John David Knowles (1941 – 26 January 2011) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Halifax Town, Bury and Bradford City.

Career

Born in Halifax, in 1941, Knowles attended Clare Hall County Secondary Modern School, playing

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 ...

for the school side and the Halifax representative side. He joined hometown team Halifax Town at the age of 17 and signed professional forms six months later, going on to make 72 appearances in the Football League over the next six seasons. Knowles later played for Bury, making just one league appearance, before spending a final season with Bradford City. He waited until the third game of the 1966–67 season to make his debut for City, which came against city rivals

Bradford (Park Avenue) Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

in a 3–2 defeat, going on to play 21 games.

Later life and death

After retiring as a player, Knowles became

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

of Oakenshaw. He married Jennifer, with whom he had two children, Heather and Ian. Knowles died on 26 January 2011 at the age of 69, in Elm Royd Nursing Home,

Brighouse Brighouse is a town within the metropolitan borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated on the River Calder, east of Halifax. It is served by Junction 25 of the M62 m ...

, following a long illness.

References

;Bibliography * 1941 births 2011 deaths Footballers from Halifax, West Yorkshire English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Halifax Town A.F.C. players Bury F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players English Football League players {{England-footy-goalkeeper-stub