. Début: 19.12.81 v Carlisle United. Career: Harborne Lynwood; July 1965 Birmingham City (professional, 13.10.66) [287+19,4]; 16.8.79 West Bromwich Albion [18,0]; 24.8.81 Torquay United (free) [12,0]; 17.12.81 Bristol Rovers (free) [1,0]; 26.7.82 Walsall (player-coach) [8,1]; 7.10.86 Wolverhampton Wanderers (assistant manager); 28.5.87 Birmingham City (manager); 1990 Wolverhampton Wanderers (coach, to 15.3.94); 29.6.95 Coventry City (coach); 27.10.02 Southampton (assistant manager); 1.6.05 Celtic (assistant manager); 26.10.09 Middlesbrough (assistant manager, to 23.10.10). On a frosty pitch, Rovers lost 1-0 at home to Carlisle to an eleventh-minute goal from the former Rovers striker Bob Lee in Garry Pendrey’s only appearance in a quartered shirt. The veteran defender had a fine pedigree already behind him, having captained Birmingham City to the 1967 FA Youth Cup Final, where they lost to Sunderland. Birmingham’s youngest captain, aged just eighteen, he exuded confidence and was a staunch and indefatigable defensive figure. He played in two FA Cup semi-finals, in 1971-72 and 1974-75, but saw the greatest moment of his career as achieving promotion to top-flight football with Birmingham in the spring of 1972. A brief venture in creating a third-place play-off in the FA Cup saw Pendrey appear in the Birmingham side which defeated Stoke on penalties to secure third place in the 1971-72 competition. Goals came at a premium, although he did concede the occasional own goal, one being in the Blues’ game at Bury in April 1969; he scored for Walsall in a 2-2 draw at Huddersfield in September 1982. Sent off twice during his testimonial season, Pendrey was charged with bringing the game into disrepute and a long playing career came to a close by taking unfashionable Walsall to a League Cup semi-final in 1984. In a managerial capacity, he helped Wolves to promotion in May 1987 through the play-offs, but suffered relegation in 1988-89 with Birmingham, as the club dropped into third-tier football for the first time in its history. The son of Cyril James Pendrey (1915-94) and Gwendoline Wood (1917-90), the daughter of Frank Wood and Lilian Hick, Garry Pendrey now lives in Middlesbrough. |
No 461. Shaun Penny 1979-82.
Born, 24.9.1957, Bristol. 5’ 8”; 10 st 13 lbs. Début: 15.9.79 v Cambridge United. Career: Millfield School; Bristol City (professional, 24.9.74); 9.7.79 Bristol Rovers (free) [57+3,13]; 17.6.82 Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat, Finland; 29.7.82 Bath City (professional, 6.8.82); 21.10.83 Dorchester Town; 26.1.84 Weymouth; 14.2.85 Forest Green Rovers; August 1988 Gloucester City; August 1992 Weston-super-Mare; October 1992 Gloucester City; August 1993 Clevedon Town; 23.10.95 Weston-super-Mare (player-coach, 4.5.96); 22.7.96 Bath City (player-coach; assistant manager, 15.9.97-11.5.98); 12.8.98 Brislington; July 1999 Backwell United (assistant manager); July 2000 Mangotsfield United (assistant manager); July 2003 Clevedon Town (assistant manager). For a period of time, Shaun Penny was the talk of the town. Having set a national goal-scoring record for England at Under-15 level, he was expected to break into Bristol City’s side as they gained promotion to Division One and enjoy life in top-flight football, but the opportunity never arose. He did, though, score twice when City won 8-3 away to Vancouver Island in May 1979. A schoolboy prodigy, his League bow came in a Rovers shirt just days before his 22nd birthday. He scored against Cambridge, Preston and Shrewsbury during the 1980-81 relegation season, but then waited a whole year before scoring again, his first goal in third-tier football coming against Oxford in the final home fixture of the 1981-82 campaign. On Rovers’ club tour of Holland, though, he slipped and fell through a glass window, requiring stitches in his leg. The sixth child of Robert Penny (the son of Richard Penny and Florence Edmonds), who had married Kathleen Alpine in 1942, Shaun Penny enjoyed non-league football in the Bristol area, scoring nineteen goals in 69(+18) games with Bath, hitting twelve goals in 34(+3) matches in two spells at Weston, where he played alongside David Mehew and Ian Weston, and adding 3(+1) games as a team-mate of Jeff Sherwood at Clevedon Town. He also scored seven goals in twelve matches with Dorchester Town. A first-half hat-trick in a 6-1 victory over Hastings United in May 1993 accounted for some of the 28 goals he scored in 46(+6) matches in all competitions with Gloucester City. Married with a son and a daughter, Penny now lives with his partner Lucy and has been running since 1993 his own property development business. |
No 500. Gary Kenneth Penrice. 1984-89 and 1997-2000.
Born, 23.3.1964, Bristol. 5’ 8”; 10 st 6 lbs. Début: 27.4.84 v Orient. Career: April 1978 Bristol Rovers (schoolboy); June 1980 Bristol City (schoolboy); Mangotsfield United; 4.9.83 Bristol Rovers (professional, 6.11.84); 14.11.89 Watford (£500,000); 8.3.91 Aston Villa (£1,000,000) [14+6,1]; 29.10.91 Queen’s Park Rangers (£625,000) [56+27,20]; 15.11.95 Watford (£300,000) [67+15,20]; 3.7.97 Bristol Rovers (trial); 22.7.97 Bristol Rovers (free) [234+23,60]; March 2002 Queen’s Park Rangers (coach); 19.9.06 Plymouth Argyle (coach); November 2007 Leicester City (Head of recruitment); October 2008 Stoke City (European scout); July 2011 Wigan Athletic (European scout); 10.8.13 Everton (scout); 24.5.17 Queen’s Park Rangers (Head of Recruitment); 6.12.19 Celtic Head of Recruitment, to 2.3.21). Speed and swift reflexes were the major factor behind Gary Penrice’s huge success as a goal-scorer with Rovers and elsewhere. Often playing alongside a tall front man, Devon White being the most effective example, Penrice played off lay-offs and knock-downs and his tally of sixty League goals in the quartered shirt is an impressive figure. The elder of two children to Rex Penrice, the son of Bill Penrice and Vera Plenty, and to Marlene Jones, the young forward spent time on the books of both Bristol clubs. His first outing for Rovers had come at the age of twenty, when Rovers played Swansea in the Freight Rover Trophy in January 1985 and he became the 500th player to appear for Rovers in the Football League. Brought up in Mangotsfield and at school with Ian Holloway, whose career bears certain similarities with that of “Penny”, the young goal-scorer was an ever-present in 1987-88 and Rovers’ top scorer in that season and the next, before playing his part in Rovers moving towards the Third Division title in 1989-90. However, before the championship crown could be claimed, Penrice had left for Watford, for whom he scored in his first five League games and played against Rovers at Twerton Park in February 1991. Sharp and intelligent, he commanded a million-pound fee to join Villa, but a broken leg there and another when QPR played Middlesbrough in the Premier League in January 1993, slowed his career down. He contributed to QPR’s reserve side winning the Avon Insurance championship in 1995-96, with three goals in six games, but both Rangers and Watford were relegated that campaign and he appeared in both Watford’s League fixtures with Rovers as the Hornets completed a League double over the Pirates in 1996-97. Penrice’s return to Rovers was not only popular, but enabled the fast striker to score on all four grounds where the club had played “home” League fixtures. Having scored his first Eastville goal against York City in May 1985, he had also scored when Rovers hosted Swindon Town at Ashton Gate over Easter 1987 and scored freely at Twerton Park; in 1997-98 he added goals at The Mem, his 100th League goal putting Rovers a goal up en route to a 2-1 win over Preston in November 1997 and also being the 4,000th League goal Rovers had registered. The gap of almost eight years between his goals against Fulham in October 1989 and Carlisle in August 1997 has only been exceeded by two other players. When Rovers required a victory at home to Brentford in May 1998 to reach the play-offs, Penrice was sent off, although Rovers did win the fixture. Subsequently part of Tony Pulis’ enormous band of Rovers-related backroom staff which reached the 2011 FA Cup Final at Wembley and the Wigan staff which made an identical trip two years later to shock Manchester City by winning the show-piece Wembley game, and having travelled to Italy, Holland, France and Austria on scouting missions as Ian Holloway’s assistant at various clubs, Gary Penrice lives in Acton Turville with his wife Louise; they have three daughters, Amy, Rebecca and Grace as well as grandchildren, Brooke and Noah. |
No 103. Ivor Leslie Perry. 1927-29.
Born, 18.7.1904, Ystrad. Died, 1965, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. 6’ 1”; 12 st 2 lbs. Début: 19.11.27 v Southend United. Career: Ystrad Rovers; Pontypridd; Tottenham Hotspur (trial); 9.8.26 Torquay United; 24.5.27 Bristol Rovers [35,0]; October 1929 Torquay United; 1.11.32 Walton-on-Thames. The only ever-present in the Torquay United side which secured the Southern League championship of 1926-27 and thereby promotion to the echelons of the Football League, tall central defender Ivor Perry left the Devon club to join Rovers in the summer of 1927. In his 55 games in all competitions in that season, which included two FA Cup-ties against Rovers and four matches against Rovers’ reserve side, he scored in the 5-1 Southern League victory over Yeovil and Petters United and the 3-1 Western League win against Weymouth. Resident at 93 Ystrad Road, Pentre in the 1911 census, the third of eight children to a coal mine hewer Gilbert Perry (1878-1914) and Ruth Pilling (1878-1950), Ivor Perry had made his Torquay début in the 4-1 win over Taunton United in the Southern League in August 1926. Sporadic first-team appearances at Eastville, which included an own goal against Millwall on Christmas Eve 1927, preceded losing his place in the side to South African international David Murray. He played against Torquay on three occasions and captained the reserves against his former club in October 1927. Perry’s début for Walton came in a 7-0 win against Dorking at Mount Felix on Guy Fawkes Night 1932, when his “effortless display was a treat to watch” (Walton Herald and News). He scored his first goal for the club in the 1932-33 season and added two more the following campaign, including one in the 14-3 victory over Dorking in August 1933. He is believed to be the Ivor Leslie Perry who married Ruth in Cork in the summer of 1934 – they had a son, Gilbert - and he died at the age of sixty-one, whilst living at 19 Courland Road, Chertsey. |
No 616. Jason Perry. 1997-98.
Born, 2.4.1970, Caerphilly. 5’ 11”; 11 st 12 lbs. Début: 9.8.97 v Plymouth Argyle. Career: 1985 Bristol Rovers (schoolboy); 1986 Cardiff City (professional, 21.8.87) [278+3,5]; 30.6.97 Bristol Rovers (free) [24+1,0]; 13.7.98 Lincoln City [10+2,0]; 18.12.98 Hull City [14+1,0]; 1.8.01 Newport County (free) (assistant manager, 15.11.01); 11.10.03 Cwmbran Town (trial); 1.11.03 Cwmbran Town (to 1.11.05). Selected by John Toshack, defender Jason Perry won a full cap for Wales against Norway in March 1994, a 3-1 defeat, to add to his Wales Youth and Wales B caps as well as three Under-21 matches between May 1989 and May 1991. Having made his League début for Cardiff as a sixteen-year-old in the goalless draw with Exeter City in March 1987, he scored his first League goal at home to Carlisle United in September 1992. A team-mate at Ninian Park of Phil Bater and Nicky Platnauer, Perry played five League games against Rovers and became Cardiff captain in 1995. Under Kenny Hibbitt at Ninian Park, he experienced two promotion and two relegation seasons, Cardiff being Third Division champions in 1992-93, as well as winning the Welsh Cup four times and enjoying three European campaigns. The overriding memory of Perry’s spell with Rovers was the red card he received at Wigan, one of four Rovers men dismissed on a controversial evening in December 1997 and the third occasion that referee Kevin Friend had seen fit to send Perry off; he also received twelve yellow cards in his brief spell with Rovers. However, Perry also received eight stitches in a head injury on his Rovers début and captained the side at Bournemouth when Andy Tillson was missing with flu. He had scored for Lincoln prior to joining them, for his 51st-minute own goal had contributed to the Imps’ 3-1 win in Cardiff in January 1997. Alongside Rovers names in John Vaughan and Paul Miller at relegated Lincoln, he was then a team-mate at Hull of Jason Harris, Nick Culkin, Jon French and Steve Morgan. “Psycho” Perry then played thirty times for Newport, his final game being against near-namesakes Newport Isle of Wight in March 2002, before captaining Cwmbran, where he scored three times in 55 matches. Now a lecturer at Bridgend College in Pencoed, Jason Perry lives in Newport with his wife Michelle, son Joseph and daughter Chelsie. |
No 270. George Ernest Petherbridge. 1946-62.
Born, 19.5.1927, Devonport, near Plymouth. Died, 4.3.2013, Wells, Somerset. 5’ 4”; 9 st 4 lbs. Début: 5.10.46 v Southend United. Career: Greenbank School; Greenbank Boys’ Club; Eastville Youth Club; 1944 Knowle Athletic; Colston Sports; 1945 Arsenal (trial); 18.10.45 Bristol Rovers [457,85]; April 1946 Exeter City (trial); 28.7.62 Salisbury City; 27.5.63 Falmouth Town; 1966 Glastonbury (player-manager) (to 1968). For each of the first sixteen post-war League seasons, popular outside-right George Petherbridge scored at least once for Rovers. This impressive record, unparalleled at any Football League club, contributed to a vast tally of appearances and goals in the blue-and-white-quartered shirts of the only club this loyal winger would represent at this level. An ever-present in 1951-52, Petherbridge played through the halcyon days of Rovers’ golden period, appearing in every season as the club reached two FA Cup quarter-finals and won the Third Division (South) title in 1952-53, the speedy outside-right reaching double figures in the League that campaign for the third time in his career. Brought up in Bristol as the only son of Frederick Petherbridge, who had been on Portsmouth’s books, and Violet Trout (1882-1960), who was forty-four when her only son was born, “Winky Pop” was a diminutive, slight, immensely popular player who had made one wartime appearance for Exeter after recovering from a broken arm sustained whilst playing for Rovers reserves against Bristol City reserves in September 1945. He played in eighteen wartime games with Rovers, scoring in a 5-3 win at Bournemouth in January 1946. During the war, he had also represented Eastern Command against the Army, the Royal Navy and the French Navy. He progressed from there to become a reliable and critical cog in the Rovers machine and became, at twenty-three, the youngest man to be granted a benefit game for the club. When Torquay visited Eastville in December 1951, Petherbridge scored four times, including a fourth-minute opening strike, in a comfortable 5-0 Rovers victory and he continued to give Rovers valuable service into his mid-thirties, by which time he had become one of only nine players to represent the club in three separate decades. Indeed, he is one of only three men to have played for Rovers more than fifteen years after his club début, only four players have appeared in more League games and no Rovers player has represented the side in as many as forty FA Cup-ties. The largest crowd at any third-tier fixture in 1951-52 was the 34,612 at Eastville in January 1952 to see Petherbridge, the third shortest player to represent the club, put Rovers in front before Bradford’s goal wrapped up a 2-0 victory over Bristol City. Club form earned representative honours and he made eleven appearances on the Football Association tour to South Africa in 1956, his six goals including a brace in a 7-2 victory over Orange Free State at Bloemfontein that June as well as a long-range effort against Northern Rhodesia in Kitwenkana. Recovering from a broken ankle suffered after just twelve minutes of a reserve game with Ipswich Town in January 1959, Petherbridge left Rovers on relegation in the spring of 1962 and he made his Salisbury début in a Western League game against Minehead that August, scoring five goals in nine months and nine goals in twenty matches with Falmouth before running “The Angel” public house at Sherston and “The Tamar” just inside the Cornish border. A sports teacher at Millfield School and later groundsman at Wells Cathedral School until his retirement over Easter 1992, Petherbridge married Rita Walker in 1950 and they had a son, two daughters and eleven grandchildren, one daughter Kay Strain still working at Millfield Prep School. A Rovers legend in his own right, George Petherbridge recommended Paul Randall to the club and Petherbridge Way, just off Muller Road and not too far from the site of Eastville Stadium, was named in his honour in March 1997. |
No 633. Robert John Pethick. 1998-2001.
