The Bristol Rovers History Group. |
|
No 40. Ernest Baden Sambidge. 1922-25.
Born, 7.8.1900, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Died, 27.11.1979, Knowle, Bristol. 5’ 10”; 12 st. Début: 7.9.22 v Newport County. Career: St Peter’s Albion; 1919 Walker Celtic; 1920 St Anthony’s Institute; December 1920 Ashington; February 1921 Spennymoor United; 31.5.22 Bristol Rovers [23,0]; 1925 River Tyne Police Force; August 1926 Bath City; 19.8.35 Street (player-manager); 26.9.36 Trowbridge Town (retired, 15.9.37). Manchester City, Sunderland and Middlesbrough were keen to sign left-back Ernie Sambidge, but Eastville was his destination and he appeared for Rovers in three consecutive Third Division (South) campaigns. A naval architect by profession with Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson of Newcastle, he had previously won the Northumberland Senior Cup with Walker Celtic in 1920 and played regularly for Spennymoor in the North-Eastern League in 1921-22. Following an own goal against Exeter City in his final match with Rovers, Sambidge was Bath City’s captain and a regular for many years, scoring a penalty against Rovers in his testimonial game in April 1932. The Romans were Western League First Division champions in 1928-29, Southern League champions the following season and London Combination Division Two winners in 1931-32 and he formed a strong full-back partnership with the former Rovers defender Albert Rotherham. Later in his career, Sambidge played in twenty Somerset Senior League matches with Street, making his début in a 3-0 win at Radstock Town in August 1935, and first appeared for Trowbridge when they lost 3-1 at home to Yeovil and Petters United in September 1936. He played in Trowbridge’s 11-0 victory over Minehead the following month, in the 1936 Somerset Professional Cup Final, which was lost 3-1 to Bath City, and added an own goal against Warminster Town in January 1937 before a smashed knee cap sustained against the same opposition necessitated a premature retirement from the game. The youngest of five children, brought up at 4 Enslin Street, Newcastle, to a shipwright William Sambidge (1867-1937) and his wife Margaret Temple (1865-1946), Ernie Sambidge lived for many years at 539 Wells Road, Knowle with his wife Kate Sophia Phipps (1902-1989), their only son John Baden William Sambidge (1929-90), a six-foot full-back, signing for Rovers from Frome Town in 1950 but not making the first-team. |
No 290. Peter Stanley Sampson. 1948-61.
Born, 9.7.1927, Great Watering, Essex. Died, 16.5.2009, Congresbury, Bristol. 5’ 9½”; 11 st. Début: 21.8.48 v Ipswich Town. Career: Great Watering School; Great Watering; Devizes Town; 28.1.48 Bristol Rovers (professional, June 1948) [340,4]; 5.7.61 Trowbridge Town; August 1963 Oldland (assistant manager; manager, 1964-65; player until 1968). Following Army service in West Africa, wing-half Peter Sampson was a reliable member of the Rovers side for more than a decade. One of only nine players to appear in the League team in three separate decades, he was an ever-present in three consecutive seasons, running up 143 consecutive League appearances which culminated in Rovers’ promotion as Third Division (South) champions in 1952-53. Unquestionably fair and never booked during his entire Rovers career, Sampson epitomised an era of gentlemanly conduct, although he was also a rare non-Bristol-born member of this successful Rovers side. A cousin of Chelsea’s Leslie Stubbs (1929-2011, whose mother Lilian Reynolds was the sister of Sampson’s mother), he was the third child of Clifford Sampson and Kathleen Reynolds and, having contributed 72 goals in one school season, was working as a butcher when he played in Wiltshire’s 7-0 victory over Gloucestershire in 1947. Buying himself out of the Army for £65 to join Rovers in preference to Fulham, he made his reserves’ début at home to Swindon Town reserves three days after signing and his League bow on the opening day of the 1948-49 campaign. That game finished in a disastrous 6-1 home defeat to Ipswich and Sampson was not picked again for eighteen months; when he was, he held on to his place this time for more than a decade. Rare goals followed in third-tier football against Ipswich and Exeter, as well as in Division Two against Blackburn and Rovers’ first strike eleven minutes before half-time in the 6-4 defeat at Swansea on Christmas Day 1957. He also featured in a Football Association XI, which played a Western League XI at Eastville in March 1954. He captained Trowbridge for two seasons before helping Vic Lambden run the Oldland village side. A keen gardener, Sampson had earlier run a poultry business with Lambden, before serving for 29 years until his retirement in 1992 with Dunford Dairies, where he was popularly known as “The Whistling Milkman”. He lived for many years in Cadbury Heath, before moving into a nursing home in Congresbury, suffering latterly from Alzheimer’s. |
No 680. Carlos Sanchez-Lopez. 2001-02.
Born, 22.7.1979, Madrid. 5’ 9”; 12 st 13 lbs. Début: 12.2.02 v Hartlepool United. Career: Coslada; 1.8.01 Club Fútbol Getafe [10,1]; 31.1.02 Bristol Rovers (trial); 8.2.02 Bristol Rovers [6,0]; July 2002 Cartogonova; November 2002 Toledo; July 2003 San Sebastian de los Reyes. Right-footed, right-sided midfielder Carlos López had played at right-back for Coslada in local Madrid football before enjoying a brief spell in Spanish professional football with Getafe, his 332 minutes on the pitch bringing one yellow card. Jostling with Che Wilson for a place in the Rovers side, five of his six appearances ended up as single-goal defeats. He almost scored with a vicious thirty-yard drive in the defeat at Macclesfield in February 2002. After he left Rovers, López played in the Spanish Division Two B with both Cartogonova and Toledo. |
Andrew Charles Sandell. 2006-07.
Born, 8.9.1983, Calne, Wiltshire. 5’ 11”; 11 st 9 lbs. Début: 5.8.06 v Peterborough United. Career: Bristol City (YTS); 2000 Malmesbury Victoria; Melksham Town; 2004 Paulton Rovers; July 2005 Bath City (£1,500); 15.5.06 Bristol Rovers [20+16,3]; 17.8.07 Salisbury City (loan); 31.8.07 Salisbury City (free); 17.11.08 Aldershot Town (loan); 2.1.09 Aldershot Town (free) [29,5]; 30.6.10 Wycombe Wanderers (free) [41+2,7]; 10.10.11 Forest Green Rovers (loan); 10.11.11 Chippenham Town (loan); 28.12.11 Chicago Fire (trial); 6.1.12 Newport County (free) [53+8,4]; 29.5.15 Forest Green Rovers (trial); 7.8.15 Chippenham Town (free); 7.9.18 Melksham Town (loan); 28.5.19 Melksham Town (free); 1.8.20 Paulton Rovers (free). Seven minutes after his arrival on the pitch as a Rovers débutant substitute, winger Andy Sandell had created a goal and stamped his popularity on the club’s supporters. Impeccably polite, the young Wiltshire man shook hands with players from both sides prior to kick-off and was in Rovers’ squad as the side reached the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final in April 2007 and sealed promotion to League One at Wembley the following month, scoring in the home fixtures with Grimsby, Walsall and Torquay. Previously top scorer as Paulton Rovers were promoted to the Southern League in 2004-05, he was sent off along with Jonathan Bass, another former Rovers player, in Salisbury’s 3-1 home defeat against Altrincham in October 2008 and played against Rovers for both Aldershot and Wycombe, the former in the League Cup and the latter in League Two. The son of Glyn Sandell and Nichola Pritchard, who married in Cirencester in 1978, he scored eight times in 48(+1) Conference games with Salisbury, seven times in 54(+5) Conference and League matches with Aldershot, whom he helped regain Football League status in 2009, and played three times at Forest Green and six times with Chippenham. His ten goals in 52 Conference matches at Newport included a red card after scoring in the 2-2 draw at Stockport in February 2012 and Sandell contrived to score for both sides in the space of three minutes when Newport won 4-2 at Telford in September 2012. In May 2013 he appeared at Wembley as two late goals defeated Wrexham in the play-off final and enabled Newport County to return to the Football League after an absence of twenty-five years. Having arrived there, Sandell’s forty-first-minute left-footed penalty sent Steve Mildenhall the wrong way and condemned Rovers to a 1-0 defeat on their August 2013 visit to Rodney Parade; he was booked as Rovers won the return game 3-1 in January 2014. At Hartlepool that February he conceded an own goal in a heavy defeat and he was sent off in the 2-2 draw on the same pitch in November 2014. Sandell was Chippenham Town’s divisional top scorer in 2015-16 with eighteen goals in 36(+3) Southern League matches for Chippenham and, in finishing again as the divisional top scorer in 2016-17 with 27 goals (nine penalties) in 42 matches as his side won the title, scored a second-half hat-trick as Hayes and Yeading United were defeated 3-0 on Bonfire Night 2016. He was sent off in the game away to Truro City in September 2017 and scored a hat-trick in the 4-4 draw at Wealdstone in April 2018, contributing twelve goals in 30(+9) matches. A loan spell at Melksham produced three Evo-Stik South League appearances and one goal, and he later played five times with Paulkton Rovers. |
No 839. Alefe Santos-d'Adabia. 2012-14.
Born, 1.3.1995, São Paulo, Brazil. 5’ 8”; 8 st 11 lbs. Début: 20.11.12 v Port Vale. Career: Henbury Boys; 2009 Stoke City; 2010 Southampton (trial); 19.3.11 Bristol Rovers (professional, 18.4.13) [7+17,1]; 1.7.14 Derby County; 9.1.15 Notts County (loan) [1+2,0]; 10.11.16 Eastleigh (loan); 25.7.17 Yeovil Town (free) [21+10,0]; 4.7.19 Aldershot Town (free); 31.8.20 Weymouth (free); 21.6.21 Chippenham Town (free). Making his Under-18 début as a substitute for James Dale against Yeovil Town Under-18 side in April 2011, Brazilian-born and from 2007 Southmead-raised winger Alefe Santos scored five times in 25(+5) games for that side, his only goal in 2012-13 being a delightfully-curled shot five minutes before half-time against Torquay United in October 2012, and featured in the pre-season friendly at Frome Town in July 2012, before being called up for Rovers’ fixture at Vale Park in November 2012. As Rovers capitulated to a 4-0 defeat, Tom Pope scoring a hat-trick, one bright ray of hope from the game was Santos’ performance as a sixtieth-minute replacement for Fabian Broghammer. In addition, “Alfie” was a major figure in the Rovers Under-18 side which secured the league and cup double in 2012-13 and, “fearless in his approach” (James McNamara), he began to play a more pivotal rôle in Rovers’ League side as the following campaign opened, his first full game coinciding with the opening victory of the season, 3-2 at home to York City, in which his header set up John-Joe O’Toole’s winning goal. His only goal for the club duly followed, an equaliser six minutes from time at Mansfield, with a left-foot shot from the right side of the box which deflected home off Antiguan Keiran Murtagh. However, Rovers meekly surrendered their Football League status at the end of a disappointing campaign. Santos played in Derby’s League Cup fixture against Charlton Athletic in August 2014 but, unable to break into their side over two seasons, went to Notts County on loan, only for that club to be relegated to League Two. Alongside David Pipe at Eastleigh, he appeared in 1(+3) Conference matches with the Spitfires before, having appeared in pre-season against Rovers, he made his Glovers’ League bow in the crushing 8-2 defeat at Luton Town on the opening day of the 2017-18 campaign. Yeovil were relegated from League Two the following season, ending a sixteen-year stay in the Football League, Santos playing against Carlisle United at Huish Park in their final League match and he later scored twice in 15(+11) Conference matches with Aldershot and played in 2(+4) matches with Weymouth in the same division and his five goals in 30(+5) National League South matches for Chippenham included a brace against St Albans City in January 2022, helping his side to the play-offs, where they lost to Ebbsfleet United. Santos played against Rovers in a pre-season friendly in July 2022. He was an unused substitute as Chippenham lost to League One Lincoln City in the FA Cup in Novemnber 2022. |
No 963. Harvey Read Saunders. 2021-23
Born, 20.7.1997, Wolverhampton. 5' 10"; 10 st 12 lbs. Début: 7.8.21 v Mansfield Town. Career: Staindrop Primary School; 2004 Barnard Castle (to 2012); August 2014 Darlington Railway Athletic; 12.9.15 Bishop Auckland; 30.11.15 Durham City; 19.1.16 Darlington (free); 28.7.16 Ryhope Colliery Welfare (loan); 19.11.16 Dunston UTS (loan); 16.1.19 Fleetwood Town (free) [6+21,3]; 16.1.19 Darlington (loan); 22.4.21 Hartlepool United (loan); 25.6.21 Bristol Rovers (free) [10+11,2]. 17.1.23 Tranmere Rovers. "Rooster" Saunders, the elder son of Jonathan and Lynn Saunders of Staindrop, grew up in the north-east of England and worked his way through non-league channels until his Football League breakthrough arrived. Despite scoring two hat-tricks at Darlington Railway athletic, he resorted to working at an Indian restaurant, Spice Island, and also at Mangobean in Darlington, playing rugby locally and gaining a black belt at Taekwondo. Scoring his first goal for Durham in January 2016 in a 3-2 victory at Ashington, he made his first appearance for Darlington in a 2-1 defeat against Nuneaton Borough twelve months later. As a team-mate at times of Alex Henshall, the former Rovers winger, Saunders totalled 76 games and twelve goals with Darlington in the National League North as well as a hat-trick in a Durham Challenge Cup tie. The Fleetwood Development Squad benefitted from his hat-tricks against Wigan Athletic in April 2019 and Tranmere Rovers in November 2019. Finally breaking into the Football League with Fleetwood, he scored his first League goal in a 2-1 defeat at Rochdale in October 2020, the month he contributed a hat-trick in a Football League Trophy game against Aston Villa Under-21. He scored twice in October 2020 against champions-elect Hull City and came on as a substitute for Kyle Vassell after sixty-six minutes of the goalless draw with Rovers in February 2021. One Football League Trophy tie in September 2020 saw Saunders score twice, as Carlisle, featuring Rovers names in Nick Anderton and Gavin Reilly lost 3-1 at home to Paul Coutts and Saunders in a victorious Fleetwood side. After two Conference games on loan at Hartlepool, Harvey Saunders signed for Rovers ahead of the 2021-22 campaign. He headed home from Harry Anderson’s cross against Oldham Athletic and scored from Luke Thomas’ through ball against Carlisle United, but suffered an ankle ligament injury at Bradfiord City in October 2021, then broke his hand in training before he could return to the side in January 2022. Sporadic appearances followed and he was an unused substitute on the final day as Rovers secured a dramatic promotion to League One. |
No 556. Carl Stephen Saunders. 1989-93.
Born,b 26.11.1964, Marston Green. 5’ 8”; 10 st 12 lbs. Début: 10.2.90 v Preston North End. Career: March 1983 Stoke City (professional, 12.7.83) [130+34,23]; 2.2.90 Bristol Rovers (£70,000) [123+19,42]; 23.12.93 Oxford United [5,0]; 11.2.94 Walsall (trial) [1+1,0]; 24.3.94 Middlesbrough; August 1994 Sliema Wanderers, Malta; July 1995 Hibernians, Malta; 13.9.95 Merthyr Tydfil; 23.10.95 Forest Green Rovers; 20.12.95 Bridgnorth Town; 8.7.96 Mangotsfield United (coach, 30.8.97); Lebeq Tavern. As Rovers surged to the top of the table and secured the Third Division title in May 1990, Carl Saunders’ rôle cannot be underestimated. A mid-season signing, he reinvigorated Rovers’ attack and his hat-trick in the 6-1 win over Wigan Athletic in March 1990, the largest win of a hugely successful campaign, signified his intent. These three goals, after nine, 46 and 76 minutes and all with his right foot, ensured that the friendly front man had won the popular support of the Twerton crowd. When the season closed with the Leyland Daf Cup Final, Saunders struck a post with a fierce drive beneath the celebrated twin towers at Wembley, Rovers losing 2-1 to Tranmere. Neatly established back in second-tier football, he was the club’s top scorer in both 1990-91 and 1991-92 as well as Player of the Year in the latter campaign, scored in both FA Cup-ties against Liverpool in 1992 and was still with Rovers when relegation back to Division Three was endured in the spring of 1993. In January 1992 he managed to score four goals in just twenty-seven minutes as Plymouth were destroyed 5-0 at Twerton Park in the FA Cup. On the same ground the previous May he had received the fastest red card in Rovers’ history, sent off in the third minute for an elbow to the face of West Brom’s Paul Raven. Beloved at Twerton Park as “Billy Ocean” in deference to his perceived likeness to a contemporary pop star, Saunders could apparently turn a game with his goal-scoring prowess. Previously top scorer at Stoke in 1986-87, “Spider” Saunders made his Oxford début against Middlesbrough on New Year’s Day 1994 and later appeared in the UEFA Cup whilst with the Maltese side Hibernians, having been top scorer in the Maltese Premier League with eighteen goals in just seventeen matches for Sliema. Saunders played in six Beazer Homes League games with Merthyr, scored six goals in 19(+1) matches in the same division with Bridgnorth, his tally including a brace in the 3-0 victory at Evesham United over Easter 1996 and scored against Tonbridge Angels in his 5(+2) appearances for Forest Green. Related to several members of the Birmingham basketball squad, Carl Saunders has worked closely with Rovers through his years as a social services support worker and as a police community liaison officer based in Bath and was at Wembley for Rovers’ play-off final in May 2007. On the management board for the St Paul’s Carnival, he is heavily involved in “Kick out Racism” events and works as a consultant with a public relations company, E-com Media. |
No 712. David Thomas Savage. 2003-05.
Born, 30.7.1973, Dublin. 5’ 11”; 11 st 8 lbs. Début: 9.8.03 v Scunthorpe United. Career: Greenford United; 1.8.90 Kilkenny City [20,1]; 5.3.91 Brighton; 1.5.92 Longford Town (free) [60,8]; 27.5.94 Millwall (£15,000) [105+28,6]; 7.10.98 Northampton Town (£80,000) [98+15,18]; 7.8.01 Oxford United (free) [85,5]; 1.7.03 Bristol Rovers (free) [58+7,3]; 1.7.05 Rushden and Diamonds (free) [30+2,2]; 14.6.07 Brackley Town (player-coach, 7.7.08); 3.10.08 Oxford City (free) (retired, 19.5.11). Constructive and efficient in midfield, Dave Savage spent two seasons at the heart of the Rovers side, as the team attempted to establish itself in the basement division. His left-footed goal at the Reynolds Arena put Rovers two goals ahead en route to a 4-0 victory in October 2003 and he had an eventful game at Southend that December, scoring after sixteen minutes before conceding one of two penalties the Shrimpers missed as Rovers won 1-0. Working under Ian Atkins at both Northampton and Rovers, he was also one of two Rovers players sent off before half-time in the 2-2 draw with Yeovil Town in October 2004. Dave Savage had made his Millwall début in a 3-1 victory over Southend in August 1994, suffered relegation with the Lions but also enjoyed cup victories over Chelsea and Arsenal. A team-mate of Carl Heggs at Northampton, he endured relegation in 1998-99 and promotion back up to Division Two the following campaign. His consistent club form earned five full caps for the Republic of Ireland, three as substitute and all within the space of three weeks, playing against Portugal, Croatia, USA, Mexico and Bolivia during the close season in 1996. He had played against Rovers for Millwall, Northampton and Oxford prior to his arrival at the Memorial Stadium, scoring a thirteenth-minute penalty when Northampton defeated Rovers 2-1 in March 2001. Leaving Rovers in a bid to be nearer his family, Savage appeared for Rushden against Rovers as his new club dropped out of the Football League in 2005-06 and he added to his League career with one goal in 25(+10) Conference games before playing in fifty matches at Brackley and adding ten goals in 110 Southern League games for Oxford City. Dave Savage is married to Jackie with two children, Megan and Éireann and, retiring with knee and ankle problems, worked as a bricklayer in Northampton before accepting work at a Northamptonshire branch of B and Q. |
No 788. Gary Dean Sawyer. 2010-12.
Born, 5.7.1985, Bideford, Devon. 6’; 11 st 8 lbs. Début: 7.8.10 v Peterborough United. Career: 2002 Plymouth Argyle (professional, 1.7.04); 2003 Weymouth (loan); 11.8.04 Exeter City (free); 15.7.06 Plymouth Argyle (free); 25.3.10 Bristol City (loan) [2,0]; 30.6.10 Bristol Rovers (free) [60+1,0]; 13.5.12 Orient (free) [62+7,1]; 25.6.15 Plymouth Argyle (free; retired, 6.5.21) [255+11,6]; 1.8.21 Park United (free). “Young and energetic”, Gary Sawyer was at Plymouth with his younger brother Sam, who headed a pre-season goal in July 2011 when Rovers won 5-2 at Salisbury City. Gary Sawyer’s August 2006 League début was as a substitute against Colchester United and, a talented right-back, he was the Pilgrims’ Young Player of the Year for 2006-07 and registered his first League goal after 68 minutes when Colchester were defeated 4-1 at Home Park in March 2008. To one match for Weymouth and two goals in 53(+8) Conference games at Exeter can be added a pair of FA Cup-ties against Manchester United, as Sawyer marked Cristiano Ronaldo in the goalless draw at Old Trafford before losing the replay narrowly, and he played for Bristol City against Derby and Blackpool. An interesting 2010-11 season with Rovers saw Sawyer sent off after seventy minutes of the goalless draw with Brentford, set up Jo Kuffour’s first goal in the 6-3 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy win at Wycombe and concede two penalties in the 4-0 defeat at Carlisle, Rovers suffering relegation to League Two. Missing much of the 2011-12 season with a hernia and later a hamstring injury, Gary Sawyer moved on to Orient in the Olympic summer of 2012, scoring his only goal for the Brisbane Road club nine minutes from the end of a 2-0 home victory over MK Dons in April 2013. He was an unused substitute as Orient lost to Rotherham United on penalties in the May 2014 League One play-off final at Wembley; twelve months later, they were relegated to League Two and he played in both League fixtures against Rovers in 2015-16, Sawyer playing at Wembley as Argyle lost their League Two play-off final to two late goals from Wimbledon. The following campaign he enjoyed a promotion year with Argyle, although dropped points on the final day at Grimsby prevented his side from lifting the League Two title, but then began the 2017-18 campaign with an opening day own goal at Peterborough before playing against Rovers on several occasions with Posh and Argyle. Playing alongside the former Rovers youth goalkeeper Matt Macey, he captained the Plymouth side which drew 2-2 with Rovers at Home Park in March 2019; that point appeared to put Argyle on the path to safety, but a disastrous set of results saw them relegated to League Two on the final day of the season. He was in the Argyle side which Rovers knocked out of the FA Cup after a replay, but was sent off in two February 2020 matches, at home to Newport County and away to Bradford City, before retiring in 2021 with an ankle injury. He is the son of Antony Sawyer and Daphne Ilsley, who married in Middlesex in 1981. |
No 509. John Robert Scales. 1985-87.
Born, 4.7.1966, Harrogate. 6’ 2”; 12 st 7 lbs. Début: 7.9.85 v Newport County. Career: 1978-83 Rossett School; 6.8.84 Leeds United; 11.7.85 Bristol Rovers (free) [68+4,2]; 16.7.87 Wimbledon (£75,000) [235+5,11]; 31.8.94 Liverpool (£3,500,000) [65,2]; 9.12.96 Tottenham Hotspur (£2,600,000) [29+4,0]; 5.7.00 Ipswich Town [2,0] (released, 20.4.01). Teenage heartthrob John Scales metamorphosed into an England international defender who commanded vast transfer fees in a successful career. Rejected by Leeds, he made his début for Rovers’ reserve side in an 8-0 thrashing at Birmingham City in August 1985 and his first season with Rovers culminated in a goal over Easter against Bristol City. Noted for his “whole-hearted approach and steady defending” (Don Veale), Scales nonetheless scored for the reserves in a 5-2 defeat at QPR in August 1986 and his excellent twenty-five-yard goal at home to Chester City in April 1987 sealed a 3-2 victory which helped ensure Rovers’ survival from relegation after a gruelling season. Reliable and dependable, Scales moved on from Rovers in 1987, from which point a solid and popular defender turned into a hugely successful one. The youngest of three children to Robert Scales and Jane Mills, he won FA Cup and League Cup winners’ medals, played for three top-flight clubs and won three full caps for England. No one had predicted Wimbledon had any chance against hot favourites Liverpool at Wembley in May 1988, yet “the plodders of Plough Lane … the purveyors of the big punt” (The Scotsman) upset the footballing elite by winning the FA Cup Final; Scales took to the field after 63 minutes to replace Terry Gibson, shortly after Dave Beasant had saved John Aldridge’s penalty and in time to witness Peter Beardsley’s disallowed “goal” and Lawrie Sanchez heading home the only goal of an astonishing game. Club Player of the Year in 1988-89 and sent off at Coventry in September 1990, Scales was a major factor in Wimbledon’s on-going success and it was, ironically, Liverpool he next joined for an astronomical fee, returning to Wembley for the 1995 League Cup Final, a 2-1 victory over Bolton Wanderers, and the 1996 FA Cup Final, which was lost 1-0 to Manchester United. By this stage, having scored for England “B” against Northern Ireland in 1993-94, he had won three caps, first playing for England in the 2-1 victory over Japan at Wembley in June 1995. Joining Spurs in preference to Leeds, he made his début in the 2-0 reserve victory over Swansea reserves and played in December 1996 against Rovers reserves. His only Spurs goal came against his former club Liverpool in November 1998, but Scales’ time at White Hart Lane was fraught with injuries, notably a fractured cheek-bone suffered in the 4-0 defeat at Coventry in December 1997. John Scales, who lives with his wife Lisa and daughter Mabel Rose in Wimbledon, set up an international sports licensing and merchandising agency, is the company chairman of “Be Sport”, an organisation which specialises in school sports events, and coached the England beach soccer side at the 2007 Danone Nations Cup. |
No 55. Robert Scorer. 1923-25.
Born, 5.10.1898, Felling-on-Tyne. Died, 13.6.1971, Crewe. 5’ 10”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 8.12.23 v Northampton Town. Career: Felling Colliery; 25.4.22 Hull City [5,0]; November 1923 Bristol Rovers [37,0]; July 1925 Wigan Borough [21,0]; 8.4.26 Crewe Alexandra [5,0]; July 1927 Shrewsbury Town (to 1930). Sweetly ironic for a player with this name, Bob Scorer played in 91 Football League matches without finding the net. A solid centre-half, hard-working and full of stamina, he impressed coaches with his work ethic and keen focus in training. Having helped Felling Colliery secure the Northern Alliance title in 1921-22, he replaced Harry Rose in Rovers’ side and gave the club good service over two seasons. Sent off along with two opponents when the reserves played Ebbw Vale in February 1925, he lived up to his name two months later with a headed goal as the reserves defeated Trowbridge Town 2-1 in the Bristol Charity League. Scorer and Tom Winsper joined non-league Shrewsbury together in 1927 and, making his début against St George’s, the central defender contributed 92 Birmingham League games and two goals as well as two further goals in 21 FA Cup-ties in three seasons in Shropshire, one of these strikes coming in the 10-0 mauling of Darlaston in November 1927. The fifth of ten children of Anthony Scorer (1869-1925) and Isabella Lyons (1868-1943) of 26 Clavering Avenue, Dunston, Bob followed his father down the coal mine before his football career took hold. He married Elizabeth Attwood in 1920 and they had three daughters and a son, Lilian, Ethel, who married William Lamb, and twins Evelyn, who was to marry David Turner, and Robert. |
No 142. John Fisher Scott. 1930-31.
Born, 25.11.1904, Kiveton Park, Sheffield. Died, September 1995, Worksop. 5’ 11”; 12 st. Début: 30.8.30 v Northampton Town. Career: Kiveton Park; April 1925 Gainsborough Trinity; September 1926 Worksop Town; 16.12.26 Portsmouth; July 1929 Worksop Town; 15.5.30 Bristol Rovers (£30) [6,1]; 6.1.31 Kiveton Park Colliery; 29.12.33 Dinnington Athletic (Sheffield). Just a week before Christmas 1930, Rovers defeated hapless Thames 4-0 at Eastville in Division Three (South), wing-half John Scott opening the scoring after half an hour’s play. It proved to be the only goal of his brief League career, although he added two for the reserves against Bristol City reserves later that month and another when Ebbw Vale were beaten 10-1 six weeks later. On his first Rovers appearance, a demoralising home defeat at the hands of Northampton Town, he had shown “enterprising form”, according to the local press. Without a first-team appearance at Pompey, Scott has proved very tricky to trace, partly as there was a similarly-named player at Gateshead at that time, another at Northampton and yet another at Exeter, whilst confusingly John McRae Scott (1906-1981), a Scotsman who appeared in the League for Norwich, Walsall and York, joined Rovers in May 1930 but never made the first-team. John Fisher Scott married Nellie Rose in Worksop in 1926 and their daughter Hazel was born in 1930. They lived at 41 Hillside, Harthill, Kiveton Park and John worked as a colliery machinery attendant. |
No 552. Anthony John Sealy. 1989-91.
Born, 7.5.1959, Hackney. 5’ 8”; 11 st 8 lbs. Début: 16.9.89 v Preston North End. Career: Wallsend Boys’ Club; Southampton (professional, May 1977) [2+5,0]; 29.3.79 Crystal Palace (free) [16+8,5]; February 1980 Port Vale (loan); 12.3.81 Queen’s Park Rangers (£75,000) [57+6,18]; February 1982 Port Vale (loan) [23,10]; 14.12.83 Fulham (loan); August 1984 Fulham (loan); 9.1.85 Fulham (£80,000) [22+3,11]; 19.9.85 Leicester City (£60,000) [28+11,7]; 7.3.87 Bournemouth (loan); July 1987 Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) [29,9]; August 1988 SC Braga (Portugal) [4,0]; March 1989 Brentford (free); August 1989 Swindon Town (trial); 11.9.89 Bristol Rovers (free) [21+16,7]; May 1991 MYPA Myllykosken (Finland); October 1991 Brentford (free) [20+10,4]; August 1992 Merthyr Tydfil (trial); September 1992 Michelotti (Hong Kong); July 1993 Eastern (Hong Kong); August 1995 Hong Kong FC (sporting manager; Director of Operations, 2002). Quick, stocky and powerful, Tony Sealy could claim one extraordinary record. In the space of a decade, he won four championship medals in England with four separate clubs, one of these being Rovers, for whom his three goals eased the club towards the 1989-90 Third Division title. Sent off in Rovers’ 2-2 draw with Huddersfield Town in November 1989 after punching Dudley Lewis, he scored twice, after 27 and 74 minutes, as Rovers won 3-2 at Shrewsbury the same month and remained at Twerton Park sufficiently long to help establish the side in Division Two. Sealy was in the Southampton reserves’ side at sixteen but, unable to stake a regular claim to a place in the team, he enjoyed success at a number of clubs, winning a Division Two championship medal with QPR in 1982-83 (during which season he top-scored with sixteen goals) and Third Division medals with Bournemouth, Rovers and Brentford. Cup success, however, eluded him, although he appeared as a substitute for Austin Hayes when Saints lost the 1979 League Cup Final 3-2 to Nottingham Forest at Wembley. A prodigious childhood goal-scorer who racked up 224 goals at all levels in the 1974-75 season, Sealy scored after just thirteen seconds for Brentford against Bristol City, played at Griffin Park against Rovers in April 1989, twice broke a fibula whilst with Rovers and partnered the Brazilian striker Cascavel in domestic and European football with Lisbon. He enjoyed two loan spells at Port Vale, three of the four goals in his second stint being penalties. After a spell in Finland had seen him help Myllykosken to promotion to the Finnish Premier Division, Sealy represented the Hong Kong League XI and helped Hong Kong FC, who fluctuated between the top two divisions, to six promotions from the Second Division and to win the 2005 Junior Shield. A qualified physiotherapist and a recognisable figure on Hong Kong television as a football pundit and analyst, he commentated for the 1994 World Cup and 1996 Olympics. He is the younger child of Austin Sealy, who died in 1999, and Sheila Peck; his two sons have played professionally in Hong Kong, Jack Sealy of Sun Hei (who later played professionally in China) winning his first full cap for the unofficial Hong Kong national side in the 2-2 draw with Guangdeong in December 2011, when he set up the late equaliser for Cheng Siu Wai. |
No 326. Raymond Seatherton. 1955-56.
Born, 20.5.1932, Tiverton, Devon. Died, 3.10.2011, Wellington, Somerset. 5’ 11 ”; 12 st. Début: 11.2.56 v Lincoln City. Career: 1950 Tiverton Town; 1954 Minehead; 15.2.55 Bristol Rovers (free) [2,2]; May 1956 Minehead; July 1959 Taunton Town; 16.4.64 Tiverton Town (to May 1964). Of all Bristol Rovers players who have represented the club in more than one Football League game, only one man has scored in every match he has played; Ray Seatherton played twice in the quartered shirts and scored a goal in both games, a 3-0 victory against Lincoln City and a 1-1 draw with Barnsley. Something of a goal-scoring sensation at his home-town club, he scored four times in a 7-2 win against Wonford in April 1951 and he followed this up with a series of spectacular goal-scoring achievements over four years, managing four goals on four separate occasions as well as five in the 7-2 victory at home to Chelston in April 1953. Having scored an astonishing 112 goals in only 68 appearances, he also remains Minehead’s fifth highest scorer ever, his 46 goals in only 23 matches in all competitions including five in the away game at Radstock in January 1955. His final game came against Gloucester City, by which time he had agreed to join Rovers, the Eastville side beating off the challenge of West Bromwich Albion and Plymouth Argyle as well as Bristol City, to sign the prolific marksman. Despite scoring twice on his début for Rovers reserves, a 2-0 win at home to Reading reserves in March 1955, Ray had to wait almost a year for his League bow, as Rovers’ strike-force was brimming with talent, although a hat-trick in the opening 25 minutes, as Rovers reserves defeated Aldershot reserves 3-0 at Eastville, ensured a Second Division début the following Saturday. Following a knee complaint, Seatherton returned to his home-town club almost a decade to the day since he had left and played twice, scoring twice in a 3-1 win at Sidmouth Town in the East Devon League and hitting the ninth hat-trick of his time at Tiverton in a 6-0 victory at home to Crediton United, to retire with 117 goals in just seventy matches for the side. Latterly a motor mechanic in Tiverton and a cricketer with Heathcote Cricket Club, he was the uncle of Mark Seatherton, who also played for Tiverton Town, prior to joining Elmore in 1993 and Clyst Rovers twelve months later; indeed, six Seathertons have played for that club, whilst his mother’s family was the Babb family of financial consultants in Tiverton. Ray Seatherton, who married Janet Poole and had a son Robert, a daughter Hazel and two grandsons, Aaron and Jacob, died at the age of seventy-nine at Chelston Gardens, Wellington, Somerset and was buried at Taunton Deane Crematorium. |
No 801. Daniel Luke Senda. 2010-11.
Born, 17.4.1981, Harrow, Middlesex. 5’ 10”; 10 st 2 lbs. Début: 19.2.11 v Oldham Athletic. Career: Marlon Oaks; 1997 Southampton; 1.7.99 Wycombe Wanderers [218+58,9]; July 2006 Luton Town (trial); July 2006 Leeds United (trial); July 2006 Wolverhampton Wanderers (trial); 31.8.06 Millwall (free) [73+3,1]; 16.9.10 Torquay United (free) [2,0]; 18.2.11 Bristol Rovers (free) [15,0]; 26.7.11 Barnet (free) [19,0] (retired, 26.2.13); 27.8.15 Brentford (Community Sports Trust, youth coach); August 2017 Barnet (Under-18 coach; 31.1.19 first-team coach); 14.7.20 Orient (assistant first team coach, to 11.6.21). Seventy-three minutes into Wycombe’s game in Horfield in May 2001, Danny Senda fired the ball home to seal his side’s victory and relegate Rovers to the basement division for the first time in the club’s history. A decade later, as Rovers struggled in vain to prevent the drop back into League Two, right-back Senda was one of many signings made but, although many hoped he could ironically be the one to score the goal to maintain Rovers’ League One status, late season form saw the side drop back down. An England international at Under-17 level, Senda made his Wycombe début, against Oldham as his Rovers bow would be, in March 1999 and he was soon converted from a teenage striker to a cultured full-back. Sent off on three occasions at Wycombe, twice in games against QPR, he also played in the remarkable 8-3 defeat against Aston Villa in the League Cup in September 2005. His solitary Millwall goal came against Swindon Town in May 2008, but an injury incurred in that game ruled him out for six months and his Torquay bow saw him replaced by Wayne Carlisle after 74 minutes at home to Macclesfield Town. Prior to joining Rovers he had played in eight League games and one Football League Trophy tie against the Pirates and he appeared in both Barnet’s games against Rovers in 2011-12 and was a team-mate of Scott McGleish at Underhill until a dislocated knee in January 2012, ironically again against Swindon, brought his career to a premature close. He married Catherine Worboys at Le Château Grimaldi in Aix-en-Provence on 20th September 2014. |
No 895. Liam Michael Sercombe. 2017-18.
Born, 25.4.1990, Exeter. 5’ 10”; 10 st 12 lbs. Début: 5.8.17 v Charlton Athletic. Career: 2000 Exeter City (30.6.07 professional) [205+31,23]; 13.5.15 Oxford United (free) [69+6,17]; 31.5.17 Bristol Rovers (£150,000) [93+10,13]; 4.8.20 Cheltenham Town (free) [68+11,10]. Impressive attacking midfielder Liam Sercombe had played effectively for both Exeter and Oxford against Rovers prior to his arrival at The Mem. Well-known to supporters, his signing was an encouraging pre-season boost ahead of Rovers’ second campaign back in the third tier of English football, implying as it did that Darrell Clarke meant business. With his home-town club as a boy, Sercombe made his bow in the Conference, appearing against Altrincham in August 2007, helped the Grecians to successive promotions from the Conference, where he played his first 4(+3) matches, generally alongside the former Rovers player Wayne Carlisle, to League One and was with them when they were relegated back to League Two. He scored twice in both a 3-0 victory over Orient on Easter Monday 2012 and also in a 4-0 victory at Scunthorpe in October 2013 and played three times against the Gas. Oxford’s 2015-16 season was one of great success; like Rovers, they were promoted to League One on the final day, the midfielder chipping in with seventeen goals, fifteen of them in the League and including braces against Accrington and Barnet. He also scored a penalty as Premier League Swansea City were defeated 3-2 in the FA Cup in January 2016, but his time with Oxford was curtailed by a ruptured medial ligament injury. Sercombe played four times for Oxford against Rovers, being sent off at The Mem in September 2015, and played in successive Football League Trophy finals at Wembley; Oxford lost 3-2 to Barnsley in 2016 and 2-1 to Coventry twelve months later, Sercombe scoring the seventy-fifth-minute consolation goal with a low right-foot shot into the bottom corner of the net. Following his departure from Rovers, Sercombe was a pivotal figure in the Cheltenham side promoted to League One as fourth-tier champions in 2020-21. Playing alongside Ryan Broom, he converted a penalty at Whaddon Road in October 2022 against Rovers, a consolation goal as the Gas strolled to a 4-1 victory, and was in the Robins’ side which crashed 2-1 at home to unfashionable Alvechurch in the FA Cup the following month. |
No 738. Ricky Unric Bascombe Shakes. 2004-05.
Born, 25.1.1985, Brixton. 5’ 9”; 12 st 2 lbs. Début: 26.2.05 v Macclesfield Town. Career: Charlton Athletic (schoolboy); 2001 Bolton Wanderers (professional, 12.1.04); 7.2.05 Bristol Rovers (trial); 15.2.05 Bristol Rovers (loan) [0+1,0]; 24.3.05 Bury (loan) [4+3,2]; 11.5.05 Swindon Town (free) [52+17,5]; 31.8.07 Brentford (free) [25+14,3]; 10.7.08 Ebbsfleet United (free); 19.8.10 Stockport County (trial); 28.6.12 Kidderminster Harriers (free); 3.7.13 Boreham Wood (free); 7.1.21 St Albans City (retired, 7.4.21). During Rovers’ long history, only two of the club’s players have been dual internationals, Matt O’Mahony, who played for the two Irelands, and Ricky Shakes. Having made his Trinidad and Tobago début in a 2-0 victory over Iceland at Loftus Road in March 2006, Dwight Yorke scoring both goals, he then played with FIFA permission for Guyana in October 2011 as they won 2-0 in Barbados in a World Cup qualifier. Shakes, born in London to a Trinidadian mother, Amy Pernell, and a Guyanan father, James Shakes, won just one cap for Trinidad and fourteen for Guyana, scoring against Bermuda and, in November 2011, against his former colleagues from Trinidad. Shakes actually made his Rovers début and his international début as a substitute for a player called Edwards, coming on for Trinidad for Luton Town’s Carlos Edwards and for Rovers for Christian Edwards after 69 minutes of the 2-1 defeat at Macclesfield. He was the 26th player used by Rovers in the League that season. Unable to make the grade at Bolton, he had appeared in the League Cup at Yeovil in September 2004, playing alongside household names such as Julio Cesar, El-Hadji Diouf and Les Ferdinand, and scored a last-minute equaliser in the FA Cup against Tranmere Rovers, before playing for the Pirates’ reserve side against Birmingham City and being an unused substitute in the LDV Vans Trophy. Relegated to League Two with Swindon in 2005-06, he played against Rovers, before appearing in Brentford’s record-equalling 7-0 defeat at Peterborough. Helping Ebbsfleet to promotion to the Conference in May 2011 and scoring in the play-off final as Farnborough were defeated 4-2, he scored fifteen goals in 82(+34) games in four years with Ebbsfleet and played in 8(+9) Conference matches for Harriers. Although a knee injury in training prevented him from making his bow for Boreham Wood until April 2014, Shakes closed the 2013-14 campaign with 6(+2) Conference North appearances and a goal against Havant and Waterlooville. He scored the first two goals as Boreham Wood won 5-0 at Bishop’s Stortford on New Year’s Day 2015, totalling twnety-one goals in 140(+42) appearances as his side reached the Nationwide South play-offs; Shakes played in the 2-1 victory over Whitehawk in May 2015 which earned his side promotion to the Conference, where his second-half hat-trick helped his side to a 5-0 victory over Dover Athletic in March 2017. After four National League South games with St Albans City, Ricky Shakes retired from professional sport. |
No 125. Gilbert Alexander Shaw. 1929-30.
