Bruce Ian Bannister (born 14 April 1947) is an English retired 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 ...

who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

, and is also a businessperson in sports shoe and apparel sales and distribution.

Football career

Born in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, Bannister played for Leeds United,

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 ...

, Bristol Rovers,

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

, Hull City and USL Dunkerque. While at Bristol Rovers, Bannister and teammate

Alan Warboys Alan Warboys (born 18 April 1949) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. Career Warboys began his career at Doncaster Rovers, making his debut in April 1967 at the age of 17, before moving to Sheffield Wednesday ...

developed the 'Smash and Grab' method of football.

Business career

Bannister founded Sportsshoes in 1982. In 1985, Sportsshoes launched its mail order service, and later became one of the first retailers to launch an e-commerce website. The business was later taken over by Bannister's son Brett, and became an exclusively online and mail order operation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannister, Bruce 1947 births Living people Footballers from Bradford Leeds United F.C. players English men's footballers Bradford City A.F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players USL Dunkerque players English Football League players Men's association football forwards English expatriate men's footballers English expatriates in France Expatriate men's footballers in France