Born, 8.9.1970, Tavistock, Devon. 5’ 10”; 11 st 11 lbs. Début: 20.2.99 v Luton Town. Career: 1986 Plymouth Argyle; 1988 Saltash United; 1992 Watford (trial); 1992 Halifax Town (trial); 1992 Southampton (trial); 1.8.92 Weymouth; 1.10.93 Portsmouth (£100,000) [157+32,3]; 19.2.99 Bristol Rovers (£30,000 with David Hillier) [60+3,2]; 2.7.01 Brighton [44+20,0]; 14.1.04 Weymouth (loan); 18.2.04 Weymouth (free); 5.11.04 Havant and Waterlooville (free); July 2006 Tavistock Town. Having played under the former Rovers midfielder Alan Ball at Pompey, defender Robbie Pethick was one of a stream of players leaving Fratton Park for Rovers, Martin Phillips, David Hillier and Andy Thomson treading the same path. He proved to be a reliable and useful addition to the side, notably creating all four goals as Rovers, recovering from being a goal behind, defeated Luton Town 4-1 in February 2000. His first goal for the club also came early in 2000, as Rovers recorded a memorable 5-0 victory away to Oxford United. However, the apparently inevitable promotion fizzled out and relegation to the basement division followed in the spring of 2001. He also had an operation on his ears whilst on Rovers’ books. Although he did not score in the League for Brighton, he claimed one goal in the FA Cup against Norwich City in February 2003. A team-mate of Bobby Zamora at Brighton, he enjoyed two promotions and a relegation and played as a substitute in the League Cup-tie against Rovers in August 2003, before joining the former Rovers defender Graeme Power at Weymouth. Robbie Pethick is the younger child of Derek Pethick, the youngest of three children to Eric Pethick (1907-67) and his wife Florence Sanders, and of Yvonne Hocking, the younger child of Horace Henry Hocking (1910-67), a fireman from Yelverton, and his wife Bessie Halfyard. With an apparent penchant for South Coast clubs, Robbie Pethick later worked for the South West Water Board and subsequently as a scaffolder; he lives with his wife Joanne at Bere Alston in Devon, with a step-daughter and two young children. |
No 379. John William Fred James Petts. 1965-70.
Born, 2.10.1938, Edmonton. 5’ 8”; 10 st 7 lbs. Début: 4.9.65 v Mansfield Town. Career: Middlesex Schoolboys; London Schoolboys; April 1954 Arsenal (professional, 28.5.56) [32,0]; 10.10.62 Reading (£5,000) [34,0]; 19.6.65 Bristol Rovers (trial); 3.9.65 Bristol Rovers (£5,000) [88+4,3]; 22.6.70 Bath City (player-manager); 8.11.71 Trowbridge Town (free) (manager, 22.3.72); 28.7.73 Northampton Town (trainer-coach; manager, 5.1.77); March 1983 Northampton Spencer (manager) (to February 1988). Armed with one of the longest sets of names amongst Rovers players, John Petts won seven caps for England Youth between 1955 and 1957 and started his career at Arsenal. Billy Wright (1924-94) was manager at Highbury, with the future England management structure of Ron Greenwood (1921-2006) and Bertie Mee (1918-2001) on the coaching staff, but Petts was largely restricted to a career in the reserves, whom he helped to become South-East Counties League champions and Cup winners in 1955-56 and Metropolitan League Cup and Professional Cup winners in 1961-62. He also undertook two years’ National Service from 1957 to 1959, which restricted his initial playing career. Following a League bow for the Royals against Carlisle United in October 1962, his spell at Reading included four matches against Rovers, one being the Royals’ 5-2 victory at Eastville in April 1964 and, having made his Rovers début against Mansfield, he later scored two of his three goals for the club in fixtures against the Stags, one of these being the fifth of six goals, after 62 minutes, as Rovers ran up a comfortable home win in March 1969. A solid, well-versed wing-half, Petts helped establish Rovers in Division Three following the club’s relegation in the spring of 1962, and build the blocks upon which a promotion push could be established after he had left the club. Living in Cockfosters and later in Winterbourne, he was ousted at Bath in a boardroom coup and led Spencer to the United Counties League title in 1984-85, the club winning 23 of its thirty fixtures that campaign. The son of William Arthur Petts (1913-88) and Dorothy Jaggs (1914-84) who was the daughter of John Thomas Jaggs (1861-1930) and Nellie Ethel Baker, he married Margaret Kemp in 1958 and their two sons both followed him into football, Paul playing for Rovers whilst Gary was manager of Thrapston Venturas in the 1993-94 season. Working for many years as a company driver with Northampton-based Flair Printing, John Petts is a keen golfer and now lives near Northampton with his partner Valerie. |
No 452. Paul Andrew Petts. 1978-80.
Born, 27.9.1961, Hackney. 5’ 9”; 10 st 11 lbs. Début: 9.12.78 v Millwall. Career: Bristol Rovers (schoolboy); Northampton Boys; 1978 Bristol Rovers (professional, June 1979) [12+1,0]; 23.7.80 Shrewsbury Town (free) [138+11,16] (to 1985); August 1988 Merthyr Tydfil; November 1988 Newport AFC. Like his father before him, Paul Petts played for Rovers in the Football League, making sporadic appearances in Division Two. The son of John Petts and Margaret Kemp and the grandson of William Arthur Petts (1913-88) and Dorothy Jaggs (1914-84), he played alongside Gary Mabbutt for England Youth against Yugoslavia in 1980, as well as representing Northamptonshire Boys at rugby and enjoying an England Schools trial at the oval-ball game. Five seasons with Shrewsbury included a game against Rovers in November 1980, which the Shrews won 3-1, and he scored a hat-trick in the final ten minutes of the 5-1 victory over Leeds United at Gay Meadow in October 1983. Injury forced his career to a close in 1985, although he managed three games for Merthyr in the autumn of 1988, in away fixtures at Leicester United, Moor Green and Dorchester Town and he now lives in Swansea. |
No 119. John Phillips. 1928-30.
Born, 28.5.1903, Barry. Died, 1985, Merthyr Tydfil. 5’ 10”; 11 st. Début: 29.9.28 v Queen’s Park Rangers. Career: Barry Brooklands; August 1923 Burton All Saints; October 1923 West Bromwich Albion; Rochdale (trial); August 1924 Southend United [8,1]; June 1925 Merthyr Town [57,32]; July 1927 Brentford (£650) [29,21]; 26.9.28 Bristol Rovers [65,37]; 1.7.30 Coventry City [25,17]; September 1931 Merthyr Town; August 1932 Troedyrhiw (to 1937). With a highly impressive goal ratio wherever he travelled, totalling 108 goals in 184 League appearances, Jack Phillips was clearly a proficient striker. Top scorer in both his Eastville campaigns, thus completing four consecutive seasons as top scorer at his club, his most prolific spell was his second season at Merthyr. His 29 League goals in 1926-27 included claiming all three as Charlton Athletic were beaten 3-0 and the unlikely feat of scoring four times and yet ending up on the losing side. This was achieved against Bournemouth in March 1927, in a 6-4 defeat at Dean Court and, odd though it may seem, the same fate has befallen six other players too in League football. Despite being injured for much of the 1927-28 season, he was still Brentford’s top scorer, his 17 goals in 23 League matches including a hat-trick on his Griffin Park début as Northampton Town were defeated 3-0. He had started his League career at Southend, for whom he scored the opener in a 2-1 win against his future club Merthyr in September 1924. Very fast and with an instinctive shot on the turn, Phillips scored League goals against Rovers for both Brentford and Merthyr and returned to Eastville in the Coventry side in November 1930. In 1939 he was a club steward, living at Labour Club, Ballymote, Road, Barry and was married to Ivy May Hopps (1902-81). The youngest of three children to a Welsh-speaking couple Thomas Phillips of Dinas Cross, near Fishguard, and Aberystwyth-born Emily Jane Ford (1879-1948), he died aged eighty-one. |
No 636. Martin John Phillips. 1998-99.
Born, 13.3.1976, Exeter. 5’ 9”; 10 st 3 lbs. Début: 27.2.99 v Lincoln City. Career: 1993 Exeter City (professional, 4.7.94); 24.11.95 Manchester City (£500,000) [3+12,0]; 5.1.98 Scunthorpe United (loan) [2+1,0]; 19.3.98 Exeter City (loan) [43+17,5]; 27.8.98 Portsmouth (£100,000) [4+20,1]; 26.2.99 Bristol Rovers (loan) [2,0]; 8.8.00 Plymouth Argyle (£25,000) [90+24,10]; 17.7.04 Torquay United [52+18,6] (retired, 17.5.07). Joining Rovers in a loan deal with Josh Low, midfielder Martin Phillips joined several former Pompey players at the club, including Andy Thomson, Robbie Pethick and David Hillier. He played in a 1-0 defeat at Lincoln and a 2-0 home victory over York City. Indeed, Philips appeared under the former Rovers midfielder Alan Ball at Exeter, Pompey and Manchester City, his sale from Exeter, where he had suffered relegation in the same side as David Mehew, being a club record fee received at that time. Phillips played for Plymouth against Rovers in the League Cup in the autumn of 2000 and added a second-minute goal at The Mem when the sides met in the League in 2001-02, Argyle storming to the Third Division title that season as Rovers fought against potential relegation. Division Two champions in 2003-04, he suffered relegation with Torquay the following campaign and the Gulls struggled to retain their League status under Ian Atkins, dropping into the Conference in 2007. He was in their side which recorded a 1-0 victory at the Memorial Stadium in the 2005-06 season. Martin Phillips retired from football that summer, citing chronic fatigue syndrome. Martin Phillips is the son of John Phillips and Margaret Huxham, the elder daughter of Tony Huxham (1926-2015) and Eileen Dowdall. His grandfather was a trumpeter at Exeter’s Theatre Royal and succeeded his own father, Lionel, in 1973 as Musical Director of the Exeter British Rail Band; an aunt is an accomplished oboist and a nephew plays French horn in Manchester’s Halle Orchestra. |
No 752. Stephen John Phillips. 2006-10.
Born, 6.5.1978, Bath. 6’ 1”; 13 st. Début: 5.8.06 v Peterborough United. Career: Welton Rovers; 1.8.94 Paulton Rovers; 1996 Plymouth Argyle (trial); 1996 Gloucester City (loan); 1996 Evesham United (loan); 1.11.97 Bristol City [259+3,0]; 7.11.97 Worcester City (loan); 20.7.06 Bristol Rovers (free) [136,0]; 26.8.09 Shrewsbury Town (free) [11,0]; 2.10.09 Crewe Alexandra (loan); 29.6.10 Crewe Alexandra (free) [105+1,0]; 3.7.14 Nantwich Town (free); 18.8.14 Shepton Mallet (free); 16.6.15 Bath City (free; 16.5.17 released); 18.4.16 Bristol Rovers (academy goalkeeping coach); 16.12.16 Mangotsfield United (loan); 16.5.17 Mangotsfield United (free; caretaker manager, 21.8.17); 7.9.17 Yeovil Town (goalkeeping coach; player, 13.12.18; released, 15.5.19). When Rovers won 1-0 at Rochdale in January 2007, goalkeeper Steve Phillips’ excellent performance was described on the Rochdale website as “world class”. On his day, the custodian who was equally popular at both Bristol clubs, was a versatile and talented player. Rovers’ Player of the Year in the promotion season of 2006-07, his part in that success story cannot be underestimated and he was in fine form both at the Millennium Stadium in April 2007, as Rovers lost 3-2 to Doncaster Rovers in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final, and also at Wembley the following month when Rovers sealed their promotion to League One, the first of three victories at the New Wembley for the popular shot-stopper. By March 2008, when he played in the FA Cup quarter-final against West Brom, Phillips had secured his place as one of the best goalkeepers to appear for Rovers. Yet, he had earlier achieved the same accolades at Ashton Gate. The younger brother of Les Phillips, Paulton Rovers’ left-back, he had worked at a print and ink factory in the town and once saved three penalties in a shoot-out for Paulton Rovers against his former club Welton Rovers, before scoring the decisive spot-kick himself. Steve Phillips made his League début in Bristol City’s 2-0 win against Sheffield United in December 1998 and his long career included an appearance in the LDV Vans Final of 2002, when City defeated Carlisle United at the Millennium Stadium. He was in the Robins’ side when they lost 1-0 to Brighton in the May 2004 play-off final and also in the 7-1 defeat at Swansea in September 2005. He was granted a testimonial game in 2006, when City Legends took on Rovers Legends. After leaving Rovers, he was a member of the Crewe side which, following a late-season rush up the table similar to Rovers’ 2006-07 campaign, secured promotion to League One by defeating Cheltenham Town 2-0 at Wembley in the May 2012 play-off final. He had returned to The Mem in the Crewe side which won 5-2 on New Year’s Eve 2011, but was twice involved in on-pitch altercations with his own team-mates that campaign. In the spring of 2013, by which time he was working for Liverpool Academy as a goalkeeping coach, Crewe defeated Coventry City over two legs to reach the Football League Trophy Final at Wembley, where Phillips appeared in a 2-0 victory over Southend United. Midsomer Norton-based Steve Phillips, who has raised considerable sums of money for his terminally ill niece Immy and cycled to Paris for a children’s charity, married Liz, who worked from 2014 at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, and their daughter Sadie May was born in May 2009. He appeared in 22 Western League Premier Division matches with Shepton Mallet in the 2014-15 season and was an ever-present with Bath City in 2015-16, playing in 42 Nationwide South fixtures before re-joining Rovers. He played in 23 Southern League First Division games with Mangotsfield United and played for them against the Gas in a pre-season friendly in July 2017. In June 2016 he was a member of the England Seniors side which won the World Cup for their age group in a tournament in Chiang Mai, Thailand, playing alongside Barry Hayles and he, Hayles and Jamie Cureton were all in the side which defeated Iran 2-0 in the 2017 final in Thailand and he and Hayles were both in the team defeated 1-0 by Iran in the 2019 final in Hong Kong. He set up his own elite goalkeeping school in Bridgwater in April 2019. |
No 47. Wilfred John Phillips. 1923-26.
