William Bradshaw (3 April 1884 – June 1955)
englandfootballonline.com was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager. Bradshaw played at both professional and international levels as a

left half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Club career

Born in

Padiham Padiham ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It forms part of the Borough of Burnley. Originally by the River Calder, it is edged by the foothills of Pendle Hill to the north-west ...

, Bradshaw began his career with

and Accrington Stanley. Bradshaw was a left-half, but was extremely adept at joining the attack and was referred to in one report as "being as good as having a sixth forward"; he was also an expert penalty-taker. He signed for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

in May 1903 for a fee of £20, and spent 17 years at the club, scoring 36 goals in 386 appearances 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 ...

before leaving in 1920. During his time at the

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

club, he helped them win the Football League championship in

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

and

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

. In April 1920, he was released by Blackburn to become player-manager of

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, but left that position in September of the same year.

International career

Bradshaw made his international debut in February 1910, and earned a total of four caps between then and 1913. He also represented 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 ...

on three occasions.

Honours

;

championship: 1911–12 and 1913–14

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradshaw, Billy 1884 births 1955 deaths English men's footballers England men's international footballers English football managers Padiham F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. (1891) players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players English Football League players Rochdale A.F.C. managers Men's association football wing halves English Football League representative players People from Padiham