Born, 4.4.1906, Pwllheli. Died, 1980, Birmingham. 5’ 8”; 11 st. Début: 31.8.29 v Brighton. Career: 28.8.24 Aston Villa (amateur); Goldenhill Wanderers; Bolton Wanderers (trial); Wellington Town; Brierley Hill Alliance; October 1925 Blackburn Rovers (£500) [5,2]; July 1928 Grimsby Town; 24.6.29 Bristol Rovers [20,7]; May 1930 Walsall [10,1]; 1931 Goldenhill Wanderers; December 1932 Evesham Town; January 1934 Stafford Rangers. Apparently in his school side at the age of nine and certainly signed by Villa as a sixteen-year-old amateur, child prodigy Gilbert Shaw scored 23 goals in just eight matches after signing professional forms with Brierley Hill. Unable to make the grade at Grimsby, he scored relatively freely from inside-left at Eastville. He scored in three out of four matches in one autumnal run, in two consecutive fixtures that March and in his final appearance, a 4-1 home win against Brentford. In ten games for Walsall, his only goal, as can so often be the case, came at Eastville, as Walsall defeated Rovers 2-1 before a 6,000 crowd a week before Easter 1931. Gilbert Shaw married Dora Frances Wilkes (1904-92), a Tewkesbury girl, in Birmingham in 1940. |
No 456. Martin John Shaw. 1978-79.
Born, 14.9.1960, Bristol. 5’ 7”; 9 st 12 lbs. Début: 5.5.79 v Preston North End. Career: Whitefield School; 11.7.77 Bristol Rovers (professional, 15.9.78) [1+1,0]; May 1980 Bath City; 1982 Forest Green Rovers; Banbury United. Slight, efficient midfielder Martin “Chopper” Shaw replaced David Williams as substitute in a 1-0 defeat at Deepdale before being part of Rovers’ youngest ever League line-up for the victory at Wrexham five days later, where he was substituted late on by Gary Mabbutt. A talented ball-winning player, he later scored three times for Bath City in 56(+2) Conference matches. |
No 744. Scott Shearer. 2005-07.
Born, 15.2.1981, Glasgow. 6’ 3”; 14 st 8 lbs. Début: 6.8.05 v Barnet. Career: Tower Hearts; 1.7.00 Albion Rovers [47+2,1]; 14.10.02 Celtic (trial); 1.7.03 Coventry City (free) [37+1,0]; 17.2.05 Rushden and Diamonds (loan) [13,0]; 27.7.05 Bristol Rovers (free) [47,0]; 25.10.06 Shrewsbury Town (loan) [20,0]; 28.5.07 Wycombe Wanderers (free) [62+1,0]; 26.7.10 Wrexham (free); 22.12.10 Crawley Town (free) [25,0]; 25.5.12 Rotherham United (free) [31,0]; 3.7.14 Crewe Alexandra (free) [2,0]; 2.1.15 Burton Albion (loan) [0+1,0]; 24.6.15 Mansfield Town (free) [45+1,0]; 16.5.17 Oxford United (free) [1,0] (retired, 9.5.19; goalkeeping coach, 2.7.19). Strong, left-footed goalkeeper Scott Shearer, distinctive in his red boots, was Rovers’ regular custodian in the 2005-06 season. His last-minute header from a corner flew wide of the post, Rovers losing 3-2 at home to Peterborough in August 2005, but his greater skill was at the other end as a reliable shot-stopper. Having made his Albion début as a substitute at Brechin City in April 2001, Shearer was an ever-present in 2002-03, helping Albion finish third in Division Three, the largest victory being a 6-0 trouncing of East Stirling that Christmas, and he was credited with a goal in the 1-1 draw with Queen’s Park at Hampden Park, scrambling the ball home from a corner two minutes from time. His club form earned a Scotland B cap and a call-up by Bertie Vogts to the full Scotland squad, although no full caps were forthcoming. Having played for Coventry against Spurs in the League Cup in September 2003, Shearer was debited with an own goal when Rushden played at The Mem in April 2005 and joined Rovers shortly afterwards. Out of favour with Rovers, who had signed Steve Phillips, the amiable goalkeeper joined Shrewsbury, only for his loan club to meet his parent club at Wembley in the 2007 play-off final, Shearer not being given permission to play. Having suffered knee ligament damage at Wycombe, he played in the Conference on nine occasions with Wrexham and in 15(+1) games at Crawley. On the bench as Crawley defeated Derby County and then lost at Old Trafford in the FA Cup in the spring of 2011, he played his part as they secured the Conference title that season, appeared in the FA Cup against Bristol City in January 2012 and played against Rovers in the Football League with both Wycombe and Crawley. Shearer then helped Rotherham gain promotion to League One in the spring of 2013 and reach the play-offs twelve months later; he was with Tom Hitchcock on Rotherham’s bench as Orient were defeated at the 2014 Wembley play-off final to secure a return to second-tier football. A solitary appearance for Burton was as a final-day substitute at Cambridge, after goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin was sent off with twenty-one minutes remaining, Albion having already secured the League Two title. Despite only sporadic appearances with Mansfield, he managed to save two penalties in the home fixture with Morecambe in February 2016, a game the Stags won 2-1 and was in their side which lost at The Mem the following month. |
No 401. (Dick) Richard James Sheppard. 1969-75.
Born, 14.2.1945, Bristol. Died, 18.10.1998, Bristol. 6’; 13 st 2 lbs. Début: 9.8.69 v Southport. Career: Filton Avenue School; Bristol Boys; Gloucester Schools; 1960 West Bromwich Albion (professional, 14.2.63) [39,0]; 5.6.69 Bristol Rovers (free) [151,0]; 11.12.73 Torquay United (loan) [2,0]; 21.2.75 Fulham (loan); 1.6.75 Weymouth (free); 1976 Portway Bristol; 1977 Paulton Rovers; January 1980 Bristol Rovers (goalkeeping coach). Brave, reliable goalkeeper Dick Sheppard made his name at The Hawthorns before returning to his home-town club where he enjoyed great success and was an ever-present in the 1970-71 season. A team-mate at West Brom of Kenny Stephens, he made his début in a 4-1 victory at home to Sunderland in Division One in October 1965 and played in the first League Cup Final to be played at Wembley, the Baggies losing to Queen’s Park Rangers 3-2 in an exciting game in March 1967, having led 2-0 at the interval. Sheppard was an unused member of West Brom’s squad for the 1968 FA Cup Final, just as he was with Fulham in 1975. A popular figure at Eastville, he appeared in 77 consecutive League fixtures and was named Evening Post Sports Personality of the Year for 1972, the year his crucial penalty save from Ted Hemsley enabled Rovers to win the Watney Cup. He also saved a penalty from George Best (1946-2005) at Old Trafford when Rovers won 2-1 there in a League Cup-tie on October 1972. However, a depressed fracture of the skull, sustained in an accidental collision with Tranmere’s Eddie Loyden in January 1973 effectively ended his career, ruling him entirely out of the 1973-74 promotion campaign, although he toured Australia and New Zealand with the Rovers party. Sheppard did make one further appearance for Rovers, standing in for the injured Jim Eadie for the December 1974 local derby, but being beaten by four second-half goals at the Muller Road End as Bristol City won 4-1, enjoyed a brief loan spell at Torquay, whom he joined at an evening roadside rendezvous near Bridgwater. He was awarded a testimonial game against West Brom in January 1979 and later worked for a light industrial company before joining Bristol Television and Film Services as a commercial artist. The younger child of Albert Edward Sheppard and Kathleen Bennett, he had England Schoolboys trials and was English shot-put champion and record-holder in his age group for the National Association of Boys’ Clubs. Dick Sheppard lived in Longwell Green with his wife Christine Whitehouse, their son Martin and their daughter Elizabeth, who was born in the early hours of the December 1970 day when Sheppard excelled in goal against Aldershot in the FA Cup. He also ran a sports shop on Gloucester Road, Filton. Rovers held a one-minute silence prior to the game with Stoke City, following his death at the age of fifty-three. He was posthumously awarded the Harry Bamford Trophy in October 2015. |
No 488. Jeffery Sherwood. 1982-83.
Born, 5.10.1959, Bristol. 5’ 10”; 11 st 3 lbs. Début: 25.9.82 v Preston North End. Career: 1975 Bristol Rovers (schoolboy); 1976 Bristol St George; 1977 Minehead; 1978 Taunton Town; 11.8.81 Bath City (£1,500); 7.6.82 Bristol Rovers (free) [16+2,0]; 17.9.83 Bath City (free); 13.8.87 Yeovil Town (£5,000); 20.11.90 Gloucester City (£15,000); February 1992 Merthyr Tydfil (loan); 5.8.92 Yeovil Town (free); 1995 Clevedon Town; 25.1.96 Bath City; 16.8.96 Brislington; 23.8.96 Trowbridge Town; 1.9.97 Clevedon Town; 16.1.98 Salisbury City (retired, 28.2.98); 2000 Brislington. Briefly the England international Mike Channon’s room-mate with Rovers, dependable defender Jeff Sherwood enjoyed a short career at Eastville. He was the youngest of three children to Donald George Sherwood (1933-88), the son of Donald Hector Sherwood (1907-77) and Dorothy Gwendoline Manners (1913-2007), and to Barbara Lucy Jay (1929-81), the daughter of George Gilford Jay (1891-1962) and Nellie Mahali Manners (1891-1964). Formerly a Gloucestershire Youth player, he had scored twice in 34 matches at St George, but made his name in non-league circles after leaving Third Division Rovers. Signed by the former Rovers forward Bobby Jones at Bath in 1983, he scored four times in 247(+2) games for the Romans, added five goals in 268 matches in all competitions with Yeovil and played 21 and 8(+5) times respectively at Clevedon and Merthyr. During his time at Huish, Yeovil were Isthmian League Premier Division champions in 1987-88, won the AC Delco Cup in 1988, beating Hayes 3-1 in the final, and were victors in the 1990 Bob Lord Challenge Trophy, recording a 4-1 aggregate win against Kidderminster Harriers in the final, Sherwood being named as the Supporters’ Club Player of the Year in 1987-88. Club form, consistent as it was, earned Sherwood representative honours for the Southern League XI and a Football Association XI. Yeovil’s Player of the Year in 1987-88, he captained the Glovers against Arsenal in the FA Cup in January 1993 but suffered relegation with them from the Conference in the spring of 1995. Club record signing at Gloucester, Sherwood played in 66(+1) matches without scoring for the Tigers. Married to Angela, who runs “Wild About Flowers” in Keynsham, Jeff Sherwood works for the Ministry of Defence at Abbeywood and lives in Hanham; they have a son and two daughters. |
No 681. (Drew) Andrew Jonathon Shore. 2001-02.
Born, 8.4.1982, Poole. 5’ 11”; 12 st 4 lbs. Début: 9.3.02 v Hartlepool United. Career: Bristol Rovers (YTS; professional, 1.8.01) [9,0]; 18.12.02 Bath City (free); 24.7.04 Mangotsfield United (to May 2006); 17.2.12 Mangotsfield United (to 4.1.14). Constructive midfielder Drew Shore made his Rovers bow at Hartlepool and appeared in nine consecutive League fixtures as a disappointing campaign came to a close. It was the Pirates’ first season in fourth-flight professional football. Rovers did not score in four consecutive games, and indeed scored just three goals in his ten League and one LDV Vans appearances, but Shore played as Kidderminster Harriers were defeated 2-1 at The Mem to ensure Rovers would retain their Football League status. Shore later scored five goals in 40(+21) matches with Bath City and, appearing alongside Jason Eaton and Frankie Bennett, he helped the Romans to the 2003-04 Conference South play-offs. Having scored four goals in 22 games with the Mangos, Southern League (Western Division) champions in 2004-05, including a brace in the 5-3 victory over Northwood, he added two more appearances when he re-signed for the Cossham Street club in the spring of 2012. Married to former Rovers chairman Nick Higgs’ daughter, Amanda, he still lives in Bristol and works as a cardiac physiologist at Bath’s Royal United Hospital. |
No 628. James Andrew Shore. 1998-2002.
Born, 1.9.1977, Bristol. 5’ 9”; 11 st. Début: 8.9.98 v Chesterfield. Career: Whitchurch Sports; Milton Nomads; Norwich City (professional, 1995); 6.7.98 Bristol Rovers (trial); 21.7.98 Bristol Rovers (free) [18+6,2]; August 2002 Team Bath (coach); 6.12.03 Brislington Town (free); 1.4.04 Mangotsfield United (free); 14.1.11 Blackpool (Youth Development Officer); August 2012 SJK Football Academy, Finland (coach, to September 2012); April 2013 West Bromwich Albion (director, Development Centre, Bristol, to June 2014); 24.10.17 Yeovil Town (assistant coach). Constructive midfielder Jamie Shore from Backwell appeared to have the footballing world before him. His career shaped at Norwich by Gordon Bennett, the former Chief Executive at Rovers, he had toured Denmark, Austria, Holland, Belgium and France with the Canaries and spent two years at the Football Association School of Excellence at Lilleshall; he won caps for the England Under-16 side. Playing with “guts, grit and determination” (Don Veale), Shore was on Rovers’ books with his brother, but progressed to make his League début as a 75th-minute substitute for Michael Meaker in a goalless draw with Chesterfield. A first goal soon followed, the only goal of the game against Bournemouth in October 1998 and he added two excellent first-half strikes in the FA Cup against Exeter City. Feisty and combative on the field, he was sent off at Millwall that November and the following month, 21 minutes from the end of a game in which the future Rovers manager Paul Buckle starred for Colchester United as Rovers crashed 3-0. Then, as quickly as it had begun, Jamie Shore’s career was ended by a serious knee injury, despite pioneering medical work from Dr Angus Strover in London, using cartilage from a dead body, and in December 2000 from John Barrett in Florida, Shore undergoing sixteen knee operations in all. Many argued that his absence from Rovers’ midfield deprived the side of promotion in 1999-2000. A testimonial game in July 2004 brought Ian Holloway’s Queen’s Park Rangers to The Mem and attracted a 6,000 crowd, whilst Shore completed coaching qualifications, set up the Jamie Shore Soccer International group, assisted Holloway at Blackpool and worked as a football summariser on BBC Radio Bristol. He now works as a director for ProBones, a company creating bespoke shin-pads and lives in Clifton with his partner Natalie and their dog Winston. |
No 9. Stephen Sims. 1920-21 and 1926-29.
Born, 11.12.1895, Bedminster. Died, 1973, Weston-super-Mare. 5’ 11½”; 13 st. Début: 28.8.20 v Millwall. Career: Windmill Hill School; January 1914 Bath City; 28.5.14 Leicester Fosse [11,2]; 5.8.19 Bristol Rovers; 6.7.22 Burnley (£2,000) [11,0]; 23.7.24 Weymouth (£1,000); 24.9.25 Bristol City (£400); 4.9.26 Bristol Rovers [79,9]; 8.7.27 Newport County [4,0] (to 1928). Victor Sims (1868-1941) and Mary Jane Stenner (1854-1905) of 24 Spring Street, Bedminster had nine children, the fourth being the tall, muscular Steve Sims, Rovers’ captain in their first season in the Football League. A formidable central defender, saw-mill worker Sims was a key figure in Rovers’ side in the immediate years after World War One. Bringing with him the experience of League football with Leicester, where he had made his League bow against Lincoln City and played in a 7-1 defeat at Wolves in November 1914, and having represented the British expeditionary Forces XI in Egypt, he scored nine times in 32 Southern League matches, his début coming in a 2-0 home defeat against QPR in August 1919, during Rovers’ final season prior to elevation to Division Three. Four of those goals came in a 5-0 win at home to Luton Town in April 1920. “Always in the picture at centre-half”, as the local press noted, he had also scored prolifically at Bath, who were Western League runners-up in 1914. Sims led Rovers out at Millwall for that first League fixture, playing at centre-forward that day, and scored the winning goal at home to Newport County in the first League match hosted at Eastville before reverting to centre-half. It was in this more defensive rôle that he excelled, playing in 66 League fixtures before returning for thirteen more in the 1926-27 season, when he had become the first player ever transferred directly between the two professional clubs in Bristol. Tellingly, it was after Sims’ early departure with a tenth-minute injury, that Rovers capitulated 8-1 at Swansea over Easter 1922. Away from Eastville, he married Elizabeth Hoare in the autumn of 1922, captained Weymouth in two FA Cup-ties against Rovers in December 1924, having made his début against Swindon Victoria and leading the side to second place in the Western League, and made his Bristol City reserves début against his former club Weymouth, but could not break into the side at Ashton Gate. Rovers were fined in 1927 for playing Sims without properly re-registering him, but the popular centre-half was a welcome addition to the Eastville scene. His name has often been given as “Stephen”, but is written with a “v” in his father’s hand-writing on the 1911 census return. |
No 335. (Harry) Harvey Patrick Sinclair. 1958-59.
Born, 30.11.1933, Bournemouth. Died, 13.3.2015, Bournemouth. 6’; 12 st 7 lbs GK Début: 3.9.58 v Derby County Career: Bournemouth (amateur); December 1950 Fulham; 1954 Cambridge United; August 1956 Leicester City [1,0]; 18.7.57 Yeovil Town; 1.9.58 Bristol Rovers [1,0]; July 1959 Fulham. Despite only making two League appearances in his career, Harry Sinclair underwent an extraordinary few months. Between his game for Leicester City against Grimsby Town in January 1957 and his sole match for Rovers, twenty months went by in which time both his parents passed away and he got married. Signing for Rovers following an appearance for Yeovil Town reserves against Rovers’ Colts side, he conceded three goals in both his League matches. The only child of Roy Sinclair (1895-1957) and Lilian Gertrude Sherwood (1905-1958), Harry Sinclair married Maureen June Wells (1934-1999) in Fulham in 1957 and had two sons, Mark and Adam, and three grandchildren, Hannah, Tom and Jasper. He was buried at Bournemouth North Cemetery twelve days after his death. |
No 735. Scott Andrew Sinclair. 2004-05 and 2022-
Born, 29.3.1989, Bath. 5’ 10”; 10 st 1 lb. Début: 26.12.04 v Orient. Career: Ralph Allen School; Bath Arsenal; Bristol Rovers; 2.6.05 Chelsea (£200,000) [1+4,0]; 19.1.07 Plymouth Argyle (loan) [8+7,2]; 6.11.07 Queen’s Park Rangers (loan) [8+1,1]; 5.3.08 Charlton Athletic (loan) [0+3,0]; 27.3.08 Crystal Palace (loan) [6,2]; 6.1.09 Birmingham City (loan) [8+6,0]; 5.8.09 Wigan Athletic (loan) [1+17,1]; 7.8.10 Swansea City (£1,000,000) [74+8,28]; 31.8.12 Manchester City (£6,200,000) [2+9,0]; 22.8.13 West Bromwich Albion (loan) [4+4,0]; 30.1.15 Aston Villa (loan); 19.5.15 Aston Villa (£2,500,000) [24+12,3]; 7.8.16 Celtic (£3,500,000) [77+28,40]; 8.1.20 Preston North End [50+28,12] (released, 9.5.22); 18.10.22 Bristol Rovers (free) [0+2,0]. Twenty-five goals for the Under-16 side before Christmas 2004, including hat-tricks against Exeter City and Bath City, proved too great a temptation to resist. Slim, quick striker Scott Sinclair was given his League début on Boxing Day, his solitary minute on the pitch that day making him, at fifteen years 277 days, the youngest player since 1928 to appear in the League for the club and the second youngest ever. The middle of three boys to Martin Sinclair, a semi-professional player in the Bath area, and his wife Sally Edgell, his elder brother Martin represented the Great Britain Cerebral Palsy football side in the 2012 Paralympics and his younger brother Jake is on the books of Southampton and had a trial with Rovers in 2015; young Scott made a dramatic impression at Rovers and was soon snapped up by Chelsea, where he scored twenty-five times in youth and reserve football before breaking a bone in his foot on his League début against Manchester United in January 2007. “He’s like Dash from that film The Incredibles”, said Ian Holloway. A talented rugby full-back and a keen sprinter, Sinclair spent several spells on loan, playing alongside Barry Hayles at Holloway’s Plymouth, for whom he scored an astonishing FA Cup goal against Barnet after a mazy run from inside his own penalty area seven minutes from time. Sinclair inspired Swansea to a hugely successful 2010-11 season, completing a League Cup hat-trick at Peterborough in September 2010 and finishing the season at Wembley, where the South Walians returned to top-flight football with a 4-2 play-off final victory over Reading; Sinclair scored a hat-trick on the hallowed turf, a 21st-minute penalty, another goal a minute later and a second penalty ten minutes from time to secure promotion. His form in the Premier League attracted champions Manchester City, who paid a large sum for his services on his return from the 2012 London Olympics, where he scored for Team GB against the United Arab Emirates on their way to eventual quarter-final defeat. An England cap at various youth age groups, he scored once in seven games for the Under-21 side. However, Sinclair’s first season with Manchester City was a disappointment, his side finishing runners-up in the League and being defeated by unfashionable Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup Final, although he barely made the first-team, and he was subsequently sent out on loan. His arrival at Villa Park signalled a sea change in his fortunes, as early goals (two in the FA Cup and a League strike at home to Stoke) ensured his popularity and he played in the FA Cup semi-final victory over Liverpool which set up a May 2015 Wembley final against Arsenal in which he remained an unused substitute. A regular in Tim Sherwood’s Villa side, he scored a hat-trick in a League Cup-tie against Notts County in August 2015, but Villa slumped to the foot of the table and were relegated to the Championship at the end of that season. Sinclair’s final action with Villa was a pre-season friendly against Rovers, before a high-profile move north of the border saw him score in his first six Scottish League appearances. He was in the Celtic side which lost 7-0 at Barcelona in the Champions League in September 2016, but the Celts drove all before them in a hugely successful season, becoming the first Scottish top division side since Rangers in 1898-99 to complete a domestic League season undefeated, and Sinclair’s star shone brightly as they went on to complete an unprecedented “Treble Treble”, winning League, Cup and League Cup in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. Voted SPFA Player of the Year in 2017, he was second highest scorer in the Premier League behind Ross County’s Liam Boyce. A hat-trick at Hearts in April 2017 came on the day Celtic secured the League title and, having won the League Cup, they completed the domestic treble by beating Aberdeen 2-1 in the Scottish Cup Final. Twelve months later, the Celts retained all three titles, Sinclair playing the final sixty seconds of the Scottish Cup Final and notably scoring, against Hamilton Academical in December 2017, the 100,000th goal registered in top-flight Scottish football. On Boxing Day 2018 he struck an impressive hat-trick at Pittodrie, as the Celts defeated nearest rivals Aberdeen 4-3 in an entertaining fixture to stamp their control on the Premier League season once again. Another hat-trick, against St Johnstone in February 2019, eased Celtic towards the Scottish Cup Final of 2019, where Michael Smith’s Hearts were defeated 2-1 at Hampden Park. Having made two substitute appearances as a teenager, Sinclair returned to Rovers in the autumn of 2022 and he returned to the side for the final moments of an enthralling 2-2 draw at home to table-topping Plymouth Argyle, some seventeen years and 196 days since he had last pulled on a Rovers shirt. His sixty-fifth-minute right-footed goal, when set up by James Connolly, not only saw off Rochdale in the first round of the FA Cup, but also signalled his first goal in Rovers quarters on his first ever full start for the team. He is engaged to Helen Flanagan, who plays Coronation Street’s Rosie Webster, and the couple have two daughters, Matilda, born in June 2015 and Delilah, born in June 2018 and a son, Charlie, born in May 2021. |
No 865. Stuart Sinclair. 2015-18.
Born, 9.11.1987, Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire. 5’ 6”; 10 st 9 lbs. Début: 8.8.15 v Northampton Town. Career: Luton Town (scholar; YTS, 1.7.04); 1.8.06 Cambridge City (free); 11.8.07 Bedford Town (free); 8.6.08 Dunstable Town (free); 1.7.10 Arlesey Town (free); 9.1.12 Salisbury City (free); 30.6.14 Bristol Rovers (free) [100+15,5]; 21.5.19 Walsall (free; released, 11.5.21) [31+12,2]. Heavily bearded freshwater angler Stuart Sinclair began Rovers’ first season of Conference football with aplomb. Playing effectively in the centre of midfield, he was sent off at Altrincham, scored at Lincoln and at Gateshead, and was awarded the Beard of the Month award. Yet, the long-haired, talented ball-winner was worth more to the side than simply the owner of facial hair with its own Twitter account. An effective “box-to-box midfielder”, he had won the Player of the Year award in both 2012-13 and 2013-14 at Salisbury, where he played alongside his younger brother, Rob; Stuart is the eldest of four boys, Andy and Scott also having been on Luton’s books. Lured to Rovers by his former manager, Sinclair repaid Darrell Clarke’s faith with a series of decisive performances as Rovers strode confidently up the League table in September 2014. Prior to this, following a début in the 1-1 draw at Thurrock in January 2012, he had played for Salisbury in 51(+1) Conference South matches, scoring six goals plus a further goal in the play-off match against Dover Athletic, and in 33(+2) Conference games. One goal in 20(+16) Nationwide South games at Cambridge City and eight goals in 36(+1) Southern League appearances at Bedford, whom he chose ahead of Hemel Hempstead Town, preceded a spell at Dunstable, where he is primarily remembered for a powerful shot past Sean Greygoose after just ten minutes of the January 2009 fixture against Soham Town Rangers. Salisbury, alerted to Sinclair’s ability when he opposed them with Arlesey in the FA Cup in November 2011, soon progressed to Conference promotion-hopefuls Rovers. Undeniably a major force as Rovers embarked on a twenty-match unbeaten run through the winter, his end-of-campaign absence through injury threatened to allow Rovers’ promotion train to run off the rails. After two goals in 24(+3) Conference matches, he was named Young Pirates’ Player of the Year for 2014-15, Rovers securing their return to the Football League that May. Astonishingly, the side went up again twelve months later, Lee Brown’s dramatic injury-time winner securing promotion to League One in May 2016 on goal difference; as in the previous campaign, though, the influential Sinclair had been side-lined through injury as the season drew to a close. Focused and determined, Sinclair played a major role in Rovers’ on-field success in 2016-17, winning the penalty that Ellis Harrison converted at Stamford Bridge in the League Cup in August 2016 but also being sent off for two yellow cards at Bury in March 2017 and for a two-footed challenge after just seven minutes of the FA Cup tie away to non-league Barnet in November 2017. Sinclair followed manager Darrell Clarke to Walsall in the summer of 2019, scoring for the Saddlers in away fixtures at Morecambe and Orient. |
No 565. Justin Skinner. 1991-98.
Born, 30.1.1969, Hounslow. 6’; 11 st 3 lbs. Début: 31.8.91 v Newcastle United. Career: 1985 Fulham (professional, 17.11.86) [111+24,23]; 27.8.91 Bristol Rovers (£130,000) [174+13,11]; 11.9.97 Walsall (loan) [10,0]; 13.3.98 Stoke City (trial); 21.3.98 Hibernian (trial); 28.5.98 Hibernian (free) [29+1,2]; 3.9.99 Dunfermline Athletic (£80,000) [78+13,0]; 14.8.02 Brechin City (free) [20,0]; 26.5.03 Weston-super-Mare (free); 31.5.04 Windsor and Eton (free); June 2004 Chelsea (coach); June 2006 Queen’s Park Rangers (coach); 5.7.07 Lewes (assistant manager); 21.5.09 Farnborough (assistant manager); 1.7.11 Lewes (assistant manager); 5.12.11 Millwall (Under-18 coach; Elite Squad coach, 2.6.15-8.3.17). Arriving at Twerton Park as Rovers’ record signing, midfielder Justin Skinner scored on his club début from the substitute’s bench when he replaced David Wilson against Newcastle United. He again scored in a 3-3 draw with Port Vale in November 1991, before waiting almost two years for the next goal, in a 2-0 victory over the same opposition at Twerton Park. Previously, he had made his Fulham début in the Freight Rover Trophy against Southend United in January 1987, appeared in three League fixtures against Rovers and was in the Cottagers’ side for the two play-off games in May 1989. The elder son of a senior non-league footballer, David Skinner, and his wife, Lorna Cornwall, and apparently raised in Honduras, Skinner was in the Rovers side that lost 2-1 to Huddersfield Town at Wembley in May 1995 in the play-off final and was also in the side humiliated 2-1 at Hitchin Town the following November in the FA Cup. An injury in a pre-season friendly against Brislington in August 1996 caused him to miss months and, having not scored a League goal in two years, his strikes in successive home fixtures over Easter 1997 helped ensure Rovers’ third-tier survival for another season. Hibs were relegated in 1997-98, finishing the campaign at the foot of the Scottish Premier League, Skinner then being sent off eight minutes after half-time at Airdrie in October 1998. With Dunfermline, he conceded a first-minute own goal in August 2000 to a Dundee side which then converted two second-half penalties in their 3-0 victory, and he was sent off in a 4-1 defeat against Rangers twelve months later. A Brechin début in a 1-0 win at home to Hamilton set Skinner on course to win a Second Division championship medal in 2002-03 and he later worked for two years at Stamford Bridge. |
No 475. Neil John Slatter. 1980-85.
Born, 30.5.1964, Cardiff. 5’ 11”; 10 st 9 lbs. Début: 11.4.81 v Shrewsbury Town. Career: Ton-yr-Wren Primary School; Llanishan High School; Cardiff Boys; 1.7.80 Bristol Rovers (professional, 1.5.82) [147+1,4]; 12.7.85 Oxford United (£80,000) [88+3,6]; 22.3.90 Bournemouth (loan) [5+1,0]; July 1990 Gloucester City (free) (to 1991). Prodigiously talented teenage full-back Neil Slatter broke into Rovers’ side at the age of sixteen and was to win 22 full caps for his country. In February 1986, his strike two minutes after half-time gave the Welsh the lead at the Jalawi Stadium in Khobar, en route to a 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia. A second international goal came in September of that year, when his rising shot following a left-wing corner brought a 68th-minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Finland at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, having come on as a substitute for his former Rovers team-mate, David Williams. The youngest post-war débutant for the Pirates, at 16 years 314 days, until the arrival of Scott Sinclair, Slatter also won ten Welsh caps during his time at Eastville to set a club record since surpassed by Vitālijs Astafjevs. Tough, tactically aware and skilful, Slatter won six caps for Wales at under-21 level to add to appearances for the national youth side, whilst his first goal for the club leaves him as the fifth youngest man to score for Rovers in the League. All four of his League goals came away from home, although he did score in the 3-1 home victory over Barnet in the FA Cup in November 1983. Sent off against Wigan Athletic in October 1982, he provided strength and stability as Rovers pushed towards the top end of Division Three. His international appearances included an own goal as Wales lost 4-2 in Norway in June 1985, just weeks before his expensive move to top-flight Oxford. He was in the squad for Oxford’s League Cup victory at Wembley in 1986, took part in the club tour of Sweden the following year and scored the first goal Manchester United conceded after Alex Ferguson had been appointed manager. His career over following a recurrent injury at Gloucester, where he played only once, Neil Slatter, who is a useful all-round cricketer with Cardiff CC, moved to Cardiff to work as a police constable. The son of Peter Slatter and Shirley Lewis, he is married since 1988 to Alyson Organ with two daughters, Lauren and Chloë. |
No 358. Michael John Slocombe. 1961-63.
Born, 3.5.1941, St Phillips Marsh, Bristol. Died, 30.8.2022, Bristol. 5’ 10”; 11 st 10 lbs. Début: 28.8.61 v Bury. Career: Hannah More School; Bristol Boys; Dings United; 1956 Bristol Rovers (professional, June 1961) [32,0]; 20.6.63 Welton Rovers; 7.6.67 Bath City; 28.2.69 Welton Rovers (player-coach); 1971 St Phillips Marsh Adult School; Doug Hillard Sport; 1979 Venture United; 1984 Hungerford Ferrets (retired, 1990); 1990 St Phillips Marsh Adult School (manager; chairman, 1992). Replacing Brian Carter at left-half, Micky Slocombe was paid £16 a week during his time with Rovers, captained the “A” side against Hanham Athletic in the Gloucestershire Senior Amateur Cup Final at Eastville in 1960 and, dropped after a 5-0 defeat at Coventry, enjoyed many years in local non-league football. He stated that the highlight of his spell with Rovers was a game at Newcastle, which ended in defeat, when he tried his best to mark the legendary Welsh striker Ivor Allchurch (1929-97). A boyhood Rovers fan, and the younger son of William Slocombe (1909-65) and Rosina “Rose” Gage (1920-81), he worked as a cutter in a shoe factory. He played for Bristol Boys on eight occasions and scored in the FA Youth Cup in November 1958, when Rovers defeated Bournemouth 5-0. At Welton with David Stone, John Watkins, Malcolm Norman and Trevor Rhodes, Slocombe was part of the side which was Western League champions in three successive years between 1964-65 and 1966-67, captaining the side for two of those campaigns, and returned to the club after helping Bath City to promotion to the Southern League in the 1968-69 campaign. He retired from playing in 1990 after breaking a leg. Later a window cleaner by profession, he spent twenty-five years as a relief school caretaker for Bristol City Council before undergoing a quadruple heart bypass when in his sixties. Micky and Mary Slocombe had three sons, one of whom, Steve, played for Keynsham Town, and four grandchildren and lived in Knowle and later the Somerset village of Berrow. His funeral was held at South Bristol Crematorium on 26th September 2022. |
No 897. Sam Oliver Slocombe. 2017-18.
Born, 5.6.1988, Scunthorpe. 6’; 11 st 11 lbs. Début: 19.8.17 v Bury. Career: York College; Lincoln City (juniors); Bottesford Town; 15.8.08 Scunthorpe United (£3,000) [112,0]; 12.6.15 Oxford United (free) [23,0]; 19.7.16 Blackpool (free) [34,0]; 6.7.17 Bristol Rovers (free) [25,0]; 21.8.18 Lincoln City (loan); 1.8.19 Notts County (free). Having kept clean sheets at The Mem for both Scunthorpe and Oxford, Sam Slocombe arrived in the Rovers camp ahead of the 2017-18 season and duly became the 900th player to appear for the club in the Football League. However, his early-season run in the side came to an abrupt halt when he was sent off at home to Walsall in September 2017. The youngest child of Graham Slocombe and Sharon Andrews, who had married in Scunthorpe in 1980, Slocombe played for the English Colleges XI whilst at York College’s Football Development Centre before representing Northern Counties East League side Bottesford Town. “It’s great to get back into the thick of things with training”, he said on joining his home-town club, Scunthorpe, making his first appearance as a substitute in a League Cup-tie against Port Vale in September 2009. His League bow came against future club Blackpool two months later, but Scunny were relegated from the Championship in 2010-11 and from League One in 2012-13. One highlight was playing in the side which won at Pride Park in August 2012 in a League Cup match, United recovering from three goals behind at half-time to draw 5-5 and defeat Derby County 7-6 on penalties. Slocombe enjoyed last-gasp promotion from League Two in both 2015-16 and 2016-17; the former was through Oxford’s final-day victory which took them up alongside Rovers, whilst the latter followed seventeen clean sheets in all competitions for the season, as Blackpool defeated Exeter City 2-1 at Wembley in the play-off final. Playing alongside Liam Sercombe, he had also played as Premier League Swansea City were beaten 3-2 by Oxford in the FA Cup in January 2016. He never made the League side at Lincoln City, who were League Two champions in 2018-19, and played in 86 Conference matches with Notts County, who missed out on promotion back to the Football League, in the play-off final, at the hands of Harrogate Town in the summer of 2020. Sam Slocombe was sent off whilst playing for Notts County against Dagenham and Redbridge in February 2021, his side again making the play-offs in 2022, only to lose to Grimsby Town. On the other hand, he was fortunate to have been rested on the day of the FA Cup shock in October 2022, when his Notts County side lost 3-2 at home to local neighbours Coalville Town. |
No 523. Mark Anthony Smalley. 1986-87.
Born, 2.1.1965, Newark, Nottinghamshire. 6’; 12 st 2 lbs. Début: 23.8.86 v Walsall. Career: Nottingham Forest (professional, 25.1.83) [1+2,0]; 28.3.86 Birmingham City (loan) [7,0]; 12.8.86 Bristol Rovers (free) [10,0]; 5.2.87 Orient (free) [59+5,4]; 29.11.89 Mansfield Town (loan); 22.1.90 Mansfield Town (£15,000) [49,2]; 31.5.91 Maidstone United (free) [33+1,2]; 17.8.92 Kettering Town; January 1993 Erith and Belvedere; 1993 Sutton Town (player-coach); 1994 Shepshed Dynamoes (player-coach); February 1995 Hucknall Town (player-coach); Ashby Ivanhoe (assistant manager, to 28.5.13). Tall, strong former England Youth central defender Mark Smalley played in Rovers’ first League fixture at Twerton Park; Rovers conceded just fifteen goals in his ten League appearances, six of which were the club’s first League fixtures in Bath. He had earlier scored the first goal in Rovers’ first friendly on the ground, when they defeated hosts Bath City 2-0 in August 1986. Smalley had made his League début as a substitute for Kenny Swain as Forest lost 2-0 at Ipswich in Division One in March 1983 and he played for Orient in both their fixtures against Rovers during the Pirates’ 1989-90 Third Division championship season, Rovers winning at Brisbane Road before the sides drew at Twerton Park. That campaign, he had also played in Mansfield’s 1-1 draw in Bath. In addition, the powerful defender was in the Orient side which equalled their highest ever League victory when they defeated Rochdale 8-0 in Division Four in October 1987. The only child of Robert Smalley and Rita Kay, he played in 23 Conference matches with Kettering before taking on coaching rôles back in his native Nottinghamshire. |
No 513. Gary Michael Smart. 1985-87.
Born, 8.12.1963, Southmead, Bristol. 5’ 9”; 10 st 7 lbs. Début: 19.10.85 v Doncaster Rovers. Career: Bristol Rovers (schoolboy); Mangotsfield United; Avon St Phillips; August 1985 Bristol St George; 11.10.85 Bristol Rovers (free) [11+8,4]; August 1987 Cheltenham Town; November 1987 Wokingham (trial); February 1988 Wokingham; June 1988 Bath City; 3.6.96 Mangotsfield United; 30.9.96 Forest Green Rovers (coach); 19.6.99 Newport County (coach); 2000 Paulton Rovers; March 2000 Gloucester City; June 2000 Paulton Rovers; June 2001 Clevedon Town (player-coach); 2002 Bath City (coach); December 2002 Paulton Rovers; 14.11.03 Bath City (caretaker manager); December 2003 Bristol Manor Farm; 2004 Sea Mills Park; 2008 Wells City (assistant manager). Throughout the long history of Bristol Rovers, few goals stand out with greater clarity than the one midfielder Gary Smart scored at Ashton Gate on New Year’s Day 1987. Under the cosh for the whole game, Rovers had somehow survived the expected mauling, when Smart received the ball near the halfway line three minutes from time, stepped forward and unleashed a vicious dipping drive which seared into the net and secured a famous victory in the cauldron of a local derby. At this stage, Smart scored in three successive League fixtures for Rovers and he had also scored as Bath City were defeated 2-0 in the opening friendly after Rovers’ move to Twerton Park in August 1986. Twice suffering a broken leg, one in the 1990-91 season ruling him out for two years, Smart had previously been working in a laundry in Staple Hill and later added two goals in 15(+1) matches with Cheltenham, scoring on his début in a 1-1 draw with Wealdstone. A long career at Bath encompassed 254(+39) games and 71 goals as well as the 5-0 FA Cup defeat against Rovers in November 1994 but, transfer-listed after a 4-0 defeat at Stalybridge Celtic, he broke his wrist on his Forest Green début. Captaining Forest Green to an unprecedented promotion to the Conference in the spring of 1998, his seventeenth goal of the campaign setting up the 2-0 victory over Bath City that secured the Southern League title, he scored once in 16(+13) Conference games the following campaign. In addition, Smart scored the 82nd-minute winning goal, two minutes after coming onto the field as a substitute, to defeat St Albans and take Forest Green to the 1999 FA Trophy Final, where he played the final fourteen minutes in a 1-0 Wembley defeat to Kingstonian. The third of four children to Michael Smart and Irene Hooper, he later worked with Wells City. Not to be confused with Gary Smart who played at the time for Oxford United and another player of the same name who was also with Cheltenham and Bath, Smart scored six goals in 26(+3) Doctor Martens League games for Newport and appeared in six fixtures with Gloucester and now works as a maintenance engineer. |
No 57. Alexander Richardson Smeaton. 1923-24.