Born, 9.8.1895, Brierley Hill. Died, 25.2.1973, Penzance. 5’ 6½”; 10 st 6 lbs. Début: 25.8.23 v Gillingham. Career: Bilston United; 23.5.19 Stoke [14,3]; June 1920 Ebbw Vale; August 1921 Darlaston; June 1922 Bilston United; 17.5.23 Bristol Rovers (contract, 10.9.23) [91,35]; 19.11.25 Millwall (£500) [109,58]; June 1930 Thames [37,7]; June 1931 West Ham United (£500) [21,3]; June 1932 Orient [24,4]; July 1933 Stourbridge; 1935 Leamington Town; 13.11.36 Arcadia (Birmingham). Top scorer in both his completed seasons at Eastville, Wilkie Phillips linked up well with Billy Woodhall at Rovers and with the former Rover George Chance at Millwall. Small and slight, and a keen cricketer and tennis player, his arrival at Rovers came on the back of extraordinary success in West Midlands football, as he had scored 47 goals for Ebbw Vale in 1920-21, 46 goals for Darlaston in the 1921-22 season and followed this up with 34 goals in 34 Birmingham and District League games with Bilston United, his side finishing as runners-up. Known as “Fred” at Darlaston, “Wilkie” at Rovers, “Winkie” at Stoke and “Peanuts” at Millwall, he certainly “could dribble well and, coupled with shooting ability, was adept at exploiting an opening”. “Millwall’s dynamic midget”, he was praised as “there are few inside-forwards who combine skilful scheming with powerful marksmanship.” Married to Lilian Maud Percival in 1922, Wilkie Phillips completed over a hundred League fixtures for Millwall, scoring in both their 9-1 wins as they stormed to the Division Three (South) championship in 1927-28, adding a goal in the final as they won the 1928 London FA Challenge Cup. He scored three times in three League matches for Millwall against Rovers and later featured once for Thames against his former club. His career at Millwall ended by a broken knee sustained in an FA Cup-tie against Corinthians in January 1930, he and the future Rovers forward Viv Gibbins both score on Phillips’ West Ham début against Blackburn Rovers in Division One in November 1931. |
No 304. Leonard James Pickard. 1951-52.
Born, 29.11.1924, Barnstaple. Died, 16.3.2011, Barnstaple. 5’ 10½”; 11 st 8 lbs. Début: 25.8.51 v Shrewsbury Town. Career: Devon Schools; YMCA XI; Barnstaple Town; 1950 Southend United (trial); 22.12.50 Bristol Rovers [4,1]; 29.8.53 Bristol City (free); October 1953 Bradford Park Avenue (free) [76,31]; 13.8.56 Bath City; Barnstaple Town; Bideford (player-manager). Captain of Devon Schools, Len Pickard joined Rovers from Western League football and scored in a 3-3 draw on his Rovers début. Bizarrely, both his Eastville appearances finished 3-3; he added a hat-trick when Rovers’ reserves defeated Plymouth Argyle reserves 4-1 in February 1953. Unable to make the grade at Ashton Gate, he proved an enormous success at Third Division (North) Park Avenue. Top scorer in both 1953-54 and 1954-55, he scored four times against Accrington Stanley in October 1953 and a hat-trick against Workington in March 1955 before apparently appearing for an interminable list of clubs whose names began with the second letter of the alphabet. A champion athlete, who could run the 100 yards in an impressive time of 10.2 seconds and 200 yards in 23 seconds, he was also a keen hurdler and recorded twenty feet six inches for the long jump. Len Pickard was the youngest of three sons to Arthur Pickard of Barnstaple and his wife, Beatrice Darch, the daughter of William Harvey Darch (1850-1918) and Elizabeth Irwin (1861-1928). He died in North Devon District Hospital in Barnstaple at the age of eighty-six. |
No 156. William Harry Pickering. 1931-37.
Born, 1.11.1901, Birmingham. Died, February 1971, Warley. 5’ 11”; 12 st 12 lbs. Début: 29.8.31 v Bournemouth. Career: Latch and Batchelors FC; 26.7.24 Sunderland (amateur); 25.8.25 Merthyr Town [9,0]; 26.8.26 Gillingham [45,0]; 7.11.27 Huddersfield Town (£1,000) [1,0]; 31.5.29 Reading (£1,000) [20,0]; August 1930 Colwyn Bay United; 18.5.31 Bristol Rovers [215,1]; 16.6.37 Accrington Stanley [29,0]; 1938 Oswestry Town (player-manager); September 1938 Cradley Heath. Blond-haired, tall and dependable, Bill Pickering was a fixture in Rovers’ defensive line-up for many years, an ever-present in three separate campaigns and a popular member of the changing-room. Moved by his reliability, the Bristol Evening Post even described him as “the best full-back in Division Three”. In fact, he appeared in all four divisions of the Football League during his career, represented Accrington at inter-league table tennis and enjoyed tennis and motoring too. “A tireless tackler”, his apparently extortionate transfer fee to Huddersfield resulting in just one appearance, Pickering had tasted League football at four clubs before his arrival at Eastville. Appointed club captain in 1932 by manager Albert Prince-Cox, he played in 105 consecutive League games at one stage, whilst the only goal of his entire League career came as he limped in injured, as an emergency left-winger, against the champions Fulham in April 1932. In April 1935 Rovers secured their first major trophy in thirty years, defeating Watford 3-2 in the Third Division (South) Cup Final. In addition, he appeared in goal at Crystal Palace in February 1936 after Jack Ellis had been injured. “Pickering, the outstanding back on the field”, the press reported, was reliable in his “judicious passing”. He was at the club long enough to appear in the disastrous 12-0 thumping at Luton Town on Easter Monday 1936 and earn a benefit game against Bristol City in April 1937, in which he scored a penalty in a 4-2 defeat. Later a Royal Commando sent to the Far East in December 1942, Bill Pickering followed the line of many retired professional sportsmen and ran a public house for many years. The elder son of William Pickering (1875-1955), Bill’s younger brother John (1907-1987) married Emily Gallier, the great-niece of Howard Gallier (1872-1955), who had played for Rovers between 1895 and 1897. Bill himself married in the autumn of 1923 Doris Hewings (1902-1960) and they had a son William and two grand-daughters. |
No 649.Nigel Nigus Pierre. 1999-2000.
Born, 2.6.1979, Port of Spain, Trinidad. 5’ 11”; 11 st 11 lbs. Début: 26.2.00 v Oldham Athletic. Career: St Anthony’s College; 1998 Queen’s Park CC; 1.8.99 Joe Public; 17.2.00 Bristol Rovers [1+2,0]; 2.3.01 Hibernian (trial); January 2002 Moss (trial); February 2002 Gent (trial); 22.3.02 Gillingham (trial); 8.7.02 San Juan Jabloteh; 1.8.02 Pro Sports Caribbean; 23.8.02 Al Ansar; 15.9.02 San Juan Jabloteh; 25.10.02 Joe Public; 24.1.03 Northampton Town (trial); 17.8.03 San Juan Jabloteh; 18.9.05 Caledonian AIA Fire; 3.7.07 Joe Public; July 2009 United Petrotin; April 2010 Queen’s Park; 28.7.11 Savannah FC; 2012 Westside Superstarz (manager). “Powerfully built with good skills and finishing ability”, Nigel Pierre certainly proved his worth at international level. His tally of seventeen goals in 55 matches for Trinidad and Tobago between 1999 and 2005 (39 starts and sixteen substitute appearances) included a début goal after 27 minutes of the 2-2 draw in Panama in October 1999. He scored twice in the 3-1 victory over Guatemala in Port of Spain in March 2001 and again when the British Virgin Islands were defeated 4-0 in December 2004 in Tortola. His reputation was enhanced by 48 goals in 63 matches at Queen’s Park CC in 1998-99, where he revelled in the pseudonym of “Croc”, but “Pistol” Pierre, joining Rovers in preference to Oxford United on the recommendation of Dwight Yorke, was not granted a full work permit and returned to the Caribbean. Despite further trials in England, Scotland, Norway, Belgium and Egypt, his career was largely limited to Trinidad, where he lives in St James. He played under Ian Porterfield at Joe Public, but left both that club and Jabloteh, where he won a league title in 2002 and the Citizens’ Cup in 2003, under a disciplinary cloud, before playing for Caledonia, the side where Stern John had made his name. In March 2015, by now living in Jeffers Lane in St James, he was charged at Port-of-Spain with being in possession of 548 grammes of marijuana and was granted $85,000 bail. |
No 762. David Ronald Pipe. 2007-10.
Born, 5.11.1983, Caerphilly. 5’ 9”; 12 st 1 lb. Début: 11.8.07 v Port Vale. Career: 1.8.01 Coventry City [11+10,2]; 14.1.04 Notts County (free) [138+3,4]; 10.7.07 Bristol Rovers (£50,000) [78+8,3]; 30.11.09 Cheltenham Town (loan) [7+1,0]; 15.9.11 Newport County (free); 7.5.14 Forest Green Rovers (free); 20.5.16 Eastleigh (free); 5.1.17 Newport County (loan); 18.5.17 Newport County (free; retired, 4.5.19) [92+8,0]. Just nine months after making his League début in Coventry’s home defeat against Nottingham Forest, as an eightieth-minute substitute for Gary McSheffrey, midfielder David Pipe earned an international call-up, playing in Wales’ 2-0 defeat against USA in San José, California in May 2003 as a replacement twenty minutes from time for John Oster. The young Welshman also appeared in Coventry’s 8-0 thrashing of Rushden in the League Cup that campaign. He had earlier won twelve Welsh Under-21 caps, one of these alongside Matt Somner and Kevin Gall in an 8-1 defeat by Italy in Pavia in September 2003, in which Alberto Gilardino scored four times. Joining Notts County, he was in the side which won at Ashton Gate in the FA Cup on his twenty-second birthday and, Player of the Year at Meadow Lane in 2005-06, he appeared five times against Rovers and was sent off after 73 minutes at Accrington in January 2007 before County made shrewd business in selling a player they had picked up for free. Pipe added speed and trickery on the wing for Rovers and he appeared in the March 2008 FA Cup quarter-final against West Brom, but he did not always meet with popularity amongst the club’s supporters. He scored in away defeats at Gillingham and Huddersfield as well as in the 3-0 victory over Yeovil Town at the Memorial Stadium in February 2009. In June 2010 he was found guilty of fracturing the skull of another man in an unprovoked attack in Park Street, Bristol and was sentenced to 38 months in prison. His punishment served, Pipe joined Newport County and appeared in County’s FA Trophy Final at Wembley in May 2012, which was lost 2-0 to York City and captained the side for the 2012-13 season. He somehow contrived to concede three penalties and yet end up on the winning side, when County won 3-2 at Hereford United in March 2013, the Bulls converting two of their three spot-kicks before Newport’s last-minute winning goal. Pipe played in 74(+1) Conference games for Newport without scoring and captained the side at Wembley in May 2013, as Wrexham were defeated 2-0, County returning to Football League status after an absence of twenty-five years. Having created a goal and scored another from thirty-five yards in a pre-season victory at Havant and Waterlooville, David Pipe was in the Newport side which secured a 1-0 win over Rovers at Rodney Parade in August 2013 as well as the return game in Horfield. He was sent off as the Ambers defeated Portsmouth 3-0 in a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie in November of that year and at home to Dagenham and Redbridge in March 2014. The following campaign he opposed Rovers again, this time in Forest Green’s colours, but was an unused substitute when the sides met in Horfield that October; his side reached the Conference play-offs, Pipe captaining the Forest Green side which Rovers defeated over two legs. In November 2015 he was in the side which won 2-1 at League side AFC Wimbledon in an FA Cup first round shock and helped his side to the play-offs again, having scored once (in a 2-2 draw with champions-elect Cheltenham Town in September 2015) in 51(+12) Conference matches. Forest Green reached the play-off final this time round, Pipe playing at Wembley as his side was defeated 3-1 by Grimsby Town. From one aspiring non-league side to another, he was on the substitutes’ bench as promotion hopefuls Eastleigh shocked League One Swindon Town with a 3-1 FA Cup replay victory in November 2016. He played in 6(+3) Conference games with Eastleigh, closing the season by playing in Newport’s dramatic final game, where an eighty-ninth-minute goal kept them in the Football League. He was involved in FA Cup drama with Newport, playing the full ninety minutes as Newport defeated Leeds United 2-1 in a dramatic FA Cup-tie at Rodney Parade in January 2018 and being in the side which lost 2-0 in a fourth-round replay against Spurs at Wembley, before appearing as a substitute as County defeated 2016 champions Leicester City 2-1 at Rodney Parade in January 2019. This proved virtually the final hurrah of a career which ended as an unused substitute at Wembley, as the Exiles lost to Tranmere Rovers to a goal in the final minute of extra-time in the play-off final. He now runs Carbon Fiit Gym in Newport. |
No 114. Thomas Stuart Pirie. 1928-29.
