Dennis James Singer (30 August 1937 – 21 July 2010) 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 ...

who scored 62 goals in 139 appearances 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 ...

playing for Newport County,

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

and

Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic 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 Bo ...

. He played as an inside forward. Singer was born in

Cefn Hengoed Cefn Hengoed is a small village in the centre of Caerphilly borough, within the historic boundaries of Glamorganshire. Bordering the larger village of Hengoed, Cefn Hengoed contains the local Derwendeg primary school A primary school ( ...

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

. As a boy he played for Wesley Rovers Boys' Club, which fed Fleur-de-Lys Welfare, and from there he joined Newport County as an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

in 1954. He turned professional in 1956, and went on to score 27 goals for the club at a rate better than a goal every two games, goal-poaching which earned him a move to First Division club

. Singer spent two seasons with Birmingham, but played only 31 games in all competitions despite scoring as freely as at Newport. He played on the losing side in the

1961 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final The 1961 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final was an association football match played over two legs between Roma of Italy and Birmingham City of England. The first leg was played in Birmingham on 27 September 1961, and the second leg was played on 11 Oct ...

against

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

. In September 1962, Singer signed for

for a fee of £7,000; he scored 22 goals in 59 league games before returning to Newport County in the 1964 close season. After his retirement from football, Singer kept a restaurant in

Caerleon Caerleon (; cy, Caerllion) is a town and community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman ...

. He died in July 2010.

References

1937 births 2010 deaths AFC Bournemouth players Men's association football forwards Birmingham City F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from Caerphilly Newport County A.F.C. players Place of death missing Welsh men's footballers {{Wales-footy-forward-stub