Born, 29.9.1900, South Shields. Died, 26.9.1956, Yatesbury. 5’ 10½”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 16.2.24 v Merthyr Town. Career: Dean Road Boys’ School; South Shields Juniors; 1920 Middle Dock (Tyneside); September 1921 Hebburn Colliery; 14.5.23 Bristol Rovers [5,1]; June 1925 Halifax Town [77,6]; May 1928 Torquay United [27,4]; June 1929 Luton Town [6,0]; August 1930 Houghton; September 1930 Gillingham [3,0] (to 1931). Notable for his “desire to be always constructive rather than destructive in his efforts” (Torbay Herald Express), Alec Smeaton was an effective inside-forward for five different Football League clubs. He scored on his League début, as Rovers drew 1-1 at Merthyr, but was kept out of the side by Jerry Morgan and later played for both Torquay and Gillingham against Rovers in the League. The son of John Smeaton (1876-1945) and Elizabeth Whittle (1877-1950), who had married in South Shields in 1899, he arrived at Eastville with a goal-scoring reputation, having notched 23 for Middle Dock in 1920-21, plus four more in three games in 1921-22 prior to his thirteen goals at Hebburn Colliery. Prior to joining Rovers, he had been living at 197 South Eldon Street, South Shields. After Rovers, he enjoyed a long career at Halifax, where he was a team-mate of Tommy Duncan, another Rovers player. Making his Torquay début in the 4-3 home defeat against QPR in August 1928, he was in the same side at Plainmoor as Jack Price, a Rovers full-back, and scored two penalties when Torquay drew 2-2 with Plymouth Argyle in April 1929. His Luton début came against his former club, Torquay United, at Plainmoor in October 1929. On 20th October 1930, Alec Smeaton married Lilian Beatrice Cannock (1905-1974) at All Hallows Church, Easton and they had two daughters, Janet, who married Mervyn Windows, and Betty. |
No 896. Adam Clifford Smith 2017-18.
Born, 23.11.1992, Sunderland. 6’ 4”; 11 st 3 lbs. Début: 5.8.17 v Charlton Athletic. Career: Middlesbrough; 2010 Leicester City (1.8.11 professional); 16.9.11 Chesterfield (loan); 6.1.12 Lincoln City (loan); 25.10.12 Nuneaton Town (loan); 11.1.14 Stevenage (loan); 25.4.14 Cambridge United (loan); 9.1.15 Mansfield Town (loan) [4,0]; 26.6.15 Northampton Town (free) [86,0]; 6.7.17 Bristol Rovers (free) [26+1,0]; 25.6.19 Forest Green Rovers (free) [8,0]; 23.9.19 Yeovil Town (loan); 6.3.20 Yeovil Town (loan); 22.8.20 Yeovil Town (loan); 22.10.21 Stevenage (free) [9,0]; 4.2.22 Morecambe (free) [1,0]. As Rovers prepared for the 2017-18 season, Adam Smith arrived at The Mem as a putative first-choice goalkeeper. At Leicester City, he had been named on the bench for nine Premier League matches, but never got on the field, one clean sheet against German side Schalke in the Premier League International Cup notwithstanding. His time with the prospective champions came to a dramatic close in May 2015 when a controversial video he had made with James Pearson and Tom Hopper on the club’s tour of Thailand was obtained by the “Sunday Mirror” and revealed supposed racial and sexual overtones. By that stage, the tall goalkeeper had made his Conference début against Barrow, a 6-1 defeat at Wrexham counting amongst seven matches with Nuneaton Town; his four games alongside Adam Cunnington for Cambridge were a 2-0 defeat against Gateshead in the Conference, two play-off semi-finals and a Wembley play-off final in May 2014 in which the same Gateshead side was defeated 2-1 to seal United’s return to the Football League fold; and a first Football League experience came in Mansfield’s 2-1 defeat at Burton Albion. His departure from Leicester saw a move to Northampton Town, where instant success came his way, from a winning club début at The Mem to fifteen clean sheets as the Cobblers raced to the League Two title, Smith being named his club’s Player of the Year and making the divisional team of the season. Having been the unfortunate keeper who conceded four Ellis Harrison goals when the Cobblers came to The Mem in January 2017, Smith nonetheless joined Rovers with a glowing reputation but was soon briefly ruled out by a broken bone in his hand. He later played in Yeovil’s home win over Bromley in September 2019 in the Conference, during which referee Aaron Jackson controversially sent off all eight ball-boys for time-wasting and their FA Cup-tie at Haringey the following month, which was abandoned amid claims of racist abuse of the home goalkeeper. In all, he played in 48 Conference matches for the Glovers, but was then in the Stevenage side knocked out of the FA Cup in December 2021 by the Glovers on his return to Huish Park. He played alongside Chris Lines and James Daly at Stevenage and with Jonah Ayunga at Morecambe, appearing for the latter in a 1-1 draw with Bolton Wanderers in February 2022; in September 2022 he appeared as a substitute for the final moments of Morecambe’s 2-2 draw at The Mem. |
No 200. Arthur (Jack) John Smith. 1934-35.
Born, 27.10.1911, Merthyr Tydfil. Died, 7.6.1975, Weymouth. 5’ 10”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 5.9.34 v Swindon Town. Career: Aberaman and Aberdare Athletic; 1928 West Bromwich Albion (trial); Merthyr Town [1,0]; May 1930 Wolverhampton Wanderers [26,0]; 30.4.34 Bristol Rovers [4,0]; 21.5.35 Swindon Town [114,0]; 10.3.38 Chelsea (£1,500) [45,0]; July 1945 Wolverhampton Wanderers (trainer); July 1948 West Bromwich Albion (manager); 1.6.52 Reading (manager) (to 7.10.55). Having planned to become a dentist, Jack Smith suffered ill health at the time of his preliminary exams, altered his career path and turned to football. The son of William Henry Smith and Mary Elizabeth Simmons, his brief cameo rôle standing in for left-back Alec Donald included Rovers’ 5-1 defeat at Southend in September 1934 but he was later an ever-present in 1935-36 and 1936-37 at Swindon. A flight-sergeant in the Royal Air Force, he also played 39 times for Chelsea and on 62 occasions at West Brom in wartime football; picked to play for England, on the strength of his club performances, he opted instead for the country of his birth and represented Wales against England in an unofficial international in November 1939, England winning 3-2. Before the war had ended, though, his playing career was over in unusual circumstances, a tram running over his foot during a night-time black-out. Briefly the Football League’s youngest trainer, Smith became a successful manager at two clubs, his Reading side coming within eight minutes of knocking Manchester United out of the FA Cup in January 1955, before he retired to run a public house in Weymouth. |
No 501. Christopher James Smith. 1984-85.
Born, 28.3.1966, Christchurch, Dorset. 5’ 10”; 11 st 2 lbs. Début: 14.5.85 v York City. Career: Cheltenham Town; 1984 Bristol Rovers (professional, May 1985) [1,0]; July 1985 Cheltenham Town (trial); August 1985 Mangotsfield United (free); 1986 Cirencester Town; 1987 Bath City; 1989 Cirencester United (loan); 1990 Gloucester City (free); August 1992 Moreton Town; May 1993 Cirencester United; 4.9.93 Cinderford Town; February 1997 Forest Green Rovers; September 1997 AFC Newport; 30.8.98 Forest Green Rovers. In addition to the 1-1 draw with York, non-contract right-back Chris Smith appeared as a substitute as Rovers defeated Bristol City 3-1 in the May 1985 Gloucestershire Cup Final. A former Gloucestershire Youth player, he had scored for the reserves against Spurs reserves in October 1984, an astonishing match which was lost 9-4. A professional stonemason living in Cirencester, he later played in 7(+3) games for Gloucester and helped Forest Green to the Doctor Martens League Southern Division title in 1996-97 before being sent off in a 1-1 draw at Southport in October 1998. A kick in the teeth during an FA Cup-tie at Barnstaple Town in September 1993, only his second appearance for Cinderford, necessitated £400 of dental worth and three months out of the game, but he returned to feature as his former side Bath City were defeated in an FA Cup shock in October 1995, Smith lobbing the winning goal nineteen minutes from time in a 3-2 victory. |
No 485. David Smith. 1981-82.
Born, 13.10.1964, Frome, Somerset. 6’; 12 st 2 lbs. Début: 24.4.82 v Walsall. Career: Frome Collegians; Bristol Rovers (professional, 1.7.81) [0+1,0]; 12.10.82 Yeovil Town (free); 28.6.83 Forest Green Rovers (free). Ten minutes on the field, a club record since surpassed, constituted tall defender David Smith’s League career. Within two minutes of his arrival as a substitute, he had clashed heads with Walsall’s Dave Serella, who left the field to have stitches inserted over his left eye, Rovers winning the game 2-1 through Steve Bailey’s last-minute goal. Smith was sent off once in his 22 matches at Yeovil and broke his leg in August 1983 in only his second appearance for Forest Green. |
No 165. Edward Smith. 1931-32.
Born, 22.2.1902, Sunderland. Died, 15.3.1972, Luton. 5’ 8”; 11 st 12 lbs. Début: 2.1.32 v Bournemouth. Career: Robert Thompson’s Shipyard (Sunderland); July 1923 Hartlepool United [56,0]; June 1925 Newport County [53,2]; 12.2.27 Portsmouth [12,0]; 22.6.28 Reading (£235) [26,0]; June 1929 Luton Town (£250) [32,0]; June 1931 Preston North End; September 1931 Bristol Rovers [8,0]; 5.8.32 Vauxhall Motors (Luton). Muscular, well-built and strong, full-back and occasional wing-half Ted Smith brought with him a wealth of experience, having represented five other Football League sides. He had appeared against Rovers on two occasions for Newport County and in Luton Town’s 3-0 victory over Rovers in March 1930. A boilermaker by profession, he had played in Hartlepool’s club record 10-1 FA Cup victory against St Peter’s Albion and in twelve First Division games at Pompey. Unable to make the side at Deepdale, he was injured whilst playing in Rovers’ 1-1 draw at home to Torquay on Good Friday 1932 and never re-appeared for the club. He may be the Edward Smith who married Ivy Farrow in Luton in 1931, which may explain his return to Bedfordshire when released by Rovers. |
No 339. Granville Smith. 1958-60.
Born, 4.2.1937, Penrhiwceiber. 5’ 7”; 11 st. Début: 31.1.59 v Fulham. Career: Bristol Boys; 1952 Bristol Rovers (professional, 14.5.57) [21,2]; 6.6.60 Newport County [241,36]; 15.12.67 Bath City; 22.5.69 Glastonbury; 1970 Newport County (reserve team manager); 1976 Caerleon (manager). Prior to his extensive career at Somerton Park, slight winger Granville Smith enjoyed a brief career at Eastville. Second Division Rovers used Smith as a fast, efficient winger and he scored twice for the club, one being a spectacular strike for the winning goal at Grimsby in April 1959, when he collected a cross-pass from Geoff Bradford and fired high into the net. A Gloucestershire player in matches against both Somerset and Cornwall, Smith dislocated his shoulder twelve minutes after half-time of the September 1959 game with Ipswich, but was back to score in the reserves’ 4-3 win against Shrewsbury Town reserves that November. The eldest of four children to John Smith and Elizabeth Harris, his extensive career at Newport included twice breaking a leg, but he never opposed Rovers in the League. A Bath City début against Canterbury City in December 1967 preceded the successful 1968-69 campaign, when Bath were undefeated at Twerton Park, Smith scoring twelve goals in 55 matches in all competitions that season. He worked for Mansanto’s of Newport for many years as a boiler attendant and he continues to live in Newport. A grandson, Chay Foster-Smith, born in September 1995, played rugby as a centre for Newport from 2016 to 2019 (scoring 25 tries in his 79 appearances) before rejoining that club in 2022 after three seasons and 39 matches with Aberavon. |
No 276. (Harry) Henry Stanley Smith. 1946-47.
Born, 11.10.1908, Newburn, Northumberland. Died, 13.6.1993, Throckley. 5’ 9½”; 11 st 8 lbs. Début: 16.11.46 v Northampton Town. Career: Throckley Council Schools; Throckley Welfare; November 1928 Nottingham Forest (professional, December 1928) [156,1]; July 1937 Darlington [65,0]; 17.8.39 Bristol Rovers [3,0] (player-coach, 26.10.45; retired, 1947; head groundsman, 1952; ground staff, 1961-82). At 38 years 36 days, full-back Harry Smith remains the oldest man to make his League début for Rovers and only four men have played for the club at an older age. Initially signed on at Eastville as the storm clouds of war threatened Europe, Smith brought a degree of experience and wisdom to Rovers’ back-line and he appeared in a 3-0 defeat and two goalless draws. “He radiates good fellowship and possesses the confidence and ability to teach”, the Rovers’ News Bulletin of October 1945 enthused and, a sidesman at Harry Bamford’s funeral in 1958, he was with Rovers for over forty years in various capacities. Prior to World War Two, Smith had been a strategic part of Forest’s successive Second Division campaigns, scoring his solitary League goal in a 2-1 victory over Port Vale on Easter Saturday 1932. He was also in the Darlington side that crashed 7-1 at Barnsley in November 1938. Wartime also saw him play once for Bristol City, in a 2-1 defeat at Bath City in April 1941, and end up in goal for Rovers reserves, after Cyril Hatcher fractured a finger in the Western League tie with BAC at Southmead in October 1945. |
No 190. James Terence Smith. 1933-35.
Born, 12.3.1902, Old Kilpatrick, Dunbartonshire. Died, 1975, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA. 5’ 9½”; 11 st 10 lb. Début: 30.8.33 v Crystal Palace. Career: Dumbarton Harp Juniors; July 1925 Clydebank [28,8]; April 1926 Rangers [2,0]; May 1927 Ayr United [76,97]; 18.9.29 Liverpool (£5,500) [61,38]; July 1932 Tunbridge Wells Rangers; 8.5.33 Bristol Rovers [26,13]; 28.6.35 Newport County [26,10]; 8.6.36 Notts County [4,1]; August 1937 Dumbarton (player-manager) [46,36] (manager, 24.1.39; director, June 1941-1943). According to the Guinness Book of Records, Jimmy Smith holds the British seasonal goal-scoring record and a phenomenal performance it was too. As Duncan Carmichael has commented, “if the story of Jimmy Smith was used as the basis for footballing fiction, the publisher would doubtlessly request the writer to tone it down a bit”. The fact that he later appeared for Bristol Rovers and scored a hat-trick after six, sixty and seventy minutes in November 1934 as Rovers threw away a 5-2 lead to concede three goals in the final eight minutes of the ten-goal thriller with Exeter City appears but a minor embellishment on an exhaustingly exciting tale. Smith had made his Clydebank début in the uncharacteristically goalless draw with Aberdeen in September 1925, but showed his colours the following month with three goals as Dundee United were defeated 6-1. Alongside Rovers’ Bill Murray, he could not prevent Clydebank’s relegation from Division One, only to join Rangers who were en route to five consecutive Scottish titles, playing in 2-0 wins against Dunfermline Athletic and Hearts. However, the following campaign, which opened with Smith claiming five goals in Ayr’s trial game, smashed all records. Smith’s 72 goals included three in friendlies, one in the Ayr Charity Cup, two in the Scottish Cup and an astonishing 66 in 38 matches as United ran away with the Second Division championship. “A tireless worker and a first-class opportunist”, reported the press in Ayrshire upon his arrival at Somerset Park, “Smith, barring accidents, will score many goals for his new club”; and so indeed it proved. On the opening day, 2-1 down at half-time, Smith’s hat-trick earned a 4-4 draw at home to St Bernard’s; the following month he scored five times before half-time, four of these in a ten-minute spell, as Albion Rovers were defeated 5-3. Forfar Athletic were defeated 7-0, Smith’s three being “all well-taken goals” with Danny Tolland, himself a future Rovers player, “time after time making openings for Smith”. Further hat-tricks against Clydebank, Armadale and East Stirling, the last-mentioned including a late winner in a fortunate 3-2 victory, preceded four, two in each half, in a 6-1 thumping of Arthurlie. Away to Alloa Athletic, “Smith obtained possession of the ball in midfield and crowned a splendid solo run with a terrific drive which gave the goalkeeper no chance to save” and later added two more for another hat-trick. Leading 6-1 at half-time at home to Bathgate, Smith scored four times before the opposition rallied with their second penalty of the game to lose 7-2. Four more goals, alongside two for Tolland, marked a 7-3 victory over Arbroath in which “they played some delightful football” and, having added four more in the final home fixture, a 7-1 win against Dundee United, Smith finished the season with a consolation goal at Powderhall in a 2-1 defeat away to Leith Athletic. He had shattered all records; his club scored 117 League goals and finished nine points clear of Third Lanark. Ayr then played Sweden in May 1928 and won 3-1, Smith scoring twice, adding his ten goals in four matches on tour to his astonishing seasonal tally, being dubbed following his four goals against Ooestfold as “the British champion” by the Scandinavian press. The following campaign, now in top-flight Scottish football, he scored three and missed a penalty as Ayr lost 7-3 at Hearts, before scoring five times, four of them after the interval, as his side recovered from a 4-2 half-time deficit to defeat Partick Thistle 8-4 at Firhill. Two goals against Manchester United on his Liverpool début kick-started an equally fruitful career south of the border, Smith’s scoring at Rovers being as proficient in the League as for the reserves where, in January 1934 alone, he scored five times against Taunton Town and four times against Cheltenham Town, totalling some 24 goals for the reserves in 1933-34. In addition to his three League goals against Exeter, he also scored a hat-trick as QPR were defeated 4-1 in April 1934, but he was generally overlooked in favour of Jimmy McCambridge or Jack Havelock. He also accumulated an astonishing 68 goals in 44 Southern League appearances at Tunbridge Wells. North of the border Smith’s goal-scoring continued unabated, his first game for Dumbarton being the 4-3 victory at Brechin City in August 1937 in which he characteristically hit a hat-trick. Poor Brechin suffered again, when he scored three times in a 7-0 victory in the return fixture that December and Smith also scored three times, including two penalties, when Dunfermline Athletic were defeated 4-1 at Boghead in March 1938. His final three appearances for Dumbarton being as player-manager, he subsequently appeared for Notts County as a wartime guest, having scored for County at Crystal Palace in September 1936. Jimmy Smith emigrated to the States after the war and his son John lived for many years at 192 Alexander Avenue, Bridgeport. |
No 91. Leonard Smith. 1926-29.
Born, 1895, Worcester. Died? 5’ 10½”; 12 st 6 lbs. Début: 28.8.26 v Luton Town. Career: Ellison’s FC (Birmingham Works League); Redditch Town; March 1921 Leeds United (professional, May 1921) [32,0]; 14.6.26 Bristol Rovers [45,1]; June 1929 Merthyr Town [25,0]; March 1930 Stourbridge; July 1930 Evesham Town; 19.9.32 Witley Wanderers. Brought up at 17 Algernon Street, Walsall, the fifth of eight children of Edward Smith and Louisa Shaw, Len Smith might have become a wood turner like his father, but instead earned a career in professional football. Having made nine appearances in 1923-24 as Leeds secured the Second Division championship, he brought a degree of experience at wing-half. Rovers’ 1-1 draw at Exeter in September 1926 brought Smith’s only goal of his League career and his time at Eastville was brought to a premature halt by a broken left leg, suffered during the 2-1 FA Cup victory over Wellingborough in November 1928. Undaunted, he moved to Merthyr, only to find himself part of their final League season, the Penydarren club conceding 135 goals and winning just six times all season. Smith played in the 8-2 home defeat against Brighton, but missed the humiliating 10-0 local derby defeat at Newport, before appearing in Merthyr’s final League fixture, a morale-boosting 5-1 victory over Newport County. He also appears to have had a solitary game in goal as Merthyr lost 4-0 at Torquay United in April 1930, Joe Pointon, later a Rovers forward, scoring a hat-trick. He may be the Leonard Smith who died in 1980 in Worcester or one who died in Walsall in 1964. |
No 627. Mark Jonathon Smith. 1998-2002.
Born, 13.9.1979, Bristol. 6’; 13 st 7 lbs. Début: 22.8.98 v Gillingham. Career: 1996 Bristol Rovers (professional, 9.7.98) [28+5,0]; 15.8.02 Cirencester Town; Mangotsfield United (trial); August 2003 Yate Town; 6.10.04 Yeovil Town (trial); 18.10.04 Paulton Rovers. Incredible though it may sound, Rovers were reduced to nine men in each of central defender Mark Smith’s first three League games. Yet, despite receiving two red cards in each fixture, Rovers drew at Gillingham and beat Bournemouth before losing at Northampton through the autumn of 1998. Prior to his League bow, Smith had made an appearance in an Auto Windscreens Shield tie against Cambridge United. He was to concede an own goal at The Mem a minute before half-time against Walsall, the first of the Saddlers’ two equalisers as they recorded a 4-3 victory. However, scrambling home a right-wing corner, he scored the only goal of the game when Rovers opposed Bournemouth in a pre-season friendly held in Dorchester in July 2001. Later making one appearance on trial at Yeovil, in a Somerset Cup-tie against Keynsham Town, Smith later worked in Yate in a shop which produced signs. |
No 814. Michael Smith. 2011-14.
Born, 4.9.1988, Belfast. 5’ 10”; 10 st 7 lbs. Début: 6.8.11 v AFC Wimbledon. Career: 2006 Ballyclare Comrades; 24.1.09 Ballymena United (£5,000) [83,7]; 23.6.11 Bristol Rovers (free) [84+17,1]; 25.7.14 Peterborough United (free) [116+4,3]; 30.6.17 Heart of Midlothian (free) [124+3,4]. Strong, defensive-minded Michael Smith, who joined Rovers in preference to Scottish Premier League side Kilmarnock, had represented Northern Ireland at youth, schoolboy and Under-23 levels. Half-Canadian, he had scored ten times in 92 games for Comrades and made his Ballymena début in a 2-1 home defeat against Dungannon Swifts in January 2009. The 2009-10 season saw him not only named his club’s Player of the Year and credited with the Goal of the Season, but he was also selected as Northern Ireland Sportswriters’ Player of the Year. A talented full-back and an intelligent young man, he also completed a Sports Science degree before joining Rovers. Sadly having to return to Ireland briefly following his father’s death in September 2012, Smith became an essential ingredient in Rovers’ defence, notably replacing the injured Dan Woodards after just 88 seconds against Cheltenham in October 2011 and scoring his first Rovers goal in the League Cup-tie at Ipswich in August 2012. He followed this up with a 62nd-minute goal in the home fixture with Bradford City in November 2012, the third time Rovers had taken the lead in a 3-3 draw. Solid and dependable, he was a reliable fixture in Rovers’ defensive line in 2012-13 and was deservedly named as the club’s Player of the Year. The following campaign, he was as strong as ever, becoming the club’s Player of the Year again and earning selection, along with John-Joe O’Toole into the League Two Team of the Year, yet a final day defeat at home to Mansfield Town saw Rovers’ ninety-four-year League status sacrificed. Popular at Peterborough, he scored after just eleven minutes of a 4-1 victory at Crawley in October 2014 and just before half-time of a home defeat to Rochdale in April 2016 as well as against promoted Bolton Wanderers in November 2016, but was sent off against Chesterfield in February 2016. Renewed club form earned Smith a call-up to the full Northern Ireland squad the following month for a pair of friendlies in the run-up to Euro 2016 and played in the 1-0 victory over Slovenia at Windsor Park. He was to win nineteen full caps in all and scored with a powerful twenty-five-yard shot after George Saville’s cross had been headed clear by Toni Kroos, to give his country an unlikely seventh-minute lead in Frankfurt in a Euro 2020 qualifier which Germany eventually won 6-1. Returning to oppose Rovers, his smothered shot led to Peterborough’s late winning goal in Rovers’ 2-1 home League defeat in October 2016. North of the border, Smith played in Hearts’ 4-0 victory over Celtic in December 2017, the Glaswegian side’s first defeat in 69 domestic matches, and was shown a red card in the defeat at Ibrox in October 2018. He was in the Hearts side which lost 2-1 to Celtic in the 2019 Scottish Cup Final at Hampden Park and was an unused substitute for the 2022 Final against Rangers, and scored against both Dundee and Alloa Athletic during 2020-21. In October 2022 he and Josh Ginnelly both played in an extraordinary Scottish Premier League game which, despite Lawrence Shankland’s hat-trick, was lost 4-3 at home to Celtic. |
No 546. Paul Stepney Smith. 1988-89.
Born, 5.10.1967, Wembley. 5’ 8”; 9 st 9 lbs. Début: 3.9.88 v Sheffield United. Career: Arsenal (professional, 15.7.85); 27.8.87 Brentford (free) [10+7,1]; 15.7.88 Bristol Rovers (free) [14+2,1]; 8.3.89 Torquay United (£10,000) [66+9,12]; July 1992 Cambridge United (trial). Scoring in Rovers’ 2-1 victory at Northampton in September 1988, right-winger Paul Smith was short, slight of build and deceptively quick. Unable to make the grade at Arsenal, where he appeared in the FA Youth Cup semi-finals in the spring of 1986, he played in both Brentford’s League fixtures with Rovers during the 1987-88 Third Division campaign. Against Preston that March he replaced Andy Sinton with three minutes left to play, appearing in a number 16 shirt, in all probability the first man ever to wear this now-familiar number in a Football League fixture. A longer and more extensive spell at Plainmoor included a Wembley appearance, featuring as substitute in the 4-1 defeat against Bolton Wanderers in the Sherpa Van Trophy Final of May 1989. Sadly, a serious injury accrued whilst playing for Torquay at Carlisle in May 1991 effectively ended his career and Paul Smith later moved back to London. |
No 56. Sidney Smith. 1923-25.
Born, 22.11.1900, Newcastle. Died, 1973, Newcastle. 5’ 11”; 11 st 3 lbs. Début: 8.12.23 v Northampton Town. Career: Wallsend; 1921 St Anthony’s Institute; January 1922 St Peter’s Albion; 17.5.22 Bristol Rovers [39,0]; August 1925 St Peter’s Albion; November 1927 Spen Black and White; August 1928 Walker Celtic. A sprinter, who had won several important athletics events on Tyneside, Sid Smith’s pace proved crucial for St Anthony’s as they won the Walker Nursing Cup in 1921-22 and reached the final of that year’s Tynemouth Infirmary Senior Cup. He played in a trial game against Bristol City in May 1923 and in the Blues against Whites trial match of August 1923 but, despite some impressive performances for the reserves, had to wait until December 1923 for his League début. He is believed to have been the Sidney Smith at 3 Stevenson Street, Coxhoe, one of eleven children in a mining family to James and Elizabeth Smith, and possibly raised in Gateshead, but further biographical details have proved elusive. |
No 927. Tyler Smith. 2019-20.
Born, 4.12.1998, Sheffield. 5’ 10”; 10 st 7 lbs. Début: 3.8.19 v Blackpool. Career: Sheffield United (professional, 1.7.17); 1.8.18 Barrow (loan); 31.12.18 Doncaster Rovers (loan) [2+12,2]; 10.7.19 Bristol Rovers (loan) [11+9,3]; 15.1.20 Rochdale (loan) [2+2,1]; 6.9.20 Swindon Town (free) [15+8,7]; 27.8.21 Hull City (free) [7+16,1]. On the day his signing was announced, striker Tyler Smith scored one of seven Rovers goals in the pre-season friendly away to Irish side St Mochta’s. It was an encouraging precursor to the forthcoming 2019-20 campaign, where he made his first appearance after fifty-five minutes at Blackpool, replacing Alex Rodman and hitting the post late on. Ten days later, two goals in eleven minutes either side of half-time and a late assist stamped his mark on a comprehensive 3-0 League Cup victory at home to Cheltenham Town. He opened his League account with an eighty-eighth-minute penalty against nine-man Tranmere Rovers the following week, scored against Gillingham and put Rovers in front at Ipswich after just four minutes in December 2019. Previously an unused substitute at Sheffield United for the game against West Bromwich Albion in December 2018, as the Blades secured promotion to the Premier League in 2019, Smith had been sent out on two loan spells that campaign. Having scored twice against Chesterfield in the Conference in August 2018, during his successful stint at Barrow, in which he scored ten times in 23 matches, he made a dramatic start to his time at Donny. Arriving on the pitch as a half-time substitute for Mallik Wilks against Burton Albion in January 2019, his two goals in twenty minutes swiftly turned an imminent defeat into a 2-1 lead, before the Brewers snatched a late equaliser. Thereafter, goals did not materialise, although he did play the final eight minutes of their 4-1 victory over the Gas at The Keepmoat in March 2019, replacing Kieran Sadlier. “He’s a great lad, lovely smile but he stabs defenders with goals. We call him the Toothy Murderer because Smiling Assassin had already been taken. Imagine Didier Drogba, Fred West and Dr Teeth merged into one, that’s our Tyler”, was how Blades’ manager Chris Wilder described Smith to the press. Smith scored for Rochdale against Shrewsbury Town in February 2020 and contributed four first-half goals on his first Swindon appearance, in a pre-season friendly with Nuneaton Town. Although he added a goal on his League bow for the Robins, Swindon were relegated along with Rovers from League One that campaign and Smith joined second-tier Hull City, for whom he headed a goal after just forty-five seconds, from George Honeyman’s free-kick against top-flight Everton in the FA Cup in January 2022; he also scored a League goal against Peterborough United the following month. Tyler Smith’s Bermudan-born younger brother Kyron Gordon plays for Sheffield United. |
No 430. Wilfred Samuel Smith. 1974-77.
Born, 3.9.1946, Neumünster, Germany. 5’ 10”; 11 st 3 lbs. Début: 11.3.75 v Fulham. Career: Pipworth Road School; Sheffield Boys; November 1962 Sheffield Wednesday (professional, 4.9.63) [206,4]; 31.8.70 Coventry City (£100,000) [132+3,1]; 14.10.74 Brighton (loan) [5,0]; 16.1.75 Millwall (loan) [5,0]; 4.3.75 Bristol Rovers (£25,000) [54,2]; November 1976 Chesterfield [26+1,2]; December 1977 Atherstone Town. Born Wilfred (or possibly Wolfgang) Schmidt, to an English father and German mother in a town in Schleswig-Holstein, some forty miles north of Hamburg, reliable right-back Wilf Smith anglicised his name on arrival in Yorkshire as a child. The young man excelled at swimming, cricket and football. Captain of Sheffield Boys, he also captained England Youth, won six caps for the England Under-23 side and represented the Football League on three occasions between 1967 and 1970. The first full-back to be transferred in the Football League for a £100,000 fee, he had experienced top-flight football at Wednesday as a team-mate of Alan Warboys and Don Megson, who signed him for Rovers. The highlight of Smith’s stay at Hillsborough was undeniably an appearance in the 1966 FA Cup Final, where a 100,000 crowd was treated to a hugely enjoyable game. “Here was a match in which there was no loser and where the game of football itself was the winner”, purred The Times, “Sheffield, indeed, seemed to have all the time in the world to go about their business of upsetting the favourites, like Walter Hammond batting on a turning wicket”. Despite this reference to an inter-war Rovers player, Wednesday could not hold on to a two-goal lead inside 57 minutes, in a match controlled by 1974 World Cup Final referee Jack Taylor; proving too strong, Everton won the prestigious trophy with three goals in the final fifteen minutes and Wednesday were accorded the honour of being the first losing side to perform a Wembley lap of honour. Working under Megson at Eastville, he played in each of the side’s first three seasons back in Division Two and scored in a 4-1 win at Blackpool in October 1975 and a 4-2 defeat at Carlisle over Easter 1976. Equally, he scored in Chesterfield’s home fixtures against Port Vale and Oxford United in the spring of 1977. Retiring from football to open supermarkets in Nuneaton and Blaby, his empire increased to seven retail outlets and Smith, reputed to be a millionaire as a result of his business work, now lives in retirement in Leicestershire. |
No 248. Wilfred Victor Smith. 1937-47.
Born, 7.4.1918, Pucklechurch. Died, 14.4.1968, Pucklechurch. 5’ 11”; 13 st. Début: 15.1.38 v Mansfield Town. Career: Pucklechurch; Clevedon Town; May 1936 Bristol Rovers (professional, 6.9.37) [26,0]; 27.12.46 Newport County (exchange for Ken Wookey) [9,0]; 1948 Abergavenny Thursdays; 1958-59 Pucklechurch. Tall, strong right-back Wilf Smith was one of a select band of players who appeared in the League for Rovers both sides of World War Two. Unlike the other Wilf Smith to play in Rovers’ colours, this powerful defender could lay claim to just 35 League matches in his career, a few of these in a struggling Newport County side which suffered relegation from Division Two in 1946-47. The son of Joseph Nicholas Smith and Elizabeth Ann Anstey, who married in 1898, Wilf Smith formed a regular full-back pairing in Rovers’ reserves during 1938-39 with Robert Carte, was a dependable full-back through the spring of 1940 and served in Italy, before helping the reserves secure the Western League championship of 1945-46. After a return to first-team action in March 1946, a friendly against Bristol City, he played in Ray Warren’s benefit game against Clevedon that May before a broken bone in his foot restricted his football still further. Smith was in the Newport side which won 3-2 at Eastville on Easter Saturday 1948 in a match of three penalties. He died just a week after his fiftieth birthday. |
No 743. Louie Pierre James Soares. 2004-05.
Born, 8.1.1985, Reading. 5’ 11”; 13 st 3 lbs. Début: 7.5.05 v Wycombe Wanderers. Career: Reading (professional, 1.7.04); 4.3.05 Tamworth (loan); 6.5.05 Bristol Rovers (loan) [0+1,0]; 1.8.05 Barnet (free) [14+6,1]; 24.5.06 Aldershot Town (free) [58+13,10]; 22.7.10 Southend United (free) [17+14,0]; 3.7.11 Hayes and Yeading; 31.1.12 Grimsby Town (free); 26.10.12 Ebbsfleet United (loan); 18.1.13 Alfreton Town (loan); 31.7.13 Hayes and Yeading United (trial); 6.9.13 Hayes and Yeading United (free); 26.12.13 Basingstoke Town (free); 30.6.16 Oxford City (free); 22.9.16 Hungerford Town (free); 15.6.18 Slough Town (free); 25.6.19 Hampton and Richmond Borough (free); 24.1.20 Slough Town (free); 26.2.20 Bracknell Town (free); 2.3.21 Flackwell Heath (free). Rovers were given special dispensation to sign three extra players prior to the final match of the 2004-05 season, one of these being Louie Soares, who spent one minute on the pitch, the shortest Rovers career on record. The elder brother of Tom Soares of Crystal Palace, Stoke City and Bury, Louie Soares enjoyed a career primarily in Conference football, but also won two full caps for Barbados, scoring on his début against Trinidad and Tobago in January 2007. With a yellow card on his début against Dagenham and Redbridge, he appeared in 5(+1) Conference games with Tamworth and was an unused substitute in Barnet’s first game back in the Football League, against Rovers in August 2005. A right-sided midfielder, he appeared at Old Trafford in the League Cup in October 2005, but was substituted after just 86 seconds, as a tactical substitution in the aftermath of goalkeeper Ross Flitney’s red card for perceived deliberate handball. The following month, his left-footed cross from the right wing led to Barnet’s consolation goal at The Mem and he later played for Aldershot against Rovers in the League Cup in August 2009, totalling 120(+27) Conference and Football League games for the Hampshire club and scoring seventeen goals, many of these fixtures as a team-mate of Andy Sandell. Champions under Gary Waddock of the Conference in 2007-08, the Shots returned to the Football League and made the League Two play-offs in 2009-10. Thereafter, he scored fifteen goals in 31 Conference matches in his first spell with Hayes and played in 9(+6) Conference matches for Grimsby as well as 7(+1) at Ebbsfleet. A run of 10(+8) Conference games with Alfreton included goals in the fixtures at Braintree and at Tamworth. Returning to Hayes, he added three goals in 7(+2) Conference South matches, although the side was relegated from that division in 2013-14 and scored against Farnborough on his Basingstoke début, before contributing the winning goal in April 2014 as Staines Town were defeated 5-4, totalling twelve goals in 86(+17) Conference South appearances over eighteen months. Town reached the play-offs in their division in the spring of 2015, where they lost over two legs to Whitehawk, but suffered relegation in the spring of 2016, Soares being named as the Dragons’ Player of the Season. After 7(+1) Nationwide North games for Oxford City and a goal against Concord Rangers, he scored twenty times in 60(+8) matches as Hungerford missed the play-offs by a point in the same division. He scored a hat-trick in the 3-1 victory over St Albans City in March 2018 and added one goal in 10(+15) Nationwide South games for Slough in 2018-19; he also played in the 2019 Berks and Bucks Senior Cup Final, a 3-1 victory over Reading Under-23s. At Hampton and Richmond, he appeared in 5(+13) Nationwide South games, scoring against Oxford City and Braintree Town, and he played in five Isthmian League matches at Bracknell Town. |
No 745. Matthew James Somner. 2005-06.
Born, 8.12.1982, Isleworth, London. 6’; 13 st 1 lb. Début: 9.8.05 v Grimsby Town. Career: Brentford (professional, 1.8.00) [72+12,1]; 1.12.04 Cambridge United (loan) [24,0]; 5.8.05 Bristol Rovers (free) [1,0]; 19.8.05 Aldershot Town (free); 16.6.06 Notts County (free) [47+7,1]; 1.8.08 Mansfield Town (free); 14.10.10 Altrincham (loan); 31.1.11 Forest Green Rovers (free); 2.7.11 Lewes (free); 17.8.12 Kingstonian (free); 15.11.13 Crawley Down Gatwick (loan); 27.7.15 Walton Casuals (free); 9.3.16 Walton and Hersham (free). Tall defensive player Matt Somner appeared in Rovers’ side which lost 2-1 at home to Grimsby, before a crowd of 6,300, and was in the Cambridge team which drew 1-1 in Horfield in January 2005. The son of Peter Somner and Deborah Lagden, he qualified to play for Wales and, as a Welsh Under-21 international, the first of his two caps came alongside Kevin Gall and David Pipe in the 8-1 defeat by Italy in Pavia in September 2003, in which Alberto Gilardino scored four times. Primarily used as a left-back at Griffin Park, where his May 2001 début ended up as a 6-0 defeat against Swansea, Somner was sent off in Brentford’s 4-3 win against Doncaster Rovers in August 2004, just seven minutes after coming on to the pitch as a substitute, as well as for Notts County at MK Dons in September 2006 and Mansfield against Forest Green Rovers and Crawley Town. Although he scored for Brentford in the FA Cup at Wycombe, Somner’s sole League goal for the Bees was the opener in a 3-0 victory over Northampton Town in March 2003 and he also appeared in a 7-1 FA Cup victory over Gainsborough Trinity that calendar year. His Notts County goal was twenty minutes from the end of a 2-0 win against Boston United in April 2007 and he scored once, against Eastbourne, in 58(+6) Conference games with Mansfield. To his 29(+2) Conference games and three goals with Aldershot can be added nine appearances for Altrincham and 14(+2) matches with Forest Green, plus a final-day-of-the-season goal against Tamworth. Alongside Craig Armstrong in the Forest Green side which survived relegation from the Conference on goal difference, Somner later played 45 games for Lewes, his two goals being headers in cup-ties against Sudbury Town and Chertsey. Appointed club captain at Kingstonian, he played in 41(+4) games, scoring in March 2013 against both Enfield Town and in a 1-0 victory away to Hampton and Richmond Borough, although he also received a red card in the latter game. After retiring from the game, Matt Somner helped co-ordinate sending former professionals around schools in the East Midlands to encourage youngsters to take up football. |
No 974. Sion Spence. 2021-22.
Born, 2.10.2000, Penarth. 5’ 10”; 11 st 1 lb. Début: 25.9.21 v Walsall. Career: Cardiff and Vale School; 2008 Cardiff City; 2.9.19 Barry Town United (loan); 18.9.20 Crystal Palace (free); 9.7.21 Bristol Rovers (loan) [1+5,1]; 6.7.22 Walsall (trial); 27.7.22 Gloucester City (trial); 4.8.22 Gloucester City (free). Without a win away from home all calendar year, Rovers were draing 1-1 at Walsall into stoppage time in September 2021, when injury led to Siôn Spence making a late début; within moments, the young Welshman had a shot saved before turning home Brett Pitman’s cross for the winning goal, sparking wild celebrations amongst over a thousand Rovers supporters behind the goal. Two months later, Rovers trailed higher-tier Oxford United 3-1 in extra time of an FA Cup replay at The Mem; Spence was used as a late substitute and scored twice as Rovers found three goals in eight minutes to win a dramatic match. The season arguably hinged on this, Rovers experiencing an upturn in fortunes and promotion to League One followed, although Spence was not in the side by this stage. As highlighted by an impressive hat-trick for Palace’s youth side in a 4-0 victory over Norwich City in February 2021, Spence had joined Rovers with a burgeoning reputation. The young attacking midfielder had been at school with Welsh international Rabbi Matondo and rose through the ranks at Cardiff, alongside Martyn Margetson’s son Ben as well as Rollin Menayese. He helped Cardiff win the KGHM International Cup in Lubin in June 2016 before making his first appearance for their youth side in a 3-1 victory over Coventry City in December of that year. During 2017-18 he made his mark with 29 goals, being the top scorer in Premier League Two as well as Cardiff’s Academy Player of the Year and scoring hat-tricks in a 3-0 win at Ipswich in October 2017 and in a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Millwall the following month. A Liverpool supporter, he scored eleven goals in fifteen games during an injury-hit 2018-19 campaign, as Cardiff won the Under-23 title. Having scored for the Wales Under-16 in a 3-1 Victory Shield win against Northern Ireland in 2016, Spence scored once in seven games for Wales at Under-19 level and won the first of his five Welsh Under-21 caps in a 5-0 loss to Belgium in October 2020. He was sent off when Wales Under-21 played Moldova in June 2021, apparently for simulation although he had to be stretchered off the field, and played for Wales Under-21 in the 5-0 victory over the Netherlands in October 2021. Released by Cardiff, he spent a year with Palace, making his first appearance for their Academy side in a 4-1 defeat at Leeds United in November 2020, before arriving at The Mem on loan. |
No 120. Samuel Spencer. 1928-29.
