Brian William Lloyd (born 18 March 1948) is a Welsh former

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

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 ...

. He played 545 times 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 five clubs and was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

three times by the

Welsh national team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth ...

. He began his professional career at

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

in 1967, having signed from

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Flintshire (historic), Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at ...

. He transferred to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

two years later, before ending up at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

in 1971. He spent six years as the Welsh club's first choice keeper, before he was sold to Chester City. In 1981, he was loaned out to

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, before he re-signed for Stockport County. He left the Football League in 1983, and later spent some years in Welsh football with

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Bangor) are an inactive Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They started the 2021–22 season in the Cymru North the second level of the Welsh football league system, but ...

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpo ...

, Rhyl, and Lex XI. He won Player of the Year awards at both Wrexham and Chester City.

Club career

Lloyd began his career playing non-league football with

, where he played a handful of games before joining

Jimmy Meadows James Meadows (21 July 1931 – 3 January 1994) was an English footballer and manager. He started his playing career in 1949 at Third Division Southport, before being transferred to Manchester City in March 1951 for £5,000. He made his only a ...

for £1,000'Player Memories', Chester City v. Cambridge United matchday programme; 18 March 1995; pg. 15 in March 1967. The "Hatters" won the Fourth Division title in 1966–67. The club maintained a secure mid-table position in the Third Division in 1967–68 and 1968–69. He also played one game on loan at

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

side

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

in 1968. After 32 league appearances for Stockport he moved to

in September 1969 for £10,000. The "Shrimpers" finished 17th in the Fourth Division in 1969–70 and then 18th in 1970–71, hovering above the re-election zone under the stewardship of first Geoff Hudson and then

Arthur Rowley George Arthur Rowley Jr. (21 April 1926 – 19 December 2002), nicknamed "The Gunner" because of his explosive left-foot shot, was an English football player and cricketer. He holds the record for the most goals in the history of English lea ...

. Lloyd departed

Roots Hall A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

and returned to

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

in August 1971, beginning a long stint with John Neal's

. Lloyd played 35 games in his first season at the

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground ( cy, Y Cae Ras) is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C. It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home i ...

and was then ever-present in league games in the next five years, as the club challenged for

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

from Third Division. The "Dragons" finished 12th in 1972–73, before finishing one place and five points behind the promotion places in 1973–74. Wrexham dropped to 13th in 1974–75, before rising to sixth in 1975–76, just three places and four points outside of the promotion places. Lloyd was the club's first winner of the Jack Williams Player of the Season accolade in 1975–76. The club again narrowly missed out on automatic promotion in 1976–77, finishing just one point behind third-placed

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

. In September 1977, Lloyd made a surprise £6,000 move to local rivals

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. He quickly replaced fellow Welshman

Grenville Millington Grenville Rodney Millington (born 10 December 1951 in Queensferry, Flintshire) is a former professional footballer who played in The Football League as a goalkeeper. He enjoyed a long career with Chester and was voted the club's BBC Cult Hero i ...

as the regular Chester goalkeeper and helped

Alan Oakes Alan Arthur Oakes (born 7 September 1942) is an English former footballer who holds Manchester City's all-time record for appearances. A midfielder, in total he played 776 the Football League matches – the tenth most in history. He is a co ...

's "Seals" to finish fifth in the Third Division in 1977–78, with Lloyd being named as the club's player of the season for his efforts. He was again first-choice the following season but an injury in September 1979 led to Millington replacing Lloyd in the Chester goal. With Millington now the regular in goal and youngster

Phil Harrington Philip Harrington (born 23 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He is the goalkeeping coach at Cork City in the League of Ireland Premier Division. Career Although he was born in Bangor, Har ...

emerging from the youth ranks, Lloyd was allowed to join

on loan in February 1981. He played Vale's remaining sixteen matches of the season. Vale supporters and players alike appealed to manager John McGrath to sign him on permanently at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

, but to no avail, he returned to

Sealand Road Sealand Road was the home stadium of Chester City Football Club (until 1983 known as Chester Football Club) from 1906 until 1990. Although officially known simply as The Stadium, it was more commonly referred to as Sealand Road. It was much loved ...

and was subsequently released. Ahead of the start of the following season Lloyd was back at Stockport County, who were now managed by

Jimmy McGuigan James McGuigan (1 March 1924 – 30 March 1988) was a Scottish professional football player and manager. Career Playing career McGuigan, who played as a wing half, played junior football with Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic, before turning professi ...

. He missed just one game in two seasons back at

Edgeley Park Edgeley Park is a football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for rugby league club Stockport RFC in 1891, by 1903, the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County Football Club moved in. Edgeley Park is an all-seater stadium hold ...

, and even managed to get on the scoresheet against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

in 1982. County hovered above the Fourth Division re-election zone in 1981–82 and 1982–83 under the stewardship of

Eric Webster Eric Webster (24 June 1931 – 24 January 2016) was an English association football player and coach. Career Playing career Born in Manchester, Webster began his career with Ardwick Lads Club, before signing for Manchester City, where he made ...

. Lloyd dropped into non-league football, having spells with North Wales sides

(

Alliance Premier League The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

and Northern Premier League),

(

North West Counties League The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern S ...

), Rhyl and Lex XI.

International career

Lloyd was

three times by

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in matches against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, having twice previously played for the Welsh under 23s.

Post-retirement

After retiring as a footballer, Lloyd became a self-employed design consultant in

, a career he had initially begun after leaving school. He has won awards for his

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...

work.

Career statistics

Club statistics

Source:

International statistics

Honours

Individual *

Wrexham A.F.C. Wrexham Association Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Wrecsam) is a Welsh professional association football club based in Wrexham, Wales. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Formed ...

Player of the Year: 1975–76 *

Chester City F.C. Chester City Football Club was an association football team from Chester, England that played in a variety of leagues between 1885 and 2010. The club played its home games at Sealand Road from 1906 to 1991 and moved to the Deva Stadium in 1992 ...

Player of the Year: 1977–78 Stockport County *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

: 1966–67

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, Brian 1948 births Sportspeople from St Asaph Living people Association football goalkeepers Welsh footballers Wales under-23 international footballers Wales international footballers Rhyl F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Bangor City F.C. players Colwyn Bay F.C. players Lex XI F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Welsh designers