Born, 9.12.1896, Gorbals, Glasgow. Died, 14.5.1963, Aberdeen. 5’ 11½”; 12 st 4 lbs CH Début: 21.8.28 v Swindon Town Career: Hutchison’s Grammar School; Battlefield Juniors (Glasgow); 1919 Bathgate; 16.10.20 Queen’s Park [93,3]; November 1923 Manchester United (trial); 6.5.24 Aberdeen [37,6]; 11.6.26 Cardiff City (£1,500) [5,0]; 5.5.28 Bristol Rovers [12,0]; February 1929 Brighton; August 1929 Ross County (manager, April 1929-1930). A nearly man, Tom Pirie missed out on a place in the 1927 FA Cup Final by the narrowest of margins, whilst injury deprived him of a game for the Welsh League against the Irish League. A tall and strong central defender and “a splendid all-round and loyal player”, who had played for Scottish schoolboys against England, he certainly had a wealth of experience. Bathgate had reached the Roseberry Cup Final of 1919-20, only to lose to Bo’ness. Following a Queen’s Park début in the 1-1 draw with Hearts in October 1920, he scored at Ibrox over Easter 1922, although Queen’s were relegated that season. In 1922 and 1923 the club reached successive Merchant’s Charity Cup Finals, losing both to Rangers. With Queen’s promoted as Division Two champions in 1922-23, Pirie then made two further top-flight appearances before his move to Aberdeen. At Pittodrie, he scored a hat-trick in the 8-1 Scottish Cup victory over St Bernard’s in January 1926. That campaign, despite Pirie being briefly hospitalised with a kidney injury, Aberdeen reached the semi-finals where, playing alongside another Rovers man in Jack Cosgrove, his shot was saved by goalkeeper Peter Shevlin (1902-48) as Celtic recorded a 2-1 win at Tynecastle. September 1926 saw Pirie’s first professional game outside Scotland, the centre-half being just short of thirty years old in Cardiff’s 2-0 home defeat against Manchester United. “Big, strong and a grim tackler”, Pirie was the Bluebirds’ twelfth man for the 1927 FA Cup Final, in the era before substitutes were allowed, and captained the side the following campaign, prior to a brief spell at Eastville. He later played ten times, scoring once, in Ross’ first Highland League season, his goal coming against Fraserburgh that April, although he also scored in the Scottish Qualifying Cup against Inverness Citadel in September 1929. He played in the North of Scotland Cup Final, which was a 2-0 victory over Elgin City in the snow at Telford Street Park in Inverness (after which the players were treated to a reception at the Caledonian Hotel in Dingwall), and in defeated finals of the Inverness Cup and Inverness Charity Cup. Ross County had only been founded in 1929 and he was their second manager before working in Aberdeen and Invergordon as well as on projects in Glencoe and across the Moor of Rannoch. A civil engineer by profession, largely with the company William Tawse, he was a driving force behind the design of the airport (which was eventually opened in 1937) and the pier at Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. He married Janet Liston in December 1930 and the couple were presented with a grandmother clock by Ross County; they had three children, their son Jack still living in Australia. They lived in Stornoway from February 1939 until 1948, when they moved back to Aberdeen. |
No 66. George Pither. 1924-25.
Born, 24.6.1899, Kew, Surrey. Died, 3.1.1966, Tunbridge Wells. 5’ 8½”; 11 st 2 lbs. Début: 11.2.25 v Gillingham. Career: Richmond Wednesday; 1915 Isleworth Town; 20.8.21 Brentford (professional, 8.9.21) [7,0]; 20.5.22 Millwall [18,0]; 21.8.24 Bristol Rovers [2,0]; August 1925 Torquay United; 4.5.26 Merthyr Town [16,6]; 26.11.26 Liverpool (£500) [12,1]; 26.5.28 Crewe Alexandra (£100) [38,11]; 25.6.29 New Brighton [79,10]; July 1931 Tunbridge Wells Rangers; September 1932 Margate; August 1933 Chatham Town. Slight, fast and deceptively strong in the tackle, George Pither’s seven League clubs included Rovers in the spring of 1925. His form at Millwall had earned a call-up for the London Combination side that played the London League in March 1924 and, in addition to his League experience, he had also played in a London PFA Charity Fund match as well as in the London FA Challenge Cup. Having played twice for Millwall against Rovers in 1923-24, in addition to a game for Brentford at Eastville in September 1921, he was twice in the Merthyr side that opposed the Lilywhites, scoring in the match in August 1926. A fine club cricketer, he even scored in top-flight football, one of six first-half goals Liverpool registered past Pompey in an 8-2 thrashing at Anfield in October 1927. Southern League Torquay had proved a brief respite from League action, Pither’s five Southern League goals including strikes in both fixtures with Taunton United. He later eased Crewe to ninth in Division Three (North), one of his goals contributing to a 7-0 win against Ashington over Easter 1929; earlier, his goal had not prevented non-league Gainsbrough Trinity from crushing Crewe 3-1 at Gresty Road in the FA Cup in November 1928. Thirteen goals followed in 31 Southern League matches at Tunbridge Wells. A keen cricketer, George Pither was the second of four children born to John Edward Pither (1874-1940), a gardener at Kew Gardens, and his wife Elizabeth Fisher (1874-1953), who had married in 1897 and he was brought up at 34 Cambridge Cottages, Kew Green; he married Ethel Rose Carter (1899-1977) in Brentford in 1924 and they had a son and a daughter. His family had lived for generations in the Kew area and it is likely that he was descended from James Pither, who is recorded as being the ferryman at Sonning Lock on the Thames in 1793. |
No 969. Brett Pitman. 2021-22.
Born, 31.1.1988, St Helier, Jersey. 6’; 11 st. Début: 17.8.21 v Oldham Athletic. Career: First Tower United; 1999 St Paul’s; July 2004 Bournemouth (professional, 17.12.04); 18.8.10 Blackpool (trial); 21.8.10 Bristol City (£800,000) [33+44,20]; 20.11.12 Bournemouth (loan); 3.1.13 Bournemouth (free) [156+111,96]; 26.6.15 Ipswich Town (free) [37+27,14]; 14.7.17 Portsmouth (trial); 27.7.17 Portsmouth (free) [55+26,37]; 4.9.20 Swindon Town (free) [27+11,11]; 30.7.21 Bristol Rovers (free) [8+8,4]; 3.2.22 Eastleigh (loan); 2.6.22 Bournemouth (coach); 23.6.22 AFC Portchester (trial); 1.7.22 AFC Portchester (free). Signing the experienced Brett Pitman was a clear statement of intent from Rovers’ manager Joey Barton. Sure enough, having soaked up pressure at Bradford City in October 2021, it was Pitman’s exquisite header from Antony Evans’ cross which secured an unexpected point away from home deep into stoppage-time. Needing to address a lack of goals in the previous campaign, Barton had turned to one of the more reliably prolific lower-league marksmen in the hope that his presence could inspire his new team-mates. “Pompey always have a chance when Pitman is playing”, Paul Merson had once commented. From Channel Islands football, Pitman had impressed with eleven hat-tricks whilst an apprentice at Bournemouth. He made his first appearance in the Cherries’ first team at Torquay in the League Cup in August 2005, playing alongside Marcus Browning and Jo Kuffour, whilst his first League goal was scored past former Rovers keeper Lee Jones in a 1-1 draw with Blackpool in February 2006. Thereafter he was a major factor in unfashionable Bournemouth’s inexorable rise to the Premier League, being relegated to League Two in 2007-08, avoiding relegation from the League twelve months later, gaining promotion from League Two in 2009-10 and League One in 2012-13 before securing the Championship title in 2014-15. He was part of the side which lost 1-0 at Blyth Spartans in the FA Cup in December 2008, in which game he was sent off, scored his twenty-sixth goal of the campaign to secure promotion in May 2010 via a 4-0 victory over Port Vale and hit a sixteen-minute hat-trick against Peterborough United on the opening day of the 2010-11 season. Pitman scored hat-tricks against Rochdale in April 2009, playing alongside Sammy Igoe, Crewe in January 2013 and Blackpool in March 2015 as well as the Peterborough game, and scored in eight consecutive League fixtures over Easter 2013. At Ipswich, he appeared in a League Cup-tie at Old Trafford and his goal tally included a brace at Wigan in December 2016. Time at Pompey alongside Lee Brown and Ellis Harrison included captaining the side at Wembley in the Football League Trophy final of 2018-19, when he hit the post in normal time before his side won on penalties following a 2-2 draw. He scored in five consecutive League matches with Bristol City in the autumn of 2010 and was sent off against Coventry City in April 2012. Despite his eleven goals making him the club’s top scorer, Swindon were relegated along with Rovers from League One in 2020-21. He has been voted divisional Player of the Month on three occasions, in League Two in September 2009 and League One in March 2013 and September 2017. Brett Pitman was well-known to Rovers’ supporters, as he had scored for both Pompey and Swindon in the League against The Gas, and had also represented Bournemouth against Rovers in three different cup competitions. On his first pre-season appearance for Rovers, he came on as substitute against Oxford United in July 2021, hit the bar with his first touch and scored twice to ensure a 3-2 victory. Subsequently, he had a goal disallowed at Exeter the following month in League Two and scored his first goal for Rovers, an injury-time consolation strike from the penalty spot, at home to Orient the following month. Rovers were to be promoted from League Two that campaign, Pitman having certainly played his small part early in the campaign, by which time he had played in 8(+9) Nationwide League matches with Eastleigh, scoring in March 2022 at Solihull Moors. On his first appearance with Portchester he scored two penalties in a 3-3 draw with Lymington Town and he scored four times in an 8-1 FA Vase win at East Cowes in September 2022, Portchester’s largest ever victory in any competition. He and his partner Clare have a son, Harlow, who has represented Bournemouth at junior level, and a daughter Millar. |
No 264. (Jackie) John Harry Pitt. 1946-60.
Born, 20.5.1920, Willenhall. Died, 17.8.2004, Bristol. 5’ 8”; 10 st 10 lbs. Début: 31.8.46 v Reading. Career: 1937 West Bromwich Albion (amateur); Bath City; 1946 Aberavon; 31.7.46 Bristol Rovers (free) [466,16] (ground staff, 1958; groundsman). Asked to name an all-time greatest Rovers side, there are few of a certain generation who would name any other player at right-half than Jackie Pitt. To younger Rovers supporters, he was the groundsman at Eastville, who took over from the popular Harry Smith, and again at Twerton Park after Rovers’ enforced exile to Bath. The son of William John Pitt and Clara Davies, who married in Willenhall in 1912, Jackie Pitt was recommended to Rovers by chief scout Fred Hyde and signed for the club before manager Brough Fletcher had even seen him play. This confidence in the young wing-half’s ability was certainly justified, for he went on to be an ever-present in four League seasons, including the Third Division (South) championship campaign of 1952-53, and appeared as club captain in his final three seasons as a player. He was tough in the tackle and constructive in setting up opportunities for his forwards. Making his League début in the first post-war League fixture, Pitt compiled a vast tally of League appearances, only Stuart Taylor and Harry Bamford having played more often for the club; of these games, 234 were at Eastville, where only four players featured in more League fixtures. Over Easter 1948 he scored four goals in two home games over a three-day period, his two penalties against Newport County coming in a 3-2 defeat, in which the opposition’s Len Emmanuel (1917-2010), the father of a future Rovers player, also scored from the penalty-spot. Pitt was an ever-present that campaign and also in 1951-52 and 1952-53, during which time he accumulated 122 consecutive League appearances, and again in 1954-55, when he missed a penalty against Bury. One of the more memorable moments of the halcyon days of the 1950s was when Pitt and Bristol City’s Ernie Peacock (1924-73) were both dismissed during a tempestuous local derby not for the faint-hearted in February 1957 and the two rivals left the field together, an arm around each other’s shoulders. In so doing, Pitt became the oldest man ever to be sent off for Rovers in a League fixture. Jackie Pitt’s son Jack, a player with Retainers, represented the Downs League and his grandsons Andrew and Anthony Pitt also joined Retainers. Awarded a testimonial game against FA Cup winners Wimbledon in August 1988 and visiting Wembley on his seventieth birthday to watch Rovers’ first ever game at the ground, Jackie Pitt gave Rovers long and loyal service and his death in Blackberry Hill Hospital at the age of eighty-four marked the end of a significant chapter in the club’s long history. |
No 487. Nicholas Robert Platnauer. 1982-83.
b 10.6.1961 Leicester 5’ 11”; 12 st 10 lbs FB Début: 18.9.82 v Lincoln City Career: Northampton Town (amateur); 1979 Bedford Town; 19.5.82 Bristol Rovers (trial); 31.7.82 Bristol Rovers [21+3,7]; 5.8.83 Coventry City (£50,000 with Graham Withey) [38+6,6]; 13.12.84 Birmingham City (£50,000) [23+5,2]; 30.1.86 Reading (loan) [7,0]; 26.9.86 Cardiff City (free) [110+5,6]; 1.8.89 Notts County (£50,000) [57,1]; 18.1.91 Port Vale (loan) [14,0]; 19.7.91 Leicester City (free) [32+3,0]; 8.3.93 Scunthorpe United (free) [14,2]; July 1993 Kettering Town (trial); 6.8.93 Mansfield Town (free) [25,0]; 4.2.94 Lincoln City (loan); 10.3.94 Lincoln City (free) [26+1,0] (reserve team coach, January 1995); August 1995 Bedworth United; July 1997 Hinckley United (assistant manager); March 2000 Rothwell Town (manager); 21.11.03 Kettering Town (caretaker manager); 20.1.04 Bedford Town (manager); 16.10.07 Hinckley United (manager); 2.5.12 Bedford Town (manager) (to 7.5.13). A Welsh Cup winner, three times promoted from Division Two and a player who appeared at Wembley, bouffant-haired Nicky Platnauer enjoyed a varied footballing career before embarking on a successful managerial one in non-league circles in the East Midlands. The son of Robert Platnauer, himself the son of Charles Stone Platnauer (1902-90) and Dorothy Kate Farden (1899-1983), who married in 1959 Georgina Whatton, the daughter of Harry Whatton and Lottie Oldham, Nicky Platnauer helped Bedford secure the Southern League Cup in 1981 before making his Rovers reserve team début in a 1-1 draw with Swindon Town reserves in May 1982. The recommendation to Rovers had come from Trevor Gould, his manager at Bedford, whose brother Bobby was in charge at Eastville and later took Platnauer and Graham Withey with him to Coventry. Signed up for the new campaign, Platnauer scored in Rovers’ 4-0 League Cup victory at Torquay in September 1982 and built his League career thereafter. A fast and efficient winger converted into a reliable left-back, he scored on his Notts County début at Watford and his Scunthorpe début against Bury. Promotions followed with Notts County twice, Birmingham and Leicester and his Wembley appearance was in County’s play-off final of 1991, in which they defeated Brighton 3-1 to secure a place in the top-flight. At Cardiff, he was three times Player of the Year and won a Welsh Cup winner’s medal in 1988, and he played alongside Aidy Boothroyd at Mansfield. After one game at Kettering, 36(+2) and seven goals in the Beazer Homes League with Bedworth and two goals in 51 games at Hinckley, he spent three-and-a-half years in charge at Doctor Martens League Eastern Division side Rothwell, whom he led to two Nottinghamshire Senior Cup Final wins and success in one Maunsell Cup Final, whilst Bedford had won just one game in fourteen prior to his return to the Ryman League side in January 2004. He returned to the Eagles to lead Bedford to tenth place in the Southern League Premier Division in 2012-13. Nicky Platnauer, a postman, lives in Leicester with his wife Tina Watts, two sons and a daughter. |
No 124. Robert Plenderleith. 1929-30.