Born 18.1.1902, Stoke-on-Trent. Died, 3.1.1987, Wallasey. 5’ 10½”; 11 st 6 lbs. Début: 13.10.28 v Watford. Career: Trent Vale; Oakhill; 28.8.21 Stoke City (professional, January 1922) [1,0]; 12.7.23 New Brighton; August 1925 Mid-Rhondda United; 3.11.25 Aberdeen [9,0]; 1.6.28 Bristol Rovers [2,0]; December 1928 Newry Town; August 1929 Port Vale; August 1930 Newry Town; 11.8.31 New Brighton [16,0]; 23.9.33 Winsford United (player-coach). A half-back who enjoyed a career in Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England before scouting for a number of clubs, Sam Spencer was later President of the Wirral Youth Football League. In his day, he had enjoyed a healthy playing career, one highlight being his selection for Aberdeen’s 1927 tour of South Africa. Living at 17 Roslin Street, Aberdeen, he had also made sporadic appearances at Pittodrie. He played alongside Jonah Wilcox at New Brighton, whilst two League appearances for Rovers followed hot on the heels of goals in both reserve fixtures against Taunton Town. The son of a stoker in the local electrical works, Sam Spencer was the third of four children to William Spencer and Louisa Milward, who had married in 1898 and was brought up in Newcastle Road, Stoke-on-Trent. |
No 249. Richard Spivey. 1938-39.
Born, 18.8.1916, Kingston-upon-Hull. Died, March 1973, Kingston-upon-Hull. 5’ 5”; 10 st 5 lbs. Début: 10.9.38 v Southend United. Career: Southcoates Lane School, Hull; Yorkshire Schoolboys; Southcoates Lane Old Boys; March 1935 Hull City [21,5]; 3.8.37 Torquay United [28,1]; 4.7.38 Bristol Rovers [10,4]; 19.7.39 Southport (free); October 1939 Hull City (to April 1941). A prodigious schoolboy goal-scorer, as 400 goals in five seasons at school testify, Dick Spivey was relegated from Division Two with Hull City before spending two years in the south-west of England. For both Torquay and Rovers, he made his début against Southend; he was in the Gulls’ side that played Rovers in January 1938 and scored his only goal for that club in the 1-1 draw with Millwall two months later, whilst his Rovers début was marked by two good goals in a 4-1 victory. The younger child of James Spivey and Mary Newall, with an older sister Vera, Dick Spivey married Joan Darnell (1918-70) in Hull in 1939 as war broke out and he married Jacqueline Hoggarth in 1969, the younger daughter of Walter Hoggarth (1913-55) and Irene Hepworth (1923-73). He played in three games for Southport in the aborted 1939-40 season, once each for the two Bradford teams in wartime and scored twice in thirteen wartime matches with Hull, before his son Ian was born at the end of the war. |
No 504. Andrew John Spring. 1985-86.
Born, 17.11.1965, Gateshead. Died, 13.2.2022, Redditch. 5’ 11”; 13 st 2 lbs. Début: 18.8.85 v Darlington. Career: Coventry City (professional, November 1983) [3+2,0]; 22.6.85 Bristol Rovers (free) [18+1,0]; 11.10.85 Cardiff City (loan) [1,0]; April 1986 Sligo Rovers; 1987 Drogheda United; Longford Town. Tall, well-built right-back Andy Spring played under manager Bobby Gould at both Coventry and Rovers, making his début in the Sky Blues’ 5-0 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield in May 1984. Rovers did not score in the first four home League games of 1985-86 and, after a 6-0 hammering at Walsall, his final game for the club was the 1-1 draw at home to Wolves in March 1986. His solitary League appearance for Cardiff City came in the 2-0 defeat at Gillingham in October 1985. Andy Spring was the son of Walter Spring and Shirley Forster, his father being the third of five children to Cecil Spring (1909-71) and Hilda Knopp. Blond-haired and moustachioed, he was released by Rovers as a consequence of off-field activities and soon moved to Ireland, where he played for a succession of clubs, featuring in Sligo Rovers’ April 1987 Irish Cup semi-final against Shamrock Rovers. In 1992, Spring was reported to have won £250,000 on the Irish Lottery from a 25p ticket. Andy Spring later worked for many years for the Prison Service, receiving a number of commendations for his stalwart work with young offenders. His son Aaron, born in September 1991, a talented rugby player with Sligo and the Connaught Under-18 side, represented Ireland Under-20s against Italy in November 2010. Gateshead born former Bristol Rovers defender Andy Spring, who appeared in 19 league games for the club during the 1985/86 season, passed away suddenly on February 13th at the age of 56. Beginning his career with Coventry City, he appeared in five league games for them, making his debut in a 5-0 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield in May 1984. When Coventry boss Bobby Gould moved from Highfield Road to take over the managerial reigns at Eastville, for a second time, in May 1985 he signed Andy from his former club. Andy made his Rovers league debut on the opening day of the 1985/86 campaign in a 3-3 draw against Darlington at Feethams. He was in good company as he was one of five players making their first appearance in the blue and white quarters that day, the others being Stephen Badock, Ian Davies, Byron Stevenson and Nicky Tanner. In fact, news of Andy’s passing reached us via Tanner’s Twitter account. Having appeared in eight league games for Rovers, he spent a loan spell with Cardiff City in October 1985, during which time he played just once for them, a 2-0 defeat against Gillingham. On his return to Eastville he appeared in another 11 games for Rovers and also played in the fourth round FA Cup tie against Luton Town. He also appeared in the two legs of the first round Milk Cup tie against Newport County, a Freight Rover Trophy tie against Swindon Town and the Gloucestershire Cup Final against Bristol City in September 1985. On leaving Rovers, at the end of the 1985/86 campaign, he moved to Ireland and went on to play for Sligo Rovers, Drogheda United and Longford Town. In 1992 he was reported to have won £250,000 on the Irish Lottery from a 25p ticket. He later worked for the Prison Service and received a number of commendations for his work with young offenders and worked latterly as a lorry driver, based in Redditch. Our thoughts are with Andy’s family and friends at this sad time. Keith Brookman. |
No 82. Trevor Stallard. 1925-26.
Born, 6.3.1905, Cwmparc, Pontypridd. Died, February 1999, Southampton. 5’ 8”; 10 st 4 lbs. Début: 23.1.26 v Merthyr Town. Career: Cwmparc; West Bromwich Albion (trial); 27.8.25 Aberdare Athletic; 30.10.25 Weymouth; 21.1.26 Bristol Rovers [2,0]; 16.8.26 Weymouth; 9.5.27 Winchester City; 1931 New Milton; 5.9.32 Winchester Red Triangle Athletic. Strong and tough-tackling, Trevor Stallard joined Rovers in a joint deal involving Willie Culley and played in a goalless draw with Merthyr as well as a 3-1 defeat at Newport County. The son of William Stallard and Elizabeth Ann Lloyd (1884-1924), he had scored ten times in 35 matches for Weymouth during the 1925-26 season, including one on his début against Bath City and he joined Rovers shortly after playing against the reserve side. Returning to Weymouth in time for their pre-season trial game, a 2-2 draw, he made his second début in a 12-2 win against the Bristol Suburban League XI, added two goals as an emergency centre-forward against Bath City in April 1927 and scored a Southern League hat-trick before the season was out, as Weymouth, six goals ahead at half-time, defeated Mid-Rhondda United 10-1. A début goal for Winchester City, a late consolation strike in defeat against Cowes in the Hampshire League, preceded a hat-trick in a 4-4 draw against Bournemouth Gas Works in September 1927. Appointed club captain, he led his side to the final of the Russell Cotes Benevolent Cup in May 1928, which was lost 2-1 to HMS Victory, and he played in the 3-0 FA Cup win against Staines that September, when all three goals came after an opponent had been sent off for having protruding nails in his boots. Alongside a teenage Ted Drake at Winchester City, he later captained Red Triangle to the Eastleigh and District League championship in 1932-33 where, level with Romsey Imps, they were subjected to a play-off at Bar End which, although a goal adrift at half-time, they won 5-1. In 1928, Stallard married Lena Farr (1907-83) and their daughter Olwen, born in 1931, bore them two grandsons. Later a docker in Southampton, Trevor Stallard lived at 93 Ventnor Court, Southampton and, of former Rovers players, only Joe Walter, Ernie Coombs and Phil Taylor are known to have lived to an older age. |
No 425. David Albry Staniforth. 1973-79.
Born, 6.10.1950, Chesterfield. 6’; 11 st 5 lbs. Début: 9.3.74 v Huddersfield Town. Career: Nottinghamshire Boys; Sheffield United (professional, May 1968) [22+4,3]; 8.3.74 Bristol Rovers (£20,000) [135+18,32]; 20.6.79 Bradford City (£24,000) [107+8,25]; 30.6.82 Halifax Town (free) (player-coach) [66+3,21]; July 1984 Burton Albion; August 1985 Crookes FC (player-manager). Whilst Alan Warboys and Bruce Bannister stole the accolades, Rovers’ promotion campaign of 1973-74 and subsequent success in Division Two owed more than a little debt to the guile and work ethic of striker Dave Staniforth. An unsung hero, who plied his trade in all four divisions of the Football League, tall, bearded Staniforth scored in six successive seasons for Rovers and, following Bobby Campbell’s appointment as manager, served as Rovers’ captain from November 1977. An athlete who represented Nottingham Schools at 100 yards and 220 yards, he had turned down Huddersfield Town’s overtures to remain at school, ironically playing against the Terriers on his Rovers début, and scored on his Blades’ début in a 3-2 victory over Chester in a May 1968 testimonial game. Whilst at Bramall Lane, he and Tom McAlister participated in the 1972 club tour of Zambia, playing in two matches there, and bizarrely ended the 4-2 defeat at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge in February 1973 as a temporary linesman. Missing a month after fracturing a cheekbone, Staniforth joined, just twenty minutes before the transfer deadline, a Rovers side poised for promotion from Division Three. His time at Eastville featured several remarkable games, none more so perhaps than the 9-0 thrashing at Spurs in October 1977 and the 5-5 draw at home to Charlton Athletic in November 1978. Popular and cheerful, he had scored an eightieth-minute goal, his first for the club, with a powerful left-foot shot, when set up by Bruce Bannister, to defeat Wrexham 1-0 in March 1974. Promoted from Division Four with Bradford in the spring of 1982, having missed out on goal difference twelve months earlier, he was Halifax’s top scorer in 1982-83, his tally including a hat-trick in the 4-0 home victory over Colchester United in January 1983 and two goals the following week at Darlington, before a facial injury ended his professional career. Later scoring five goals in eleven appearances under Neil Warnock at Burton, before being player-manager at Whitbread County Senior League side Crookes, he worked as a builder until August 2005 and latterly as a support driver for South Yorkshire Police. The son of Robert Staniforth and Sheila Rodgers, he married Denise Powell in 1972; they have a daughter Chloë and currently live in Loxley. |
No 815. Craig Stanley. 2011-12.
Born, 3.3.1984, Bedworth, Warwickshire. 5’ 8”; 10 st 8 lbs. Début: 6.8.11 v AFC Wimbledon. Career: 1.8.02 Walsall; 21.7.03 Raith Rovers (loan) [18+1,1]; 19.2.04 Telford United (free); 7.6.04 Hereford United (free); 25.5.06 Morecambe (free) [116+12,13]; 31.1.11 Torquay United (loan) [19,1]; 7.6.11 Bristol Rovers (free) [30+4,1]; 3.7.12 Aldershot Town (free) [5,1]; 2.7.14 Eastleigh (free); 5.6.15 Lincoln City (free, to 26.9.16); 23.8.16 Southport (loan); October 2016 Barwell; 15.6.18 Lancaster City (free; 9.9.18 player-manager); 29.12.18 Kettering Town (free); 15.6.19 Clitheroe (free); 12.9.19 Nuneaton Borough (free); 5.11.19 Clitheroe (free); 5.8.21 Lymington Town (free); 8.6.22 Totton and Eling (manager, to 2.8.22); 26.10.22 Blackfield and Langley (manager). Only two men have been in a side promoted to the Football League through the play-offs two years in succession. Central midfielder Craig Stanley, not content with helping Hereford regain their League status in 2006, was an essential cog in Morecambe’s side which secured entry into League Two in 2007. He achieved all this despite dealing daily with Type One diabetes. Having scored on his début for Raith at East Stirling in the Scottish League Cup in August 2003, he also scored in their 2-0 League victory over Falkirk in January 2004 and scored once in 11(+1) Conference games with Telford and four times in 78(+3) with the Bulls. As Morecambe secured League status, the midfielder scoring twice in 40(+6) Conference games, Stanley was head-butted at Wembley by Matt Gill, for which his future Rovers team-mate earned a red card. Playing in their first League fixture, a goalless draw at home to Barnet, Stanley helped Morecambe reach the League Two play-offs in May 2010 before playing under Paul Buckle at both Torquay and Rovers. He also captained the England C side whilst at Morecambe. With no red cards to his name in his career and no prior appearances against Rovers, Stanley played in both Rovers’ first two fixtures against his old club Morecambe, scored his only goal for the Pirates in a 3-2 defeat at Northampton in March 2012 and moved on to Aldershot at the close of the season. Missing eight months with a broken leg and ankle ligament trouble, Stanley returned for the final five games of the League campaign, as the Shots battled in vain to retain their Football League status, appearing in the final-day 2-0 defeat at Rotherham which sealed the club’s fate. Living in Farnborough, he was appointed the Shots’ captain for the Conference campaign of 2013-14, in which he started all 46 League matches, scoring in a 2-2 draw with Halifax Town in January 2014. Stanley scored in his first Eastleigh appearance, a Conference fixture at Nuneaton Town in August 2014, and played against Rovers in both games that season, hitting five goals in 29(+3) fixtures as Eastleigh surprised many in reaching the play-offs. Thereafter, he scored twice, at Braintree and at relegation-bound Halifax, in 26(+3) Conference matches with Lincoln City and appeared in five Conference matches on loan at Southport and in 27 matches with Lancaster City, before being signed for Kettering by former Rovers goalkeeper Marcus Law. The Poppies were runaway champions of the Southern League Central Division in 2018-19, Stanley scoring a rare goal after 53 minutes of the 2-1 defeat at home to Alvechurch in April 2019. In addition, he played in the Southern League Premier Shield the following month, in which Kettering lost on penalties to Weymouth, before captaining Clitheroe and making six Southern League appearances with Nuneaton Borough. |
No 10. (Harry) Harold Stansfield. 1920-21.
Born, 9.8.1891, Bolton-on-Dearne, near Barnsley. Died, 14.3.1940, Bristol. 5’ 10½”; 12 st. Début: 28.8.20 v Millwall. Career: Bolton Wesley Guild; 1908 Bolton Collingwood; Barnsley (trial); 9.11.12 Bath City (trial); 15.11.12 Bristol Rovers [3,0] (to 1922). Towards the close of Rovers’ first ever Football League fixture, goalkeeper Harry Stansfield lost the flight of the ball in the August sun and Millwall scored their second goal to seal a comfortable 2-0 win. Stansfield, who always played in glasses, was nearing the end of his playing career, having first appeared for Rovers in the Southern League against Coventry City in April 1913. Following 57 Southern League matches, he was granted a joint benefit game with Ellis Crompton, a goalless draw with Exeter City, as well as a further benefit game in April 1934, when Bolton and Dockland Settlement met at Eastville. He had earlier helped Collingwood win the Montague Mexborough Charity Cup and the Swinton and District Licensed Victuallers’ League and Rovers reserves to secure the 1912-13 Western League title, before conceding seven at Cardiff in the Southern League in November 1914. One of nine children to Thomas Stansfield and Elizabeth Jeffries, he was brought up with his four surviving younger sisters at 16 Lady Croft in Bolton-on-Dearne, where his father worked as a coal miner. Harry Stansfield, who lived for many years at 19 New Charlotte Street, Bedminster and died at Southmead Hospital of kidney failure after a long illness, aged just forty-eight; he had married Constance Emily Gillott (1888-1974, the daughter of a wheelwright, William Henry Gillott) in Bristol on 22nd March 1913, with team-mate Riba Boxley’s signature appearing on the certificate as a witness, and they had two children, the elder Harry, who married Ivy Hogg and had a daughter, becoming Rovers’ treasurer in 1963. |
No 395. Thomas Stanton. 1968-76.
Born, 3.5.1948, Glasgow. 5’ 9”; 11 st 9 lbs. Début: 31.8.68 v Crewe Alexandra. Career: Liverpool (professional, May 1965); August 1966 Kilmarnock (trial); September 1966 Arsenal; September 1967 Mansfield Town [37,1]; 22.6.68 Bristol Rovers (free) [160+12,7]; 1976 Weymouth; June 1977 Forest Green Rovers (player-coach); January 1980 Bristol Rovers (schoolboy co-ordinator); 23.1.82 Clevedon Town (player-coach; manager to 8.2.83); 16.7.83 Bristol Rovers (schoolboy coach); September 1984 Durdham Down Adult School; 1985 Portway Bristol (player-coach; chairman to May 1994). Tough, uncompromising full-back-cum-midfield maestro Tom Stanton was an ever-present as Rovers secured promotion from Division Three in 1973-74. Uncompromising in the tackle and creative in open play, he had made his Rovers début in a 6-1 defeat, yet recovered to help the side rise to second-tier status and continued to perform well at that level. Bertie Mee’s (1918-2001) first signing for Arsenal, he had played in two London FA Challenge Cup-ties but, injured shortly before a proposed Division One début, had only appeared in the League at Mansfield prior to joining Rovers. A Scottish Schoolboys international with “tigerish tackling”, he was known to Rovers as he had played in Mansfield’s 3-0 victory at Field Mill in March 1968. Stanton and fellow Rovers man Roger Frude made their débuts for Mansfield in the same game, against Bury in September 1967. Having scored his solitary League goal against Peterborough United the following month, his first strike for Rovers came against the same opposition, in an FA Cup-tie in November 1968. The home fixture with Halifax in the promotion campaign saw Stanton score both goals in a 2-0 win, the first following Colin Dobson’s chip three minutes prior to half-time and the second fired home from the edge of the penalty area after 79 minutes. Driving a Ford Capri in his Rovers days and owning a dog called “King”, he even replaced the injured Dick Sheppard in goal against Tranmere Rovers in January 1973 and played in the 8-2 victory away to Brian Clough’s (1935-2004) Brighton in December 1973, “a match that none of us who played in it will forget”. His career ended by a knee injury at Weymouth, Stanton made a belated Clevedon début as player-coach in January 1982. Married to Carôle with two children, his son Paul playing local football to a high level, Tom Stanton married again in 1988 to Sue and also has three step-children. Having first started an antiques business in Clifton, he moved to furnishing company boardrooms, into computers and telecommunications before becoming a professional head-hunter. He owns two companies and holds shares in a third, living in Stoke Bishop and working in Westbury-on-Trym, from where he helped set up Britain’s first computerised call centre. |
No 545. Simon John Stapleton. 1988-89.
Born, 10.12.1968, Oxford. 6’; 12 st. Début: 27.8.88 v Wigan Athletic. 6’; 12 st FB Début: 27.8.88 v Wigan Athletic. Career: Portsmouth (professional, 16.12.86); 8.5.88 Bristol Rovers (free) [4+1,0]; 1.8.89 Wycombe Wanderers (free) [46+3,3]; August 1996 Slough Town; 20.1.97 Rushden and Diamonds; 1997 Stevenage Borough; July 1998 Aldershot Town; 2000 Witney Town; 24.12.02 Windsor and Eton (player-coach); 1.2.05 Maidenhead United (coach); 2005 Freeland. Kept out of Rovers’ side by the consistent form of Ian Alexander, tall right-back Simon Stapleton played for Rovers and Wycombe alone in the Football League. Unable to make the first-team at Pompey, the younger son of John Stapleton and Elizabeth Cheales subsequently represented a whole raft of clubs who later broke onto the League circuit. Nineteen goals in 147(+3) Conference games with Wycombe preceded their admission to the League in 1993 and, having missed the first half of the 1993-94 campaign through injury, he enjoyed some success. Injuries were to re-surface later, when an Achilles injury on his Aldershot début at Purfleet in the Ryman Premier League in August 1998 ruled him out for a few months. During his time with the Chairboys, they won the Isthmian League in 1990, the FA Trophy in both 1991 and 1993, the Bob Lord Trophy in 1992 and both the Conference and Berks and Bucks Senior Cup in 1993, Stapleton being selected to play for England against Wales in the semi-professional international of March 1993. He later appeared in 22(+2) Conference games for Slough, scoring twice, 3(+3) for Rushden, again scoring two goals, and in 4(+3) matches in the same division with Stevenage before joining Witney and District League side Freeland. A qualified coach from 2002, he had played alongside Giuliano Grazioli in the Stevenage side which drew 1-1 with Newcastle United in the FA Cup in January 1998. |
No 929. Jordi Van Stappershoef. 2019-21.
Born, 10.4.1996, Amsterdam. 6’ 6”; 14 st 7 lbs. Début: 7.9.19 v Accrington Stanley. Career: July 2012 Stoke City (trial); FC Volendam (1.7.14 professional) [23,0]; 13.6.19 Bristol Rovers [10+3,0]; 10.7.21 AZ Alkmaar (free) [5+1,0]. Giant goalkeeper Jordi van Stappershoef was the fourth Dutch professional to play for Rovers, following in the footsteps of Sergio Ommel and fellow custodians Michel Kuipers and Kelle Roos. He had made his first appearance in the Eerste Divisie when he replaced the injured Theo Timmermans after twenty-seven minutes of the 5-0 away victory at Sparta Rotterdam in August 2014 and his appearances for the side included a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Twente at de Grolsch Veste in March 2019. “He is a player that we have done our homework on”, said Rovers’ manager Graham Coughlan. On his first pre-season start for Rovers, a 10-1 win at Yate Town in July 2019, he saved a first-half penalty from Olly Mehew and he played in the Football League Trophy game at Plymouth that September prior to his League bow, when Rovers, conceding a late penalty, drew at home to ten-man Stanley. He made two critical penalty saves as Rovers defeated Orient in a shoot-out following a drawn Football League Trophy tie in December 2019 and proved a strong deputy in the wake of Anssi Jaakkola’s injury at MK Dons on New Year’s Day 2020. Two crucial saves at home to Coventry City later that month kept Rovers in an FA Cup third-round tie and, in addition to appearances whilst Jaakkola was on international duty, he also played the second-half of a Football League Trophy victory at Orient in December 2020. Later that month, though, an outstanding performance against Plymouth Argyle at The Mem silenced any doubters, the tall Dutchman keeping a clean sheet with a string of fine saves in a morale-boosting 3-0 victory. |
No 329. Cecil Steeds. 1956-57.
Born, 11.1.1929, Bristol. 5’ 9”; 10 st 8 lbs. Début: 19.1.57 v Leicester City. Career: Merrywood School; Bedminster Down Boys’ Club; 1945 Bristol City (professional, 4.3.47) [9,0]; 21.5.52 Bristol Rovers [1,0]; 14.8.58 Bath City (free); 1960 Chippenham Town (retired, 12.5.61). “An enthusiastic player who tackles strongly and distributes the ball well” (Bert Tann), inside-forward Cecil Steeds played in just one League fixture with Rovers. Having appeared in an FA Cup defeat at Blackburn in January 1954, he also played in the 7-2 loss at Leicester three years later, the legendary Arthur Rowley scoring twice. The youngest of three children to Samuel Steeds (1890-1952) and Amy Padfield (1895-1954), who had married in 1916 Steeds, a life-long teetotaller and non-smoker, was brought up in Banwell Close, Bedminster Down, was entered in the July 1937 “City Babe” competition which was won by Herbert Rudman, and so impressed at school that Bristol City used him in reserve fixtures at White Hart Lane and Highbury. Bob Hewison (1889-1964) signed him as a professional at Ashton Gate and, having been de-mobbed in 1949, he made his League début in a goalless draw at home to Orient the following year. Steeds earned £10 a week at Eastville, plus £8 weekly in the summer months, when he supplemented his income working for a weekly £5 on Gloucestershire Cricket Club’s ground staff alongside George Petherbridge and Josser Watling, until a knee injury side-lined him in January 1953. “There was a real togetherness about the club”, reported Steeds of the Rovers side which gained promotion to Division Two in the spring of 1953 for the first time in its history. Later re-joining Hewison at Bath, where he played alongside Stan Mortensen (1921-91) and Tony Book, Steeds then joined Chippenham whose manager was his former Ashton Gate team-mate Cyril Williams (1921-80) and worked at a solicitor’s before spending thirty years with Robinson’s Paper Company. He also enjoyed club cricket with Bedminster. Married to Rita Kew in 1953, they lived in Headley Park and had a son Kevin, who died in 2008, a daughter Denise and three grandchildren. |
No 11. David Morton Steele. 1920-22.
Born, 29.7.1894, Carluke, Lanarkshire. Died, 23.5.1964, Stanningley. 5’ 8”; 11 st 4 lbs. Début: 28.8.20 v Millwall. Career: Kirkfieldbank School; Armadale; Cumnock Juniors; 27.11.13 St Mirren [30,4]; January 1917 Armadale; December 1917 Douglas Water Thistle; February 1919 Cowdenbeath (trial); 21.11.19 Bristol Rovers [67,2]; 8.5.22 Huddersfield Town (£2,500) [186,1]; July 1929 Preston North End (free) [18,2]; July 1930 Bury (£300) (player-coach); October 1930 Ashton National (coach); February 1931 Aalborg, Denmark (coach); May 1931 Klubben, Denmark (coach) (to August 1931); August 1934 Sheffield United (coach); 30.4.36 Bradford Park Avenue (manager); 20.9.43 Huddersfield Town (manager); August 1948 Bradford City (manager); February 1952 Huddersfield Town (scout) (to 1964). When David Steele walked out for Rovers’ inaugural Football League fixture, a 2-0 defeat at Millwall, he was already established in the side, having played in 22 Southern League matches the previous campaign, his début coming against Watford in November 1919; he scored on Easter Monday 1920 against Luton Town. A brother-in-law to Rovers’ goalkeeper Jack Thomson, he was to give great service to the club for the first two campaigns in the third tier, goals coming against Charlton Athletic, when his namesake scored for the Addicks, Newport County and in the FA Cup against Exeter City. However, the best was yet to come. Although his only goal came in the 4-0 thumping of Arsenal over Christmas 1922, he became a pivotal figure in Huddersfield’s extraordinary success during the 1920s. Signed by Herbert Chapman (1878-1934), together with Joe Walter, Steele was at Huddersfield as they became the first team to win three consecutive League titles, in 1923-24, 1924-25 and 1925-26, as well as playing in the 1928 FA Cup Final which was lost 3-1 to Blackburn Rovers, who had taken a first-minute lead through Jack Roscamp (1901-39). This form earned him three full caps for Scotland, playing over Easter 1923 against Ireland, Wales and England and, indeed, on his début, a 1-0 win against Ireland in Belfast, “Steele was the best of the three halves”. Thereafter, he spent a brief period in Denmark and managed both Bradford’s League sides. Having made an emergency wartime appearance for Park Avenue, scoring against Sheffield Wednesday in October 1942 at the age of forty-eight, and with three sixteen-year-olds as team-mates, Steele was said to have “discovered” Len Shackleton (1922-2000), although the striker had already scored for Arsenal reserves against Rovers reserves in 1939 aged sixteen. David Steele lived for many years at 4 Belson Street, Huddersfield and his grandson David Shaw, born in 1948, scored goals freely for Huddersfield, Oldham and West Brom. |
No 481. (Archie) Arthur Stephens. 1981-85.
Born, 19.5.1954, Liverpool. 5’ 11”; 12 st 8 lbs. Début: 5.9.81 v Chesterfield. Career: Ward Blenkinsop; 1976 Westbury United; 3.9.77 Devizes Town; 26.7.80 Melksham Town; 3.8.81 Bristol Rovers (trial); 12.8.81 Bristol Rovers (£3,000) [100+27,40]; 20.3.85 Middlesbrough (£20,000) [87+5,24]; 23.12.87 Carlisle United [20+4,3]; 22.9.88 Yeovil Town (loan); 22.3.89 Darlington [10,4]; August 1990 Guisborough Town; August 1992 Northallerton Town; August 1994 Great Ayton; 2.12.94 Melksham Town. Reverberating around the old ground at Eastville, the vociferous cry of “Archie, Archie” was an iconic element of the early 1980s in Rovers’ history. Blond-haired, popular striker Archie Stephens, an adopted west-countryman, was Rovers’ joint second highest scorer in 1981-82 and topped the club’s scoring charts in the 1983-84 campaign. “I adapted fairly quickly to the change”, he said of emerging from local football at the age of twenty-seven to score twice in both his first two League outings, victories against Burnley and at Reading, and contribute a brace of goals in four further League fixtures for Rovers. The youngest of three children to Arthur Stephens senior and Joan Reilly, who had married on Merseyside in 1950, he had worked as a council painter and decorator in Wiltshire until Rovers gambled on the striker who had notched 34 goals for Melksham during the 1980-81 season. He scored once in seven Conference matches on loan at Yeovil Town. Sent off for Rovers against Brentford on Boxing Day 1984 and in Boro’s derby game with Sunderland in October 1985, he was a regular as Middlesbrough were promoted to Division Two in 1986-87, playing in both fixtures against Rovers. Making his first appearance for the Glovers in a 4-0 Alliance League victory over Welling United, he and Paul Randall both scored as Yeovil ran up a 3-0 lead with just seventeen minutes left, before losing 5-4 in in an Inter-League Cup-tie match of five red cards at home to Newport County in October 1988. A team-mate at Carlisle of Aidan McCaffery, he was operated on for cartilage problems before scoring in Darlington’s final League campaign ahead of their temporary exile from the Football League. Indeed, Stephens scored Darlo’s last League goal that campaign and added two goals in 4(+19) Conference appearances, against Runcorn and Yeovil Town, before working as a crane driver for three years and as a store-man for Amec, an offshore company based in petro-chemistry. He and Julie, who have a son, a daughter and a growing number of grandchildren, live in Great Ayton, North Yorkshire. |
No 409. Kenneth John Stephens. 1970-78.
Born, 14.11.1946, Bristol. 5’ 7½”; 10 st 12 lbs. Début: 2.1.71 v Barnsley. Career: Speedwell School; Bristol Boys; Broad Plain; Phildown Rovers; 1962 West Bromwich Albion (professional, November 1964) [21+1,2]; December 1968 Walsall (£15,000) [5+2,0]; 21.9.70 Bristol Rovers (trial); 19.10.70 Bristol Rovers (free) [212+11,11]; 21.10.77 Hereford United [56+4,2]; 12.2.82 Hanham Athletic (player; chairman); 8.8.98 Longwell Green Sports (team manager). Flying winger Kenny Stephens, slim and fast, played for Rovers in eight consecutive seasons through the 1970s. The youngest of three sons to Raymond Stephens and Lorna Pratt, who had married in Bristol in 1936, he played for the Downs League representative side before being spirited away by West Brom where he played alongside Dick Sheppard, appeared against Birmingham City in an FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park in 1968 and featured in the comprehensive 8-1 victory over Barnsley in November 1967. When his time at Walsall was over, Stephens retired to work as a newsagent for nine months but, persuaded by Sheppard, returned to his home town to sign for Rovers. His arrival proved an inspiration, for a goal on his début in a 4-0 victory at Oakwell ensured he became the successor on the wing to Ray Graydon and over 200 League matches followed. A brace of goals, after five and 57 minutes, as York City were defeated 5-4 at Eastville in October 1971, established his name as a crowd favourite. Twice sent off in Rovers’ colours, for fighting with his former captain Doug Fraser at Walsall eight minutes before half-time of a November 1973 fixture and more memorably at York’s Bootham Crescent as Rovers’ promotion push appeared to flounder over Easter 1974, when he scored what proved to be his final goal for the club after 85 minutes but was dismissed shortly after for disputing a penalty decision, he was nonetheless a vital cog in the machine which gained promotion to Division Two that campaign and he helped establish unfashionable Rovers in second-tier English football. After a spell at Hereford, for whom he scored in League victories over Exeter in March 1978 and at Stockport on Boxing Day 1978, he made his final appearance in the Football League at Wigan in February 1980 and his Hanham début against Frampton Athletic two years later. Kenny Stephens, married Sue and, with four children and five grandchildren, lived for many years in Reynolds Walk, Horfield. Having worked in a builder and decorator business set up by his eldest brother Ron, he now lives in Hanham. |
No 579. Worrell Richard Sterling. 1993-96.
Born, 8.6.1965, Bethnal Green. 5’ 8”; 10 st 8 lbs. Début: 14.8.93 v Bournemouth. Career: December 1979 Watford (apprentice, July 1981; professional, 10.6.83) [82+12,14]; 23.3.89 Peterborough United (£70,000) [190+3,29]; 29.7.93 Bristol Rovers (£140,000) [117+2,6]; 4.7.96 Lincoln City [15+6,0]; July 1997 Spalding; 24.7.98 King’s Lynn; January 1999 Bourne; 27.7.00 Deeping Rovers (to May 2002). Exciting winger Worrell Sterling was a firm favourite with the Twerton Park crowd, for his jinking runs and accurate crosses. A First Division début with Watford at Old Trafford in April 1983, at the age of seventeen, preceded a teenage appearance in the Hornets’ UEFA Cup-tie with Sparta Prague and relegation from the top flight in 1987-88. Peterborough’s club record signing, he helped Posh to promotion from Division Four in 1990-91 and Division Three twelve months later, playing at Wembley against Stockport County in the May 1992 play-off final. He scored against Rovers at Twerton Park in March 1993 and had also scored once in Peterborough’s club record FA Cup win in November 1991, a 7-0 drubbing of Harlow Town. Named after the celebrated West Indies cricket captain, Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell (1924-67), Sterling returned to Wembley in the Rovers side which lost a play-off final 2-1 to Huddersfield Town in May 1995. Having scored a spectacular thirty-five-yard goal against Burnley at Twerton Park as well as a first-minute strike against Blackpool during his first season with Rovers, he was also debited with an own goal in September 1994, when he turned Deiniol Graham’s cross into his on net two minutes before half-time of a 2-2 draw with Stockport County. The club’s only ever-present that campaign, his sole League strike came in a 1-1 draw at Huddersfield that February, against Rovers’ eventual end-of-season victors. Having had the misfortune to be part of the Rovers side humiliated 2-1 at Hitchin Town in the FA Cup in November 1995, Sterling left the professional game. After scoring in friendlies against Orient and Chelmsford City, his King’s Lynn début in August 1998 was a Doctor Martens League tie against Bath City and he scored once, in a 2-0 home victory over Gloucester City the following month, in 13(+5) League fixtures before leaving the club just before Christmas 1998 as a consequence of work commitments, although he spent two seasons in the United Counties League with Deeping Rangers. A Chelsea fan as a boy, he had earlier scored for Watford at Old Trafford as the Hornets won the FA Youth Cup in 1982. Later a van driver, he married Jackie Wright and they are bringing up their teenage daughters, Olivia and Naomi, in Spalding, Sterling lecturing in Sports Studies and Public Service at Huntingdonshire Regional College. |
No 183. John Alexander Stevenson. 1932-33.
Born, 27.2.1898, Wigan. Died, 12.3.1979, Carlisle. 5’ 9”; 10 st 10 lbs. Début: 1.3.33 v Brighton. Career: Kilburnie Ladeside; 1920 Sunderland (trial); 7.7.20 Ayr United [14,4]; 10.6.21 Aberdeen (£50) [2,0]; 28.6.22 Middlesbrough (trial); 9.7.22 Third Lanark; 2.12.22 Beith; 12.3.23 Bury [8,1]; March 1925 Nelson (£500) [73,26]; 4.6.27 St Johnstone [91,24]; 31.7.30 Falkirk [59,19]; 15.8.32 Chester; 13.2.33 Bristol Rovers [7,1]; June 1933 Carlisle United [65,11]; May 1935 local football in the north-west of England. Few Rovers players can lay claim to having made their club début against foreign opposition, yet John Stevenson first appeared for the side in a friendly against The Hague on the club’s tour of Holland in February 1933. Impressed by the inside-forward, whose father had been on Sunderland’s books in 1889 and whose brother George (1905-1990) scored 170 League goals for Motherwell and appeared for Scotland before returning to manage Motherwell, Rovers selected him for the next six League matches, Rovers remaining unbeaten in that spell and Stevenson scoring against Orient in the third, with a “crisp shot into the roof of the net”, when set up by Viv Gibbins. He later returned to the side for the 1-0 defeat at Exeter that April. Stevenson had cut his teeth at Ayr United, scoring an equaliser in his final game, a 2-1 defeat at Raith Rovers in April 1921, before an Aberdeen début in the 1-1 draw with his future club Falkirk in September 1921. English football took an interest as he featured in the Beith side which won every game until December 1923 and reached the first round of the Scottish Cup for the first time in twelve years. Two games as Bury sealed the Second Division championship in 1923-24 and a handful of appearances in top-flight football, including a goal in the 2-2 draw at Newcastle in September 1924, preceded seventeen Third Division (North) goals for Nelson in the 1926-27 season. Finding his feet at St Johnstone, he struck a “spectacular individual effort” for the second of Saints’ four first-half goals in a 5-1 victory over Dundee in January 1928, in which “Stevenson was the outstanding player afield in a grand St Johnstone side [which] completely outclassed the opposition in every department” (The Scotsman). He became the regular penalty taker in 1929, scored twice at Muirton Park in August 1929 as Saints lost 3-2 to Ayr United, for whom the future Rovers forward Jimmy Smith also scored twice, but his nine goals that campaign proved insufficient to prevent relegation to Division Two. A Falkirk début at Leith Athletic in August 1930 led to a goal-scoring spree that included a hat-trick as Aberdeen were defeated 5-3 at Brockville Park that November, his third goal coming in the final minute, and Falkirk won the Stirlingshire Senior Cup in 1930-31 as well as the Falkirk Infirmary Shield in 1929-30 and 1930-31. Eleven League goals at Carlisle included the consolation goal in an 8-1 mauling at Wrexham in March 1934, the Rovers wing-half Alec Findlay scoring for the Welsh side in that fixture. |
No 505. (Byron) William Byron Stevenson. 1985-86.
Born, 7.9.1956, Llanelli. Died, 6.9.2007, Leeds. 6’ 1”; 11 st. Début: 18.8.85 v Darlington. Career: Leeds United (professional, September 1973) [88+7,4]; 2.3.82 Birmingham City (exchange for Frank Worthington) [69+5,3]; 15.7.85 Bristol Rovers [30+1,3]; 1986 Garforth Town; 1989 Corpus Christi FC (coach). Just moments after the interval, Rovers won a free-kick on the edge of the area at the Muller Road End, as they took on top-flight Leicester City in what was to be the final FA Cup-tie ever played at Eastville; from thirty yards out, midfielder Byron Stevenson curled the ball home to put Rovers ahead and set up a long-celebrated 3-1 victory over their illustrious visitors. The son of Reginald Stevenson, himself the son of William Stevenson and Doris White, and of Audrey Davies, Byron Stevenson made his name at Leeds, where his début came in a 1-1 draw at Sheffield United in April 1975. What Birmingham lost in flair through the 1982 player exchange, they gained in hard-working commitment and drive. Stevenson’s club form earned three caps for Wales at Under-23 level and fifteen full international caps. He was sent off in Izmir in September 1979 after he had allegedly broken Turkey’s Büyak Mustafa’s cheekbone and received a four-year ban from European football, which was later significantly reduced on appeal. He scored from the penalty-spot on his Rovers début, in an exciting 3-3 draw, but successive knee operations caused his early retirement from the game. Stevenson ran the “Angel Inn” at Rothwell, the “Golden Lion” in Pudsey, the “Two Pointers” at Woodlesford and the “New Inn” in Cherwell, also working at John Smeaton High School, but returned to Llanelli in 1996 to care for his father who was suffering with Parkinson’s Disease. Byron Stevenson died of throat cancer, one day before what would have been his fifty-first birthday, a one-minute silence turning into appreciative and respectful clapping prior to the following week’s meeting of two of his former clubs, as Leeds United defeated Rovers 3-0 in Horfield. |
No 650. Jordan Barrington Stewart. 1999-2000.
