Ian Michael Bray (born 6 December 1962) is a Welsh former 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 full-back. During his career, he played for

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

, Huddersfield Town and Burnley and made more than 200 appearances in the Football League.

Playing career

Born in

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a po ...

, in southern Wales, Bray started his career as an apprentice at

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 ...

side

before signing his first professional contract with the club in December 1980. He made his senior debut at the beginning of the 1981–82 season and in his first five matches he scored two goals. During the same campaign he had a loan spell at New Zealand club

Stop Out Stop Out Sports Club, commonly known as Stop Out, is an association football club in Lower Hutt, New Zealand is based at Hutt Park, Moera in Lower Hutt. History The Stop Out organisation started in 1919 with the aim of providing recreation to T ...

. Bray became a first-team regular for Hereford over the following four seasons, making 108 league appearances and scoring four goals during his time at Edgar Street. Ahead of the 1985–86 campaign, Bray left Hereford to join Second Division club Huddersfield Town on a free transfer. He went on to play 89 league games for the side, scoring once, but was injured during the 1987–88 season as Huddersfield were relegated 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 ...

. The injury caused him to miss the whole of the next season and he was subsequently released from his contract in the summer of 1990. Following his release by Huddersfield, Bray returned to the Fourth Division with Burnley, who were managed by

Frank Casper Frank Casper (born 9 December 1944) is an English former professional football player, coach and manager, born in Barnsley. As a player, he made nearly 400 appearances in the Football League as a striker for Rotherham United and Burnley. He ...

. He made his league debut for the club alongside fellow new signing

Paul France Michael Paul France (born 10 September 1968 in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire) is a former professional association football, footballer who played as a defender (football), defender for Huddersfield Town. While at Huddersfield he was sent on loan ...

in the opening match of the 1990–91 campaign, a 2–2 draw against Lincoln City at Turf Moor. Bray kept his place for several matches before being dropped in favour of

Ray Deakin Raymond John Deakin (19 June 1959 – 24 December 2008) was an English footballer, whose playing position was left-back. He had a 14-year career in the Football League with Everton, Port Vale, Bolton Wanderers, and Burnley. He captained Burn ...

, but regained the left-back berth towards the end of the season when the latter was unavailable through injury. He went on to make ten appearances during the following campaign, six of them in the league, before again being dropped for

Joe Jakub Joe Jakub (born 7 December 1956, in Falkirk, Scotland) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a defender and midfielder for Burnley, Bury, AZ Alkmaar, Chester City and Wigan Athletic. Playing career Joe's career centred ma ...

. Bray played his final match for Burnley on 19 October 1991 in the 2–0 home win over Walsall. Following the arrival of new manager Jimmy Mullen, Bray did not play again for the club; he was released in April 1992 and subsequently retired from professional football.

After retirement

As of November 2011, Bray was a coach at junior football club Scholes United in Huddersfield.

References

General * * Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Bray, Ian 1962 births Living people Footballers from Neath Welsh men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Hereford United F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Burnley F.C. players English Football League players