Born, 20.6.1909, Hamilton. Died, 30.4.1974, London. 6’; 12 st 10 lbs. Début: 31.8.29 v Brighton. Career: Hamilton Academy School; Blantyre Victoria; Peebles Rovers; 13.8.27 East Fife [43,2]; 23.6.28 Sunderland (£600); July 1929 Bristol Rovers (£150) (professional, 31.8.29) [22,0]; 26.8.30 Sunderland Borough Police FC. Very much in the mould of the modern centre-back, Bob Plenderleith was a tall, strong stopper who went on to become a policeman in Sunderland. As a schoolboy he had represented Glasgow Schools against London Schools at Stamford Bridge. Scottish Cup holders East Fife offered him a Gateway into the professional game and his début came in the 2-0 victory over Albion Rovers in August 1927 in which his side forced over a dozen corners. A regular that season, despite an injury picked up in the 4-2 win at Queen of the South in October, he scored twice. Having contributed the second goal just before half-time in a 5-1 victory over the same opposition in front of a 3,000 crowd at Methil that January, he almost scored again the following day with a twenty-yard solo run and shot against Alloa Athletic, but did indeed score again that March, as East Fife, a goal behind at the break, swamped Arthurlie 6-1. Arguably his most impressive performance came in the 1-1 draw with Morton in which he “played an effective game” (The Scotsman). Not making the Sunderland side, partly as he was serving a suspension for contesting his temporary contract at Methil, Plenderleith vied with David Murray and Jack Cosgrove for the pivotal centre-half rôle in Rovers’ side. Dropped after the team conceded six at Fulham on Christmas Day 1929, he was back in the side through the spring. He married Jennie Crawford in Sunderland in September 1930, became a policeman in the town and eventually the local bowls champion; he and Jennie had a daughter, Margaret (1932-76). |
No 381. Richard Keith Plumb. 1965-69.
Born, 24.9.1946, Swindon. 5’ 10½; 11 st 3 lbs. Début: 9.10.65 v Brighton. Career: 16.5.62 Swindon Town (professional, 28.12.63); 30.4.65 Bristol Rovers (free) [39,8]; 16.10.68 Yeovil Town (£3,000); 23.9.70 Charlton Athletic (£7,000) [32+11,10]; 10.8.72 Exeter City (£6,500) [59,17]; 18.1.74 Yeovil Town (£4,000); 19.8.78 Chard Town (free). Tall, efficient striker Dick Plumb scored, after November 1965, just one goal at Eastville. Recovering from a broken leg at Bournemouth in the autumn of 1966, he subsequently appeared in four consecutive seasons with Rovers before dropping into Southern League football. To his credit, the young forward returned to League fray. He scored two first-half goals in Charlton’s 2-2 draw at Ashton Gate in December 1970 and scored a hat-trick for Exeter against Mansfield Town in January 1973 in Division Four. Having played against Manchester United in Swindon’s 1964 FA Youth Cup Final side, Plumb had not made the grade in Wiltshire, but he certainly did in Somerset. Yeovil’s record signing in 1968, their record sale two years later and their top scorer with sixteen goals in 1968-69, thirty the following campaign, and with 28 goals in both 1974-75 and 1975-76, Plumb accumulated 150 goals in 337 appearances for the Southern League side, remaining the Glovers’ second highest scorer of all time, behind Dave Taylor. The middle son of a Swindon couple, Ronald Plumb and Elizabeth McCarthy, his father being the son of Robert William Plumb and Bertha Zillah Rusling (1878-1945), she being the daughter of George Edward Rusling and Celia Mary Mollett, Dick Plumb still lives in Yeovil. He married Linda Duffield in 1967 and Jill Parsons ten years later and has a daughter, Lisa, from his first marriage. |
No 698. Christopher Scott Plummer. 2002-03.
Born, 12.10.1976, Isleworth, Middlesex. 6’ 3”; 12 st 9lbs. Début: 9.11.02 v Southend United. Career: Queen’s Park Rangers (professional, 1.7.94) [54+8,2]; 5.11.02 Bristol Rovers (loan) [2,0]; 17.6.03 Barnet (free); 3.9.04 Peterborough United (£30,000) [37+7,1]; 12.10.06 Gray’s Athletic (loan); 17.11.06 Rushden and Diamonds (loan) (retired, 13.12.06); 5.5.09 Peterborough Northern Star (manager); 23.5.12 Corby Town (assistant manager; manager, 12.9.12-21.8.13); 2013-14 Peterborough Sports (manager). An England Youth player and the holder of five England Under-21 caps, his first coming against Croatia in April 1996, tall central defender Chris Plummer joined Rovers after playing under Ian Holloway at Queen’s Park Rangers. A May 1996 début as a substitute for Ray Wilkins away to Nottingham Forest preceded a broken leg against Swansea in November 2001 which ruled him out for the remainder of that season. Plummer played in two League defeats with Rovers and two drawn cup-ties, all at home, before his 34 Conference games and three goals eased Barnet to the play-offs in 2003-04; he scored an own goal and was then sent off in a 4-2 defeat at home to Dagenham and Redbridge in January 2004, Giuliano Grazioli scoring both Barnet’s goals that day. Plummer, who had been shown a red card with QPR at Charlton in the FA Cup in January 2000, was sent off in Peterborough’s 3-0 win against Hartlepool in October 2004, Calum Willock scoring the second goal that day, and suffered relegation with Posh to League Two in 2004-05. He played against Rovers before and after his 2006 diagnosis with testicular cancer and retired from football to start a career in the financial services industry, whilst also coaching Northern Star to victory in the Hinchingbrooke Cup in May 2010, defeating Biggleswade Town 4-1 in the final and Corby Town to a 3-1 victory over Daventry Town in the Northamptonshire FA Hillier Cup Final of April 2013. Corby, though, were relegated from the Conference North on goal difference the same month, after battling out a goalless draw at home to Gainsborough Trinity on the final day of the season, and Plummer resigned at the start of the following campaign, in the aftermath of a 6-0 defeat at Hemel Hempstead Town. |
No 663. Dwayne Jermaine Plummer. 2000-03.
Born, 12.5.1978, Bristol. 5’ 9”; 11 st. Début: 30.9.00 v Luton Town. Career: North Bristol Colts; St Luke’s; 5.9.95 Bristol City [1+13,0]; 10.11.98 Stevenage Borough (loan); 19.11.98 Stevenage Borough (free); 1999 Chesham United; 6.9.00 Bristol Rovers (£25,000) [29+6,1]; 17.1.03 Harlow Town; 20.1.03 Gravesend; 7.3.03 Aylesbury Town; 13.9.03 Bath City; 10.11.03 Crawley Town; 19.1.04 Hendon; 21.6.04 Thurrock; 23.12.04 Kingstonian; 11.1.05 Staines Town (trial); 22.7.05 Staines Town (free); 11.10.05 AFC Wimbledon (free); 5.6.06 Braintree Town (free); 14.2.07 Boreham Wood; 31.307 East Thurrock United; 7.2.08 Carshalton Athletic; April 2008 East Thurrock United; 2008 Reno, Jamaica; 2009 Arnett Gardens, Jamaica; February 2010 Maldon and Tiptree; January 2011 August Town; August 2011 Staines Town. Appearances at the two Bristol clubs notwithstanding, Dwayne Plummer has enjoyed an extensive career in non-league circles in the south-east of England. A Rovers début at Everton in the League Cup in September 2000 in front of a crowd of 25,564 was followed by converting the winning penalty in a joyous shoot-out at the close of the replay. In this game, Plummer opposed Paul Gascoigne, who had coached the then thirteen-year-old on a Channel 4 programme later released as a Soccer Skills video. Sent off in the 3-0 defeat against Millwall, he scored his only goal in the 2-0 victory over Bury in March 2001 after a neat interchange of passes with Nathan Ellington, but Rovers suffered relegation to the basement division at the end of that season. Released in September 2002 for “gross misconduct” following an incident at a gym, Plummer represented the Cayman Islands in an unofficial game against DC United, the American club side, but won no international caps. His long career included 2(+4) Conference games and one goal at Stevenage, where he scored twice in 23(+9) games in all competitions, one substitute appearance at Gravesend and six at Bath, 2(+2) games for Carshalton plus a cup goal against Tonbridge Angels, four matches for Crawley plus a goal in a 7-1 Surrey Senior Cup win against Horsham YMCA in November 2003, 16 appearances with five goals at Hendon, three goals in 24 games for Wimbledon, two in eight matches at Staines, five games for Thurrock and an appearance for Kingstonian in a 1-0 defeat at Yeading on New Year’s Day 2005. Having scored twice in Jamaican club football, Plummer scored three goals in ten games for Maldon. He was sent off on his Aylesbury début for disputing a last-minute penalty in the game with his future club Braintree Town. Banned for nine games at Thurrock after punching a linesman, he was sent off with Wimbledon and suffered a broken nose in the final game of his first stint at Staines Town. His three younger brothers, Tristan, Twane and Trumane, have all appeared regularly on the popular television programme “Gogglebox”; Tristan Plummer was on Bristol City’s books and played League football for Hereford United and Luton Town, as well as being in the England Under-17 squad for the 2007 UEFA championships. Dwayne Plummer now lives in Madrid, where he works as a resident DJ, under the pseudonym Jay Anderson. |
No 139. Joseph Pointon. 1930-31.
Born, 1.2.1905, Leek, Staffordshire. Died, 1939, Leek. 5’ 10”; 10 st 10 lbs. Début: 30.8.30 v Northampton Town. Career: Leek Wesleyans; Leek National; Congleton Town; Stoke (trial); April 1923 Port Vale (amateur) [10,0]; May 1926 Luton Town [65,12]; June 1928 Brighton [16,5]; July 1929 Torquay United [27,18]; 28.6.30 Bristol Rovers (£10) [9,1]; August 1931 Walsall [17,4] (to 1932). When Joe Pointon died aged thirty-four of tuberculosis, contemporary newspaper reports indicated that he left a widow and nine children under nine. A more accurate report is less prosaic, but nonetheless highly poignant – his widow Catherine Parr (1904-1995) survived him by almost sixty years and their six children, two daughters and four sons, were aged eleven years to eighteen months at the time of his passing. It was a tragically early death for a goal-scoring forward, who represented six clubs in the Football League. The eighth of nine children to a silk weaver John Pointon and Betsy White of 8 Field Street, Leek, who had eight sons followed by a daughter, Annie, Joe Pointon followed his brother Fred to Leek National and made his Port Vale début in a 3-1 win against Fulham in March 1924. He appeared in Luton’s 9-0 FA Cup victory over Clapton in November 1927 as well as their astonishing 6-5 defeat at home to Northampton Town on Boxing Day 1927, and gained celebrity status in Torquay after scoring both the goals in their first ever local derby win against Exeter City, a 2-1 win in May 1930. In fact, his goal-scoring at Plainmoor included four goals in the 7-0 win against Bournemouth in March 1930, the second Gulls player to score four times in a Football League fixture, and a hat-trick the following month as Merthyr Town were defeated 4-0; his first goal against Torquay came from an exquisite back-heel after his initial shot had been saved. Having scored against Rovers in the League for Luton in November 1927, a penalty for Brighton in January 1929 and twice for Torquay in April 1930, the proven goal-taker arrived at Eastville in the summer of 1930. He scored a penalty on his début against Northampton Town but missed one against Gillingham and never scored again for the club. He did, however, complete a hat-trick against his former club, Torquay United reserves, as Rovers’ second string recorded a 3-1 win at Plainmoor in January 1931 and scored Third Division (North) goals for Walsall against New Brighton, Hartlepool United, Rochdale and Southport. |
No 825. Michael Harold Poke. 2011-12.
Born, 21.11.1985, Ashford, Surrey. 6’ 2”; 11 st 4 lbs. Début: 2.1.12 v Barnet. Career: Longford Community School, Fulham; 12.5.04 Southampton [3+1,0]; 17.8.04 Northampton Town (trial); 21.8.05 Oldham Athletic (loan); 18.10.05 Northampton Town (loan); 23.11.06 Woking (loan); 9.1.08 Torquay United (loan); 1.8.09 Torquay United (loan); 11.6.10 Brighton (free); 1.1.12 Bristol Rovers (loan) [8,0]; 28.6.12 Torquay United (free) [103+2,0]; 24.6.14 Portsmouth (free); 24.7.15 Eastleigh (loan); 29.1.16 Eastleigh (free); 8.7.16 Woking (free, to 23.5.17); 24.3.20 Portsmouth (Academy goalkeeping coach). Tall, strong goalkeeper Michael Poke enjoyed an excellent game for Rovers against Crawley Town in January 2012, when his “spirited performance” helped earn a goalless draw. The young custodian was to return to The Mem in October 2012, alongside fellow former Rovers players René Howe and Aaron Downes, as Rovers defeated Torquay 3-2 and he also appeared against Rovers on the final day of the campaign, saving Lee Brown’s penalty in an astonishing 3-3 draw, as well as the following campaign in a 1-1 draw at Plainmoor on Boxing Day 2013. He was unable to prevent the Gulls, along with Rovers, from crashing out of the Football League in the spring of 2014. Prior to this, Poke’s career had been spent primarily on loan. Saints’ only fit goalkeeper in the summer of 2007, he had toured Norway and played in the 12-0 victory over Svarstad before making his League début at Wolves over Easter 2008. He enjoyed two Football League Trophy games and a reserve fixture at Northampton, fractured a finger in training at Oldham and featured in three Conference matches at Woking. The first of several stints at Torquay began in Conference football, where Poke played 14(+1) times before being replaced by Scott Bevan and he later served under Paul Buckle at Plainmoor before making one League Cup appearance for Brighton against Northampton in August 2010. He did not make the Football League side at Fratton Park, but appeared in twelve Conference matches at Eastleigh and 35 with Woking, making a spectacular penalty save from Forest Green Rovers’ Darren Carter in February 2017. He is the son of Michael Poke senior and Carôle Bagilhole, the daughter of train driver Harold Bagilhole (1912-85) and Katherine Annie Slade (1917-2002). |
No 208. Eli Postin. 1934-36.
Born, 3.6.1908, Netherton, near Dudley. Died, 9.8.1991, Dudley. 5’ 10”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 2.2.35 v Charlton Athletic. Career: Warley Institute; Whiteheath; Crosswells Star; Blackheath Town; West Bromwich Albion (amateur); February 1929 Halesowen Town; May 1929 Cradley Heath; April 1931 West Bromwich Albion Colts; November 1932 Dudley Town; 5.7.33 Cardiff City [33,13]; 27.7.34 Bristol Rovers [4,1]; 20.11.35 Wrexham [10,2]; July 1936 Brierley Hill Alliance; August 1938 Dudley Town; November 1938 Hednesford Town; July 1939 Darlaston; Marsh and Baxters; January 1940 Hednesford Town. “Nod ‘em in, Eli” was a favourite shout of the Ninian Park crowd, adopted at Eastville after inside-right Eli Postin arrived at the club in July 1934. Scoring freely for the reserves, his tally including a hat-trick in the 4-1 Southern League victory over Margate in December 1934, he did not register a League goal at Eastville, his only strike for Rovers giving the team an early lead in the 3-3 draw at Northampton Town in September 1935. A keen athlete who registered commendable sprint times, Postin played for the Birmingham County FA in the 5-2 victory over Scotland Juniors at Villa Park in 1931, scoring twice and progressed through local football to a professional contract. At Cardiff he was joint top scorer in 1933-34, although the Bluebirds had to apply for re-election, scoring when Rovers won 5-1 at Ninian Park that February and he played alongside other Rovers players Bob Adams and Pat Molloy. An enthusiastic athlete, Eli Postin apparently played until he was fifty, his pen picture appearing in the “Sports Argus” as late as 1954. His father, Thomas Postin (1887-1975), a coalminer from 34 Eadie Street, Stockingford, Nuneaton, married Sarah Chater (1889-1954) in 1907 and Eli was the eldest of their four children; whilst his sister Doris had seven sons and a daughter, Eli Postin, who married Daisy Sheldon (1911-97) in 1933, had two sons, Edward and Ronald. |
No 557. Antony Mark Pounder. 1990-94.