Born, 3.3.1982, Birmingham. 6’; 12 st 4 lbs. Début: 25.3.00 v Millwall. Career: 1992 Aston Villa; 1998 Leicester City (professional, 22.3.00) [86+24,6]; 23.3.00 Bristol Rovers (loan) [1+3,0]; 1.7.05 Watford (£125,000) [92+13,2]; 30.5.08 Derby County (free) [26,2]; 1.9.09 Sheffield United (exchange with Lee Hendrie) [15+8,0]; 22.6.10 Skoda Xanthi (free) [14,1]; 7.7.11 Millwall [3+1,0]; 6.10.12 Notts County [9+1,0]; 1.3.13 Coventry City (free) [6,0]; 9.7.13 San Jose Earthquakes (free, to 12.12.16); 12.4.17 Phoenix Rising (free; retired, 8.2.18). As Rovers’ promotion hopes went up in smoke, the legacy of one win in the final ten matches, deadline day loan signing Jordan Stewart won the Man of the Match award for his performance against his future club Millwall. The holder of one England Under-21 cap, defensive midfielder Stewart had played in the FA Cup against Chelsea and made his League bow in Leicester’s 3-1 home defeat against West Ham in January 2000, as a substitute for the Greek international captain Theo Zagorakis. Heading a goal on the stroke of half-time as Leicester beat Brighton 2-0 to secure promotion to top-flight football in April 2003, he also appeared in their first game back in the Premier League. On his twenty-second birthday he was one of eight Leicester players detained, and one of three taken to court, following a drinking session at a casino in La Manga, Spain and his side was relegated from the Premier League in the spring of 2004, Stewart being sent off the following September after 74 minutes of the home goalless draw with Barnsley. A regular in the Watford side promoted to the Premier League in 2005-06, he conceded a right-footed own goal after 31 minutes of the 3-0 defeat at Arsenal in October 2006. Playing under the former Rovers midfielder Aidy Boothroyd, Stewart helped Watford reach an FA Cup semi-final in 2007, which was lost 4-1 to Manchester United, before easing Derby to a League Cup semi-final against the same opposition in 2009. He was sent off for Derby against Ipswich Town in January 2009 before a spell in Greek football preceded a return to lower-league fare, and dismissed again in Notts County’s FA Cup-tie with Rotherham United in December 2012 and in Coventry’s 4-0 defeat at Walsall on Easter Monday 2013. Latterly, he played 71 times for Earthquakes and was a team-mate of Didier Drogba at Phoenix, where he played 22 times. He has set up a clothing label with Joleon Lescott, the England international defender and brother of a former Rovers left-back. |
No 563. (Marcus) William Marcus Paul Stewert. 1991-96.
Born, 8.11.1972, Bristol. 5’ 10”; 10 st 3 lbs. Début: 17.8.91 v Ipswich Town. Career: Hartcliffe School; Whitchurch Sports; 1985 Bristol Rovers (schoolboy; professional, 18.7.91) [137+34,57]; May 1994 West Ham United (trial); 2.7.96 Huddersfield Town (£1,200,000) [129+4,58]; 1.2.00 Ipswich Town (£2,500,000) [65+10,27]; 30.8.02 Sunderland (£3,250,000) [77+25,31]; 6.6.05 Bristol City (free) [16+11,5]; 21.3.06 Preston North End (loan) [4,0]; 30.7.06 Yeovil Town (loan); 30.8.06 Yeovil Town (free) [66+1,12]; 16.7.08 Exeter City (free) [73+12,9] (retired, 9.4.11; coach, April 2011); 21.7.12 Bristol Rovers (Development Officer; 1.7.14 assistant manager, to 13.12.18); 20.5.19 Walsall (assistant coach, to 15.2.21); 8.6.22 Yeovil Town (Head of Player Development). During relatively recent years, Rovers have been blessed with some excellent, exciting young strikers, arguably foremost amongst these being Marcus Stewart. Born Marcus Tubbs and brought up in Hartcliffe as a Bristol City supporter, he scored 39 goals in 29 matches for Rovers reserves in 1990-91 and scored on his League début on the opening day of the new campaign, as Rovers recovered a three-goal deficit to draw 3-3 at Twerton Park with his future club, Ipswich. Like Paul Randall before him, he was the local boy who scored goals apparently for fun in second-tier football whilst still a teenager. Having scored against Brazil at Wembley in one of eleven England Schoolboy caps, he was selected on twelve occasions for the England Under-21 squad, although never used; many believe he was unlucky not to have won full caps, especially during his successful stint at Sunderland. Nonetheless, consistent club form led to significant representative honours, Stewart playing for the Football League against the Italian Serie B at Ashton Gate in October 1992, the season he was named as Rovers’ Young Player of the Year. He scored a hat-trick for the reserves at Radstock Town in March 1992 and five goals in an 11-0 victory over Worcester City that October, became Rovers’ youngest ever penalty scorer whilst still eighteen, added the winning goal in the 1992 Gloucestershire Cup Final against Bristol City and contributed a brace against West Ham in the Anglo-Italian Cup-tie of September 1992. In October 1993, as Rovers recovered to win a remarkable game 4-3 at home to Bradford City, Stewart converted two very late penalties to become one of only seven players to have scored twice from the penalty-spot in the same League fixture for Rovers. A trial at West Ham, which took in an appearance against an Irish XI in Tony Gale’s testimonial and ended with Rovers turning down a £450,000 offer, served to inspire Stewart to greater success the following campaign. Despite a broken nose suffered that autumn, he scored eight goals in a five-match run before succumbing to hamstring trouble, returning to complete a run of goals in nine consecutive appearances in all competitions. Second highest scorer that campaign, his goals propelled Rovers into the play-offs and a game against his future club Huddersfield at Wembley in May 1995, with promotion from the third-tier the reward for the winners. Man of the Match at Wembley, Stewart scored Rovers’ goal and hit the crossbar from twenty-five yards in the dying seconds, as Rovers fell at the final hurdle losing 2-1. The following season, he was top scorer for the Pirates, becoming the first player since Alfie Biggs to record thirty goals in a season in all competitions and hitting 21 in the League alone, this figure including a goal after just 26 seconds at home to Hull City. He registered a hat-trick in the League Cup against Gillingham in August 1995 and was in the side unceremoniously dumped out of the FA Cup 2-1 at Hitchin Town three months later. The club’s record sale, Stewart played alongside Marcus Browning at Huddersfield, being top scorer in both 1997-98 and 1998-99, when his hat-trick helped defeat Crystal Palace 4-0 in December 1998. Another Wembley goal arrived in May 2000, as Ipswich defeated Barnsley 4-2 to gain promotion to the Premier League and, despite missing twelve weeks with a broken jaw, he enjoyed European football in 2001-02 as well as returning to play Rovers in a friendly in July 2002. Relegated from the top flight with Ipswich in the spring of 2002 and Sunderland twelve months later, he played in an FA Cup semi-final defeat against Millwall with the Black Cats in 2004, scored in both legs of the play-offs which were lost to Crystal Palace and then helped Sunderland to secure the Championship title in 2004-05. He had added a hat-trick at Gillingham in September 2004 and against Watford the following February, having been sent off at Birmingham City in April 2003 on the day relegation had been confirmed. Part of the Bristol City side defeated 7-1 at Swansea, he played against Rovers with both Yeovil and Exeter, for whom he was sent off against Brentford in October 2009. Stewart’s final League appearance was fittingly in Exeter’s colours at The Mem, where his late substitution to close a long and successful career was met with a barrage of applause from all sections of the partisan crowd. Thereafter, he was employed by Rovers, but was part of the back-room team which was unable to prevent Rovers sacrificing their Football League status in May 2014; however, the side returned at the first attempt and Stewart was part of Rovers’ successful double-promotion over the next two seasons. Stewart later served under the former Rovers manager Darrell Clarke at Walsall. Married to Louise, he ran the 2017 London Marathon in four hours 29 minutes but in 2022 he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. |
No 23. George Thomas Stockley. 1921-22.
Born, 26.11.1891, Hockley, Birmingham. Died, 1.6.1971, Winson Green, Birmingham. 6’; 12 st 2 lbs. Début: 27.8.21 v Plymouth Argyle. Career: August 1920 Worcester City; April 1921 Brierley Hill Alliance; 13.6.21 Bristol Rovers [5,0]; June 1922 Aberaman Athletic; August 1923 Kidderminster Harriers (trial); July 1925 Stafford Rangers. When Rovers opened the season at home to Plymouth, Jack Stockley went in for a tackle and the crack was heard all around the Eastville ground as his leg was broken. The tall, powerful and dependable defender, noted for his well-judged clearances, missed most of the season, returning towards the close of the campaign for reserve games against Gillingham and Bournemouth as well as the final four League and cup fixtures. He later played rugby union for Merthyr. Jack Stockley was born at home at 4 Beaconsfield Park Avenue, Park Road, Hockley, the eighth in a family of nine children to iron dresser John Stockley (1854-1914) and Eliza Jane Parkes (1857-1924). Stationed at Carisbrooke in Hampshire as a Corporal with the Worcestershire Regiment through his National Service, he was in India when World War Two broke out and was “badly wounded”. His playing career over, Stockley worked as an iron moulder for Lucas at Formans Road, Birmingham and then at Avery’s in Foundry Lane, Smethwick, before working after World War Two at Lucas again until his retirement. It has not been possible to prove whether the 1917 marriage to May Lowe was this man (his signature tallies and his sister Dolly is a witness), this marriage producing two daughters, Elsie and Dorothy, who married George Hounslea and Edward Smythe respectively. Significantly easier to prove, however, is the fact that he was married on 16th July 1921 to Ethel Cuthbertson (1899-1981), their three sons being Ronald (1922-2014, who married Marge Goodchild), Eric Norman (1924-40, who was killed during a bomb raid) and George Victor (1929-2011, who married Rose Blakeman) and they had one grandson and two great-grandchildren; he died at home at 6 Kitchener Street, Winson Green, where he had lived for much of his life. |
No 158. William Michael Edward Stoddart. 1931-33.
Born, 29.10.1907, Leadgate, Co Durham. Died, 12.2.1972, Lanchester, Co Durham. 5’ 8½”; 12 st 6 lbs. Début: 29.8.31 v Bournemouth. Career: Medomsley Edge; April 1925 West Stanley; 17.3.26 Manchester City; 26.5.27 Coventry City (free) [6,1]; 21.6.28 Southampton (exchange for Tommy Allen and Bill Henderson) [12,0]; 6.7.31 Bristol Rovers (£200) [40,0]; 14.7.33 Accrington Stanley [31,1]; August 1934 Annfield Plain; March 1939 Consett; Leadgate Park. Short in stature but reliable in attitude, central defender Bill Stoddart gave Rovers loyal service for two seasons. An exceptionally clean player, noted for his ability to produce a long throw-in, and who “tackled well and placed his passes effectively”, he scored an own goal in the reserves’ Southern League game with Yeovil and Petters United over Christmas 1931, as the second string clawed back a two-goal deficit on the hour mark to draw 2-2. A keen club cricketer, his career at Southampton was restricted as he was essentially understudy to George Harkus MBE (1898-1950), whilst he was a team-mate of the Rovers forward Tommy Wyper at Stanley. His two League goals were a début goal for Coventry against Watford in August 1927 and a penalty for Stanley against Doncaster Rovers in January 1934. He had the misfortune to be in the Accrington side which lost 9-0 at home to Barnsley in Division Three (North) in February 1934. Widowed young, Bill Stoddart had married Florence Quinn (1912-1943) in 1929 and they had a son and three daughters; he was a grandfather before his fiftieth birthday. |
No 366. David Kenneth Stone. 1962-68.
Born, 29.12.1942, Bristol. 5’ 10½”; 12 st 5 lbs. Début: 28.8.62 v Northampton Town. Career: Bristol Boys; Sneyd Park; 1959 Bristol Rovers (professional, March 1960) [145+3,6]; 8.6.68 Southend United (free) [6,0]; December 1968 Hastings United (player-manager); 10.7.69 Glastonbury; 20.7.70 Minehead; October 1970 Welton Rovers (player-manager, 1972); 1976 Weston-super-Mare (player-manager, 1978); 1981 Portway Bristol (manager); 1986 Clevedon Town (manager); October 1991 Welton Rovers (manager; retired, May 1992). Head chorister at St Mary Redcliffe and brought up in Filton Avenue, Dave Stone was an unlikely footballing hero. Yet, the youngest of five children to George Stone and Gladys Kingston, who had married in 1929 in Bristol, he was in the Bristol Boys side which secured the English Schools FA Shield in 1958 and played right-half in the England Schools trials. Stone made his Rovers début in the Gloucestershire Cup Final against Bristol City in May 1961 and was to appear in six consecutive Football League campaigns. On New Year’s Day 1966 he scored twice in a reserve fixture against Gillingham, before an Eastville crowd of 958; in that year he was also a coach at Downs League side Sneyd Park. He played alongside Ronnie Briggs at both Southend, where he played in the first five Fourth Division games of the season and a 4-0 thrashing at Colchester that November, and Glastonbury, where he won the first of his four Western League medals in 1969-70. Again Western League champions at Welton in 1973-74, he appeared alongside Micky Slocombe, John Watkins, Malcolm Norman and Trevor Rhodes in a side with a distinctive Rovers feel to it. A third and fourth Western League title followed with Portway Bristol in 1984-85 and 1985-86. The Stone family could claim a Rovers connection for several generations too, Dave’s grandfather George Stone having been a regular supporter at Rovers matches in the 1880s. Working for 33 years until 2002 in the financial department of a Bristol-based engineering firm Dave Stone married Margaret Applin in June 1965 and they have two sons, Jeremy and Robin, as well as a grand-daughter, Emilia. Dave Stone’s brother Don worked as Chairman of the Downs League in Bristol. |
No 160. John Arthur Storer. 1931-32.
No 366. David Kenneth Stone. 1962-68. Born, 3.1.1908, Swinton, Yorkshire. Died, 1.7.1972, Luton. 5’ 7”; 11 st 2 lbs. Début: 12.9.31 v Watford. Career: Yorkshire Schoolboys; Swinton United; Denaby United; 1923 Mexborough; July 1927 Scarborough (amateur); 1928 Mexborough; 5.1.29 Barnsley [22,6]; 21.5.31 Bristol Rovers [1,0]; 2.2.32 Mansfield Town [13,1]; August 1932 Belfast Distillery. Fast and direct, outside-left Jackie Storer joined Mexborough as a fifteen-year-old and played there for four years, picking up four Yorkshire FA caps in the process, before playing alongside Rovers full-back Harry Armitage at Scarborough. A tennis player of some merit, he entered several lawn tennis tournaments and won £200, a sizeable sum in that era, from professional athletics prize events. His spell at Oakwell incorporated six League goals, two coming in the Second Division fixture against Stoke City in December 1929 and it was for Barnsley that he played in the only FA Cup match of his career, a 1-0 home defeat against Bradford Park Avenue in January 1930. Despite making just one appearance with Rovers, Storer appeared in Mansfield’s first ever season in the Football League, his début coming in the 1-1 draw with QPR in February 1932 (he scored in a 2-1 home defeat to Fulham the following month) and he also played in the Stags’ tour of France that spring against Red Star Club Français and Rennes University. The only child of John Storer, a coal mine hewer, and his wife Sarah Howarth of 8 Temperance Terrace, Swinton, Jackie Storer married Gladys Pratt in Luton in 1941 and they had a daughter Christine; Gladys died in 1987. |
No 701. Kevin Street. 2002-04.
Born, 25.11.1977, Crewe. 5’ 10”; 10 st 8 lbs. Début: 30.11.02 v Rushden and Diamonds. Career: Crewe Alexandra (professional, 4.7.96) [57+58,9]; 20.11.01 Luton Town (loan) [1+1,0]; 12.8.02 Northwich Victoria (free); 26.11.02 Bristol Rovers (trial); 29.11.02 Bristol Rovers (free) [21+12,2]; 17.10.03 Shrewsbury Town (free) [15+6,1]; 2.9.05 Stafford Rangers (free); 1.7.08 Altrincham; 27.7.09 Nantwich Town (player-assistant coach; manager, 5.5.10); 29.6.11 Stafford Rangers (trial); 11.7.11 Stafford Rangers; 1.10.12 Kidsgrove Athletic (coach, 9.11.12). Exceptionally clean midfielder Kevin Street accrued just four yellow cards in his entire Football League career, all of them at Crewe, where he scored a last-minute winner against Tranmere on his début as a substitute in September 1997 and where he played alongside Rovers names in Marcus Bignot and Paul Tait. Whilst at Gresty Road, he added two goals in the final eight minutes as Crewe recovered a two-goal deficit to defeat Norwich City 3-2 in January 1999. A trial game for Rovers reserves against Reading at Cossham Street led to his signing and the experienced midfielder added some talent to the middle of Rovers’ play. One rare goal gave Rovers the lead after 56 minutes of the match at Southend in the spring of 2003. Joining Shrewsbury, he played alongside Scott Howie and Trevor Challis, his two goals in 20(+8) Conference games leading to a substitute appearances as the Shrews defeated Aldershot in the play-off final at Britannia Stadium to regain their Football League status in May 2004. He added 12(+1) games and six goals for Northwich, nine goals in 92 matches for Stafford and three games for Kidsgrove, as well as being with Lee Jones in the Nantwich side which trailed 6-2 at Mickleover Sports in October 2010 before recovering for a 6-6 draw. The son of Colin Street and June Robinson, Kevin Street embarked on a four-year correspondence course at St John’s College, Nottingham in 2002, with an eye to becoming a priest and later studied Theology at Chester University, and is now teaching History and Religious Studies at a school in Cheshire. |
No 402. Robin Gregory Stubbs. 1969-72.
Born, 22.4.1941, Warley, Birmingham. 6’; 12 st 4 lbs. Début: 9.8.69 v Southport. Career: Oldbury Boys; Birmingham City (professional, 22.4.58) [61,17]; 22.8.63 Torquay United (£6,000); 10.7.69 Bristol Rovers (£10,000) [90+3,32]; 17.2.72 Torquay United (exchange for John Rudge) [233+5,121] (retired, 11.5.73). Four goals at Gillingham in October 1970, as Rovers ran up a 4-1 win, made tall, bearded striker Robin Stubbs the first man to score four times in an away League fixture for Rovers, an achievement since equalled by Alan Warboys and Jamie Cureton. For the young man from Quinton, these four second-half goals after 46, 58, 78 and 82 minutes represented the zenith of a Rovers career which saw him complete the 1969-70 and 1970-71 seasons as the club’s top scorer. Prior to this, he had made his Birmingham début in a 3-0 victory over West Ham United in Division One in February 1959, adding a hat-trick as a seventeen-year-old in the 4-2 win at Leicester the following month and playing against Milan in the San Siro in a Fairs Cup-tie. Yet, it was undeniably at Torquay where his footballing career reached its apotheosis. A club record signing, he was top scorer in five separate seasons for the Gulls, his 31 League goals in the 1964-65 campaign being the second highest ever tally by a Torquay player, and went on the club tour to West Germany in 1967. He scored five times when the Gulls defeated Newport County 8-3 in October 1963, four times against Aldershot on Boxing Day 1964 and Walsall in September 1966 and added four other hat-tricks, totalling seven goals in his two matches against hapless Aldershot in the 1964-65 campaign. Torquay were promoted to Division Three in the spring of 1966, Stubbs playing five times against Rovers and scoring when Rovers were defeated 2-1 at Plainmoor in April 1967, and relegated back to the basement division in the spring of 1972. Arguably his greatest moment in Devon football, though, was scoring twice in the final five minutes to earn a 3-3 draw with high-ranking Spurs in an emotional FA Cup-tie in January 1965. The son of Reginald Stubbs and Ellen Brown, who married in 1924, Robin Stubbs married Anthea Bernice Redfern, who gained celebrity status as a personality on the television programme “The Generation Game”; she left him to marry Bruce Forsyth (1928-2017) on Christmas Eve 1973, with whom she has two daughters, and she later married Freddie Hoffman; Stubbs later re-married to Joanne Eley and had a son Ben. Robin Stubbs, a keen golfer who has represented Devon Over-45s at the national tennis Finals at Queen’s Club, appeared at Wembley in a celebrity game prior to Torquay’s 1989 Sherpa Van Trophy Final. He worked for 22 years in Torquay selling plastics and paper and, from 1995, took up a Sport and Recreation NVQI course as well as starting a UEFA football coaching course. In January 2020 he was named Honorary President of Torquay United. |
No 236. Leslie Gordon Sullivan. 1936-38.
Born, 6.8.1912, Croydon, Surrey. Died, January 1996, Stockport. 5’ 8”; 10 st 8 lbs. Début: 10.10.36 v Southend United. Career: August 1932 Gillingham (amateur); Burn Naze; 1932 Fleetwood; 16.2.33 Blackburn Rovers (amateur); November 1933 Lytham Town; September 1934 Rochdale [32,9]; July 1935 Brentford (exchange for Matt Johnson); 22.4.36 Bristol Rovers [39,10]; 9.7.38 Chesterfield (£135) [7,0]; April 1939 Stockport County; August 1939 Macclesfield Town; September 1939 Carlisle United. Two Sullivan brothers were on the books of Surrey County Cricket Club: Dennis (1883-1968) was a wicketkeeper who took 92 catches and 56 stumpings in first-class cricket, playing for Surrey, Glamorgan and Wales and participating in the Tennyson tours to Jamaica in 1926-27 and 1927-28; Daniel, his junior by four years, arrived from Mitcham CCC but could not make the first-team. Dennis married Emily Hilliard and had a son, Les, a “fast” outside-left who played for Rovers, as well as a daughter, Audrey. Les Sullivan’s greatest game in a Rovers shirt was perhaps the 3-2 win at Southend in February 1937, when he created all three of Rovers’ goals in an impressive victory, but he also contributed five goals in successive campaigns in Division Three (South). On Christmas Day 1937 against Walsall, he scored a brace of goals past the future England goalkeeper, teenager Bert Williams (1920-2014). When Rovers lost an FA Cup-tie 5-2 to Leicester City in 1937, he was thanked publicly by the opposition for his sportsmanship in avoiding a potentially ugly on-field collision. Having been part of the forward line when all five scored in Rochdale’s 6-1 win against Gateshead in March 1935, Sullivan could not make the team at Griffin Park. He played once in the aborted 1939-40 season for Stockport and subsequently for that club in four wartime matches. Having settled in the north-west for the most part from the age of nineteen, when he had appeared for Burn Naze in the Blackpool Amateur League, he was joined by his father Dennis, who became groundsman at Rossall School. Les Sullivan married Hilda Rothwell (1911-1951) in Fylde in 1936, had one son, John and, widowed young, died aged eighty-three. |
No 778. Benjamin Owen Swallow. 2009-12.
Born, 20.10.1989, Cardiff. 5’ 8”; 10 st 10 lbs. Début: 29.8.09 v Wycombe Wanderers. Career: Eglwys Newydd Primary School; Filton College; Danescourt; Cardiff City (schoolboy); 1.7.08 Bristol Rovers [17+24,0]; 19.9.08 Taunton Town (loan); 21.11.08 Bridgwater Town (loan); 20.2.09 Chippenham Town (loan); 26.3.09 Clevedon Town (loan); 31.8.11 Bath City (loan); 2.2.12 York City (free); 16.7.12 Newport County (trial); 7.8.12 Newport County (free); 11.9.13 Bromley (free); 20.1.14 Dartford (free); 9.7.14 Havant and Waterlooville (trial); 11.7.14 Havant and Waterlooville (free); 18.1.17 Margate (loan); 4.8.17 Bognor Regis Town (free); 2.7.18 Weston-super-Mare (free); 18.1.19 Merthyr Town (free); 3.10.20 Redditch United (free); 19.5.21 Merthyr Town (free). Fast and clever on the ball, midfielder Ben Swallow made his League début for Rovers as an 83rd-minute substitute for Aaron Lescott after appearing in two League Cup-ties. The year below Gareth Bale MBE at school, he did not score in the Football League, but contributed a last-minute goal at Wycombe in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in November 2010, cutting inside the full-back, playing the ball past a central defender and unleashing an unstoppable left-footed drive high into the net to seal Rovers’ 6-3 victory. Unable to prevent Rovers’ relegation to League Two in 2010-11, he played three times on loan at Taunton and four, following a début against Thatcham Town, for Bridgwater, During his nine games on loan at Bath, Swallow missed a penalty against his future club York and returned to Rovers under a disciplinary cloud, which deepened when he picked up an unnecessary but warranted red card at Totton in a televised FA Cup clash in December 2011, just five minutes after entering the field as a substitute. He never played for Rovers again, instead making two substitute appearances in the Conference with York and, after appearing against Rovers in a pre-season friendly in July 2012, in 7(+13), including goals against Southport and Forest Green Rovers, for Newport County; his side gained promotion to the Football League, although he did not feature in the end-of-season run-in which culminated in Wembley victory. In October 2012 Swallow was selected to play for the Welsh semi-professional side against Turkey. His only goal in ten games for Bromley came in an October 2013 Nationwide South fixture at Boreham Wood and, with Swallow not scoring in 4(+7) Conference appearances, Dartford were relegated from that division in the spring of 2014. A total of 26(+10) Conference South appearances as Havant were defeated in the play-offs brought two goals, against Ebbsfleet United and Farnborough, in the spring of 2015, and he conceded a last-minute own goal in an FA Trophy tie against Grimsby Town in February 2016. Havant were relegated on the final day of 2015-16, Swallow having by then accumulated six goals in 57(+16) Conference South appearances; he played three Nationwide South games on loan with Margate, who were relegated from that division in 2016-17. He did not play as Havant were Ryman League champions in 2016-17 and was sent off against his former club, Havant, on New Year’s Day 2018. He scored twice in 47 matches in all competitions for Bognor Regis, who were relegated from the Nationwide South in 2017-18, and played in 1(+2) matches on loan at Merthyr, where he and Eliot Richards played together under manager Gavin Williams. Weston were relegated from Nationwide South in 2018-19, Swallow featuring for them in 13(+7) matches. He joined Redditch United after Merthyr were moth-balled for the coronavirus-affected 2020-21 season, but played in just two Southern League matches. |
No 890. Ryan Joseph Sweeney. 2016-18.
Born, 15.4.1997, Kingston-upon-Thames. D 6’ 3”; 11 st 8 lbs. Début: 28.1.17 v Swindon Town. Career: Richard Challoner School, New Malden; 2005 AFC Wimbledon (professional, 6.2.15) [12+1,1]; 4.8.16 Stoke City (£250,000); 20.1.17 Bristol Rovers (loan) [33+6,3]; 3.7.18 Mansfield Town (loan); 29.1.19 Mansfield Town (free) [102+5,5]; 16.6.21 Dundee (free) [33+2,3]. In the midst of some exceptional home form and conversely six consecutive away defeats, the Gas signed defender Ryan Sweeney on loan. An unused substitute against Rovers on Boxing Day 2015, he had played alongside Kelle Roos and Sean Rigg in Wimbledon’s 3-1 defeat at The Mem in March 2016. He went on to produce a string of impressive performances as Rovers narrowly missed out on the League One play-offs in 2016-17, hitting the post towards the end of the 1-1 draw at Bolton Wanderers that February, and was named President’s Club Young Player of the Year. The following season he returned and scored his first goal for the club with a late equaliser at home to Oldham Athletic in September 2017, but was sent off four days later in a defeat away to Wigan Athletic. Captain of his school side, Sweeney had joined Wimbledon at the age of eight and was part of the side which won a national Under-13 competition. His Football League début duly arrived in April 2015 as a late substitute with his side already trailing 4-0 to Dagenham and Redbridge, for whom Jamie Cureton scored a hat-trick. Sent off at Morecambe in March 2016, he helped steer Wimbledon to promotion alongside Rovers to League One that campaign and represented the Republic of Ireland Under-18 side in a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Slovenia in November 2015. A high profile move to Premier League Stoke City enabled him to play in 10(+1) Under-23 matches, scoring in a 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers in December 2016 and being sent off at Newcastle United three months earlier. Mansfield missed out on automatic promotion from League Two on the final day in 2018-19, Sweeney’s League goal for them having come at Stevenage in December 2018, and then lost to Newport County in the play-offs. His elder brother Dan was on Wimbledon’s books before being released at the age of eighteen; a central midfielder, he played for Barnet against Rovers in the FA Cup on Armistice Day 2018 and for Forest Green Rovers against The Gas in the 2021-22 season. Ryan Sweeney was called up to the Irish Under-21 squad in the spring of 2018, winning nine caps, and was sent off in Mansfield’s games at Exeter in August 2019 and Barrow in February 2021. North of the border, he headed a late consolation goal in Dundee’s 3-1 defeat at St Johnstone in October 2021 but conceded an own goal against Rangers two months later and was sent off against Hibernian; from February 2022 his manager at Dens Park was the former Rovers boss Mark McGhee. He was again sent off, as Dundee crashed 3-1 to Ayr United at Somerset Park in August 2022 and, after earlier scoring, at home to Inverness Caledonian Thistle the following month. |
No 328. Norman Albert John Sykes. 1956-64.
Born, 16.10.1936, Bristol. Died, 9.12.2009, Hillingdon, London. 6’ 1”; 12 st 4 lbs. Début: 26.12.56 v Bury. Career: Air Balloon School; Bristol Boys; 23.5.52 Bristol Rovers (professional, 16.10.53) [214,5]; 1961 Chelsea (trial); May 1964 Toronto City (trial); 13.10.64 Plymouth Argyle (£2,000) [3,0]; 8.9.65 Stockport County [52,7]; February 1967 Doncaster Rovers [15,0]; 12.10.67 Altrincham; July 1968 Wigan Athletic. Local teenager Norman Sykes made his Rovers début in the Gloucestershire Cup Final against Bristol City in April 1956 and his League bow in a 6-1 victory on Boxing Day that year. He was to give the club loyal service in eight consecutive League seasons, which included relegation to Division Three in the spring of 1962. A Bristol Schools captain and an England Schoolboys cap in 1951-52, he played at wing-half for England Youth against Wales in February 1953 and travelled with the squad on a continental tour. Tall, hard-working and committed, Sykes was the younger child of Norman Sykes senior and Doris Fulham (1904-1961) and suffered the ignominy of conceding three own goals during the 1961-62 relegation campaign. He and Peter Sampson both put through their own net in the 2-0 defeat at Stoke that January and he scored own goals in both fixtures that campaign against Sunderland, including one sixteen minutes from time in a 6-1 thrashing at Roker Park. On the other hand, he scored the opening goal in the spring of 1958 as Rovers sensationally defeated First Division Burnley 3-2 away from home in the FA Cup. Sykes had opened a used-car business in Bristol when he was wrongly diagnosed with arthritis and lost his place in Rovers’ side. Offered a free transfer and replaced in the team by Ray Mabbutt, Sykes received a loyalty bonus of £750 and played in Canada under future Rovers manager Malcolm Allison and as a team-mate of Ted Purdon, and briefly for Second Division Plymouth, although he was dropped after a 6-1 defeat at Bolton Wanderers. He even managed to score four League goals in 1966-67, as Stockport won the Fourth Division title. Suffering latterly from a persistent knee injury, he was briefly a team-mate of a young Alan Warboys at Doncaster, for whom he played in a 4-2 defeat at Eastville in February 1967 as his side was relegated from Division Three. His first Altrincham game was the astonishing 5-5 draw at Moss Lane against Witton Albion in October 1967 and he played in 23(+2) Northern League games for the club in all. Married first to Shirley Wiltshire and later to Stanislawa “Jennifer” Wiaktor [she migrated to the United Kingdom on 16th March 1971], and with a daughter Alicia, he opened a teetotal nightclub in Manchester in 1975, “Sobers” on the corner of Great Cheetham Street and Bury New Road. This first teetotal club in Manchester invited Jimmy Savile (1926-2011) for its opening night and George Best (1946-2005) was a regular visitor. Sykes later worked as a businessman and salesman in North Wales before settling back in Manchester at 9 Greenwalk, Whalley Range, where he lived up to his death at the age of seventy-three. |
No 196. George Henry Tadman. 1933-35.
Born, 5.11.1914, Rainham, Kent. Died, 28.9.1994, Bristol. 5’ 11”; 12 st 2 lbs. Début: 28.4.34 v Newport County. Career: Rainham; 1932 Gillingham; 2.6.33 Bristol Rovers [4,2]; June 1935 Gillingham [40,18]; 2.5.36 Charlton Athletic (£1,000) [87,47]; September 1947 Cheltenham Town; 16.6.48 Street (player-manager); May 1949 FC Sète; 23.1.50 Bristol Rovers (coach) (to 1954); 1956 Wolverhampton Wanderers (scout). George Frederick Tadman (1881-1925) and Caroline Wills (1881-1939), who married in 1906, had two sons; whilst the younger, Maurice (1921-1994) played for Charlton and Plymouth, the elder George scored twice during his time with Rovers, on his début against Newport and in the enthralling 5-5 draw with Exeter City in November 1934. Tadman was to score a hat-trick in the friendly against Forest of Dean and in the reserves’ 12-1 victory over his future club Cheltenham Town, but perhaps more astonishingly scored two goals direct from corners when the reserves played Torquay United reserves in October 1933. He had not made the Gillingham side prior to this, but he was their top scorer in 1935-36, playing twice against Rovers, and was Charlton’s top scorer in each of their first three top-flight seasons. His nineteen goals on the Latics’ 1937 tour of North America included seven in the 12-2 win against Saskatoon; he added five goals against Watford reserves in March 1946, top flight hat-tricks against both Stoke and Blackpool, and he contrived to score four times and miss a penalty when Athletic beat Manchester United 7-1 in Division One in January 1939. During wartime, he kept himself busy on the sports field, scoring eight times in six games for Rovers and his 65 goals in only fifty matches for Bristol City including five against Cardiff City in the Wartime League Cup in January 1942. The Rovers tally included a late brace after Newport County had dominated Rovers for the goalless first eighty minutes at Somerton Park in March 1940, when he “on both occasions trapped the ball from long swings and glided it into the net with one motion” (Western Daily Press). In addition, Tadman guested for Charlton Athletic (twenty goals in only 25 games, including four against both Southend United in October 1939 and Ipswich Town in February 1942), Ipswich Town, Lovell’s Athletic, Aberaman Athletic and Bath City, scoring goals wherever he went, before contributing fourteen Southern League goals, two of them penalties, at Cheltenham Town in 1947-48, this figure incorporating six goals in the 8-1 victory over Gravesend in April 1948. A début goal against Peasedown was the first of eleven in 22 Western League games as captain of Street; injured whilst playing against Rovers reserves at Eastville, he missed two months before finishing his career in May 1949 with a game against Soundwell in which the former Rovers forward Fred Chadwick sored six times. After leading Sète to fourteenth place in the eighteen-club French First Division, Tadman coached at Rovers for four years. In 1936, he married Olive Silman, who died in 1991, and they had three children, Jacqueline, Geoffrey and Monica and lived for many years at 4 Atlas Close, St George. |
No 692. Paul Tait. 2002-03.
Born, 24.10.1974, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 5’ 8”; 10 st 10 lbs. Début: 10.8.02 v Torquay United. Career: Wallsend Boys’ Club; Everton (professional, 8.7.93); 22.7.94 Wigan Athletic (free) [1+4,0]; 1.8.95 Runcorn; 1.3.96 Northwich Victoria; 30.6.99 Crewe Alexandra (free) [31+31,6]; 5.11.01 Hull City (loan) [0+2,0]; 5.7.02 Bristol Rovers (free) [61+13,19]; 22.6.04 Rochdale (free) [31+16,3]; 2.2.06 Chester City (trial) [3+6,0]; 30.6.06 Boston United (free) [9+5,0]; 27.10.06 Southport (loan); 24.1.07 Southport (free); 5.7.07 Stalybridge Celtic (trial); 24.7.07 Northwich Victoria (free); 14.3.08 Barrow (free); May 2009 Everton (Under-15 coach). “Goal machine” Paul Tait signed for Rovers at a hotel just off the M6 motorway and produced arguably the most productive spell of his career with the Pirates. Having missed a penalty four minutes before half-time at Carlisle, he scored his first League goal in two-and-a-half years with a 53rd-minute header against Swansea in August 2002 and hit the crossbar from forty yards out later in the same fixture. An impressive run of goals in four consecutive games was ended by a red card for an alleged head-butt on Darlington’s Simon Whitehead, before his close-range header from Chris Llewellyn’s cross after 71 minutes earned Rovers a final-day point at Kidderminster in May 2003. Prior to this, he had scored after 63 minutes on his first full game for Crewe, the second in a 2-0 victory over Portsmouth in November 1999 and was in the Northwich side which faced Walsall in the FA Cup in November 1996. Keith Curle’s final signing at Chester, he was a very fair player, picking up his first yellow card in his 28th League and Cup match for Crewe, where he played alongside Kevin Street, although he was twice booked against Rovers, playing for Rochdale in December 2004 and Boston in October 2006 and was sent off for Crewe at Portsmouth in October 2000 and in Rochdale’s draw at Swansea in March 2005. Tait scored 68 goals in 170(+3) games in two spells at Victoria and, after 6(+8) matches without a goal with Southport, he added two goals in 5(+19) matches as Barrow gained promotion to the Conference. Married to Annabel, Paul Tait lived in Frenchay whilst with Rovers; they now live in Liverpool with a daughter and a son. |
No 506. Nicholas Tanner. 1985-88.
Born, 24.5.1965, Kingswood, Bristol. 6’ 2”; 13 st 7 lbs. Début: 18.8.85 v Darlington. Career: 1983 Mangotsfield United; 19.4.85 Bristol Rovers (free) [104+3,3]; 8.7.88 Liverpool (£20,000) [36+4,1]; 1.3.90 Norwich City (loan) [6,0]; 28.9.90 Swindon Town (loan) [7,0]; July 1994 Bath City; 17.5.96 Chippenham Town (manager); 30.1.97 Almondsbury Town (manager, to 23.10.97; re-instated, 29.10.97); 13.2.98 Mangotsfield United (manager, to 7.6.99); July 2002 Welton Rovers (joint manager); 22.9.03 Almondsbury Town (manager); 14.12.05 Roman Glass St George (manager); 28.8.06 Forest Green Rovers (chief scout); July 2007 Wotton Rovers (manager); 14.11.09 Winterbourne United (manager, to 25.8.11); 4.6.12 Wick (joint manager). “Often the joker in the pack”, as Darren Carr described him, Nicky Tanner was a tall, strong defender who left Rovers for Anfield. Formerly an apprentice in the machine shop at British Aerospace, “Whoosh” Tanner scored against Bristol City from 45 yards on his Rovers début in the Gloucestershire Cup Final of 1984-85 and progressed to enjoy a long career with the club. These seasons took in the final campaign at Eastville and the start of a new era as Rovers ground-shared Twerton Park with Bath City. The son of Dennis Tanner and Mary Flew, Tanner scored in consecutive League fixtures in November 1985, at home to Bury and at Blackpool, before adding the winner in a 1-0 win at Rotherham in September 1986 and was sent off against Bolton Wanderers in Rovers’ first ever League fixture at Twerton Park. Converted from a surging central midfielder to a reliable and dominant full-back, his club form attracted the attention of Liverpool and, almost incredibly, Tanner scored a close-range, scrambled goal in a Merseyside derby, the Reds drawing 1-1 with Everton at Goodison Park in December 1991. Having played on loan in Swindon’s game against Rovers in October 1990, he was forced to retire with a back injury. A testimonial game in August 1995 drew a crowd of 7,000 to Huish Park, Yeovil, only for Nick Tanner’s XI to lose 7-1 to Liverpool, Gareth Taylor scoring the consolation goal. As a manager, Tanner has led Almondsbury to the Norman Matthews Floodlit Cup Final of 2005, where they defeated Carterton over two legs and, with a son William from his first marriage, he now works in insurance, selling cover to non-league football clubs as well as co-ordinating events in the south-west for the Liverpool Legends Events Company. |
No 189. Albert Taylor. 1933-36.
Born, 10.7.1908, Ashington. Died, 28.12.1957, Willesden. 5’ 10”; 11 st 9 lbs. Début: 26.8.33 v Bristol City. Career: Northumberland County; Armstrong Whitworth; Widdrington; January 1928 Blyth Spartans; September 1928 Ashington (amateur); June 1929 Bedlington United; October 1929 South Shields (professional, December 1929) [18,7]; April 1931 Chelsea (£500); 22.5.33 Bristol Rovers [53,17]; August 1936 Lincoln City [4,0]; 17.6.37 Gillingham (free) [9,3]; 1938 Bexleyheath and Welling. Fifteen goals for Rovers during the 1934-35 season included a hat-trick for Albert Taylor when Rovers defeated Newport County at Eastville. In addition to contributing the winning goal in the Allen Palmer Cup Final of 1935, as Rovers defeated Southampton 5-2, he also played in the same month as Rovers beat Watford 3-2 to win the Third Division (South) Cup Final at The Den. A keen golfer, he had attended the same school as Bill Routledge, being brought up his single mother Alice Taylor at her cousin’s house, Thomas and Margaret Anderson at 11 Miller Street, Bensham, County Durham. After contributing nineteen goals for Lincoln’s second string, he left Gillingham when their side, which included fellow Rovers players in Jimmy Watson, Archie Young, Syd Hartley and George Tweed, failed to be re-elected to the Football League in 1938. He had headed the Gills’ equaliser on the stroke of half-time, from a cross by Tug Wilson (1917-59), when Rovers won 2-1 at Eastville in February 1938. Albert Taylor married in 1933 Margaret Langley Hindmarsh, the daughter of John Hindmarsh and Susan Smith and sister of Jack Hindmarsh (1914-90) of Burnley and Notts County; they had one son, John, after twelve years of marriage and Albert died of cancer at the age of forty-nine. His wife’s and son’s middle name Langley derived from a County Durham ancestor, Thomas Langley, who became famous in October 1880 as “The Hero of Hartley”, after he had been lowered down a sixty-foot cliff by rope to rescue four people from a Dutch vessel, “The Trebroders”, on the rocks at Craig Point near Seaton Sluice; moments later a second ship was driven onto the same rocks and Langley repeated his feat, saving all hands on board. |
No 442. Anthony Taylor. 1977-78.
