Alfred Bentley (28 October 1931 – 15 October 1996) was an English professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Playing career

He started his career with Snowdown Colliery Welfare before moving into the Football League with

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

in 1955–56. After a spell with

Margate Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook. The town has been a significan ...

he returned to league football in 1958 with Gillingham, making 42 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

. In 1962 he joined Tunbridge Wells United before going on to Hastings United, finishing his playing career back at Snowdown in the 1966–67 season.

Management career

After retiring from playing Bentley had managerial spells with Canterbury City (1970–1975), Ramsgate (1975–76), Dover (1976–1980) and Folkestone (1980–1984). Bentley then returned to Canterbury City as manager-director towards the end of the 1983–84 season, he remained there until the end of the 1984–85 season before being replaced by Carl Gilbert. During the 1987–88 season he had another spell at Canterbury City as caretaker manager. He then went back to Folkestone as manager in the summer of 1990, before resigning at the end of September 1990. Bentley returned to Canterbury City for the start of the 1991–92 season, although he was sacked in January 1992. He returned to his old club, Snowdown Colliery Welfare, for the start of the 1992–93 season. He was part of a three-man management team, working with Roy Hare and Alan Jones. He would become Snowdown Colliery Welfare's chairman for the 1993–94 season.

Personal life

Bentley ran the Red Lion public house in Dover from 1982 to 1987 and again during 1992. He sadly died in 1996, shortly before his 65th birthday.

References

External links

Profile on Margate F.C. history website
1931 births 1996 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Gillingham F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Margate F.C. players Tunbridge Wells F.C. players Hastings United F.C. (1948) players Canterbury City F.C. managers English football managers Place of birth missing {{england-footy-goalkeeper-stub