Bertie Menlove (8 December 1892 – 3 July 1970) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for Crystal Palace and Sheffield United. Born in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, Menlove transferred in 1920 from Barnet & Alston to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. He didn't make any league appearances for Villa and moved on to Crystal Palace, then of the Southern League. He scored his only hat–trick for Palace in a Southern League march versus Gillingham in March 1920. The following season Palace joined the newly constituted

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

and with Menlove scoring five goals that season they topped the league and secured promotion to the Second division. Notable that season was an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

win over then First Division

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, a game in which Menlove scored. The following season Palace achieved a 6-0 FA cup win at first division Everton (this remains Everton's largest home cup defeat) with Menlove netting a couple. His tally of seven goals in the 1921–22 season for now second division Palace encouraged First Division Sheffield United to sign him in the spring of 1922. During his spell (1922–1926) at Sheffield United in 81 appearances Menlove scored 43 goals (41 in the league) including two hat–tricks: against

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

in March 1924 and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

in October 1925. Despite his goal scoring record Menlove did not play in Sheffield United's

1925 FA Cup Final The 1925 FA Cup Final was an association football match contested by Sheffield United and Cardiff City on 25 April 1925 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. The final was the showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the ...

winning team. After leaving Sheffield United in 1926 Menlove joined Midland League

Boston Town Boston Town Football Club is a football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. It is currently a member of the and plays at Tattershall Road. History The club was established as Boston Football Club in 1963 by former officials of Bosto ...

for a two season stay. In his first season there Boston Town were league runners-up. Over the next few seasons he signed for a succession of clubs: at the start of the 1928-1929 season he joined Southern League Eastern Division Aldershot Town; by December 1928 he had moved to Midland League Worksop Town; a few weeks later, in early 1929, Menlove was at Bangor in North Wales with Bangor Athletic playing in the Wales National League (North). Menlove married whilst in the city; for the 1929–1930 season Menlove returned to London and signed-on with

Division 3 South

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profess ...

but featured mostly in their Southern League based reserve side; in December 1930 he crossed the Irish Sea to play with Irish League

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

Then there came a period of stability for three seasons playing with Kent League Ashford Town from 1931 to 1932 to 1933–1934. In that first season the club were league runners-up and they scored an Ashford Town season record 115 league goals. He was appointed as Ashford's player-manager in April 1932 Menlove died in July 1970.

References

Sources

External links

Career description in Additional Information (below portrait) at vintagefootballers.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Menlove, Bert 1892 births 1970 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Crystal Palace F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Aldershot F.C. players Worksop Town F.C. players Bangor City F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Coleraine F.C. players Ashford United F.C. players Ashford United F.C. managers Footballers from St Albans English football managers People from Bridge, Kent Kent Football League (1894–1959) players