Born, 6.9.1946, Glasgow. 5’ 9”; 11 st 9 lbs. Début: 3.9.77 v Blackpool. Career: Barrhead Thistle; October 1962 Kilmarnock; August 1964 Celtic; August 1967 Morton [20+3,8]; November 1968 Crystal Palace (£15,000) [192+3,8]; August 1974 Southend United [56,1]; 13.11.75 Hamilton Academical (loan) [8,2]; August 1976 Swindon Town [20+6,0]; 1977 Athlone Town (player-manager); 1.9.77 Bristol Rovers (trial); 23.9.77 Bristol Rovers (free) [12,0]; 3.2.78 Portsmouth (player-coach) [17,0]; 14.12.78 Kilmarnock (trial) [2,0]; March 1979 Albion Rovers [3,0]; July 1979 Northampton Town [4,0]; 1980 Toronto Panhellenic; 1982 Ontario Provincial (coach); 1987 Canada (youth team coach); 1988 Canada (national team manager); 1989 Toronto Blizzard (coach); 12.10.90 Bristol City (assistant manager); March 1992 Birmingham City (youth team coach); September 1993 Celtic (youth team coach); April 1994 Canada (national Under-16 coach); 9.10.97 Bristol City (coach); 25.4.98 Livingston (youth team coach), to 2001); 2007 Celtic (coach); 2007 Burlington Youth, Ontario (Technical Director). Knee issues, which necessitated an operation, impeded left-back Tony Taylor’s career with Rovers. A forceful, determined defender, whose personality has served him well throughout a varied footballing career, he served Rovers in Division Two during the 1977-78 campaign. Unable to make the grade sufficiently at Kilmarnock or Celtic, he played in the televised 9-0 defeat at White Hart Lane in October 1977. His time at Selhurst Park enabled him to be part of the Palace side which won promotion to top-flight football for the first time in the club’s history. A Pompey team-mate of Keith Viney, he enjoyed success south of the border at a variety of clubs and returned north to score at Boghead on his Accies début, in a 5-1 defeat to Dumbarton in November 1975, scoring again as Hamilton fought back from a two-goal half-time deficit to defeat East Fife 3-2 before making his Albion début in a 1-1 draw at home to Dunfermline Athletic. After running a pub in Glasgow, Taylor coached for many years, dividing his time between jobs in Scotland, Bristol and Canada, where he coached the national sides during the qualifying rounds for the 1990 World Cup. Coach to the Canadian youth side at the FIFA World Youth championships in Chile in 1987, he was second-in-command to Jimmy Lumsden at Ashton Gate and helped Livingston secure the Second Division title in Scotland in 1998-99. Tony and Mary Taylor, who lived in 24 houses in the first 43 years of their marriage, live at Oakville on Lake Ontario in a house they initially bought in 1982, and have two daughters and four grandchildren. |
No 964. Connor Taylor. 2021-
Born, 25.10.2001, Stoke-on-Trent. 6’ 6”; 11 st 5 lbs. Début: 7.8.21 v Mansfield Town. Career: Port Vale; July 2017 Stafford Rangers; 5.9.19 Stoke City (professional, 22.4.21) [0+1,0]; 30.10.20 Ashton United (loan); 24.12.20 Chester (loan); 17.6.21 Bristol Rovers (loan) [41+1,3]. Tall, blond central defender Connor Taylor, quick and comfortable on the ball, joined Rovers on loan ahead of the 2021-22 campaign. He had previously appeared in the Championship for Stoke City, replacing the injured James Chester after seventeen minutes of the 3-2 home defeat to Coventry City in April 2021 and, whilst at Stafford Rangers, had been selected for the England Schoolboys squad prior to a January 2019 match at Cosford against the RAF. His seven games at Under-18 level and 12(+6) appearances for the Under-23s at Stoke included helping his side to runners-up positions in the 2019-20 Premier League Cup and 2020-21 Premier League 2 Division Two. Loan spells at both Ashton United, where he played in a 2-0 Northern Premier League defeat at Whitby Town and in an FA Trophy victory over Clitheroe, and also Chester, where he played in 1(+2) National League North matches, preceded his loan move to Joey Barton’s Rovers. When Rovers secured their first away League victory for nine months, it was Taylor’s late goal from a corner at Walsall in September 2021 which set the scene for Siôn Spence’s dramatic late winning goal, and he also prodded home the winning goal from a late corner at home to Bradford City in April 2022 as Rovers pushed for a play-off place. Remarkably, the season’s end proved incredibly exciting, Taylor heading home the second goal, after twenty-two minutes, as Rovers defeated Scunthorpe United 7-0 at home on the final day to claim promotion on goals scored, in a dramatic finish, Taylor being named the club’s Young Player of the Year. He returned to his parent club but, having lost to unfashionable Morecambe in the League Cup, Stoke sacked manager Michael O’Neill MBE before the end of August 2022. |
No 570. Gareth Keith Taylor. 1991-96.
Born, 25.2.1973, Weston-super-Mare. 6’ 2”; 12 st 5 lbs. Début: 28.8.92 v Cambridge United. Career: Broadoak School; Milton Nomads; Stoke City (schoolboy); 1.8.98 Southampton; 1990 Weston-super-Mare; 29.7.91 Bristol Rovers (free) [31+16,16]; 17.1.92 Gloucester City (loan); March 1992 Weymouth (loan); 29.9.95 Crystal Palace (£1,600,000) [18+2,1]; 4.3.96 Sheffield United (exchange for David Tuttle and Carl Veart) [56+30,24]; 26.11.98 Manchester City (£400,000) [31+17,9]; 21.1.00 Port Vale (loan) [4,0]; 14.3.00 Queen’s Park Rangers (loan) [2+4,1]; 19.2.01 Burnley (loan); 22.6.01 Burnley (free) [88+7,36]; 27.8.03 Nottingham Forest (£500,000) [78+12,19]; 17.1.06 Crewe Alexandra (loan) [15,4]; 1.7.06 Tranmere Rovers (free) [55+5,0]; 31.1.08 Doncaster Rovers (loan); 2.3.08 Doncaster Rovers (free) [15+16,1]; 2.3.09 Carlisle United (loan) [5,1]; 17.6.09 Wrexham (free); 13.9.11 Manchester City (coach in Dubai; Under-16 coach, 2012; 28.5.20 women’s manager). Despite making his League bow as a centre-back in a 6-1 defeat, Gareth Taylor was better known as a Welsh international striker. Initially a central midfielder, who scored a hat-trick in a youth game for Southampton against Wimbledon, he represented Avon Schools at Under-14 and Under-15 level, inspired by his father, Graham, who was born in Pontypridd in 1946; Graham married in 1969 Lesley Adlam, the daughter of Dennis Adlam and Mabel Oliver of Middlesbrough. A loan spell at Gloucester brought two Southern League games, his début coming against Trowbridge Town, before he played five times for Weymouth, and he conceded a penalty playing for Rovers reserves at Radstock before torn cruciate ligaments caused him to miss the entire 1993-94 season. Taylor’s return to club action coincided with a call-up to the Wales Under-21 side and he scored for his country before registering a first Rovers goal in the 2-2 draw with Stockport County in September 1994. This was followed by a brace against Crewe the following month, as Rovers, two goals behind, drew 2-2 and the winning goal as a substitute against Oxford the following January after Rovers had again trailed 2-0. Better still, the season closed with two exquisitely headed goals against Brentford to enable Rovers to reach the play-offs in which, although Taylor played at Wembley, Rovers lost 2-1 to Huddersfield Town in the May 1995 final. Oddly enough, he scored twice in a League game on three occasions for Rovers, all these matches finishing as a 2-2 draw. Rovers’ record sale, he made his Palace début in a 1-1 draw with Stoke and was in the Welsh national squad within weeks. A full international cap arrived in Tirana in November 1995, as Wales drew 1-1 with Albania and he scored as a substitute in the 4-0 victory over Scotland at the Millennium Stadium in February 2004; this was to be his only goal in fifteen matches for Wales. Sent off for the Blades at Wolves in September 1996 and for Forest at Preston in October 2004, Taylor played in both Manchester City’s games against Rovers in 1998-99 and later appeared against the Pirates for both Tranmere and Doncaster. He helped Sheffield United reach the play-offs in 1996-97 and came on as a substitute for Petr Katchuoro at Wembley in a 1-0 defeat against Crystal Palace, and also suffered relegation to third-tier football with Forest in 2004-05. Most astonishingly, Taylor contrived to score a first-half hat-trick and still be on the losing side at the interval; his Burnley side, 5-4 down at Watford in April 2003, in only the second Football League game ever to feature nine first-half goals, crashed to a 7-4 defeat at Vicarage Road. A team-mate of Scott Shearer and Kevin Gall at Wrexham, Taylor’s goals, fourteen in 43(+17) Conference games, helped the Robins to the 2011 play-offs, where they lost to Luton Town. He coached a young Jadon Sancho at Manchester City; his City side reached the final of the 2019 FA Youth Cup, only to suffer the heartbreak of losing to Liverpool on penalties. Taking over City’s women’s side, he led them to victory in the delayed 2020 FA Cup Final, defeating Everton 3-1 after extra time, and to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Chelsea in the 2022 final. |
No 307. Geoffrey Arthur Taylor. 1951-52.
Born, 22.1.1923, Henstead, Suffolk. Died, 20.7.2007, Bundenbach, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. 5’ 9”; 10 st 10 lbs. Début: 22.3.52 v Bournemouth. Career: City of Norwich School; Bungay Grammar School; City of Norwich School Old Boys; 2.8.46 Norwich City (professional, 23.8.46) [1,0]; 10.3.47 Reading [1,0]; 11.8.47 Lincoln City [1,0]; March 1948 Boston United (trial); 25.8.48 Brighton [2,0]; December 1949 Stade Rennais (player-coach); 29.9.51 Bristol Rovers [3,0]; May 1952 SC Brühl (player-coach); 14.11.53 Queen’s Park Rangers [2,0]; May 1955 VfR 07 Kirn (player-coach); 1958 FC Sobernheim (player-coach); 1964 FC Idar Oberstein (player-coach); 1965 VfL Weierbach (player-coach); 1967 SV Bergen (player-coach); 1975 FSV Schwarzerden (player-coach); 1980 SV Bundenbach (player-coach; retired, 1984). During a remarkable career, outside-left Geoff Taylor made just ten League appearances, for six clubs, before coaching in France and Switzerland as well as for seven separate German sides. The son of Cecil Frederick Taylor and Mildred Charlotte Deekins (1886-1945), the second daughter of Alfred George Deekins (1863-1936) and Anna Holliday (1858-1944), she being the eldest child of William Holliday (1824-1903) and Martha Emerson (1834-1914), Taylor was a decent boxer and athlete in the war, in which time he served for five years in the Middle East with the Royal Air Force. A long throw expert, his trial game with Norwich showed he possessed “nice perception of accurate passing”, yet his solitary League appearance saw the Canaries 3-0 down to Notts County inside seventeen minutes in steady rain. After an appearance in Reading’s 3-0 defeat at Torquay United in May 1947 and one game for Lincoln, a 1-1 draw at Chester in November 1947, he enjoyed a spell in France, during which time he played for Rennes in front of a 40,000 crowd at Racing Club de Paris. Fluent in German and French, Taylor replaced Josser Watling for three fixtures at Eastville before, when given a free transfer, becoming player-coach for the Swiss side Brühl, based in St Gallen. He was on the right wing in QPR’s 5-0 defeat at Colchester United on Christmas Day 1953 and on the left wing for the 4-1 victory over Aldershot the following month, in which George Petchey (1931-2019) scored a first-half hat-trick. Having married Helga Stein and settled in south-west Germany, Geoff Taylor lived to the age of eighty-four in Hauptstrasse, Bundenbach and was buried at Sankt Nikolaus Catholic Church in the town, survived by his widow as well as by his elder sister, Phyllis. |
No 58. John Taylor. 1922-23.
Born, 1900, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Died? 5’ 9¾”; 10 st 10 lbs. Début: 16.2.24 v Merthyr Town. Career: Christ Church; 1920 Jarrow; 1921 St Peter’s Albion; 17.5.22 Bristol Rovers [5,1]; June 1924 Leadgate Park; April 1925 Kettering Town. Despite never finishing on the losing side and scoring in a 3-1 win at Charlton Athletic, centre-forward Jack Taylor’s career in the Football League was brief and uneventful. Thirty-five goals for Christ Church in the Northern Amateur League and fourteen in only nineteen appearances for Jarrow in the North-Eastern League, not to mention scoring 30 goals in 1921-22 as Jarrow secured the Tyneside League and the Tynemouth Infirmary Cup, indicated real ability and Taylor helped Rovers’ reserves win the Bristol Charity League title in 1922-23. Indeed, he scored one of the goals in April 1923 as Rovers defeated Hanham Athletic 5-0 to secure the championship, his two goals in a title-threatening encounter against Welton Rovers the previous month having proved critical. However, having made his début on the same day as Alec Smeaton, Taylor was soon released and, after a spell back in his native north-east, teamed up with Rovers’ winger George Reay at Kettering. The sheer quantity of John Taylors born in the north-east around this time has rendered any attempt at genealogical research futile and leaves us somewhat in the dark as to Jack Taylor’s dates of birth and death. |
No 572. John Partick Taylor. 1991-94.
Born, 24.10.1964, Norwich. 6’ 2”; 11 st 12 lbs. Début: 28.3.92 v Watford. Career: Colchester United (professional, 7.12.82); May 1984 Sudbury Town; 13.9.88 Cambridge United (free); 28.3.92 Bristol Rovers (exchange for Devon White) [91+4,44]; 13.7.94 Bradford City (£300,000) [35+1,11]; 23.3.95 Luton Town (£200,000) [37+10,3]; 27.9.96 Lincoln City (loan) [5,2]; 8.11.96 Colchester United (loan) [8,5]; 7.1.97 Cambridge United (free) [243+89,86] (reserve team manager, July 1998; manager, 6.1.02-18.3.04); 23.3.04 Telford United (manager); 25.3.04 Northampton Town (free) [3+7,1]; 20.7.04 Dagenham and Redbridge (free) (retired, 30.9.04); February 2005 Mildenhall Town; 1.8.05 Long Melford (player-coach; player, 3.9.05; player-coach, 8.11.05; manager, 6.2.06); 22.2.07 Newmarket Town (manager); 22.7.11 Walsham-le-Willows (assistant manager, to 2014); 10.5.21 Thetford Town (assistant manager). Brighton were the visitors to Twerton Park in April 1992 when tall, strong striker John Taylor scored a hat-trick for Rovers. A former team-mate of Paul Raynor at Cambridge, he had helped Sudbury secure the Suffolk Premier Cup in 1987-88 and reach the semi-finals of the FA Vase the same season, whilst working as a shipping clerk. Prior to his arrival with Rovers, Taylor had made just one League Cup substitute appearance for Colchester, replacing Perry Groves in a 4-3 defeat at Reading in September 1983, but had accumulated goals at Cambridge. Joint top scorer in 1988-89 and 1989-90, he scored hat-tricks against Hartlepool in February 1989 and Peterborough that December, appearing at Wembley in Cambridge’s play-off final in May 1990. United were Division Three champions in 1990-91 before Taylor suffered a goal drought, plainly the nadir of an otherwise successful career. “At the moment he probably couldn’t score from a yard out”, commented manager John Beck in January 1992; the following month he scored as a substitute as Rovers were mauled 6-1 at the Abbey Stadium and Taylor, having seen proposed moves to Portsmouth and Charlton break down, arrived at Twerton shortly afterwards in an exchange deal involving Devon White. The tall striker proved a popular figure with Rovers, being the club’s top scorer in both 1992-93 and 1993-94. He contributed the club’s first five League goals in 1993-94 and contributed two goals in a game that season against Fulham, Brighton, Cardiff, Brentford and Cambridge. In fact, the brace against his former club at the Abbey Stadium were to be his final two goals in a Rovers shirt. Scoring on his Bradford début at Chester, he scored in five consecutive League fixtures over Christmas 1994 before missing much of Luton’s 1995-96 relegation campaign, where he played alongside Gary Waddock, through a back injury. In November 1996, he twice scored two goals in three minutes for Colchester, against Chester and his former club Lincoln, before a popular move back to Cambridge re-invigorated his career. In an extraordinary start to the 1-1 draw at Shrewsbury in January 1998, he scored a first-minute own goal before equalising after just ten minutes. When he shot high over the bar during the warm-up to a fixture, his gesture was adopted as a club mascot, “Martin the Moose”, and during the 1998-99 promotion campaign he overtook Alan Biley as the club’s all-time top goal-scorer. He was in the Cambridge side which won 2-0 at The Mem in October 2003 and, six weeks later, missed one of the two second-half penalties United spurned before losing an FA Cup-tie to Macclesfield, Taylor then missing a further penalty in the resultant shoot-out. Briefly at Telford, he played alongside Anwar U’ddin and Dave Rushbury’s son Andy. In March 2004 he became, after Steve Sherwood, Northampton’s second oldest débutant and almost scored from a cross by former Rovers midfielder Josh Low in a 4-0 win at Macclesfield secured through four first-half goals from Marc Richards, before adding 4(+1) Conference games for Dagenham and a goal at Burton Albion in August 2004. Retiring in the autumn of 2004 with deep vein thrombosis, Taylor worked as an insurance agent selling mobile phone tariffs in Folkestone before running the “Little Legends” football school for children in Cambridgeshire and made a surprise return to the field in August 2021, at the age of fifty-six, as a substitute in an Eastern Counties fixture against Lakenheath. The adopted son of two teachers, he has two daughters from his first marriage and married for the second time in 2010. |
No 389. Lawrence Desmond Taylor. 1966-70.
Born, 23.11.1947, Exeter. 5’ 11½”; 13 st. Début: 14.1.67 v Colchester United. Career: Exeter Schools; 1964 Bristol Rovers (professional, 6.12.65) [90,0]; October 1970 Chelmsford City (retired, March 1976). Goalkeeper Laurie Taylor burst into the Rovers side shortly after Bernard Hall’s injury and made a strong claim for a regular spot in the side. In one early game he played before a crowd of 35,000 in an FA Cup-tie against Arsenal and he was only beaten once in front of a 55,000 crowd at Goodison Park in an FA Cup-tie two seasons later, his penalty save against Kettering Town having eased Rovers’ progress to that game. Agile and brave, the tall Devonian conceded six goals at Crewe in August 1968, but missed just three League games that campaign. He was sent off against Plymouth Argyle reserves in September 1970. A Chelmsford début at Cambridge City in November of that year proved to be the first of 234 games for the club in all competitions retiring after sharing duties through 1976 with Nigel Spink, who was to win an England cap whilst with Aston Villa. Helping Chelmsford to the Southern League title in 1971-72, Taylor was also a member of the side which lost narrowly 3-1 to Ipswich Town in the FA Cup in January 1973 and even played as an outfield substitute against Cambridge City in February 1975. He was the elder of two sons to Desmond Taylor, an able footballer who had represented the British Army at football in Italy, and Eileen Budge, she being the daughter of a Cornish couple, Patrick Budge and Bessie Clemo (1893-1962); he married Sue Horton in 1970 and they have a son Bradley and two granddaughters, Brooklynne and Madison. From 1976, he became a sports shop manager in Exeter, before working for a leading bookmaker and for the Post Office at Crediton. Since his retirement in 2008, he has continued to live in Copplestone in Devon, where he is a keen local golfer. |
No 866. Matthew James Taylor. 2015-17.
Born, 30.3.1990, Oxford. 5’ 10”; 11 st 3 lbs. Début: 8.8.15 v Northampton Town. Career: Oxford United; 2009 North Leigh; July 2011 Cheltenham Town (trial); 31.8.11 Forest Green Rovers; 31.1.14 Chester (loan); 16.6.14 Bristol Rovers (free) [61+12,43]; 31.1.17 Bristol City (£300,000) [23+44,7]; 19.8.19 Oxford United (loan); 31.7.20 Oxford United (free) [102+14,51]. It is perhaps an oft-used cliché, but the marmite analogy is applicable to Matty Taylor’s time with Bristol Rovers. Admired by many, on account of his support play and ability to score consistently, the young striker being the top scorer in the top four tiers of English football in 2016-17, the first Rovers player to achieve this feat outright, he was also criticised by others for an apparent ability to miss easier chances and became the topic of deep conversation when he joined Bristol City a few hours before the transfer window slammed shut in January 2017. It was not so much his departure that rankled, more his next destination. However, he had played a critical rôle in the club’s success, having arrived at arguably the lowest point in Rovers’ history. Rejecting offers from Mansfield Town, Chester City, Kidderminster Harriers and his home-town club Oxford United, the tenacious young striker signed for Rovers ahead of the club’s first season in Conference football. His Oxford career having been just an FA Cup substitute appearance at Torquay United in November 2008, when he replaced Lewis Haldane, he accumulated over eighty goals in two campaigns of Southern League football at North Leigh. Such prolific form attracted Forest Green, for whom he contributed twenty-two goals in 77(+19) Conference games. Three second-half goals in November 2011, after 49, 77 and 80 minutes of a 4-1 victory over Alfreton Town, were followed by a brace in an 8-0 victory at Hyde in August 2013. Loaned out to Chester, he played alongside Andy Bond and registered six goals in only seven Conference matches, this figure including a hat-trick after 23, 33 and sixty minutes in a 4-3 victory at Tamworth in February 2014. Prior to signing for Rovers, Taylor’s form earned him two caps for the England “C” side, scoring in a 4-2 defeat against Hungary Under-19 and adding two goals in a 2-2 draw with a Sparta Prague “B” side, both games taking place in May 2014. During the 2014-15 campaign, Rovers pushed hard for an immediate return to the Football League, Taylor top-scoring with seventeen goals in 41(+4) matches of the regular Conference season as the Gas finished one point behind champions Barnet; having scored in both legs of the semi-final, he played in the Wembley play-off final in May 2015, scoring in the penalty shoot-out as Rovers dramatically secured promotion back to League football. The 2015-16 League Two campaign started slowly for Taylor, but the goals began to flow through the autumn, building up to a dramatic twelve-minute second-half hat-trick to secure a 3-0 victory over Wycombe Wanderers at The Mem in December 2015. Over Easter 2016, Taylor scored in eight consecutive League matches to equal a club record established by Dai Ward sixty years earlier and he was named in the PFA League Two side for that campaign. Almost unbelievably, Taylor’s goals led Rovers to an unpredicted second successive promotion and it was his low drive on to the right-hand post which led to Lee Brown’s dramatic injury-time winner at home to relegated Dagenham in May 2016, a result which at the eleventh hour secured Rovers’ promotion to League One on goal difference. Taylor became the fifth Rovers player to end the season as the division’s top goal-scorer and the first, with twenty-seven strikes to his name, to be the outright highest scorer in all four divisions of the Football League. Yet, the goals did not dry up in League One, an early-season trickle bursting into life with an outstanding second-half hat-trick to earn an unlikely point at MK Dons in October 2016. With nineteen goals to his name for 2016-17, sixteen of these in League One, Taylor moved unexpectedly across the city to Ashton Gate on transfer deadline day in January 2017, a move which provoked consternation and angst amongst supporters. Rovers were to draw their next six League matches after his departure. Goals for City at Derby and Leeds preceded a late-season dry patch, although the Robins escaped from the jaws of relegation with games to spare. Taylor made minimal impact during the following campaign, although he was sent off in the game against Leeds United. He scored the sixth goal as Oxford thumped Lincoln City 6-0 at Sincil Bank in September 2019 and a strike after just 52 seconds at Southend United two months later; in 2020-21 Oxford recovered from a poor start to hit the play-offs, where they lost 6-3 on aggregate to Blackpool. The following campaign, Rovers were drawn away to Oxford in the FA Cup, Taylor claiming a goal, an assist and a yellow card as the sides drew at the Kassam Stadium in November 2021; although he also scored in the replay, Rovers defeated their higher ranking opponents. He was sent off in October 2022, after throwing Peterborough’s Ronnie Edwards to the ground in a League encounter at the Kassam. |
No 220. Philip Henry Taylor. 1933-39.
Born, 18.9.1917, Bristol. Died, 1.12.2012, Oxford. 5’ 10”; 11 st 2 lbs. Début: 18.9.35 v Gillingham. Career: Greenbank School; Bristol Schools; Bristol St George; 1932 Bristol Rovers (amateur, 24.11.33; professional, February 1935) [21,2]; 13.3.36 Liverpool (£5,000, plus Bill Hartill) [314,34] (retired, July 1954; manager, 15.5.56-17.11.59). Not only was Phil Taylor one of the success stories of Rovers’ history, but he also became one of the oldest retired footballers alive. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living former Rovers player, the only one to have represented the club prior to World War Two, and was believed to be the oldest surviving England international. The third of seven surviving children to Arthur Taylor and Lilian Daisy Carter, Phil Taylor followed his brothers Les and Jack to Bristol St George and made his Rovers’ reserves début at the age of sixteen, playing against Gloucester City in April 1934. Prior to that, he had captained England Schoolboys against Scotland Schoolboys at Ashton Gate in April 1932. “Stylishly creative” (Ivan Ponting), he broke into Rovers’ League side on his eighteenth birthday and made an immediate impression, contributing League goals against Bournemouth and Northampton, whilst his hat-trick in the FA Cup against Oldham Athletic in December 1935 not only marks him out as a younger hat-trick scorer than any of Rovers’ League contributions, but also set the club en route for an intriguing third-round tie, which brought all-conquering Arsenal to Eastville. In addition, a club cricketer with St George, he found time for three games for the Gloucestershire CCC Second XI and one county game in 1938, in which he scored fourteen runs. It came as no surprise when Liverpool beat a host of top clubs searching for the signature of the tall, talented young man and he certainly did not let anyone down at Anfield. A début goal in a 2-2 draw with Derby County in March 1936 came from inside-forward, yet the strong, powerful player was converted to the wing-half position where he made his name. After wartime guest appearances for Rovers – five games and one goal -, Brighton, Newcastle, Leeds and Distillery, Taylor’s career really took off on the resumption of League football in 1946 after service in the 9th King’s Regiment. Liverpool were First Division champions in 1946-47 and Taylor captained them at Wembley in the 1950 FA Cup Final, which was lost 2-0 to Arsenal before a crowd of 100,000, white-shirted Liverpool being defeated by Reg Lewis goals after eighteen and 63 minutes. Selected for the Football Association tour of Europe in 1947, he won two England B caps and represented the Football League before winning three full caps for England in the autumn of 1947, his début coming in the 3-0 victory over Wales at Ninian Park. As his playing career drew to an end, Phil Taylor managed Liverpool to third place in 1957 and fourth in 1958 before handing over the reins to a certain Bill Shankly (1913-81), who took that club to unprecedented glory. He later worked as a sales representative and lived for many years, having outlived his wife Barbara Hind, whom he married in Shirebrook, Derbyshire in 1951, and one of his two daughters, at 18 Elsinore Court, Abbotsford Road, Blundellsands, before dying in a nursing home in Oxford at the age of ninety-five. |
No 386. Stuart Taylor. 1965-80.
Born, 18.4.1947, Bristol, Died, 10.10.2019, Bristol. 6’ 4½”; 14 st 6 lbs. Début: 26.4.66 v Workington. Career: Bristol City (amateur); Abbotonians; Hanham Athletic; August 1965 Bristol Rovers (professional, 30.12.65) [546,28]; 21.5.80 Bath City (player-manager); 14.5.82 Bristol Rovers (Commercial Manager); Taylor Brothers (player-reserve team manager); September 1993 Cabot Access Towers (manager); October 1995 Cadbury Heath (player-reserve team manager). Not only was he the tallest player for a decade in the entire Football League, but central defender Stuart Taylor was also reliable, dependable and omnipresent in the Rovers side. Over fifteen consecutive seasons, he amassed a tally of League appearances which is greater than any other player in the club’s history, a club aggregate record which is unlikely ever to be surpassed. An ever-present four times in five years, including the 1973-74 promotion campaign, he then captained the side in Division Two. The seventh longest playing career of all Rovers players in the Football League era, appearing over three decades, he played in 275 League fixtures at Eastville, more than any other player ever, and only two players have appeared in more than his 38 FA Cup-ties in a Rovers shirt. A plumber by trade and the son of Norman Taylor and Violet Higgs, Taylor joined Rovers on the back of just ten games with Hanham and swiftly established himself as a vital cog in the machine, helping to create a stable backdrop for the successful side of the early 1970s. His first goal for the club came in the cauldron of a local derby with Bristol City in the FA Cup in January 1968. Although sent off in the goalless draw at Rochdale in December 1972, the subsequent ban ending a club post-war record run of 207 consecutive League appearances for the club, he was a Watney Cup winner in 1972, played in the famous televised 8-2 win at Brian Clough’s (1935-2004) Brighton in December 1973 and helped Rovers secure promotion from Division Three that campaign. Not content with being a very solid defensive player, Taylor used his height and aerial dominance to great effect, scoring a number of goals from corners, one being the last-minute header to defeat Oxford United 1-0 at Eastville in March 1975. Bristol City had an offer of £40,000 for his services turned down in August 1979 and Chelsea also submitted a bid, but Taylor moved to Bath City as player-manager, missing just three games as the Romans finished sixth in the Conference in 1980-81, and he saved a penalty in November 1993 as an emergency goalkeeper for Taylor Brothers. He managed The Crown public house in Old Market for three years from 1979 and the Ring o’Bells from 1990 to 1993 with his wife Gwen, as well as a Clifton night club, Taylor Made; he worked in Coalpit Heath before resuming his plumbing work and acting as a freelance market consultant for a coach-drivers’ publishing company based in Yate. Stuart Taylor, whose son Richard played in goal for Cadbury Heath, continued to follow Rovers and was present at Wembley for the 2007 play-off final, keeping himself fit and participating one year in the London Marathon. Latterly married to Pam and a proud grandfather, he later ran the Beaufort Hunt pub in Downend but latterly suffered with Lewi Body Dementia. |
No 643. Stuart James Taylor. 1999-2000.
Born, 28.11.1980, Romford. 6’ 4”; 13 st 7 lbs. Début: 25.9.99 v Notts County. Career: 1.8.97 Arsenal (professional, 8.7.98) [16+2,0]; 24.9.99 Bristol Rovers (loan) [4,0]; 10.8.00 Crystal Palace (loan) [10,0]; 15.2.01 Peterborough United (loan) [6,0]; 18.11.04 Leicester City (loan) [10,0]; 27.6.05 Aston Villa (free) [9+3,0]; 17.3.09 Cardiff City (loan) [8,0]; 23.6.09 Manchester City (free); 13.7.12 Reading (trial); 20.8.12 Reading (free) [4,0]; 19.11.13 Yeovil Town (loan); 3.7.14 Leeds United (free) [3,0] (released, 14.5.15); 27.7.15 Charlton Athletic (trial); 26.8.16 Southampton (free, to 29.6.18). Perennial reserve custodian Stuart Taylor enjoyed a loan spell with Rovers when Lee Jones was out of form, saving a late Clayton Blackmore free-kick on his début as Rovers won 2-0 to return to the top of Division Two. In England’s Under-20 squad for the 1999 FIFA World Youth championships, he won four caps at Under-21 level and was in the squad with Bobby Zamora for the 2002 Euro championships in Switzerland. Taylor played for Arsenal in the 2001-02 Champions League and his tally of ten Premier League matches was sufficient to earn him a championship medal that campaign. He was also an unused substitute as the Gunners defeated Southampton 1-0 in the 2003 FA Cup Final. Having missed the 2003-04 season with a shoulder injury, he was to save a Wayne Rooney penalty in October 2007 when coming on as substitute for Aston Villa after Scott Carson had been dismissed. During his time with Manchester City, his team secured a UEFA Cup place in 2009-10 before winning the FA Cup Final in 2011 and the 2011-12 Premier League title in the dying seconds of the final game of the season. Sporadic appearances in top-flight football including defeats at Old Trafford and The Emirates, his team was relegated from the Premier League at the close of the 2012-13 campaign, but he appeared at The Mem for Reading in a pre-season friendly in July 2013. |
No 898. Dominic David Telford. 2017-18.
Born, 5.11.1996, Burnley. 5’ 8”; 11 st 4 lbs. Début: 19.8.17 v Bury. Career: Ribblesdale High School; Clitheroe Wolves; 30.6.13 Blackpool (professional, 1.7.14) [9+5,1]; 20.7.15 Stoke City (free); 4.8.17 Bristol Rovers (loan) [1+18,2]; 24.7.18 Bury (loan) [16+22,6]; 11.7.19 Plymouth Argyle (free) [9+26,3]; 28.1.21 Newport County (loan) [40+12,26]; 24.6.22 Crawley Town (free). Efficient as a striker or on the left wing, talented Dom Telford joined Rovers on loan in time for the 2017-18 season. He played in the final eight minutes of the victory at Bury before marking his first start, in the Football League Trophy at Wycombe Wanderers in August 2017, with two first-half goals in a 5-1 victory. A first League goal for Rovers duly arrived, the Gas’ sixth, struck left-footed from Marc Bola’s cross four minutes from time on a glorious afternoon at Northampton Town in October 2017. The son of David Telford and Ruth Berry of Clitheroe, he had made his name in youth football at Blackpool, where a November 2013 goal against Bury and a thirty-five-yard chip against Liverpool the following month had both received League Football Education nominations. He had also appeared twelve times in 2012-13 for the Lancashire Under-16 team. A League bow soon followed as well as a goal, the equaliser against Rotherham United in December 2014. One appearance for the Stoke Under-23 side at Morecambe in October 2016 was supplemented by thirty games and thirteen goals for their Academy side in the Premier League Two and he helped the Potteries side secure the 2016 Hong Kong Soccer Sevens title. His goals in 2018-19 helped ensure that Bury were promoted from League Two and he was in the Argyle side Rovers knocked out of the FA Cup after a replay in December 2019. In September 2020, Telford’s late equaliser secured a point for Argyle at the end of an exciting 4-4 draw away to Wimbledon and he scored for Newport against Exeter City in February 2021. The following campaign, he appeared alongside Ed Upson, James Clarke, Joe Day and Timmy Abraham with the South Wales club, scoring twice in October 2021 in a 3-1 victory over Rovers at The Mem and completing a hat-trick seven days later in a 5-0 thumping of Stevenage, winning the League Two Player of the Month award for two consecutive months in the process. He was in the Newport side which defeated Rovers 1-0 in March 2022 but, as his prolific goal-scoring tailed away towards the close of the season, so Newport slipped out of the play-off places. Over the summer of 2022 he joined Tony Craig and Tom Nicholls at Crawley Town. |
No 195. James Cyril Terry. 1933-34.
Born, 9.7.1909, Bloxwich. Died, 26.11.1956, Walsall. 5’ 8”; 12 st. Début: 3.3.34 v Orient. Career: St Anthony’s; 1927 Bloxwich Strollers; 1928 Stafford Rangers; 19.10.28 Manchester City; 16.6.31 Bristol City [5,0]; 21.7.32 Yeovil and Petters United (free); 9.3.33 Bristol Rovers [3,0]; July 1934 Kidderminster Harriers; September 1934 Ashford (to 1940). Strong in the tackle and, at full-back, part of a “magnificent defence” (Western Daily Press), Cyril Terry could not make the cut at Manchester City and was given a free transfer at Ashton Gate after playing in the 6-1 defeat at home to Burnley on Easter Monday 1932, when City had conceded six goals before half-time. He appeared five times in the Birmingham League for Stafford Rangers, the first games of the 1928-29 season, thereafter languishing in the reserves with his elder brother, but did enjoy a degree of success at Yeovil. Despite missing fifteen minutes of his début, a 7-2 win against Norwich City reserves in August 1932, with an eye injury, he played against Dartford in the Southern League play-off that season and his final game was the 5-1 win against Tunbridge Wells Rangers in the London Combination. He was in the Yeovil side which defeated the touring Czech side Sporting Club Náchod 8-3 at Huish Park in April 1933. “Terry, with his wonderfully clean, confident kicking, was probably the outstanding player on the field”, suggested the Western Gazette, “he is a keen tackler and plays extremely well under pressure. He kicks a good length, which is one of the best points of the style of the game he plays”. After a year in Rovers’ reserves, an impressive friendly appearance against Coventry City earned three League matches for the club, a Third Division (South) Cup outing and a Welsh Cup game against Wrexham. Cyril Terry was the ninth son and youngest of ten children to a coal miner Asher Terry (1862-1942) and his wife Phoebe Fletcher (1860-1945) of 10 Pool Lane, Wolverhampton and married Doris Giles (1907-89) in Bristol in 1933, having a daughter Angela Terry, who married Ronald Leadbetter in 1958. |
No 102. John Thom. 1927-28.
Born, 18.5.1899, Hurlford, Ayrshire. Died, August 1966, Aldershot. 5’ 8”; 12 st. Début: 5.11.27 v Exeter City. Career: 1916 Hurlford Thistle; April 1922 Birmingham (trial); May 1922 Nottingham Forest; June 1923 Workington; May 1924 Leeds United (£430) [7,3]; 16.6.27 Bristol Rovers (£175) [6,4]; August 1928 Workington; January 1930 Aldershot Town (£200) [16,6]; June 1933 Guildford City; October 1933 Dartford (trial); August 1936 Basingstoke Town; August 1937 Field Stores. An itinerant Scottish striker, who scored goals readily though apparently generally used as an understudy, Jock Thom scored twice in Rovers’ pre-season trial game in August 1927 and followed this up with League goals against Merthyr and Gillingham as well as both strikes as Rovers won 2-1 at Walsall on New Year’s Eve 1927. Both Workington and Aldershot were non-league sides when he joined them and Thom hit an astonishing 69 goals in the 1928-29 season, 65 in North-Eastern League and Cup matches plus four more in friendlies. That campaign, he scored five goals on two occasions, four goals three further times and an additional five hat-tricks; he scored 21 hat-tricks for Workington in 1923-24, 1928-29 and 1929-30. In all, he scored 155 goals for non-league Workington. His astonishing 91 goals in 91 non-league matches for Aldershot included a hat-trick in their record FA Cup win, 7-0 against Chelmsford City in November 1931, forty goals in the Football League Combination of 1930-31 and another hat-trick against Chelmsford City in 1931-32 as the Shots pushed for Football League status. This mission accomplished in 1932, Thom scored the only goal on Boxing Day 1932 as Aldershot defeated Rovers 1-0 in Division Three (South). He was to score both at Twerton Park, when Guildford lost 2-1 to Bath City in November 1934, and at Eastville, his two goals easing Guildford to a 2-1 win against Rovers reserves on Good Friday 1935. |
No 126. Cecil Edward Sidney Thomas. 1929-30.
Born, 9.8.1909, Pill, Somerset. Died, 1972, Weston-super-Mare. 5’ 9½”; 10 st 7 lbs. Début: 31.8.29 v Brighton. Career: Pill Athletic; August 1929 Bristol Rovers (professional, 13.9.29) [4,1]; July 1930 Thames [17,2]; 1932 Bath City; 1.10.35 Pill Athletic. With a goal on his Rovers début as an amateur, Cyril Thomas gave promise of being an efficient striker, but was unable to fulfil this early potential. Back in the reserve side for the 1-1 draw with Swindon Town reserves, he is known to have scored in second string victories over Bristol City and Bath City over Easter 1930. A cricketer with Lodway, he joined the ill-fated Thames side for the first of their two Football League campaigns, appearing alongside Rovers’ Wilkie Phillips in their side. Forming a good partnership with Rovers’ Reg Trotman at Bath City, he scored a hat-trick for their reserve side when they defeated Glastonbury 12-1 in the Somerset League in the 1932-33 season, helped the Romans secure the Western League title in 1933-34 and added three goals for the first-team and twelve for the reserves the following campaign. The eldest child of Cecil and Annie Thomas of Cage Alley, Pill, his father being a dock labourer, Cyril Thomas married Gladys Maud Blanchard of Sherwood Road, Speedwell at St George’s Church in St George on 12th February 1930 and they had a daughter and two sons. |
No 683. James Alan Thomas. 2001-02.