Born, 11.3.1966, Yeovil. 6’; 11 st 3 lbs. Début: 25.8.90 v Leicester City. Career: Yeovil Town; 1987 Westland Sports; 14.5.88 Weymouth; 18.7.90 Bristol Rovers (£10,000) [102+11,10]; 16.8.93 Peterborough United (trial); 7.2.94 Walsall (trial); 19.8.94 Dorchester Town (trial); 26.8.94 Hereford United (free); 20.7.95 Gloucester City (trial); 12.8.95 Hereford United (free) [54+8,4]; 17.7.96 Yeovil Town (youth coach, 3.6.97); 10.7.00 Frome Town (player-coach); 6.1.04 Chard Town; February 2004 Wells City; 18.3.04 Welton Rovers. Having secured promotion to Division Two, Rovers gave a début to left-winger Tony Pounder, the second son of Luton, Crewe and Coventry’s Tony Pounder (1935-2019) and his wife Norma Hawksworth. Weymouth’s Player of the Year, whose final game came in an 8-0 thrashing at Corby Town on the day Rovers were winning at Blackpool to secure the Third Division title, Pounder had worked in a foundry at Crewkerne whilst scoring twice in 29(+5) Conference games for the Terras. He played and scored in all three of Rovers’ seasons back in second-tier football prior to relegation in the spring of 1993. Transfer-listed by Rovers in March 1994, the tall, fast winger forced his way back into the Rovers side and scored twice against Wrexham on Easter Monday 1994. A Herefordshire Senior Cup Final winner in 1995, Pounder played in Hereford’s heaviest League defeat, a 7-1 mauling at the hands of Mansfield Town on Boxing Day 1994 and in the 1-1 draw with Spurs in the FA Cup in January 1996, winning the Bulls’ penalty in that game when he was fouled by Ronnie Rosenthal. Hereford reached the play-offs in the spring of 1996, but Pounder joined Yeovil, for whom his father had made 295 appearances and added three goals in 29(+13) Conference games of his own. He was in the Yeovil side that shocked the footballing world by defeating Northampton Town 2-0 in the FA Cup in December 1998. A goal against Bath City reserves in 28(+1) matches in his first season at Frome was the first of six goals for the club; the week he left, Frome called in a white witch, Titania Hardie, as they had scored just three goals and not won at their Badger Hill ground all season. In October 2007, Tony Pounder was reported as playing in the Yeovil-based Pen Mill Veterans side which lost 4-3 to Wibsey Veterans of Bradford in the National Over-40s Cup Final at Lilleshall. Married to Andrea Smith and with children Ben and Ellice, he works in Yeovil as a helicopter pilot. |
No 308. Kenneth Leigh Powell. 1951-52.
Born, 25.9.1924, Chester. Died, 17.1.2005, Chester. 5’ 11”; 12 st. Début: 11.4.52 v Colchester United. Career: Chester Schools; Chester (amateur); Royal Air Force; September 1947 Cardiff City; June 1948 Exeter City [22,1]; 18.7.51 Bristol Rovers [4,0]; 1953 Wellington Town (free). An only and long-awaited child, born to Edward Leigh Powell (1879-1956) and Clara Mabel Lovett (1881-1968), who had married in Chester in 1907, Ken Powell was a tall, strong wing-half; his maternal grandparents were Henry William Lovett (1852-1919) and Clara Mary Hughes (1854-1936), who had married in 1880. Military duty had taken him to Egypt, where he played alongside Rovers’ Frank McCourt for an RAF (Egypt) XI and he built up his footballing career after the war. An Exeter début at Reading in March 1949 was followed by his solitary League goal the following month, in a 2-2 draw at Ipswich and he was in the Grecians’ side which defeated Rovers 2-1 before the season was out. Powell replaced the reliable Ray Warren for four matches and was the driver of the car at the time of Bert Hoyle’s unfortunate accident in February 1953. Also a fine cricketer, Powell represented Gloucestershire Second XI and scored over 1,000 runs in a season with the Cheshire side Boughton Hall. He spent his final years in a nursing home in Chester, suffering from dementia. |
No 805. Lamar Levi Powell. 2010-12.
Born, 3.9.1993, Bristol. 5’ 7½”; 10 st 5 lbs. Début: 16.4.11 v Southampton. Career: Cotham School; Filton College; Shire Colts; 2004 Bristol Rovers (professional, 19.11.10) [0+1,0]; 8.9.12 Bath City; 3.10.13 Dorchester Town (trial); 31.10.13 Weston-super-Mare (free); 19.2.14 Weymouth (free); 24.10.14 Frome Town (free); 28.11.14 Taunton Town (free); 28.5.15 Salisbury FC (free); 5.1.16 Paulton Rovers (free). A brief cameo rôle late in the game at Southampton, replacing player-manager Stuart Campbell after 86 minutes as Rovers fought an ultimately unsuccessful relegation battle, proved to be striker Lamar Powell’s sole contribution to Rovers’ first-team. A feisty, formidable front man from Stoke Bishop, who had scored 52 goals in 2008-09 for Rovers’ Under-16 side, he scored twenty goals in 48(+4) games over three seasons for the Under-18 side, including a hat-trick against Yeovil Town in October 2010. An unused substitute against Norwich City in May 2010, his League bow came at the age of seventeen years 226 days, as an 86th-minute substitute for Stuart Campbell. He later made one substitute appearance for Bath in a 1-0 defeat at Bromley in the Conference in September 2012, his game lasting thirty minutes before he too was substituted following an asthma attack. After just one game at Weston, he made two substitute appearances in Weymouth’s Southern League side and played alongside Josh Klein-Davies and Lewis Haldane at Frome Town. His Taunton career started stutteringly, Powell being ruled out for five months through injury, his side being defeated in the play-offs that campaign and winning the Somerset Premier Cup Final and his Paulton début came in a 1-1 draw against his former club Weymouth, the striker appearing in 3(+9) Southern League games at Winterfield Road. |
No 434. Wayne Powell. 1975-78.
Born, 25.10.1956, Caerphilly. 5’ 11”; 11 st. Début: 4.10.75 v Nottingham Forest. Career: July 1972 Bristol Rovers (professional, October 1974) [25+7,10]; 13.10.77 Halifax Town (loan) [4,1]; June 1978 Hereford United (free) [6,2]; October 1980 Bath City; 13.12.80 Minehead; 16.10.82 Merthyr Tydfil; December 1982 Minehead; August 1984 Mangotsfield United; 20.9.84 Minehead; 1985 Yate Town; February 2000 Swansea City (Youth Development Officer); 7.7.08 Clevedon Town (manager); 21.10.09 Leamington (caretaker manager). When Sheffield United visited Eastville for a Second Division fixture in May 1977, young Wayne Powell completed a memorable hat-trick by heading home unmarked past goalkeeper Jim Brown from a right-wing cross at the Muller Road End just before time in Rovers’ 3-1 victory. The son of Vincent Lewis Powell and Docia Jones and with a sister Lynda, Wayne Powell was a member of the Wales squad at the UEFA Youth Cup Finals of 1974, having scored the winning goal in a friendly at Trowbridge in August 1972 at the age of fifteen. A hat-trick followed in the reserves’ astonishing 6-5 win against Crystal Palace reserves in August 1975 and he scored as a substitute on his Rovers début, Forest being defeated 4-2 at Eastville and Powell playing after Peter Aitken had broken his leg. He also registered the winning goal as Rovers came back from two goals down at Carlisle to win 3-2 in the spring of 1977. Sent off for the reserves against Norwich in October 1976, he added a goal against Southport in October 1977 when on loan with Halifax and played in both Hereford’s League Cup-ties with Rovers in August 1978. In three spells with Minehead, he totalled 41 goals in 151(+4) appearances, his début coming against Kidderminster Harriers, and he scored four goals on his Merthyr début in a friendly before appearing in 14(+2) games for that club. Wayne Powell moved back to Wales in 1986 to work as the manager of a stationery printing business and ran his own company in the same industry for twelve years from 1988. A managerial rôle at Swansea included a belated début, at the age of forty-four, in the August 2001 pre-season friendly with Pontypridd Town. His son, Lewis Powell, was in Rovers’ reserve side from 2006 and, after spells with Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon Town and Tiverton Town, followed his father to Leamington in May 2012. |
No 604. Graeme Richard Power. 1996-98.
Born, 7.3.1977, Northwick Park, Harrow. 5’ 11”; 10 st 10 lbs. Début: 21.9.96 v Plymouth Argyle. Career: 1993 Queen’s Park Rangers (professional, 2.5.95); 9.7.96 Bristol Rovers [25+1,0]; June 1998 Norwich City (trial); July 1998 Barnet (trial); July 1998 Orient (trial); 22.7.98 Exeter City (trial); 6.8.98 Exeter City (free) [165+6,2]; 22.9.03 Tiverton Town (free); 20.04 Weymouth (free); 1.4.04 Bath City; 7.8.06 Truro City (free) (to December 2009). Just as Jack Stockley had broken a bone on his Rovers début against Plymouth in 1921, Graeme Power dislocated his shoulder after just 36 minutes of his Rovers début at Home Park and was out for six months. It was a dreadful start for the talented, left-footed defender, an England Schoolboy and Youth international who had followed Ian Holloway to Rovers after 18(+1) games for QPR reserves as they won the Avon Insurance championship in 1995-96. After two friendlies for Norwich, against Sudbury Wanderers and Heybridge Swifts, Power found his niche at Exeter, playing alongside Rovers’ Billy Clark and opposing Rovers in League and FA Cup matches. Sent off in the FA Cup against Aldershot in November 1999 and, having missed the close of the 2001-02 season with a broken leg, on two occasions away to Hull City, once as a substitute, Power’s Exeter side lost its League status in 2002-03 despite winning the final three matches. Alongside Simon Bryant at Tiverton, he played nineteen times before teaming up with Robbie Pethick at Weymouth. In addition to 75 matches and a goal with Truro City, Graeme Power played in front of a crowd of 27,754 at Wembley in May 2007, the first former Rovers player to appear at the newly reopened national stadium, as Truro defeated AFC Totton 3-1 to win the FA Vase Final. He is the son of Richard Power and Janet Dowding, who is the daughter of Norman Dowding and Amy Williams. Completing a four-year PE degree at Exeter University in 2008, Power lives in Paignton with his partner Kim. |
No 223. John Causer Preece. 1935-38.
Born, 30.4.1914, Wolverhampton. Died, 5.7.2003, Chippenham. 5’ 10½”; 11 st 10 lbs. Début: 21.12.35 v Exeter City. Career: St Mary’s Church of England School, Wolverhampton; Sunbeam Motor Works; Wolverhampton Schools; 1928 Wolverhampton Wanderers (ground-staff; apprentice, May 1930; professional, May 1931) [2,0]; August 1934 Willenhall Town; 3.5.35 Bristol Rovers [79,0]; July 1938 Bradford City [3,0]; 13.5.39 Southport [36,0]; 22.5.47 Swindon Town [7,0]; 2.8.48 Chippenham United (player-manager) (to 1953). Ever-present at Eastville in the 1936-37 season, dependable left-back Jack Preece was the youngest child of Harvey Charles Preece (1884-1953) and Annie Causer, who had married in 1904 in Wolverhampton. Captain of Wolverhampton Schools, he also represented Birmingham and District Schools and, having been a Wolves colleague of Billy Hartill and Jack Smith, two other Rovers players, missed the 1934-35 campaign with ligament trouble prior to signing for Rovers. On his arrival, he won £30 by coming first in a local sprint event and speedily established himself in Rovers’ side. He formed an effective full-back partnership, first with Bill Pickering and later with George Tweed, but twice conceded own goals whilst playing for Rovers and was in the side which crashed 12-0 at Luton Town on Easter Monday 1936. Having lived at 43 Thornley Street, Wolverhampton, he married Irene Florence Molly Fry in Wolverhampton on 8th May 1937 and they moved to Bristol, where their only child, Geraldine, was born in 1945; the family lived at 36 Duckmoor Road, Ashton. 177 wartime games for Bristol City, alongside service with the Royal Air Force based in Scarborough, plus eleven matches with Southport and four with Swindon preceded a post-war career revival. Preece led Chippenham United to the Western League title in 1948-49 before running a public house on Gloucester Road, Bristol and, moving to Kington St Michael, an off-licence in Chippenham. |
No 188. Charles James Fane Preedy. 1933-34.
Born, 11.1.1900, Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh, India. Died, 28.2.1978, Lakenheath, Norfolk. 6’ 1”; 11 st 10 lbs. Début: 26.8.33 v Bristol City. Career: Gordon School, Eltham; British Motor Cab FC; Bostall Heath; 1922 Redhill; December 1922 Charlton Athletic (professional, May 1924) [131,0]; July 1928 Wigan Borough [41,0]; 15.5.29 Arsenal [37,0]; 3.7.33 Bristol Rovers (exchange) [39,0]; 23.8.34 Luton Town [5,0]; July 1935 Margate (retired, 1936). Hubert Ashton and Charlie Preedy are the only two Indian-born players to have represented Bristol Rovers in the Football League. Tall and strongly built, Preedy was the sixth of nine children, his father’s Royal Artillery service taking him to The Raj in 1894 before the family returned to live in Eltham from 1902. The middle of three sons, Charlie Preedy’s parents were Corporal Henry Preedy and his Japanese-born wife Helen Florence Lyne (1867-1941); Charlie’s grandfather and great-uncle had been briefly jailed in 1851 for their part in a flour-throwing incident and the family could be traced back eight generations to William Preedy (1615-1686) and his wife Elizabeth Smith, whose marriage in 1645 had produced seven children. Preedy’s moment of glory came in 1930 when he won an FA Cup winner’s medal, his Arsenal side defeating Huddersfield Town 2-0 before a crowd of 92,499 at Wembley, with Alex James scoring after sixteen minutes and Jack Lambert adding the second two minutes from time. After the sinister and ominous presence of the Graf Zeppelin had hovered over the ground during the first-half, King George V presented Preedy with his medal. In all, he won the FA Cup, Charity Shield and London FA Challenge Cup at Arsenal, despite a relative paucity of League appearances, and he played eleven times as the Gunners became League champions in 1930-31. A Kent county cap, he had previously helped Wigan maintain the best defensive record in all four divisions in 1928-29. Prior to that, he played for Charlton Athletic against Rovers in the FA Cup in January 1926, having saved penalties from Brighton’s Wally Little (1897-1976) in the League and Woking’s equally Indian-born Johnny Price (1903-87) in the FA Cup. About him, the contemporary press reported that “the cognoscenti have been struck by his resemblance to Jock Ewart (Scottish international goalkeeper, 1891-1943), for he thinks nothing of advancing from his goal for fully thirty yards, though so sound is his judgment that the move invariably is successful.” A regular at Eastville in 1933-34, Preedy saved a penalty from Brighton’s Bobby Farrell (1906-71) in November 1933 and only conceded more than two goals in a game on three occasions in Division Three (South). Later in the Margate side which knocked QPR out of the FA Cup 3-1 in November 1935, “Spider” Preedy also played for Margate against Rovers reserves that season. A cricketer with Surrey Pilgrims, he also hit a hole-in-one at the eighth hole at Knowle golf course in 1934. He was a keen motorist and, following the career path of his older brother Jack (1891-1958), he became a South London taxi driver before retiring to Norfolk. Charlie Preedy married Constance Winifred Smailes (1892-1957) in March 1924 and they had a son Paul and a daughter Margaret. |
No 51. John William Price. 1923-24.
