Noel Brian Bedford (24 December 1933 – 18 May 2022) was a Welsh professional

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 ...

. He played the majority of his career at Queens Park Rangers, as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

Playing career

Bedford started his professional career at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, where he was spotted by Ted Bates who signed him for

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in July 1955. He made only a handful of appearances for Southampton before moving on to

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

in August 1956. After scoring 32 goals in 75 games for Bournemouth he was signed by Queens Park Rangers' manager Alec Stock in 1959 for just £750 and made his debut that August in a 2–0 win against Swindon Town. He went on to play 258 league games for Rangers scoring a remarkable 161 goals (180 in all competitions). He is QPR's second highest goal scorer behind George Goddard. However, despite being a prolific striker, his team never managed to achieve promotion to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. The closest they managed was a third-place finish in 1960–61 with Bedford scoring an impressive 33 in 44 league games that season. Bedford was transferred to

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

in August 1965 just as a young and dynamic Queens Park Rangers team was taking shape (they cruised to the

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 ...

title and won the League Cup just two seasons later). After short spells at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

and

he played briefly in the USA with

Atlanta Chiefs The Atlanta Chiefs were an American professional soccer team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team competed in the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1968 to 1973 and again from 19 ...

. On returning from the U.S. in 1967 however

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

banned him from playing as the U.S. Football Association was at the time not affiliated. After a year he successfully appealed the ban and joined

Bexley United Bexley United Football Club was a football club based in Welling. A club of the same name played in the Kent League before the war, before merging with Bexley. It was resurrected as Bexleyheath and Welling in about 1952 following a local campaig ...

but a knee injury forced him to retire. Throughout his career he maintained a high strike rate, scoring 229 goals in 399 league appearances.

Later career

After his retirement from playing he became a professional tennis coach and he was later the stadium manager at Loftus Road, before retiring to Llandaff in 1995.

References

Sources

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External links

Atlanta Chiefs: Brian Bedford
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedford, Brian 1933 births 2022 deaths People from Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf Sportspeople from Rhondda Cynon Taf Welsh footballers Men's association football forwards National Professional Soccer League (1967) players AFC Bournemouth players Brentford F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Reading F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Atlanta Chiefs players Bexley United F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. non-playing staff Welsh expatriate footballers Welsh expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States