Born, 30.1.2001, Chester. 6’ 1”; 11 st 12 lbs. Début: 3.9.22 v Morecambe. Career: Everton; Crewe Alexandra; August 2017 Burnley (professional, 6.3.19); 17.11.18 Kendal Town (loan); 22.1.21 Barrow (loan) [18+3,1]; 1.9.22 Bristol Rovers (loan). Requiring cover in the heart of defence, Rovers signed Bobby Thomas on loan on Transfer Deadline Day in September 2022. Two days later, when set up by Harvey Saunders, he swept home Rovers’ second equaliser from close range ten minutes from the end of a 2-2 draw at home to Morecambe. However, his second match in a Rovers short proved not so propitious; picking up two late yellow cards for misjudged tackles, he was sent off as Rovers lost to Ipswich Town at Portman Road. Popular and effective with Rovers, he scored goals reliably and began to shore up Rovers’ defence. In the FA Cup-tie at home to Rochdale in November 2022 he contrived to hit his own post in attempting to snuff out an attack. The young Cheshire-born player had been Burnley Under-18 Player of the Year in 2018-19 and, highly rated by manager Sean Dyche, played sixteen times for the Turf Moor club’s Under-23 side, as well as scoring against Tranmere Rovers in pre-season 2020 and playing in a 2-0 victory over Millwall in the League Cup in September 2020. A loan spell at Kendal Town brought a début goal three minutes after half-time of a 4-1 win at Glossop North End in the Northern Premier League First Division West, and experience in League Two with Barrow included a goal after twenty-five minutes of a 2-0 victory at Forest Green Rovers in April 2021. |
No 965. Luke Thomas. 2021-
Born, 19.2.1999, Soudley, Gloucestershire. 5’ 7”; 10 st 7 lbs. Début: 7.8.21 v Mansfield Town. Career: Forest High School; 2012 West Bromwich Albion; July 2014 Cheltenham Town (professional, 18.7.15); 2.8.15 Benfica (trial); 20.1.16 Derby County (free) [0+2,0]; 12.1.17 Gloucester City (loan); 16.8.18 Coventry City (loan) [41+2,4]; 13.6.19 Barnsley (free) [31+27,1]; 19.1.21 Ipswich Town (loan) [4+1,0]; 10.7.21 Bristol Rovers (loan) [11+17,0]. Left-footed singer Luke Thomas from the Forest of Dean arrived at Rovers with a reputation for exciting attacking play. His loan spell at The Mem left the crowd exhilarated by his potential and disappointed with his output. Whilst he scored, when set up by Zain Westbrooke, against Chelsea Under-21 in the Football League Trophy in October 2021, he also faced open criticism from manager Joey Barton, comments he was to agree with in public. Coming back into favour at the close of the season, he played a pivotal part as the club defeated Scunthorpe United on an extraordinary final day of the season to seal promotion to League One. The youngest of three sons of Sally and Martin Thomas, he followed his brothers on the football field; indeed, on one day in July 2017 all three scored goals, Kieran for Gloucester City, Liam for Harrow Hill in the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League and Luke for the Derby County Under-23 side. After ten first-team games at Cheltenham (his first game was an FA Trophy tie against Chelmsford City) and 10(+1) matches for Derby’s Under-18 side, plus a goal after seven minutes of a 4-0 victory over Manchester United in August 2016, Luke Thomas appeared in six minutes of Championship football with Derby, making his first appearance as a last-minute substitute for Tom Lawrence in a 2-0 victory over QPR in November 2017. He made 13(+2) Mational League North appearances with Gloucester, scoring in a 3-2 defeat against FC United of Manchester in February 2017, prior to enjoying League football at Coventry, Barnsley and Ipswich. His only Barnsley goal was the winning strike, after thirteen minutes, in his first game, a victory over Fulham in August 2019, although he did also score at Crewe in January 2020 in the FA Cup; he also played in a 6-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge in the League Cup in September 2020. Whilst at Coventry, he scored against Doncaster, Walsall, Wimbledon and Barnsley, although he also played in the astonishing 5-4 win at Sunderland as the Sky Blues finished eighth in League One in 2018-19. Club form earned two England Under-20 caps, first appearing in a goalless draw with the Netherlands at New Meadow in September 2019, replacing Manchester City’s Luke Bolton ten minutes from time. Luke Thomas was known to Rovers’ supporters, as he had played for Coventry in both their fixtures against The Gas in the 2018-19 season. He suffered a double fracture of the leg in a training session with Barnsley early in October 2022. |
No 438. Martin Richard Thomas. 1976-82.
Born, 28.11.1959, Senghenydd Glamorgan. 6’ 1”; 13 st GK Début: 3.1.77 v Charlton Athletic Career; Bristol Rovers (professional, 10.9.77) [162,0]; 8.7.82 Cardiff City (loan) [15,0]; 26.11.82 Tottenham Hotspur (loan); 2.2.83 Southend United (loan) [6,0]; 21.3.83 Newcastle United (loan); 13.7.83 Newcastle United (£50,000) [118,0]; 25.10.84 Middlesbrough Career: 12.7.76 (loan) [4,0]; 3.10.88 Birmingham City (£75,000) [144,0]; 29.1.93 Aston Villa (loan); 24.3.93 Crystal Palace (loan); 18.8.93 Cheltenham Town; 31.7.96 Birmingham City (goalkeeping coach); 1997 England (Under-21 goalkeeping coach; retired, 8.4.21). Just five weeks after his seventeenth birthday, young goalkeeper Martin Thomas was thrust into Rovers’ League side in the absence of the injured Jim Eadie. Despite the 4-3 defeat, he impressed and became a key factor in Rovers’ on-going survival in Division Two, being an ever-present in the 1978-79 campaign. Thomas turned to football despite impressing as a scrum-half, his father and elder brothers also being keen rugby players. A Welsh Youth international, who won two Wales Under-21 caps in 1979, he continued to be a reliable shot-stopper and commanding influence in the last line of Rovers’ defence for many years. Even despite suffering relegation in the spring of 1981, Thomas maintained his calm, influential form in Division Three. Having made his début for the club in Trevor Tainton’s testimonial game at Ashton Gate in July 1976, “Tommo” had once conceded six goals in a reserve game whilst still fifteen, and yet been named Man of the Match for his performance. After leaving Rovers, Thomas played on five occasions for Birmingham against Rovers in the League, conceding an own goal at St Andrew’s when Rovers drew there in April 1990 en route to the Third Division title. A team-mate at Newcastle of Kevin Keegan, Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle and Paul Gascoigne, he endured both promotion and relegation campaigns at St Andrew’s and played at Wembley in Birmingham City’s 1992 Leyland Daf Cup Final. Indeed, his club form elsewhere eventually led to a full cap for Wales, playing against Finland in September 1986. Martin Thomas, whose brother Dave played rugby for Cardiff, made eighty Beazer Homes League appearances for Cheltenham under manager Lindsay Parsons and alongside Bob Bloomer, Jason Eaton and Wayne Noble, before embarking on a coaching career. The third son of Glynn Thomas and his wife Josephine Anzani, he was part of the team of backroom staff which saw England reach the semi-finals of the 2007 FIFA Under-21 World Cup. |
No 803. Reginald Everard Thompson-Lambe. 2010-11.
b 4.2.1991 Hamilton, Bermuda 5’ 7”; 10 st 9 lbs M Début: 25.3.11 v Peterborough United Career: Dandy town Hornets; November 2006 Ipswich Town (trial); July 2007 Ipswich Town [0+2,0]; 24.3.11 Bristol Rovers (loan) [1+6,0]; 4.7.11 Bristol Rovers (trial); 8.12.11 Toronto FC (free) [55,2]; 5.3.14 Nyköpings BIS (free) [11,2]; 17.9.14 Mansfield Town (free) [50+17,10]; 6.6.16 Carlisle United (free) [27+11,6]; 28.6.18 Cambridge United (free) [41+14,5]; 6.12.20 Stowmarket Town (free). With two goals in each half, teenager Reggie Thompson-Lambe scored four times in Bermuda’s 7-0 victory over Sint Maarten at the Truman Bodden Stadium in George Town on the Cayman Islands in August 2008 to become the first player with a Bristol Rovers connection to score an international hat-trick. In front of a crowd of just 350, his goals came after 27, 45, 58 and 86 minutes, but these were his only goals for his country for several years, his first cap having been won in a 1-1 draw with the Cayman Islands the day before his seventeenth birthday. In October 2018 in Hamilton, he scored another hat-trick against Sint Maarten, this time in a comfortable 12-0 victory, bringing his international record to 34 caps and nine goals. A Valencia supporter, Lambe had been spotted by Ipswich Town whilst in Holland with the Bermuda Under-16 side and, to five caps and a goal with Bermuda Under-20s, he added two substitute appearances in the League, replacing Carlos Edwards at Middlesbrough for his début, and three League Cup-ties. A sixty-second-minute substitute for Harry Pell on his Rovers début, he could not prevent Rovers’ relegation to League Two in 2010-11, although he was invited back for a trial game at Mangotsfield United the following July. Thereafter, this speedy, exciting winger found his niche in Canadian football, helping Toronto become national champions in 2012, and in Sweden, his goals both coming in April 2012 against Chicago Fire. He scored for Nyköpings in two large away wins in April 2014, a 4-0 victory at Värmbols and in the 3-0 success at Ekilstuna Södra. A return to League football in England saw him score the only goal and also be sent off, as Mansfield defeated relegated Tranmere Rovers 1-0 in April 2015. He was in the Stags’ side in both fixtures against Rovers in the 2015-16, the Gas completing a League double over the Stags, before signing for Keith Curle’s Carlisle United side, who reached the League Two play-offs in 2016-17 only to lose to Exeter City. Lambe was sent off in successive home matches against Orient in December 2019 and his former club Mansfield Town on New Year’s Day 2020, prior to scoring against Eynesbury Rovers in the FA Vase on his first appearance for Stowmarket Town. During the 2021-22 season, his eight Isthmian League goals helped the Old Gold and Blacks reach the play-offs, where they lost 2-1 to Brentwood Town and he played alongside Ed Upson the following campaign. He and his partner Keiche Wilson have a daughter, Aliana. He missed the March 2021 international fixtures after having to have stitches following a biking accident. |
No 632. Andrew John Thomson. 1998-2002.
Born, 28.3.1974, Swindon. 6’ 3”; 14 st 12 lbs. Début: 16.1.99 v Reading. Career: 16.12.88 Swindon Town (trainee, 27.7.90; professional, 1.5.93) [21+1,0]; 3.1.96 Portsmouth (£75,000) [85+8,3]; 15.1.99 Bristol Rovers (£50,000) [124+3,6]; 28.3.02 Wycombe Wanderers (free) [48+2,2]; July 2004 Forest Green Rovers. As Rovers débuts go, Andy Thomson enjoyed one of the best, as Rovers travelled to top-of-the-table Reading and won 6-0, Jamie Cureton scoring the first four of six second-half goals. Thomson was to enjoy a long and productive spell with Rovers, who looked set for promotion in 1999-2000 only to miss out and suffer relegation to the basement division in the spring of 2001. The dependable central defender is the younger son of Ian Thomson and Susan Moss. Having made his first League appearance in Swindon’s final game of their Premier Division campaign, a 5-0 home defeat to Leeds United in May 1994, he played under Glenn Hoddle at Swindon and the former Rovers midfielder Alan Ball at Pompey. Portsmouth won their final two fixtures in 1997-98 to avoid relegation by one point and Thomson conceded own goals against both Crystal Palace and Watford. A stream of Portsmouth players made their way to the Memorial Stadium, Thomson being joined by Robbie Pethick, Martin Phillips and David Hillier and, recovering from a broken bone in his foot, Thomson was made Rovers’ club captain in 2000 following the sale of Andy Tillson. He later suffered relegation to Division Three with Wycombe Wanderers in 2003-04. |
No 32. John Yungmann Thomson. 1921-22.
Born, 27.7.1896, West Greenock. Died, May 1980, Westchester, New York, USA. 6’; 12 st 3 lbs. Début: 1.4.22 v Exeter City. Career: Benburb Juniors; Caledonian Juniors; 11.5.21 Bristol Rovers [6,0]; 15.6.22 Alloa Athletic [35,0]; 21.6.23 Partick Thistle (£100) [28,0]; 17.5.24 Aberaman Athletic (£100); December 1924 Aberdare Athletic [20,0]; May 1925 Brentford [40,0]; 8.6.26 Plymouth Argyle [7,0]; 30.6.27 Chesterfield [22,0]; January 1928 Coventry City [3,0]; 27.8.28 New York Nationals; 17.8.29 Nuneaton Town (to October 1929). Travelling did not appear to obstruct goalkeeper Jack Thomson’s “extensive and peculiar” (The Sunday Post) peripatetic footballing career in which he performed for six Football League clubs and two in Scotland, as well as trying his luck in the States. A brief spell with Rovers involved conceding no fewer than twenty League goals in just six matches, including the 8-1 defeat at Swansea over Easter 1922, as well as seven for the reserves against Bristol City reserves in October 1921. He was to play in the League against Rovers for Plymouth, Aberdare and Brentford. His first game for Alloa was also their first in top-flight football, as they lost respectably 2-0 to Rangers at Ibrox, although the Wasps were relegated at the end of that campaign. A Partick début at Firhill against Clydebank in August 1923 preceded playing against the Old Firm, Thistle beating Celtic 2-1 that September but losing 6-0 at home to Rangers two months later. He was in goal when Dunkeld and Birnam were defeated 11-0, eight of these coming before half-time, in a Scottish Cup-tie at Firhill in January 1924. With Brentford he conceded six goals on four occasions in addition to the 7-1 defeat at Reading in May 1926, but he played alongside Rovers names in Jack Allen, Jimmy Walton and Bert Young and appeared against Northampton in 1925 on the first occasion Brentford wore their now-celebrated red-and-white-striped shirts. The experienced keeper conceded nine goals in his two matches for New York Nationals and made his Coventry début in a 7-0 defeat at Walsall in February 1928. He made just one Birmingham Combination appearance with Nuneaton, playing against the Birmingham City “A” side in August 1929, although he also played in a Nuneaton Charity Cup-tie against Hinckley United the following month. Conceding goals appears from this summary to have been a regular occurrence yet, as the Alloa Journal reported, “Thomson showed himself to be a custodian of considerable merit”. Red-haired, with blue eyes and a ruddy complexion, he was the son of John Yungmann Thomson senior and Helen Murphy, who married in Greenock on 9th June 1893 and married Grace Steele, the younger sister of Rovers’ David Steele. He and Grace emigrated to the States where he worked as a yardman and lived at 417 86th Street in Brooklyn. Having served in the Royal Navy in World War One, Thomson was a member of the US army reserves for the Second World War, having joined the army on 29th December 1936. By the time of his death, he was living at 10562 Ossining, Westchester. |
No 65. William Thomson. 1924-26.
Born, 3.1.1895, Parkhead, Glasgow. Died? 5’ 8”; 11 st 6 lbs. Début: 18.10.24 v Plymouth Argyle. Career: Blantyre Victoria; Parkhead; June 10.6.12 Clyde [14,0]; 4.9.14 Leicester Fosse; 1915 Arthurlie; 1916 California Celtic; July 1917 Kilsyth Rangers; September 1918 Johnstone; 3.6.19 Leicester City [197,3]; 2.10.24 Bristol Rovers [21,0]; 19.11.25 Inverness Citadel (player-coach). In the heated cauldron of a local derby at Ashton Gate in February 1925, wing-half Billy Thomson was sent off, a rare occurrence in the inter-war era. The experienced Scotsman had made his Rovers début in the absence of the injured Bob Scorer and Jimmy Daws and played sporadically through the 1924-25 season before being valued at £100 and placed on the transfer list. A Clyde début in November 1912, aged just seventeen, came in the 3-1 defeat against Rangers at Ibrox and Arthurlie had left the Scottish League by the time he joined them. A long career at Filbert Street, broken up by wartime work repairing ships on the Clyde, saw him play alongside Rovers men in Steve Sims and George Douglas and he was awarded a benefit game in 1923. Billy Thomson made his first appearance for Citadel in a 4-2 victory over Nairn County in November 1925, but had to leave the field injured, when Citadel lost 2-0 to Inverness Thistle in the derby match of January 1926. |
No 718. Lee Anthony Thorpe. 2003-04.
Born, 14.12.1975, Wolverhampton. 6’; 11 st 6 lbs. Début: 13.3.04 v Yeovil Town. Career: Blackpool (professional, 18.7.94) [2+10,0]; 19.9.95 Bangor City (loan); 1.8.97 Lincoln City (free) [183+9,57]; 3.5.02 Orient (free) [42+13,12]; 7.2.04 Grimsby Town (loan) [5+1,0]; 12.3.04 Bristol Rovers (free) [25+10,4]; 8.2.05 Swansea City (loan); 10.2.05 Swansea City (free) [9+9,3]; 1.10.05 Peterborough United (loan) [6,0]; 27.1.06 Exeter City (free); 13.2.06 Torquay United (loan); 11.5.06 Torquay United (free) [49+2,11]; 4.7.07 Brentford (free) [17+2,4]; 31.1.08 Rochdale (free) [23+13,6]; 1.7.09 Darlington (free); [7+1,0]; 3.3.10 Fleetwood Town (free); 7.7.11 AFC Fylde (retired, 16.12.11); 2012 Blackpool (Under-13 coach); 16.9.22 Rochdale (Youth Development Lead). Appearing as a substitute in the disastrous 4-0 collapse at Yeovil, peripatetic striker Lee Thorpe scored for Rovers in the home games against Lincoln, Southend, Chester and Cheltenham as well as in two cup-ties. His grandmother Irene had died shortly before his first game for the club and, with “Goodnight Irene” signing in his ears, he claimed his first goal for the club with a right-footed shot ten minutes from time at home to Lincoln, before captaining the side for the game at Orient. From his Blackpool début in May 1994, a 4-1 victory over his future club Orient, in which he marked the future Rovers defender Kevin Austin, Thorpe enjoyed a varied career with many clubs. In over a decade, he received nine red cards in the League, including successive games for Lincoln in October 2001 and a first-half dismissal on his Brentford début, and appeared against Rovers for Lincoln, Orient, Swansea and Torquay. He also added a goal in three matches at Bangor, 4(+15) Conference matches with Fleetwood and seven goals in thirteen matches on the books of Fylde prior to his retirement. With Lincoln, Thorpe enjoyed promotion to Division Two in 1997-98, scoring for both sides in the game with Peterborough United and contributing the winning goal against Brighton on the final day to ensure this success, only for the Imps to be relegated the following campaign; top scorer in three consecutive seasons and Player of the Year at Sincil Bank in 1999-2000, he played alongside numerous Rovers names in John Vaughan, Dennis Bailey, Paul Miller, Jason Perry and Paul Raynor. He added a hat-trick in the 3-2 LDV Vans Trophy victory over Morecambe in November 2000 and was in the side knocked unceremoniously out of the FA Cup by two non-league sides, Wakefield and Emley in December 1997 and Dagenham three years later. Leaving Rovers mid-season, he ended the 2004-05 campaign by savouring promotion to League One with Swansea, having been booked and taken off at half-time on his return to The Mem and, never appearing for Exeter, instead joined manager Ian Atkins as well as Kevin Miller and Jamal Easter at Plainmoor. Man of the Match against Rovers in September 2006 and making a spectacular goal-line clearance when Rovers visited Plainmoor, to deprive Richard Walker of a goal, Thorpe added a hat-trick against Grimsby in January 2007. However, both Torquay in 2006-07 and Darlington in 2009-10 lost their Football League status, his final game being Darlo’s 5-0 defeat against his former side Torquay in December 2009. Most bizarrely, Thorpe broke his arm in three places whilst on the team bus heading for Rochdale’s play-off game against his future employees Darlington in May 2008; this happened whilst arm-wrestling, René Howe, himself a future Rovers striker. Subsequently, he scored the second goal as Fleetwood defeated Alfreton Town 2-1 in the May 2010 Nationwide North play-off final. Having qualified as UEFA A coach, Lee Thorpe is married with four sons, the youngest in 2020 being named Junior in memory of his good friend, Junior Agogo. As for grandmother Irene, she is believed to be the Irene Danks (1922-2003), daughter of John Danks and Sarah Collins, who married John Thorpe in 1944 and had a son, also John, the following year. |
No 231. Oliver Eustace Tidman. 1936-37.
Born, 16.3.1911, Margate. Died, 20.12.2000, Bromley, Kent. 5’ 10½”; 11 st 2 lbs. Début: 29.8.36 v Millwall. Career: London and West End League XI; Tufnell Park; January 1931 Tottenham Hotspur (amateur); October 1931 West Ham United (amateur); May 1932 Aston Villa [1,0]; May 1935 Stockport County [24,4]; 7.5.36 Bristol Rovers [16,1]; July 1937 Clapton Orient [1,0]; 1938 Chelmsford City (to 1948). Second youngest in a large family to William Durrant Tidman (1863-1949) and Rose Louise Beck (1875-1952), who had married in 1895, Oliver Tidman was a tall winger, whose League career opened and closed with solitary appearances, his Villa game being on the left wing in a 1-0 top-flight victory at Stamford Bridge in February 1933 and his Orient fixture being at right-half against Watford in April 1938. He also scored twice when Stockport defeated Rochdale 4-0 in Division Three (North) in September 1935. Helping Rovers’ reserve side secure the 1936-37 Western League title, he then returned to play the reserves in Chelmsford City’s first-ever match, this fixture taking place in August 1938. Eighteen Southern League appearances and two goals, either side of a solitary wartime guest appearance with Watford, ensured he spent a decade in Essex football before moving to Bromley. Oliver Tidman married in 1936 Ena Margaret Rickman (1914-99), the elder daughter of Daniel Rickman and Julia Hawkins, and they had a daughter Lynda. |
No 575. Andrew Tillson. 1992-2000.
b 30.6.1966 Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire 6’ 2”; 12 st 7 lbs CD Début: 7.11.92 v Wolverhampton Wanderers Career: March 1984 Desborough Town; 1985 Stamford; August 1986 Kettering Town; January 1987 Peterborough United; July 1987 Corby Town; October 1987 Kettering Town; 14.7.88 Grimsby Town; 21.12.90 Queen’s Park Rangers (£400,000) [27+2,2]; 15.9.92 Grimsby Town (loan) [108+1,5]; 5.11.92 Bristol Rovers (£370,000) [250+3,11]; 5.8.00 Walsall (£10,000) [53+1,2]; 8.2.02 Rushden and Diamonds (free) [22,0]; 17.1.03 Team Bath (player-coach; coach, 1.5.04; head coach, 26.6.06); 19.5.09 Weymouth (assistant manager); 16.6.09 Exeter City (assistant manager; development coach, to 1.6.18); 10.8.18 Southampton (assistant coach). Inspirational, powerful central defender Andy Tillson served Rovers admirably through the 1990s and captained the side at Wembley in May 1995. “Composed and highly intelligent, [he] could always be relied upon with excellent positional sense” (Mike Jay). Corby’s Player of the Month in September 1987, he scored four goals in 25 games for the club before enjoying success with Grimsby. A double promotion took the Mariners from the basement division in 1989-90 and up to second-flight football in the spring of 1991 and he moved to Loftus Road to join Dennis Bailey, Ian Holloway and Gary Penrice. He was to score in top-flight matches in April 1991 against both Sunderland and Aston Villa. Having featured in Rangers’ 3-1 win against Liverpool at Anfield, Tillson became Rovers’ record signing in the autumn of 1992, as a succession of managers tried in vain to safeguard the club’s Second Division status. Tillson, who had played in Grimsby’s 3-0 win at Twerton Park two months earlier, made his Rovers début in a 5-1 defeat, but soon stamped his mark on the side. Despite a sending-off at Swansea in September 1994, he contributed his first League goal for the club the same month, with a twenty-fourth-minute header following Justin Channing’s corner against Stockport County, and was, as club captain, the Supporters’ Club Player of the Year for 1994-95. That campaign, Rovers inched into the play-offs and travelled to Wembley to oppose Huddersfield Town, with a place back in second-tier football at stake for the winning side; Tillson captained the club that day, but a 2-1 defeat consigned Rovers to a longer wait for their return to second-flight status. Player of the Year the following season, despite captaining Rovers when the side lost 2-1 at Hitchin Town in a demoralising FA Cup defeat in November 1995, he was sent off fifteen minutes into a 2-0 defeat at Millwall in September 1996 and was one of four Rovers men dismissed on an eminently forgettable Tuesday night at Wigan in December the following year. Tillson continued to be an effective member of Rovers’ squad for many years, was presented with an engraved silver tray when Walsall played at The Mem in November 2000 and, with Rushden, effectively played Nathan Ellington out of the game when the sides met at The Mem in March 2002. A début goal for Team Bath against Barnstaple Town kick-started an eighteen-month spell as a player which included successive promotions. A son of Roy Tillson and Greta Rudd, Andy Tillson, who was in the crowd for Rovers’ 2007 play-off final at Wembley, lives in Bathwick with his wife, Kelly Elkersall; they have a daughter Danielle and a son Jordan, who was on Rovers’ books as a schoolboy before playing for Exeter City against Rovers in November 2015. Leaving Exeter City as Paul Tisdale left the club in June 2018, Tillson left football for good and set up his own landscaping and gardening company |
No 342. John Timmins. 1958-60.
Born, 30.5.1936, Brierley Hill. Died, 13.7.2006, Telford. 5’ 9½”; 10 st 2 lbs. Début: 27.3.59 v Swansea City. Career: Wolverhampton Wanderers (professional, June 1953); January 1958 Plymouth Argyle [5,0]; 21.8.58 Bristol Rovers (exchange for Barrie Meyer) [4,0]; July 1961 Wellington Town. A former Wolves player, who had made his League bow in Plymouth’s 2-2 draw with Swindon Town in January 1958, John Timmins replaced Josser Watling for three games over Easter 1959 and Peter Hooper for the 3-0 defeat at Ipswich that September, but “did not look the part”, as the Evening Post declared. He was in the reserves’ side which defeated Swindon Town reserves 6-0 on Boxing Day 1960. The only child of George Timmins and Mary Simpkiss, she being the fourth of six daughters to Charles Howard Simpkiss (1880-1955) and Florence Southall (1882-1961), John Timmins later lived and worked in his native Brierley Hill. |
No 298. Michael Frederick Tippett. 1949-50.
Born, 11.6.1930, Cadbury Heath. Died, 5.4.2003, Frome, Somerset. 5’ 8½”; 10 st 10 lbs. Début: 10.4.50 v Exeter City. Career: Cadbury Heath School; Staple Hill Technical College; 1944 Poplar Rovers; 1945 Oldland; 1946 Cadbury Heath; 19.1.48 Bristol Rovers (professional, 9.4.48) [8,2]; 1952 Combined Services football; 4.8.55 Chippenham United; 1956 Bridgwater Town; 1957 Glastonbury; August 1958 Oldland (to 1960). Whilst serving his apprenticeship at BAC, winger Mike Tippett signed for Bert Tann’s Rovers from Bristol and District League side Cadbury Heath for a wage of £3 per week and made his Colts début in April 1948 against Clandown at inside-left. A trainee mechanical engineer, he made his début on the same day as Ted Parsons, in a 1-0 victory at Eastville, and scored in home fixtures over Easter 1950 against Norwich and Newport. Subsequently recalled for a 2-1 defeat at Southend in October 1951, Tippett remained on Rovers’ books whilst on National Service, playing against Sir Stanley Matthews (1915-2000) in May 1953, when the Combined Services side played a Celebrity XI. He scored twice in May 1955 when Rovers recorded a victory at Dawlish Town in a friendly by the unlikely score of 10-6. Mike Tippett married in 1955 Beryl Harris, the daughter of Gilbert Harris and Alice Bryant, and their son Peter was born the following year. |
No 246. Donal Tolland. 1937-39.
Born, 31.12.1902, Coatbridge. Died, 26.6.1945, Hillhead, Glasgow. 5’ 9½”; 11 st 2 lbs. Début: 4.12.37 v Notts County. Career: Well Park; Shettleston United; 15.1.25 Ayr United [226,50]; October 1932 Galston (trial); July 1933 Northampton Town [138,26]; 3.12.37 Bristol Rovers (£550) [34,3]; July 1939 football in USA. In signing a vastly experienced inside-right, Rovers could begin to re-group in the aftermath of the humiliating 8-1 FA Cup defeat at home to QPR. Danny Tolland, Scottish-born of Irish parentage, had forged his reputation at Ayr United and now formed a strong right-wing partnership at Eastville with fellow Scotsman Bobby Gardiner. He was an entertaining player, even though his Rovers career was overshadowed by real drama, as he was transported to Bristol Homoeopathic Hospital for a blood transfusion after the reserve game with Tunbridge Wells Rangers in February 1939. Talented but frustrating, he was apparently prone to beating his man and then returning to try to beat him again, he was an excellent set-piece player and penalty expert and his extrovert and lively wit found him in hot water on more than one occasion, his Ayr career being remembered for an alleged propensity for tap-dancing naked on the table in the changing-room at Somerset Park. At Northampton, too, he had become one of the few players sent off during the inter-war era, shortly after scoring what proved a consolation goal in their 5-1 defeat at Gillingham in April 1934. Tolland’s Ayr career, though, was extraordinary, especially as his telling pin-point crosses contributed hugely to fellow Rovers man Jimmy Smith scoring 66 League goals as Ayr were Second Division champions in 1927-28; “time after time [he] made openings for Smith”, The Scotsman reported. His Ayr début came in a 2-1 home defeat against Cowdenbeath in January 1925 and he was to score twice in a 4-3 win at East Fife in August 1926 and again in February 1928, as four-goal Smith helped the side defeat Arbroath 7-3. Tolland did once complete a hat-trick, in the Scottish Cup in January 1931, as hapless Clackmannan were swept aside 11-2 – “Tolland was the master of the situation and easily the finest player afield”. In 1930-31, when Ayr required a point from their final fixture to avoid relegation, it was Tolland who headed the only goal of the game at home to Kilmarnock with just fourteen minutes remaining, to save his side’s bacon. A brace of goals on his Northampton début in August 1933, a 3-2 defeat against Luton Town in a 6.30pm kick-off after the local cricket was over, indicated his skill and he scored against Rovers in January 1937, a match Northampton won 4-1. He played against Rovers in seven League matches as well as in the 1934-35 Third Division (South) Cup. “A very clever schemer”, Danny Tolland was a crowd-pleaser and a changing-room joker, who met success and trouble alike, tried his hand briefly in the States and died at the age of just forty-two. |
No 931. Lucas Tomlinson. 2019-22.
Born, 6.11.2000, Bristol. 5’ 10”; 10 st 10 lbs. Début: 14.12.19 v Ipswich Town. Career: 2011 Bristol Rovers (professional, 3.5.19) [0+1,0]; 6.3.19 Taunton Town (loan); 13.10.20 Bath City (loan); 24.4.21 Torquay United (loan); 1.10.21 Gloucester City (loan); 27.7.22 Gloucester City (trial); 30.7.22 Gloucester City (free); 12.11.22 Salisbury (free). Dark-haired left-footed creative attacking midfielder Lucas Tomlinson broke into Rovers’ side during the 2019-20 season. Following nineteen games for the Under-18 side in 2018-19 and eight matches for the Development Squad, he scored in the 7-0 pre-season friendly win at St Mochta’s on the club tour of Ireland. Armed with an ability to ghost past opponents, he was an unused substitute at Blackpool on the opening day of the 2019-20 campaign. Tomlinson replaced Kyle Bennett for the final nine minutes of the 2-1 victory against Chelsea Under-21 in the Football League Trophy in September 2019 before also playing against Swindon Town and Orient in the same tournament. He made his League bow when replacing goalscorer Tom Nichols for the final fifteen minutes of Rovers’ first League win at Portman Road since Boxing Day 1958, becoming the first twenty-first-century-born player to represent the Gas in the Football League. A goal in the August 2020 4-0 pre-season victory over Bristol Manor Farm saw Tomlinson secure a place in Rovers’ matchday squad for the season ahead, but he did not make the side, appearing instead in the National League South for Bath City in 3(+1) matches and in the National League on 0(+2) occasions with Torquay United. At Gloucester City he scored seven goals in 25(+6) National League North appearances. |
No 685. Ciaran Toner. 20001-02.
Born, 30.6.1981, Craigavon. 6’ 1”; 12 st 2 lbs. Début: 30.3.02 v Plymouth Argyle. Career: 1.8.00 Tottenham Hotspur: 24.12.01 Peterborough United (loan) [6,0]; 28.3.02 Bristol Rovers (loan) [6,0]; 7.5.02 Orient (free) [41+11,2]; 4.8.04 Lincoln City [10+5,2]; 18.3.05 Cambridge United (loan) [6+2,0]; 14.7.05 Grimsby Town (free) [80+16,14]; 26.6.08 Rochdale (free) [41+11,1]; 26.8.10 Harrogate Town (free); 11.7.11 Guiseley (free); June 2013 Rotherham United (coach); 31.9.13 Gainsborough Trinity (free); 20.10.15 Rotherham United (Lead Professional Development Coach). Northern Irish midfielder Ciarán Toner was sent out by Spurs on two loan spells, the first at Posh starting with a Boxing Day fixture at Huddersfield, and the second giving him a half-dozen matches in the quartered shirts of Rovers. With seventeen Under-21 caps to his name, many of these alongside Wayne Carlisle, Toner was an unused substitute against Liechtenstein twenty-four hours prior to joining Rovers and was to win two full caps. He replaced Birmingham City’s Damien Johnson for the final 21 minutes of a 2-0 defeat in Italy in June 2003 and came on for Tommy Docherty after eighty minutes of a goalless draw with Spain eight days later. At Orient, his first League goal duly arrived after nineteen minutes of the August 2002 fixture at Hull, whilst he was hospitalised and fined after a training ground bust-up with Marcus Richardson at Lincoln. He deflected Chris Carruthers’ shot into his own net to give Rovers a 1-0 win at Grimsby in December 2005, but scored against Rovers in February 2007. He and the former Rovers midfielder James Hunt both scored in Grimsby’s remarkable 6-0 win at Boston United that month and played together at Wembley the following month, as MK Dons defeated their side 2-0 in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final. Having suffered relegation to the Conference with Cambridge, he enjoyed promotion to League One with Rochdale in 2009-10 whilst his former club Grimsby left for the Conference. Unusually, Harrogate conceded six goals in the opening half-hour on his début at Boston United, and two goals and 35 games later, he joined up with Kevin Gall and Nathan Ellington’s brother Lee at Guiseley, where his 44 games and six goals helped the side to an unsuccessful Conference North play-off place. Subsequently alongside Michael Leary at Trinity, he scored five times in 56(+4) Conference North matches. Ciarán Toner works as a buyer for EMR, a Sheffield-based scrap metal firm and lives in Rotherham with his fiancée Louise, son Ryley and stepson Mason. |
No 848. Oumare Tounkara. 2012-13.
Born, 25.5.1990, Paris. 6’ 1½”; 12 st 8 lbs. Début: 2.3.13 v Burton Albion. Career: 2008 Sedan; June 2009 Sunderland (trial); 1.7.09 Sunderland (free); 5.8.10 Oldham Athletic (loan); 22.3.12 Oldham Athletic (loan) [43+9,8]; 30.7.12 Red Star Saint-Ouen 93 (trial); 5.9.12 Red Star Saint-Ouen 93 (free); 25.2.13 Bristol Rovers (trial); 28.2.13 Bristol Rovers (free) [4+5,2]; 21.5.13 Stevenage (free) [6+9,0]; 27.1.14 Grimsby Town (loan); 1.7.14 Jeanne d’Arc de Drancy (free) [19,11]; 1.7.15 LB Châteauroux (free) [109+12,28]; 4.7.19 trials in China; 26.7.19 Astra Giurgiu (free, to 8.1.20) [14,0]; 18.1.20 LB Châteauroux (trial); 5.6.20 Sporting Club de Lyon (free) [16+7,4]; 2.8.21 FC Fleury 91 (free) [3+7,0]. Strong, powerful confidence player Oumare Tounkara joined Rovers as John Ward’s rejuvenated side moved up the League Two table in the spring of 2013. An attacker in the mould of Guy Ipoua, he was known to work hard and to fight for his team’s cause, qualities which had endeared him to Sunderland scouts and he scored in a pre-season 2011 game against York City. Although of Guinean descent, even if one report indicated Senegalese and Malian heritage, he had earned a call-up to the provisional French squad for the Under-20 Toulon tournament in 2011, although he had not made the final cut. Whilst at Boundary Park, his first League goal came in a 3-0 victory over Notts County in September 2010, firing home after 66 minutes from Kieran Lee’s through-ball before setting up Lee for the third goal three minutes from time. Despite scoring seven goals in 2010-11, in which campaign he twice played for the Latics against Rovers, he managed just one goal the following campaign before becoming a Red Star team-mate of the former Middlesbrough left-back Franck Queudrue, even if he never made the first-team at the Stade Bauer. The third French-born player to represent Rovers in the League, Tounkara’s first appearance for Rovers was as a substitute for goal-scorer Ryan Brunt after an hour of the comfortable 3-0 home win over Burton Albion. He became the first French-born player to register a League goal for Rovers when he side-stepped débutant goalkeeper Jonathan Miles and rolled the ball home to put Rovers 2-0 ahead in the sixth minute at Dagenham on Easter Monday 2013, rifling home a volley twenty minutes from time for his second goal in a 4-2 victory. Goals at home to Woking and Chester eased Grimsby, where Tounkara’s two goals in 5(+7) games alongside Craig Disley, to the semi-finals of the Conference play-offs, where they lost to Gateshead. A first professional hat-trick helped Drancy defeat Raon L’Étape 3-1 in March 2015. He also scored twice as Châteauroux won 3-1 at Boulogne in September 2015 and was their top scorer in 2015-16, although his penultimate game of the season saw him receive a red card in the 1-1 draw at Strasbourg in April 2016, when he seized hold of referee Mehdi Mokhtari, who had sent off his team-mate Judicaël Crillon for a foul on Senegalese defender Abdallah Ndour. Châteauroux, having held on to their star for the new campaign, despite interest from top-flight clubs, knocked Nîmes out of the French Cup in a shock result in August 2016, the journal Midi Libre reporting that “Tounkara made the opposition defence suffer all match long”, and sealed promotion as champions back to the second-tier of French football. After trials in China, he moved to Romanian football in the summer of 2019, but swiftly fell out of favour after punching a hole in a changing-room door after the 1-1 draw with Academica Clincheni in September 2019. His first game for SC Lyon came in the goalless draw with Avranches in October 2020 and, although he scored in both fixtures against Boulogne, Sporting finished bottom of the eighteen-club National 1 in 2020-21. He was in the Fleury side which was knocked out of the French Cup 2-0 by AS Poissy at the synthetic Walter-Felder pitch in October 2021. |
No 586. Paul William Tovey. 1993-96.
Born, 5.12.1973, Wokingham. 5’ 9”; 10 st 10 lbs. Début: 9.4.94 v Swansea City. Career: Northavon Schools; County of Avon Schools; 1990 Bristol Rovers (professional, 24.7.92) [8+2,0]; 15.10.95 Sligo Rovers (loan); 7.7.96 Exeter City (trial); 15.7.96 Crewe Alexandra (trial); 22.7.96 Bath City (free); 23.1.97 Yate Town (loan); 1.9.97 Yate Town (free); 5.2.98 Clevedon Town; 28.2.98 Yate Town; July 1999 Paulton Rovers (to 2002; 13.5.17 assistant manager). An ever-present in the youth side for two seasons, midfielder Paul Tovey played in 20(+5) games as Rovers’ reserves secured the Neville Ovenden League Second Division title in 1992-93, scoring at Cardiff in October of that campaign. The younger son of John Tovey and Betty Marner, he was a ball-winning midfielder and scored again for the reserves in the 2-0 victory over Bristol City’s second string over Easter 1995. An unused substitute at Fulham and Reading before replacing David Pritchard for his League bow at Swansea, he also came on as substitute in September 1994, replacing Gareth Taylor in a 3-0 win against Rotherham at Millmoor, before making eight starts in the 1995-96 season. Sent off after 21 minutes on his second start for Bath, a 2-2 draw at Woking in August 1996, Tovey played in 17(+4) games for the Romans over two seasons, without scoring. A business data analyst in insurance, he now lives in Frampton Cotterell with his wife Karen and their children, Ruby and Jack. |
No 159. Francis Albert Townrow. 1931-33.
Born, 27.11.1902, West Ham. Died, 10.8.1958, West Ham. 5’ 9”; 11 st 5 lbs. Début: 29.8.31 v Bournemouth. Career: Barking Town; Chelsea; 1920 Northfleet; March 1921 Arsenal (professional, 23.4.21) [8,2]; May 1926 Dundee [80,19]; 2.6.30 Bristol City [22,5]; 6.6.31 Bristol Rovers [50,6]; 19.8.33 Taunton Town (released, 4.5.34). Two Townrow brothers played for Rovers, car-man Walter Walker Townrow (1871-1951) and his wife Fanny Isabel Sandys (1874-1931) of 192 Vicarage Road, West Ham having two sons, John and Frank, before their daughter Ada Isabel Townrow (1904-92), who married Henry Nichols in 1935; Fanny was the daughter of John William Sandys (1846-1900) and Rachel Vanderkiste (1854-96), who had married in 1874. The brothers played together in Rovers’ League side on six occasions, Frank scoring in the 3-1 win against Southend United that September to add to his five goals in 1931-32 that had included a brace against Gillingham. Whilst with Rovers, Frank Townrow lived at The Crescent, Sea Mills and played cricket for the Sea Mills club, having moved from 67 Argyle Street, Eastville. Having taken part in Arsenal’s tour of Germany in May 1923 (he scored the second goal in a 6-3 win against TSC 99 in Düsseldorf in May 1923), Townrow moved north of the border and scored the third goal, the future Rover Sam Irving having contributed the second, in Dundee’s 4-1 win at home to Hearts on his début in August 1926. During his times at Dens Park, he twice scored two goals in a game, one on each half through the sleet and snow as Hibernian were defeated 4-1 in March 1928 and in a 6-1 win away to non-league Brechin City in the Scottish Cup in February 1929. He scored the first goal by any player in the 1929-30 season, netting after just two minutes on the opening day against Partick Thistle and his final appearance for Dundee was the 2-1 defeat at Queen’s Park in February 1930. A hat-trick in Bristol City’s 4-2 win against Bury in September 1930 brought him to Rovers’ attention and he transferred across the city at the close of that campaign. Taunton Town, not the present club of the same name, finished the 1933-34 season in last place in the Western League, having conceded 57 goals in losing all twelve matches. Townrow was captain and an ever-present, playing four times against the Rovers reserves side, one in January 1934 being a 7-0 defeat, after a club début against Llanelli in August 1933. Frank Townrow married Lilian Gladys Williams (1903-81) in West Ham in the autumn of 1921 and they had a daughter Joyce, who married John Flynn, and a son Raymond, who married Audrey Clements and had three sons. |
No 174. John (Jack) Ernest Townrow. 1932-33.