Born, 9.6.1900, Ibstock, Leicestershire. Died, 3.11.1984, Coalville. 5’ 9½”; 11 st 6 lbs. Début: 5.9.23 v Queen’s Park Rangers. Career: Coalville Swifts; 16.10.20 Leicester City; July 1923 Bristol Rovers [5,0]; 19.6.24 Swindon Town [2,0]; 16.11.25 Brentford [12,0]; 28.6.27 Torquay United [31,0] (released, 6.5.29). Right-back “Ginger” Price was the eldest of nine children, brought up at 3 Oxford Street, Coalville in a mining family, to Tom Price and his wife Miriam Belcher (1880-1966). Fred, one year his junior (1901-85) and Tom’s brother Cliff (1900-55) were his team-mates at Southampton in 1924-25 and both also played for Leicester amongst other clubs. An excellent club cricketer, he had an appendicitis operation whilst at Eastville and the consistent form of Harry Armitage restricted his first-team opportunities. A team-mate of Rovers players Sam Furniss and Harry O’Neill at Swindon, Jimmy Walton and Percy Whitton at Brentford and Alec Smeaton at Torquay, he twice opposed Rovers in League action with the Gulls and played for both Swindon and Torquay against Rovers’ reserve side. Whilst at Swindon, he marked the former Rovers forward Willie Culley on the Scotsman’s Weymouth début, in a Southern League fixture in October 1924. Having coached at Charterhouse School in 1928, Price retired from football in 1929 and ran a greengrocer’s shop for many years at St Mary’s, Torquay. |
No 140. Walter Price. 1930-31.
Born, 11.6.1896, Brithdir, Glamorgan. Died, 26.12.1985, Fleur-de-Lis, Caerphilly. 5’ 10”; 11 st 4 lbs. Début: 30.8.30 v Northampton Town, Career: Aberaman Athletic; February 1921 Aberdare Athletic; May 1923 Pontypridd; 1924 Aberdare Athletic [43,0]; December 1924 Plymouth Argyle (exchange deal involving John Smith) [59,0]; 6.10.30 Bristol Rovers [13,0] (to 1931). Full-back Walter Price represented three sides in Division Three (South) through the 1920s, playing for Aberdare at Eastville in November 1924 and for Plymouth against Rovers in October 1925 and May 1929. He started the 1930-31 season as Rovers’ right-back, partnering Jimmy Haydon, but gradually lost his place to the two Georges, Barton and Russell. Price scored a penalty for Rovers reserves in a 4-1 home defeat against Merthyr Town in December 1930. He was the son of James Price and Mary Elizabeth Bowen of Brithdir; he married Emily Newman and they had a daughter, Joyce Doreen Price (1925-86). Walter Price died at home, at 19 Gellihaf Road, Fleur-de-Lis on Boxing Day 1985. |
No 392. Francis Anthony Prince. 1967-80.
Born, 1.12.1949, Penarth. 5’ 9”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 4.5.68 v Swindon Town. Career: Cardiff Schools; 1965 Bristol Rovers (professional, December 1967) [360+2,22]; July 1980 Exeter City (free) [27+4,2]; 4.2.82 Gloucester City; April 1982 Taunton Town; August 1985 Ottery St Mary; 1987 Bideford Town; August 1988 Clyst Rovers; 1992 Torquay United (Community Officer, to November 2014). Guile, strength and determination were amongst the facets that ensured that Frankie Prince played such a key rôle in Rovers’ creative midfield. The articulate and talented Welshman played in thirteen consecutive seasons in the Football League for Rovers, only nine players exceeding the length of his League career with the club and he is one of only nine players who have represented Rovers in the League in three separate decades. As a youngster, the competitive Prince won four caps for Wales at Under-23 level and played in eight games as a Wales XI toured Asia and Oceania in 1971; in addition, he was an unused substitute when Wales played England in a World Cup qualifier at Ninian Park in 1972, but that elusive full cap never materialised. Undaunted, he set about becoming the lynchpin of a relatively successful Rovers side. An ever-present in 1971-72 he then helped Rovers secure the Watney Cup that summer, despite breaking a toe in the final against Sheffield United. The following campaign he broke a bone in his foot in the warm-up prior to a League fixture at Notts County. Prince, though, was made of stern stuff and he was a regular in the side which secured promotion from Division Three in 1973-74, winning 8-2 away to Brian Clough’s (1935-2004) Brighton en route, and helped establish Rovers as a Second Division side. A club cricketer with Coalpit Heath, he was awarded a testimonial game against Bristol City. Goals were perhaps few and far between, being a reliable, tough-tackling defensive midfielder, but one at Burnley’s Turf Moor in a Watney Cup-tie in August 1972 appeared on the BBC video “101 Great Goals”, whilst he scored both goals, a fourth minute header from Martyn Britten’s right-wing cross and a penalty after 34 minutes, as Rovers defeated Southampton 2-0 at Eastville in April 1976. He was awarded a testimonial game against White Hart Wanderers, played at Sunnyside Lane in November 1982. During a brief spell at Exeter, he appeared as a substitute for Peter Hatch when Rovers won 3-1 at St James’ Park in September 1981, and he made one substitute appearance with Gloucester before working as a greengrocer in Taunton, as a window cleaner, an odd-job man and as a nursing assistant in a forensic and psychiatric hospital in Dawlish. Frankie Prince, who has a twin sister Ellen, worked for twenty-two years at Torquay United and is married to Jan Bates, their elder daughter Lauren representing Devon at netball. |
No 584. David Michael Pritchard. 1993-2002.
Born, 27.5.1972, Wolverhampton. 5’ 9”; 11 st 5 lbs. Début: 15.3.94 v Exeter City. Career: Purton; July 1990 West Bromwich Albion [1+4,0]; 1.8.92 Telford United (free); 22.2.94 Bristol Rovers (free) [157+6,1] (retired, 8.11.01; caretaker assistant manager, 8.4.02). “Bulldog” was a pseudonym which summed up appropriately the tenacity, verve, enthusiasm and never-say-die attitude of tough-tackling, popular full-back Dave Pritchard. A schoolboy Wolves fan and the younger child of Michael Pritchard and Susan Owen, who had married in 1967, he had nonetheless made his League bow for the Baggies in their fixture against Stockport County in September 1991 and joined Rovers on the back of 64 Conference games and one goal with Telford. An unused substitute against Rotherham and Port Vale prior to his début, the likeable and affable young man quickly established himself as an indispensable part of the Rovers set-up and commanded a regular place in the League side. He conceded an own goal eleven minutes from time in the game with Stockport in April 1994, but bounced back to help Rovers to the play-offs in 1994-95, clearing a Gary Crosby shot off the line at Wembley as Rovers went down 2-1 to Huddersfield Town. The following campaign, he was in the side humiliated 2-1 at Hitchin Town in the FA Cup in November 1995 and missed almost a year before returning as captain against Burnley, with Andy Tillson out injured. The fact that he returned in such an influential rôle and that he held down his place for so long indicates the strength of his personality and the management’s belief in his undoubted ability. One of four Rovers players sent off on an uncharacteristic night at Wigan in December 1997, Pritchard played for Wales “B” in their 4-0 defeat against Scotland “B” at Cumbernauld in March 1998, representing that country by dint of having a grandfather born in Wrexham. Given that he had played for so long without scoring, supporters began to speculate as to when this goal might come; it duly arrived on the stroke of half-time at Chesterfield in November 1999, when he fired home right-footed for the only goal of the game, after Chris Perkins’ attempted clearance had fallen kindly for him. One Rovers fan had promised to walk home if Pritchard scored and he duly honoured his promise by using the 154-mile walk to raise significant money for charity. Just two months later, though, a heavy challenge from Titus Bramble, for which Rovers were awarded their second penalty in an exciting 5-4 defeat at Colchester, ended Pritchard’s career, although he was given a testimonial game against Wolves. In 2002, having helped rescue Rovers from relegation, Dave Pritchard moved to Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol, where he and his partner Siobhan live with their young daughter, Olivia; he markets properties for agents and developers and coaches at the youth academy at Inter Marbella. |
No 199. Stanley Sylvester Prout. 1934-36.
Born, 22.1.1911, Fulham. Died, January 1996, Thanet. 5’ 8”; 10 st 5 lbs. Début: 25.8.34 v Brighton. Career: Park Royal; Leytonstone; September 1930 Fulham (amateur); May 1932 Chelsea [16,3]; 28.6.34 Bristol Rovers (£150) [39,5]; 29.6.36 Chester [2,1]; August 1937 Dartford; 1939 Sligo Rovers; July 1940 Belfast Distillery. Because the touring Australian cricket team was playing Sussex at Hove, Stan Prout’s Rovers début at Brighton kicked off at the delayed time of 6.30pm. He scored in the entertaining 5-3 victory over Crystal Palace in February 1935 and, the following December, added two goals in the FA Cup win against Northampton Town before scoring in successive League fixtures in the spring of 1936. In addition, he scored freely for the reserves in 1934-35 until an injury incurred against Guildford City on Good Friday 1935 ended his season early. He was to give the club service for two seasons and later returned to play against the reserve side with Dartford in the 1937-38 season. He was on the field when Frank Warhurst picked up the injury which ended his season, as Dartford defeated Bath City 7-0 that campaign. “A neat and clever wing man”, Prout was a team-mate of the legendary Hughie Gallacher (1903-57) at Chelsea, and represented the London League against the French League in a match played in Paris. Latterly in Northern Ireland, he was in the Distillery side which reached the final of the County Antrim Shield in 1941. The son of the former Fulham, Stockport County and Plymouth Argyle player Sylvester Charles Prout (1888-1949) and Ellen Hefferon, his mother being a “shirt iron laundrywoman”, he was brought up at the house of his maternal grandmother, Bridget Hefferon, at 5 Masbro Buildings, Blythe Street, Hammersmith whilst his father was temporarily away playing professional football in Cheshire; Bridget Hankerd (1862-1944) had married Patrick Hefferon (1856-1932) in 1889. |
No 875. Willem John Stanley Puddy. 2015-17.
Born, 4.10.1987, Warminster, Wiltshire. 6’ 1”; 13 st. Début: 19.12.15 v Dagenham and Redbridge. Career: 1998 Bristol City; August 2005 Bath City; 17.10.05 Cheltenham Town [1,0]; 3.11.06 Mangotsfield United (loan); 13.2.07 Yate Town (loan); 19.10.07 Stafford Rangers (loan); 26.7.08 Tamworth (loan); 29.7.09 Bath City (loan); 11.10.10 Wolverhampton Wanderers (trial); 25.10.10 Salisbury City (free); 5.11.10 Swindon Supermarine (free); 13.8.11 Chippenham Town (free); 9.1.12 Salisbury City (free); 11.8.14 Bristol Rovers (free) [8,0]; 23.9.16 Braintree Town (loan); 27.2.17 Sutton United (loan) (released by Bristol Rovers, 28.4.17); 12.1.18 Hereford (free); 26.1.18 Chippenham Town (free). With regular goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall visiting his ill mother in hospital and Glaswegian reserve Kieran Preston away on Scotland Under-19 duty, Will Puddy appeared in goal for the defeat at Barnet in Rovers’ first season of Conference football; he then appeared in the final hour of the draw at Eastleigh after Mildenhall’s dismissal and totalled 14(+1) Conference matches as the Gas finished one point behind champions Barnet. Thereafter, he played in the Wembley play-off final against Grimsby Town in May 2015, narrowly avoiding receiving a red card early on as Rovers dramatically secured promotion back to League football via a penalty shoot-out. However, as Steve Mildenhall’s understudy, he managed just forty-five minutes of the game at Dagenham, before leaving the field injured, as Rovers dramatically completed back-to-back promotions the following campaign. The tall former English Schoolboys keeper with an English father and a Dutch mother had a Football League game under his belt, having played in Cheltenham’s 2-0 defeat at Southend United in May 2009. Thereafter, he had enjoyed 104 matches with Salisbury, who had been promoted to the Conference via the play-offs in May 2013 and where he had been voted Player of the Year in 2013-14. A series of loan spells had included nine games with Mangotsfield, where he had saved a penalty from King’s Lynn’s Alex Notman in an FA Trophy tie and trained alongside Neil Arndale, Steve Book, Jon French and Joe Anyinsah, seven games at Yate, one at Stafford, fourteen with Tamworth and four at Bath, which had followed a 5-0 pre-season victory over his former side Yate Town in July 2009. In addition to twelve league games at Supermarine, he played in their FA Cup-tie with Colchester United and a Southern League début for Chippenham against Stourbridge was the first of thirty-three games. After four Nationwide South games at Eastleigh, Puddy forced his way back into Rovers’ League One side over Christmas 2016 at the expense of on-loan Kelle Roos. Sutton United’s FA Cup run to the fifth round in 2016-17 brought national attention, reserve goalkeeper Wayne Shaw losing his job amid betting allegations after being filmed eating a pasty during the 2-0 defeat to Arsenal at Gander Green Lane; with first-choice keeper Ross Worner subsequently injured, Puddy was signed as a stop-gap loan. After keeping a clean sheet in his first two Conference fixtures, he conceded an own goal at Aldershot in March 2017; he played in fifteen Conference matches with Sutton and nine matches with Hereford as well as 64 Nationwide South fixtures with Chippenham. Puddy was sent off in the dying moments of Chippenham’s 2-1 victory at home to Tonbridge Angels in September 2019 and against Concord Rangers in November 2020; he scored the winning penalty as Chippenham knocked Ebbsfleet United out of the FA Cup in a shoot-out in October 2020. |
No 768. Anthony James Pulis. 2007-08.
Born, 21.7.1984, Bristol. 5’ 10”; 12 st 2 lbs. Début: 9.2.08 v Doncaster Rovers. Career: Portsmouth (professional, 1.7.03); 23.12.04 Stoke City (free) [0+2,0]; 24.12.04 Torquay United (loan) [1+2,0]; 9.1.06 Plymouth Argyle (loan) [0+5,0]; 23.11.06 Grimsby Town (loan) [9,0]; 8.2.08 Bristol Rovers (loan) [0+1,0]; 29.8.08 Southampton (loan); 7.10.09 Lincoln City (loan) [7,0]; 7.10.10 Stockport County (loan) [9+1,1]; 20.2.11 Barnet (loan) [4,0]; 1.8.11 Aldershot Town (free) [1+4,0]; 19.1.12 Orlando City [44,4] (15.9.14 youth coach; 15.10.15 B team head coach); 20.11.17 St Louis (head coach); 1.3.21 Inter Miami (assistant coach). Fourteen minutes on the field, replacing David Pipe, which included conceding the second penalty Doncaster were awarded in the game, thereby picking up a yellow card for handball, was the extent of midfielder Anthony Pulis’ Rovers career. The son of Tony Pulis, the former Rovers player and Stoke City manager, and Debbie Stroud, he was brought up with his sister Stephanie, whilst Ian Holloway and Mike Lyons, former Rovers players, are his godfathers. Although Pulis played in just one League Cup game at Pompey, a 2-0 win in Cardiff in September 2004, he enjoyed several loan spells, making his Torquay début when the Gulls were defeated by two Rickie Lambert goals at home to his future club Stockport County on New Year’s Day 2005. He won a Welsh Under-21 cap against Cyprus in November 2005, scored an 81st-minute consolation goal on his Stockport début at Gillingham and was sent off after just 28 minutes of his Barnet début, for a foul on Chris Zebroski. Barnet won their final game of a traumatic 2010-11 season to preserve their League status and relegate Pulis’ former club, Lincoln. A practising Catholic, Pulis has since scored twice in fifteen games in Canadian football. |
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No 433. Anthony Richard Pulis. 1975-81 and 1982-83.
Born, 16.1.1958, Newport. 5’ 10”; 11 st 8 lbs. Début: 30.8.75 v Bristol City. Career: St Michael’s School; St Joseph’s Comprehensive School, Newport; 1973 Newport YMCA; 1974 Bristol Rovers (professional, 1.9.75); 1981 Happy Valley, Hong Kong; 7.6.82 Bristol Rovers (player-coach) [122+8,5]; 4.7.84 Newport County (£8,000) [75+2,0]; 20.8.86 Bournemouth; 13.7.89 Gillingham (£10,000) [16,0]; 21.8.90 Bournemouth (£15,000) [80+10,4] (player-assistant manager; manager, 10.6.92); 3.7.95 Gillingham (manager); 5.7.99 Bristol City (manager); 14.1.00 Portsmouth (manager); 1.11.02 Stoke City (manager); 6.9.05 Boston United (coach); 27.9.05 Plymouth Argyle (manager); 13.6.06 Stoke City; 23.11.13 Crystal Palace (manager); 1.1.15 West Bromwich Albion (head coach, to 20.11.17); 26.12.17 Middlesbrough (manager, to 17.5.19); 13.11.20 Sheffield Wednesday (manager, to 28.12.20). Apparently synonymous with Stoke and accepted worldwide as a man with great managerial skills, Tony Pulis made his Rovers début as a seventeen-year-old midfielder. Defensive, tough in the tackle and with a sharp eye for tactical development, Pulis had fine footballing pedigree. Angelo Pulis, who was born in Haz-Zabbar, Malta and died in 1984, emigrated to South Wales where he married in 1934 Beatrice Williams (1902-68), their son Angelo Ronald Pulis, who died in 1997, in 1955 marrying Jean Knight, who died in September 2010. Angelo and Jean had a daughter, followed by four sons, the eldest being Tony and the youngest Ray, who played for Newport County in the early 1980s, whilst Tony married Debbie Stroud, the daughter of Bill Stroud (1919-2006), the celebrated Newport midfielder. Their son Anthony played for the Gas and daughter Stephanie’s partner Jack Swann appeared for Bournemouth Poppies. Brought up in Dolphin Street, Pillgwenlly, Pulis joined Rovers at the age of sixteen. He made his League bow in Rovers’ local derby at Ashton Gate, a 1-1 draw, and was a vital figure as the side battled against relegation for two years before succumbing in the spring of 1981, the young Welshman scoring his first League goal against Queen’s Park Rangers in November 1979. Whilst being combative and dependable – he was sent off in a 2-0 defeat at Port Vale in September 1983 -, Tony Pulis also had one eye on further qualifications and became the youngest Football Association coach in 1977, aged just nineteen. He was later dismissed in Bournemouth’s 1-0 defeat against Shrewsbury Town in October 1988 and booked for a foul on Ian Holloway when playing for Gillingham against Rovers in the Leyland Daf Cup in January 1990. Division Two Manager of the Month in February 1993 and receiving the same award for League One in April 2007, Pulis has proved to be a distinguished and able team manager. He signed former Rovers players Mark O’Connor and Dennis Bailey for Gillingham and took the Gills to promotion from Division Three in 1995-96 and to a Wembley play-off in May 1999, which was lost on penalties to Manchester City; he also managed the Gills to victory at The Mem in September 1997 and was in charge when four men were sent off as Gillingham and Rovers literally fought out a goalless draw at Priestfield in August 1998, as well as managing the Bristol City side against Rovers the following campaign. Having left Gillingham as legal proceedings brewed, he was in charge of the Stoke side which drew 1-1 with the Gills in May 2004, when the opposition needed a point to survive relegation. Tony Pulis played for Bournemouth Veterans as recently as 1995 and his son Anthony, who has Ian Holloway as his godfather, appeared for Rovers in 2008; he ran the London Marathon in 2009 for charity in four hours 31 minutes, climbed Kilimanjaro in 2010 and has an honorary degree from the University of Staffordshire. A practising Catholic, he gathered a firm former Rovers contingent at Stoke, with Lindsay Parsons, Gary Penrice, Mark O’Connor, John Rudge and Gerry Francis all helping behind the scenes as the unfashionable Potteries side established itself in the Premier League and reached the Wembley FA Cup Final in 2011. Such was the esteem with which he was held in his adopted home town that Pulis was selected to carry the Olympic flame through Stoke-on-Trent prior to the 2012 Olympic Games and Newport-based Goldie Lookin’ Chain immortalised his name in “The Tony Pulis Rap”. He also took part in a six-day row from the Tower of London to the Eiffel Tower in May 2015 to raise money for a Stoke-on-Trent hospice. “A very experienced manager who has his own style” (Arsène Wenger), he succeeded his former Rovers colleague Holloway at beleaguered Premier League side Crystal Palace and pulled the unfashionable Eagles away from what had appeared the inevitable relegation from the top flight, securing the April 2014 Manager of the Month award and being named as Premier League Manager of the Season in the process. In the autumn of 2016 Pulis celebrated his 1,000th League match as a manager by returning to Stoke City with his West Brom side, but a short stint at Wednesday was part of a poor season for the Yorkshire side which ended with their relegation to third-tier football in May 2021. |
No 248. Edward John Purdon. 1960-61.
Born, 1.3.1930, Johannesburg, South Africa. Died, 29.4.2007, Toronto, Canada. 5’ 10”; 11 st 2 lbs. Début: 1.10.60 v Swansea Town. Career: football in Pretoria; 1948 Maritz Brothers; August 1950 Birmingham City [64,27]; 7.1.54 Sunderland (£15,000) [90,39]; 14.3.57 Workington [33,9]; 7.3.58 Barrow (exchange for Billy Gordon and Joe Armstrong) [37,11]; May 1959 Wisbech Town; 14.8.59 Bath City; 15.7.60 Bristol Rovers (trial); 19.9.60 Bristol Rovers (free) [4,1]; May 1961 Toronto City; 1963 Toronto Roma; 1964 Toronto City; 1965 New York Ukrainians; 1968 Buffalo White Eagles; 1972 Monteleone (coach). Strikingly blond Ted Purdon had arrived in Birmingham on the back of over fifty goals in two years with Maritz Brothers, a Johannesburg-based side which toured England in 1950. Powerful and direct, he played in an FA Cup quarter-final against Spurs in 1953 and, in 1953-54, was the Blues’ top scorer despite a mid-term move to Sunderland, his tally including one in the 1-1 draw at Eastville that October. An astonishing start at Roker Park included six goals in three games, two against Cardiff on his début being followed by a hat-trick at Arsenal. The Highbury crowd was stunned as Purdon put the visitors ahead after ten seconds from Ken Chisholm’s through ball, the fastest goal in Sunderland’s history, and “the outstanding Purdon” (The Times) scored with a low shot after an hour from Billy Elliott’s cross before prodding home ten minutes from time after Elliott’s header had been saved, Arsenal being put to the sword 4-1. He later appeared for the Black Cats in an FA Cup semi-final. Signed for Workington by caretaker manager Tommy Jones, Purdon was inconsistent in form and reportedly late for training, but he ran the show in a 5-1 FA Cup victory over Oldham Athletic in December 1957 which set up a third-round tie with Manchester United, before being sent off after scoring that Christmas Day in the local derby with Carlisle United; he also added a brace of goals against both Accrington Stanley, in April 1957, and Crewe Alexandra, in January 1958. He later helped Bath City secure the Southern League title in 1959-60, working night shifts at Fry’s chocolate factory at Keynsham during his time at Twerton Park. Making his Rovers début against Fulham in the first League Cup-tie ever played, Purdon scored in a 4-2 defeat at Luton’s Kenilworth Road in October 1960 before emigrating to Canada, scoring 25 goals in 26 games as Toronto City won the League title and East Canada President’s Cup, securing a USA Open Cup medal with Ukrainians and playing for Monteleone in the Toronto and District League. Married in Birmingham in 1953 to Margery Harrold and with a son Edward junior and a successful businessman, Purdon suffered a stroke whilst watching Sunderland play Burnley on television at his Toronto home and died on the day that two of his former clubs, Birmingham and Sunderland, were both promoted back to top-flight football. |
No 517. Philip Purnell. 1985-94.
Born, 16.9.1964, Bristol. 5’ 8”; 10 st 2 lbs. Début: 29.3.86 v Bristol City. Career: 1975 Bristol Rovers (juniors); 1978 Parkway Juniors; Winterbourne; 1983 Yate Town; Forest Green Rovers; 1983 Frome Town; 1984 Mangotsfield United; September 1985 Bristol Rovers (professional, 7.7.86) [130+23,22]; 12.12.91 Swansea City (loan) [5,1] (retired, 6.4.93); 28.1.94 Clevedon Town (youth team manager); 4.11.94 Yate Town (player-assistant manager, 2.5.97); 25.9.98 Winterbourne. Not only did “Percy” Purnell score the goal which rescued Rovers from relegation to Division Four, but he also added one of the strikes which secured the Third Division title. Slight and swift of foot, Purnell had made his début at Ashton Gate in the cauldron of a local derby and his low shot to defeat Newport County on the final day of the 1986-87 season ensured the decisive point which prevented Rovers from tumbling into the relegation zone. A regular for two seasons, his contribution to the 1989-90 campaign was not so significant, yet his second goal of the season came at Blackpool in May 1990, a minute prior to half-time from Andy Reece’s exquisite fifty-yard through-ball, as Rovers, requiring a win to be crowned champions, claimed a 3-0 victory. Purnell, who had attracted attention earlier in his career from Plymouth Argyle and had missed a penalty against Bournemouth over Easter 1987, was also the player whose shot had been handled by Andy Llewellyn to win the penalty Ian Holloway converted against Bristol City to secure the May 1990 promotion. Later that month he played at Wembley, although Rovers lost 2-1 to Tranmere Rovers in the Leyland Daf Cup Final. Unable to stake a claim as a regular in Division Two, Purnell found his career ended by a broken leg suffered in a reserve game with Yeovil in April 1992, combined with ligament issues, pelvic problems and cartilage trouble. Awarded a testimonial game against Queen’s Park Rangers, he later succeeded Ian Alexander at Yate Town, scoring twice in 0(+10) appearances. A keen cricketer, he captained the Bristol and District League XI and, in over 100 games for Winterbourne, scored over 2,000 runs and took 150 wickets, carrying his bat for 151 not out against Uphill Castle in the Bristol and Somerset League in May 2006 and taking 5-30 against Congresbury in July 2010. Indeed, he came close to an appearance at Lord’s in October 2010, being selected for Winterbourne’s game against an MCC XI, which had to be cancelled. Phil Purnell worked as a football agent for Clarke, Willmott and Clarke, sports solicitors who arranged Marcus Stewart’s 2002 transfer from Ipswich to Sunderland, and has since 2005 been working in life assurance, investments and pensions with Brighton Williams and partners. He is married to Kerry Brewer, with a daughter and a son, Marcus, who was in the England Under-16 squad for the indoor cricket World Cup in Australia in 2009. |
No 331. David Walter Pyle. 1956-62.
Born, 12.12.1936, Trowbridge, Wiltshire. Died, 8.2.2002, Trowbridge, Wiltshire. 6’; 12 st 2 lbs. Début: 9.3.57 v Rotherham United. Career: Nelson Haden School; Trowbridge Colts; August 1954 Trowbridge Town; 5.7.55 Bristol Rovers (free) [139,0]; 13.7.62 Bristol City (free) [8,0]; 28.8.63 Westbury United (manager, June 1964-May 1965). Centre-half David Pyle was a stalwart of Rovers’ side during the final seasons of the first spell in Division Two. Making his début in a 4-2 victory over Rotherham, he regained his place over Christmas 1957 as Rovers put together seven wins in an eight-match run. That season he played as Rovers lost 3-1 at Fulham, in the club’s second ever FA Cup quarter-final. Strong and uncompromising on the field, he was a Wiltshire county cap, who impressed with his solid, consistent play and, having never scored for the club, left following relegation to Division Three in the spring of 1962 and enjoyed a brief career at Ashton Gate. The middle of three children to Walter Pyle and Dorothy Hateley, his paternal grandparents being Thomas Pyle (1875-1939) and Edith Mortimer (1883-1947) of Devon, Pyle ran the Pelican pub in Old Market from 1962 before taking on the Horse and Groom in Westbury, Wiltshire and the King’s Arms at Hilperton. He married Desiree Margaret Merriott in 1973, the daughter of Denis Merriott and Sheila Cooper (1927-92), and they had a son, David Dennis Merriott Pyle. A sufferer from phobic anxiety, he lived in Dark Lane South in Steeple Ashton until his death at the age of sixty-five. |