Born, 28.3.1901, Stratford. Died, 11.4.1969, Knaresborough. 5’ 11½”; 13 st 7 lbs. Début: 27.8.32 v Crystal Palace. Career: Pelly Memorial School; Fairbairn House; 5.6.19 Clapton Orient [253,5]; 22.2.27 Chelsea (£5,000) [130,3]; 10.5.32 Bristol Rovers [10,0]; 1933 Fairbairn House (groundsman and coach); 1952-53 Harrogate Railway Athletic (manager). For the opening six matches of the 1932-33 season, Rovers fielded the two experienced Townrow brothers in their half-back line and they played together in six of Jack Townrow’s ten League appearances for the club. Jack Townrow was the eldest of three children to a car-man Walter Walker Townrow (1871-1951) and his wife Fanny Isabel Sandys (1874-1931), who had married in 1895, his mother being the eldest child of John William Sandys (1846-1900) and Rachel Vanderkiste (1854-96); he was born at 38 Bristol Road, Forest Gate and brought up at 192 Vicarage Lane, West Ham, represented London Schools in 1913-15, England Schoolboys against both Scotland and Wales in 1915, the Football League on one occasion and secured two full England caps. First, he was in the team that lost 2-0 to Scotland before a 92,000 crowd at Hampden Park over Easter 1925; “mediocrity was written all over the English side”, reported The Scotsman, as Hughie Gallacher (1903-57) goals after 36 and 85 minutes condemned the visitors to defeat. Recalled for the March 1926 game against Wales at Selhurst Park, Townrow was unable, despite the “ideal conditions”, to prevent England slipping to a 3-1 defeat. This brace of caps was the reward for some consistent half-back play for Second Division Orient, where he played alongside fellow Rovers names in Hubert Ashton and Jimmy Gardner. Making his League bow in the 2-1 defeat at Fulham in September 1919, Townrow compiled an impressive appearances tally in East London, being no doubt relieved to play Hughie Gallacher out of the game as Orient defeated Newcastle United 2-0 in a shock FA Cup result in February 1926. He won promotion from Division Two with Chelsea in 1929-30. Later, he worked at Becton Gas Works and, later still, ran a public house in Harrogate, from where he was tempted to manage his local side. On 3rd October 1939 Jack Townrow was sworn in as a Special Constable. Jack Townrow married Miriam Wallace (1901-67) in West Ham in 1921; they lived at 18 Ambleside Avenue, Hornchurch and had two sons, John and Terry, as well as a daughter Daphne, who bore them three grandchildren. |
No 625. Robert Victor Trees. 1998-2000.
Born, 18.12.1977, Manchester. 5’ 10”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 8.8.98 v Burnley. Career: 1994 Manchester United (professional, 5.7.96); 1.8.97 Stalybridge Celtic; March 1998 Witton Albion (loan); 13.6.98 Bristol Rovers [38+8,1]; 1.10.99 Altrincham (trial); 3.11.00 Leigh RMI (loan); 7.2.01 Leigh RMI (free); June 2001 Droylsden; 9.7.02 Mossley; 24.6.03 Hyde United (trial); 15.8.03 Hyde United; 1.8.04 Abbey Hey; 15.7.05 FC United of Manchester. Few Rovers players have been through the Old Trafford set-up, yet defensive midfielder Rob Trees had achieved precisely this, although he could not convert reserve appearances into League outings. After one goal in 21(+7) Conference games at Stalybridge, he made his Rovers début on the same day as Jason Roberts. Indeed, he and Roberts scored six goals between them for the reserves against Exeter City that autumn, Roberts getting five of them, before both men were sent off three days later as nine-man Rovers defeated Bournemouth 1-0 at The Mem. Man of the Match against Chesterfield, he hit the bar with a free-kick against Preston and spent the final two minutes in goal at Gillingham, after Lee Jones had been dismissed. Placed on the transfer list in 1999, he nonetheless scored twice as a substitute as the reserves drew 2-2 with Salisbury City and finally registered his sole League goal with a right-foot half-volley to put Rovers 2-0 ahead after 57 minutes en route to a 3-1 victory over Wrexham in January 2000. Rob Trees helped Leigh to the FA Cup first round in November 2000 and Droylsden to the Unibond Premier League title in 2001-02 before joining the breakaway side formed by Manchester United supporters opposed to Malcolm Glazer’s takeover of the club, FC United being promoted from the North-West Counties Second Division in 2005-06. He also appeared in 38 North West Counties League fixtures with Mossley and played in the final of the North West Counties League Cup, Clitheroe being defeated 2-1 at Gigg Lane in May 2003. |
No 731. Paul Jonathon Trollope. 2004-05.
Born, 3.6.1972, Swindon. 6’; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 7.8.04 v Mansfield Town. Career: 21.10.87 Swindon Town (trainee, 18.7.88; professional, 23.12.89); 26.3.92 Torquay United (loan); 1.7.92 Torquay United (free) [103+3,16]; 16.12.94 Derby County (loan); 17.1.95 Derby County (£100,000) [47+18,5]; 30.8.96 Grimsby Town (loan) [6+1,1]; 11.10.96 Crystal Palace (loan) [0+10,0]; 27.11.97 Fulham (£600,000) [56+22,5]; 22.3.02 Coventry City (free) [5+1,0]; 23.7.02 Nottingham Forest (free) [86,8]; 28.6.04 Bristol Rovers (free) [26+4,2] (player-coach, 16.8.05; manager, 7.11.05-15.12.10); 15.7.11 Birmingham City (coach); 7.6.12 Norwich City (coach) (to 6.4.14); 14.2.15 Cardiff City (coach; 18.5.16 First-Team Coach, to 4.10.16); 26.6.15 Wales (assistant manager); 24.11.16 Brighton (assistant manager, to 13.5.19); 8.10.20 Nottingham Forest (assistant manager). A creative midfielder who managed Rovers to promotion to League One, Paul Trollope was a calm, influential player and coach. Unused at Swindon, Trollope later played for eight different League sides; his father John Trollope MBE had run up an incredible 770 League appearances at Swindon between 1960 and 1980, a record at any one League club, and had scored against Rovers in April 1977 at the age of thirty-eight – Paul was the younger sibling from his marriage in 1965 to Maureen Woolford. His League bow came for Torquay against Stoke City over Easter 1992 and he was one of four substitutes to score when the Gulls lost 5-4 at Barnet in December 1992. Suffering relegation with Torquay, Grimsby and Northampton, he also enjoyed promotion with Fulham, after he and Barry Hayles had featured in an unsuccessful play-off final against Grimsby, and with Derby, for whom he played in top-flight football. He had opposed Rovers twice each with Northampton and Fulham, scoring a 56th-minute winning goal for the Cottagers at The Mem in March 1999. His club form earned nine full caps for Wales, the first coming in a 1-0 victory over the Scots at Kilmarnock in May 1997, appearing in this game alongside Marcus Browning, his final cap coming in the 4-0 victory over Azerbaijan in March 2003. Having played alongside Jamie Forrester at both Northampton and Grimsby and under the management team of Ian Atkins and Kevan Broadhurst at both Northampton and Rovers, Trollope’s brief playing career with the Pirates included goals at Orient and in the comfortable 4-1 home victory over Chester before he retired to focus on coaching. It was evident that he possessed managerial qualities and, in this capacity, he presided over the promotion campaign of 2006-07. Rising from mid-table obscurity, Rovers appeared in the April 2007 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final in Cardiff and then squeezed belatedly into the play-offs, from which the club played at Wembley in May 2007, defeating Shrewsbury Town 3-1 on a warm, sunny afternoon to return to third-tier English football. Manager of the Month in April 2007, Trollope then took Rovers on a storming FA Cup run which ended in a 5-1 home defeat against West Brom in an entertaining quarter-final in March 2008. After 284 League games in charge, Rovers having won 106 and lost 107, Trollope’s departure came as the club tumbled over Christmas into the League One relegation zone, and he later coached under Chris Hughton at Premier League Norwich City and his Cardiff City side was knocked out of the League Cup by Rovers in August 2016 before he helped ease Brighton back to top-flight football in 2017 for the first time since 1983. With three children from his first marriage to Grace Keogh, Paul Trollope lives with his second wife, Rebecca. |
Reginald Wilfred Trotman. 1927-28.
Born, 10.7.1906, Bristol. Died, 5.1.1970, Bath. 5’ 11”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 21.1.28 v Coventry City. Career: Kingswood Rovers; October 1927 Bristol Rovers (professional, November 1927) [3,1]; July 1928 Rochdale [23,10]; 14.2.29 Sheffield Wednesday; March 1930 Worksop Town; May 1930 Mansfield Town; May 1931 Dartford; May 1932 Bath City; August 1934 Bristol St George; 13.10.34 Trowbridge Town (to 1937). Début goals for both Rovers and Rochdale were insufficient for dark-haired Reg Trotman to make the League side at Hillsborough and he ended his career with eleven goals and 26 League appearances to his name. Away to Coventry, his Rovers début produced a goal, sandwiched between those of Arthur Ormston and Tom Williams, as Rovers fought hard for a 3-2 victory; his Rochdale début goal came against Barrow in Division Three (North). All but one of his League strikes for Dale came at Spotland, this tally alongside the former Rovers reserve Jack Milsom including braces against Darlington and Tranmere Rovers as Rochdale finished in seventeenth place. The second surviving son of a coalminer John Trotman and his wife Sarah Ann Bowyer of 52 Victoria Park, Kingswood, Reg Trotman scored six goals in the Midland League for Mansfield, as well as a goal in the Notts Senior Cup Final, as Mansfield beat Notts County 7-0 in April 1931, and scored freely at Dartford. To secure the 1930-31 Southern League championship, Dartford had to win a play-off game against Exeter City reserves, and Trotman’s hat-trick ensured that they did. He followed this up with a hatful of goals in 1931-32, contributing six in the very last game as his club, needing a final-day win to secure the Southern League championship, defeated Bournemouth reserves 7-0 to win the title by one point. He was in the Bath side which won the Somerset Professional Cup in September 1932 and his penalty in April 1934 secured the 2-1 victory over Warminster Town in April 1934 which, in turn, won the required points for Bath City reserves to be Western League Division One champions for 1933-34. The following campaign he represented both St George, who finished bottom of the Western League table, and Trowbridge, for whom he scored hat-tricks against Weymouth and Radstock Town towards Christmas 1934 and four times in the 5-1 Western League victory over Frome Town in April 1936. Married in the summer of 1929 to Florence Gertrude Angell (1909-2002), Reg Trotman had two sons, David and Malcolm, lived at 82 Kelston View, Whitway, Bath and worked from 1936 at Bath Fire Station, only being available for football as work permitted. After many years as a fireman, he was selected to represent the English Fire Service in a peace-embracing fixture against their French counterparts in Paris in 1946. |
No 630. Michael John Trought. 1998-2002.
Born, 19.10.1980, Bristol. 6’ 2”; 14 st 3 lbs. Début: 12.12.98 v Manchester City. Career: 1997 Bristol Rovers (professional, 18.3.99) [25+8,0]; 8.12.00 Clevedon Town (loan); 27.2.01 Plymouth Argyle (trial); 26.4.02 Bournemouth (trial); 19.7.02 Bath City (trial); 22.7.02 Bath City; 16.9.05 Backwell Town (trial); 23.11.05 Clevedon Town (loan); 23.12.05 Clevedon Town; 7.7.08 Paulton Rovers; 12.8.09 Mangotsfield United; January 2013 Highridge United. Few Rovers players have made their League début before a crowd of almost 25,000, yet central defender Mike Trought did precisely this at Maine Road in Rovers’ first ever League match against Manchester City. Marking Gareth Taylor, a former Rovers player, Trought lasted just 26 minutes before injury necessitated a substitution and he was replaced by Mark Smith. Cool in possession, the teenage defender had appeared in an Auto Windscreens Shield tie against Walsall prior to his League bow yet, despite inclusion in the Wales Under-21 squad in March 1999, he was to find his career stunted by injury. First a run of injuries truncated his Rovers career, then he left Bath after fracturing a knee cap in an FA Trophy game against Canvey Island. Sent off for Rovers at Swansea, along with Vitālijs Astafjevs, he was also dismissed when the reserves lost 3-0 against Cardiff in April 2002 and in Bath City’s 1-0 defeat at Staines Town in the FA Trophy in January 2004. Trought captained Bath in their July 2002 pre-season friendly against Rovers and managed one goal in 80 appearances for the Twerton Park club before helping Phil Bater’s Clevedon Town secure the 2005-06 Southern League Division One (West) title. A self-employed carpenter, Mike Trought lives with his partner Lindsay in Ashton. |
No 789. James Mark Tunnicliffe. 2010-11.
Born, 17.1.1989, Denton, Manchester. 6’ 2”; 11 st 5 lbs. Début: 7.8.10 v Peterborough United. Career: Denton West End Primary School; 2000 Audenshaw High School; Reddish Villa; 12.8.05 Stockport County [32+9,0]; 24.10.05 Liverpool (trial); 24.11.05 Southampton (trial); 5.10.07 Northwich Victoria (loan); 25.6.09 Brighton (free) [17,2]; 11.2.10 MK Dons (loan) [9,1]; 16.7.10 Bristol Rovers (loan) [21+4,0]; 15.6.11 Wycombe Wanderers (free) [16+1,1]; 9.2.12 Crewe Alexandra (loan) [2,0]; 29.6.12 Stockport County (free); 15.11.13 Stalybridge Celtic (loan) (released by Stockport County, 1.2.14). A solid central defender, James Tunnicliffe’s brief spell with Rovers came during the 2010-11 relegation campaign when his tenacious play was insufficient to prevent the club dropping into the basement division. A Stockport début at the age of seventeen in the 2-0 defeat at Notts County a week before Christmas 2005 preceded two games for County against Rovers and he scored the first goal of his career after 56 minutes of Brighton’s 1-1 draw at the Memorial Stadium in September 2009. He played in 2(+1) Conference games for Northwich, scored his only MK Dons goal against Swindon, whilst his solitary strike for Wycombe, for whom he opposed Rovers in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in September 2011, came on his début against Scunthorpe United. His 43(+2) Conference appearances, not to mention goals against Hereford and Alfreton were insufficient to prevent Stockport tumbling down to Nationwide North in the spring of 2013, where he became briefly their captain. Ten games in that division for County in 2013-14, plus a goal as Telford were defeated 4-2 in November 2013, were followed by 9(+1) Nationwide North fixtures for Celtic and a goal in December 2013’s 3-2 home defeat against Colwyn Bay United. His brother, Jordan Tunnicliffe, also joined Stalybridge Celtic early in 2014 and played for Crawley Town against Rovers in the 2021-22 season. |
No 146. Thomas Turnbull. 1930-31.
Born, 22.8.1906, Morpeth. Died, 1976, Northumberland. 5’ 11”; 11 st 6 lbs. Début: 8.9.30 v Exeter City. Career: Bedlington United; July 1928 Frickley Colliery; May 1929 Gainsborough Trinity; Ashington (trial); 28.6.30 Bristol Rovers (£10) [1,0]; January 1931 Ashington YMCA; September 1932 Pegswood United; June 1934 Ashington; September 1934 Tunbridge Wells Rangers; November 1934 Ashington; January 1935 Gateshead [5,0]; August 1935 Stakeford Albion; 1936 Cork City. Considerable uncertainty clouds the life and career of Tom “Tucker” Turnbull. What is known is that he was a regular in Rovers’ reserve side early in 1930-31, scoring twice in the incredible 7-5 home defeat against Torquay United reserves and earning a call-up, in Bert Young’s absence through injury, for the 1-1 draw at home to Exeter City. Suspended in January 1931 for “breaking the club’s regulations, having not returned to Bristol after a one month’s absence”, Turnbull was reported to the Football League and was unable to sign professionally for another club until his club registration was cancelled by Rovers in February 1933. Released from this bind, Turnbull was able to feature briefly in Gateshead’s side in Division Three (North), playing in the tempestuous January 1935 local derby with Hartlepool United, which his side won 2-1. He would appear to be the eldest of five children to Andrew Turnbull (1884-1917), who died at Westvleteren, Belgium in the cauldron of World War One, and Mary Ann Chicken (1888-1915) who died in childbirth, his siblings being Isabella (born 1909), Elizabeth (1911-36), Joseph (born and died 1914) and Andrew (born and died 1915). He was raised by his paternal grandparents Thomas Turnbull, a coalminer, and Elizabeth Burrell at 25 Medway Street, Hirst, near Ashington. A colliery stone man by profession, Tom Turnbull lived at 129 Hawthorn Road, Hirst with his wife Frances Ann Bartle (1913-87), whom he married in1936 and their daughter Elizabeth Turnbull, who was born four days before Christmas that year. |
No 258. Albert Turner. 1938-39.
Born, 3.9.1907, Sheffield. Died, December, 1963, Don Valley. 5’ 11”; 12 st. Début: 17.12.38 v Northampton Town. Career: Sheffield Elementary School; Grimethorpe Wesleyans; Mansfield and Howell Sports Club; Ecclesfield United; 1928 Halifax Town (trial); May 1928 Denaby United; March 1929 Hull City [19,2]; August 1931 Walsall [56,21]; June 1933 Doncaster Rovers [119,51]; May 1937 Cardiff City (£1,000) [40,20]; 14.12.38 Bristol Rovers (free) [21,4]; 20.7.39 Bath City. Perhaps in the shadow of his son Gordon Turner (1930-1976), who scored 243 goals in 406 Football League matches for Luton Town and represented the Football League, Albert Turner brought a wealth of experience to Eastville, largely gleaned in his time at Doncaster. A Third Division (North) title in 1934-35 came Doncaster’s way, with Turner top-scoring, his 26 League goals that campaign including five in a 7-1 thrashing that February of New Brighton as well as a hat-trick against Accrington Stanley. Taking his talent abroad, he scored one penalty and missed another against FC Austria in December 1935 and had a goal disallowed when Doncaster lost 7-2 to Holland in Rotterdam in October 1936. Turner, who had apparently once scored eighteen goals in a 36-0 victory in local football, suffered relegation from Division Two with Hull City in 1929-30 and contributed twenty goals, eighteen of them at Ninian Park, in his brief spell at Cardiff. A prolific spell at Walsall also included League braces against both Carlisle United and Wrexham. A noted club cricketer, he scored the winning goal on the stroke of half-time against Bournemouth shortly after joining Rovers and added goals against Mansfield Town, Exeter City and in the 1-1 draw at home to Bristol City. He married Winifred Makinson (1913-89). |
No 115. Herbert Lewis Turner. 1928-29.
Born, 17.2.1899, King’s Norton, Birmingham. Died, 21.12.1953, Coventry. 5’ 11”; 11 st 6 lbs. Début: 21.8.28 v Swindon Town. Career: Sandwell Rovers; 1915-17 Darlaston; 1918 Rubery Owen; June 1919 Merthyr Town [144,33]; 23.3.25 Coventry City (£750) [29,7]; August 1926 Brierley Hill Alliance; 21.6.27 Torquay United [37,11]; 1.6.28 Bristol Rovers [9,2]; July 1929 Brierley Hill Alliance; January 1930 Hinckley United; 31.1.34 Standard Athletic (Coventry). Inside-forward Bert Turner represented four clubs in the Football League, helped Merthyr win the Welsh Cup, scoring in the 1924 final, and played for the Welsh League against the Scottish League. “Turner brave, who’s ever steady” (Merthyr Express) was something of a hero at Penydarren Park, where he was top scorer in 1919-20, with ten goals in thirty Southern League matches, then top scorer in 1921-22 as Merthyr cemented their place in the third tier. He had previous experience in wartime football with Notts County, Birmingham, Southport Central and Preston North End. Relegated from Division Two with Coventry, he joined Torquay on their election to the League, scoring their first ever goal, this coming from the penalty-spot, and ending their inaugural season as the club’s top scorer. He also scored the first hat-trick registered in the Football League by a Torquay player, during a 4-2 win against Norwich City in January 1928. Having played for both Merthyr and Torquay against Rovers, he returned the favour by playing in Rovers’ side against the Gulls in September 1928. He died at the age of fifty-four. The youngest of ten children to Charles Turner and Eliza Hickinbotham, who had married in 1884, Bert was brought up with his six sisters and three elder brothers at Chartley, Bournville Lane, King’s Norton, his father working as a bricklayer. At the age of eighteen, he married Fanny Smith and their daughter Vera was born shortly afterwards. He should not be confused with Harold Lovett Turner, a contemporary player born in Desborough, who joined Bournemouth from Birmingham Combination champions Market Harborough in May 1930. |
No 529. Robert Peter Turner. 1986-88.
Born, 18.9.1966, Littlethorpe, near Ripon, Yorkshire. 6’ 3”; 14 st 1 lb. Début: 17.1.87 v Bolton Wanderers. Career: July 1983 Huddersfield Town (professional, 19.7.84) [0+2,0]; 19.7.85 Cardiff City (loan); 10.10.85 Cardiff City (free) [34+5,8]; 2.10.86 Hartlepool United (loan) [7,1]; 31.12.86 Bristol Rovers (loan); 29.1.87 Bristol Rovers (free) [19+7,2]; 17.12.87 Wimbledon (£15,000) [2+8,0]; 27.1.89 Bristol City (£45,000) [45+7,12]; 23.7.90 Plymouth Argyle (loan); 8.8.90 Plymouth Argyle (£150,000) [66,17]; 21.11.92 Notts County (loan); 23.12.92 Notts County (£90,000) [7+1,1]; 25.3.93 Shrewsbury Town (loan) [9,0]; 4.2.94 Exeter City (free) [38+7,7]; 18.12.95 Cambridge United (loan); 8.2.96 Cambridge United (free) [12+4,4]; 18.10.96 Hull City (loan) [5,2]; 3.3.97 Taunton Town; 19.9.97 Bodmin Town; 16.1.98 Bideford; 31.7.98 Taunton Town; 23.9.98 Dawlish Town; 2000 Glastonbury; 2004 Newton Abbot. Signed for Rovers as the replacement for the departing Trevor Morgan, tall, powerful striker Robbie Turner enjoyed a brief spell with Rovers during a lengthy career which included League games for twelve separate sides. The brother of goalkeeper John Turner, whose six League clubs included lengthy spells at Torquay and Chesterfield, Robbie Turner scored for Rovers in the 4-3 “home” defeat against Swindon played at Ashton Gate over Easter 1987 and the 3-1 victory over Rotherham United at Twerton Park on the opening day of the following campaign. He is the youngest of four boys to John Turner senior and his wife Ines Passerotti, younger child of Celestino Passerotti and Veronica Donnini, Italians who married in County Durham. With just two League games and a 3-0 League Cup win at Sheffield Wednesday as a seventeen-year-old to his name whilst at Huddersfield, he scored his only Hartlepool goal in a 1-1 draw at Aldershot in October 1986 and arrived at Rovers with a growing reputation as a tough and enthusiastic target man. Moving to Ashton Gate in January 1989, he was in the City side which Rovers defeated 3-0 at Twerton Park on a heady night in May 1990 to snatch the Third Division title from under the Robins’ noses, although Turner had the consolation of knowing promotion to Division Two was secure. Plymouth’s top scorer in 1990-91, his tally including a goal in a 2-2 draw against Rovers that December, one of four occasions he played for Argyle against Rovers in the League. He scored in Exeter’s 5-1 home defeat against Doncaster Rovers in November 1994, the Grecians completing the 1994-95 campaign anchored to the foot of Division Three. He later joined Cambridge United, against whom he had scored his solitary Notts County goal in December 1992. Sent off for Plymouth at Middlesbrough in January 1991, Exeter against Darlington in August 1995 and Cambridge at home to Cardiff in August 1996, he was also a team-mate at Cambridge of the former Rovers midfielder Paul Raynor. In May 2005, following three incidents of “alleged violent conduct” whilst playing for Newton Abbot against Stoke Gabriel, Turner was issued with a 184-day ban, making his comeback against Ivybridge Town at Erme Valley in a Devon Premier Cup quarter-final six months later. Robbie Turner worked in Bristol as a plumber, before starting up his own Devon-based heating and plumbing business. |
No 944. David Tutonda. 2020-21.
b 11.10.1995 Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo 5’ 11”; 11 st 7 lbs D Début: 12.9.20 v Sunderland Career: October 2012 Cardiff City (professional, 29.4.14); 13.12.15 Newport County (loan) [12,2]; 7.8.15 York City (loan) [12,0]; 31.12.16 Barnet (free) [41+7,0]; 28.8.20 Bristol Rovers (free) [9+11,0]; 18.6.21 Gillingham (free) [21+8,0]. Possessing an inherent desire to get forward on the pitch, defender David Tutonda offered an attacking side to his defensive commitments as a left wing-back. This flair and intent had perhaps been lacking from the side and offered the possibility of more chances being created. Certainly Tutonda had strong form on his side, having been a pivotal member of Barnet’s squad for almost four years. A total of 79(+9) games in Conference and League Two had included goals at both Harrogate and Maidenhead and he had also contributed a late consolation goal in an FA Cup defeat at Brentford in February 2019. A team-mate at Barnet of John Akinde and Charlie Clough, he was sent off at Bromley in September 2018 and his final game for the club was a play-off defeat at the hands of Notts County during the coronavirus pandemic. Arriving in the United Kingdom at the age of five, he had made his first League appearance in February 2015, in Newport’s colours in a home win over Wycombe Wanderers and his first York game was also against the Chairboys. Rovers were relegated from League One after a poor 2020-21 campaign and both Tutonda and Max Ehmer joined Gillingham, alongside former Rovers goalkeeper Aaron Chapman and midfielder Mustapha Carayol. Tutonda was sent off whilst playing for Gillingham against Wimbledon in August 2021, the Gills being relegated from League One that season. |
No 237. George Edward Tweed. 1936-38.
Born, 4.12.1910, Newmarket. Died, 20.2.1971, Wells. 5’ 10”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 31.10.36 v Orient. Career: November 1930 Newmarket Town; August 1931 Bury Town; February 1932 Newmarket Town; March 1932 Watford (trial); January 1936 Coventry City; 12.8.36 Bristol Rovers [25,0]; 20.10.37 Gillingham [31,0]; 12.8.39 Bath City; 1940-41 Newmarket Town; 1946 Gloucester City. Printer journeyman George Samuel Tweed (1872-1951) and Sarah Jane Boreham (1873-1954) of Icewell Hill, Newmarket had a large family, the seventh being George junior, who played at right-back for Rovers over a period of just over a year shortly before World War Two. Tweed had enjoyed great success with his home-town club. Initially a centre-forward, he had scored hat-tricks against Leiston, Bury Town and Ipswich Town reserves, as Newmarket were Bury and District League champions in 1930-31 and reached the 1931 Addenbrookes Hospital Cup Final, where they lost 2-0 to Exning United. He scored 29 goals over his years with Newmarket. Converted to right-back on his return to the club, he first played in that position against Sudbury Town in the Suffolk Senior Cup and went on to play consistently over the next few years, as Newmarket were Ipswich and District League champions in 1933-34, won both the Suffolk Senior Cup and West Suffolk Cup in 1935 and lost finals in 1934 in the West Suffolk Cup, 2-1 to Sudbury Town, and Exning Charity Cup, 5-2 to Ely City. Whilst with Rovers, George Tweed met his wife, Audrey Barnes (1920-67), the third of four children to Albert Barnes and Lilian Bussell, and their marriage produced a daughter Angela, born in 1942, a son Tony born four years later, and grandchildren. Tweed’s spell at Gillingham coincided with the club failing to be re-elected to the Football League, but he played against Rovers in February 1938 and was a team-mate of fellow Rovers players in Archie Young, Syd Hartley and Albert Taylor. Joining Bath at the same time as Bert Turner, Tweed played in the trial game, as Stripes beat Reds by the unusual score of 7-5 and later played twice for Newmarket in 1940-41 and once as a guest for Notts County in their 8-1 defeat at the hands of Lincoln City on Christmas Day 1942. The Tweed family moved to Street in 1950 and he worked as the office manager at a building firm. |
No 524. Geoffrey Twentyman. 1986-93.
Born, 10.3.1959, Liverpool. 6’ 2”; 13 st 2 lbs. Début: 6.9.86 v York City. Career: Kirkstone Rovers; 1976 Liverpool (trial); 1977 Formby; 1981 Chorley; 25.8.83 Preston North End (free) [95+3,4]; 15.8.86 Southport (free); 29.8.86 Bristol Rovers (free) [248+4,6]; 12.2.93 Yate Town; 1993 Linfield; 12.9.95 Iron Acton; 13.5.96 Bristol Rovers (assistant manager; reserve team manager, 23.1.97-19.6.97); 13.10.97 Mangotsfield United (coach); Brimsham Green (club president). Throughout Rovers’ history, few men have built up such a positive rapport with the supporters as a player and as a journalist as Geoff Twentyman. A central defender of stature, who enjoyed promotion and a Wembley appearance in the quartered shirt, he has developed his radio persona to become a highly-respected local sporting personality. The third of four children to Geoff Twentyman senior (1930-2004) and Patricia Fearn, his father was a player with Carlisle and Liverpool who, as a football scout, was credited with “discovering” Ian Rush, Alan Hansen, Phil Neal and Steve Heighway. A Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy winner with Chorley in both 1982 against Barrow and 1983 against Horwich RMI, he registered 23 goals for Chorley in one season as a defender. Four League appearances for Preston against Rovers included a goal in the 2-2 draw in January 1985 and he was also sent off for the Lilywhites at Millwall in the Third Division in November 1984. He also played for Southport against both Goole Town and Horwich RMI. Twentyman was a dependable and consistent defensive player, running up the considerable tally of 164 consecutive League appearances between 1987 and 1992, a dispute over attendance at his brother’s wedding notwithstanding, as he was an ever-present in three seasons in succession. This run encompassed the 1989-90 campaign, in which Rovers secured the Third Division title, Twentyman scoring a fourteenth-minute far-post header in a 3-0 victory over his former club, Preston, in the process, and he played in Rovers’ first ever appearance at Wembley, having converted the critical spot-kick in the shoot-out against Brentford the previous February, as Tranmere Rovers won the Leyland Daf Final 2-1 under the twin towers. Twentyman, who had bizarrely scored for both sides when Rovers drew 1-1 with Notts County in March 1988, was delighted his parents were at Blackpool in May 1990 to see Rovers secure the Third Division title. As Rovers secured their second-flight status, he was sent off in a Gloucestershire Cup-tie with Bristol City in August 1991, and appeared in all three seasons Rovers spent in the higher division before helping Linfield secure League honours in Ireland and qualify for European football. Completing a diploma in broadcasting journalism, he began working for BBC Radio Bristol in January 1993, his “Twentyman Talks Back” programme becoming a staple diet for football fans in the Bristol area on a Saturday evening. “It’s pitch black if the floodlights weren’t on”, he commented on the derby game between Rovers and City in August 1997. With a son, Mark, who was on the books of Forest Green Rovers, and a daughter Hannah as well as a granddaughter Ava, Geoff Twentyman, a keen golfer, continues to live in the Bristol area. |
No 719. Gary Michael Nolan Twigg. 2003-04.
Born, 19.3.1984, Glasgow. 6’; 11 st 2 lbs. Début: 16.3.04 v Torquay United. Career: Celtic Boys; Derby County (professional, 1.8.00) [1+8,0]; 26.9.03 Burton Albion (loan); 15.3.04 Bristol Rovers (loan) [7+1,0]; 15.2.05 Derry City (trial); 22.7.05 Airdrie United (free) [42+15,17]; 5.7.07 Oxford United (free); 1.1.08 Hamilton Academical [2+1,0]; 1.7.08 Brechin City (free) [23,12]; 23.2.09 Shamrock Rovers [111+8,81]; 29.10.12 Portadown (free) [102+12,53]; 16.6.16 Coleraine (free) [4+2,0] (retired, 11.8.17). Crossing from the left, Gary Twigg marked his Rovers début by creating the 52nd-minute equaliser for Sonny Parker, Rovers clawing back an early two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 at home to Torquay. He later hit the crossbar in the second-half at Cheltenham, as Rovers won back-to-back League fixtures for the first time that campaign, and his cross was headed home by Adam Barrett in the 3-0 win against York City. The young Scottish midfielder had played in 3(+1) Conference games with Burton earlier that campaign, scoring in a 1-1 draw with Forest Green Rovers, where he had played alongside the former Rovers central defender Ian Wright. In the same Derby side as international players such as Fabrizio Ravanelli and Georgi Kinkladze, Twigg had made his League début as a substitute for Paul Boertien in front of a crowd of 47,989 in a 1-1 draw at Sunderland. “He’s got a good record and he’s very versatile”, said Nick Merry. After scoring five goals on trial at Derry, in a 10-1 victory over Dunboyne in the Leinster Senior League, Twigg made his Airdrie début at Stranraer and scored twice early on in the 7-0 victory over Dundee in March 2006; in 2006-07 he was Scottish Premier League Player of the Month for December and scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 win against Gretna, but his eleven goals could not prevent his club’s relegation. After 5(+4) Conference games for Oxford, his three goals including a last-minute début penalty against Forest Green, Twigg returned north of the border as his partner was pregnant, helping Hamilton to become Division One champions for 2007-08. Following a début goal as Brechin won 2-1 against Stirling Albion, he followed manager Michael O’Neill (later the manager of Northern Ireland) to Shamrock, where his career blossomed. Twigg registered Shamrock’s first goal on the new Tallaght ground, a 22nd-minute strike against Sligo Rovers in March 2009, scored a hat-trick against Dundalk in April 2012, was top scorer with twenty-four goals and Player of the Year in the League of Ireland in 2009, helped Rovers win the League of Ireland title in 2010 for the first time in sixteen years, played in the victorious 2011 Sentata Cup Final against Dundalk and his fifteen goals in 2011 helped them retain the title, as well as appearing in European football. Gary Twigg’s phenomenal record at Shamrock Rovers, though, came to a sudden close in October 2012 as he moved closer to his home in Ballymena and scored on his first Portadown appearance, against Donegal Celtic in January 2013, adding five goals in one five-game spell that spring and scoring hat-tricks in the astonishing 11-0 victory over Ballinamallard United in September 2013 and the 5-5 draw with Ballymena United in January 2015. He was sent off in the home fixture against Cliftonville on Valentine’s Day 2015 and played in the Irish Cup Final in May 2015, which was lost 1-0 to Glentoran, but his Coleraine career was curtailed by a back injury. Twigg now lives just outside Ballymena and works with children with learning difficulties. |
No 693. Anwar U'ddin. 2002-03.
আনোয়ার উদ্দিন Born, 1.11.1981, Whitechapel. 6’ 2”; 12 st 12 lbs. Début: 10.8.02 v Torquay United. Career: Raine’s Foundation School, Bethnal Green; West Ham United (professional, 1.8.01); 27.2.02 Sheffield United (free); 1.7.02 Bristol Rovers (free) [18+1,1]; 12.12.03 Hereford United (loan); 8.3.04 Telford United (loan); 15.7.04 Dagenham and Redbridge (free) [66,0]; 1.9.09 Gray’s Athletic (loan); 21.6.10 Barnet (free) (caretaker assistant-manager, 3.5.11) [37+2,1]; 3.2.12 Sutton United (free); 29.6.12 Eastbourne Borough (free); 8.6.13 West Ham United (youth coach); 2.10.14 Maldon and Tiptree (assistant manager); 5.5.15 Sporting Bengal United (coach, to 9.5.16); 5.1.17 Ware (manager, to 28.3.17); 17.10.17 Glebe (manager, to 25.1.19); 28.5.19 Aldershot Town (assistant manager); 6.2.22 England C (coach); 4.11.22 Glebe FC (Director of Operations). Bangladeshi footballers have not yet made a significant impression in the Football League, but central defender Anwar U’ddin has certainly played his part in footballing history. One of only five British Asians in the League in 2008, he is the first player of Bangladeshi origin to appear in the League and the first UK Asian to captain a League side. U’ddin’s father, Shafique U’ddin, was born in the north-eastern Bangladesh town of Sylhet, whilst his mother Pamela Bexfield is a Londoner, the sixth of seven children to Frances Garrod and Peter Bexfield, whose family can be traced back to Anwar’s great-great-great-great-grandparents John Julian Ready and Mary Seattle who married in 1827. Having played in the 1999 FA Youth Cup Final as West Ham defeated Coventry City 9-0 on aggregate, he captained Wednesday reserves before making his League bow in a Rovers shirt. Whilst with Rovers he went out with the Page Three model Leilani Dowding and scored his only League goal in Rovers’ 2-2 draw at York in October 2002 when, from David Lee’s free-kick from the left, he controlled, turned and fired past Alan Fettis. He appeared under six different managers in the 2003-04 season. With Hereford, he scored at Morecambe and at Scarborough in nine Conference matches, prior to six games alongside John Taylor and Trevor Challis at Conference side Telford. A long career at Dagenham under manager John Still included the winning goal away to his former side Hereford in January 2005, his 108(+14) Conference games and six goals, largely as captain, eventually leading the Daggers to the Football League and promotion to League One in 2010. Barnet captain under former Rovers striker Giuliano Grazioli, U’ddin conceded an own goal at Oxford in December 2010, scored his only goal for the club at Bradford City in January 2011 and played as Barnet defeated Port Vale in May 2011 to preserve their League status on the final day of the campaign. He played eleven times, scoring once, for Gray’s, eleven times for Sutton and 29 times without scoring as Eastbourne finished the 2012-13 campaign in twelfth place in Nationwide South before experiencing relegation from the Ryman League North Division with Ware; he lives in Kent with his wife Emma and their sons Kai and Jayden and was awarded the MBE during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of 2022, for his services to football in the wider community. |
No 912. Ed Upson. 2018-21.
Born, 21.11.1989, Bury St Edmunds. 5’ 10”; 11 st 7 lbs. Début: 4.8.18 v Peterborough United. Career: Ipswich Town (professional, 1.7.07); 1.9.08 Stevenage Borough (loan); 12.3.10 Barnet (loan) [5+4,1]; 2.7.10 Yeovil Town (free) [117+12,9]; 31.1.14 Millwall [41+27,2]; 3.6.16 MK Dons (free) [72+7,6]; 22.5.18 Bristol Rovers (free) [87+8,4]; 20.6.21 Newport County (free) [15+1,0]; 4.1.22 Stevenage (free) [10+5,0]; 23.6.22 Stowmarket Town (free). Constructive midfielder Ed Upson arrived at The Mem with a glowing reputation, Rovers’ first signing of the summer of 2018. Rovers endured a slow start to the campaign, Upson’s first League goal being a scrambled effort after 35 minutes at home to AFC Wimbledon in October 2018, Rovers’ first League goal for 552 minutes. Having already gained promotion from the third tier of English football and played regular football in the Championship with both Yeovil Town and Millwall, he was signed to add experience and graft to the midfield. Indeed, he was well-known to Rovers’ supporters, having played four times in the League against Rovers with MK Dons after making his Yeovil début at The Mem in August 2010. His two goals past Sam Walker in the final twenty minutes of a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie in Horfield in September 2012 had helped condemn Rovers to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of a Yeovil side which also contained Dominic Blizzard. As MK Dons were relegated from League One in 2017-18 it had been his misdirected back-header at The Mem, on the occasion of his 300th professional game, which had set up a goal for Tom Nichols. The son of Chris (a hockey player for Bury St Edmunds) and Sue Upson and a with a brother Peter, he became the holder of two England caps at both Under-17 and Under-19 level, as well as scoring the extra-time winning goal for Ipswich against Southampton in the 2005 FA Youth Cup Final, when aged just fifteen. After just two substitute appearances in the League Cup at Portman Road and ten minutes of Conference football for Stevenage at Kettering Town in September 2008, Chris Beardsley scoring the only goal of that game, he had made his name at Huish. First, his thirty-yard piledriver against Wycombe Wanderers in September 2011 was voted the club’s Goal of the Season. As The Glovers made unprecedented progress to the Championship for the only time in their history, Upson played a pivotal role. He contributed six goals and fourteen assists in 2012-13, including the goal, five minutes from time, which secured an aggregate win over Sheffield United in the play-off semi-final and he played against Tony Craig (a future team-mate at both Millwall and Rovers) at Wembley as Yeovil defeated Brentford 2-1 to secure promotion. That completed, Upson’s eighty-eighth-minute winner against his future club Millwall in August 2013 was Yeovil’s first in second-tier football. Yeovil visited Preston twice in 2012-13, in the League and FA Cup, and Upson was sent off on both occasions, as he was for Millwall against Wigan Athletic in April 2015 and he scored twice before half-time as the Glovers defeated Forest in October 2013 before scoring twice late on in the Dons’ incredible 4-4 draw with Oldham Athletic in October 2017. Gradually working his way into becoming a regular with Rovers, Upson appeared to seal his place in Graham Coughlan’s side early in the 2019-20 campaign, but was sent off in the Football League Trophy for a second bookable offence at home to Stevenage in January 2020, shortly after Ben Garner had become manager. Upson, James Clarke and Joe Day were all together at Newport, the first two playing in the League Cup-tie in August 2021, when the Exiles lost 8-0 at home to Southampton. He was sent off in the second-half of the Exiles’ 2-2 draw with Carlisle United in October 2021, meaning that he missed his side’s 3-1 victory at the Mem later that month through suspension. Upson played alongside Reggie Lambe at Stowmarket Town, scoring against Brightlingsea Reegent during the 2022-23 pre-season friendlies. |