Keith Bannister (27 January 1923 – 13 March 2012) was an English 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

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

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

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

and

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

and in

non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

for

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

and

Macclesfield Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...

Playing career

After starting his career in local football with Sheffield YMCA, Bannister signed for Sheffield Wednesday as a 14-year-old schoolboy in 1937. He graduated to amateur status by 1941 but was then called up for

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

service as an 18-year-old. He served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

for five years until 1946, despite this he did manage to appear as a guest for York City in the Wartime League, making 24 appearances in 1943. Bannister turned professional with Sheffield Wednesday at the start of February 1945 making his debut in a Wartime League game away at Lincoln City that same month. On the resumption of official football for the 1946–47 season, Bannister found himself out of the first team making only two appearances that season (making his full League debut on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

1946 in a 2–4 away defeat at

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

) and none in the 1947–48 season as Wednesday struggled to make an impact in

Division Two NCL Division Two The NCL or National Conference League Division Two (known as the Kingstone Press NCL Division Two) League winners {, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" , - , colspan=4 style="text-align:center;" , NCL DIVISION TWO , ...

. A switch in positions from left half to left back allowed Bannister to force his way into the first team in the 1949–50 season. However a bad injury at Newcastle in February 1951 sidelined him until October when he returned to the side as captain to be ever present for the rest of the 1951–52 season, making 31 League appearances as Wednesday lifted the Division Two championship. The following season in Division One Bannister made only one appearance against Charlton in September 1952 before losing his place to Vin Kenny, that proved to be his final appearance for The Owls and he was transferred to

in June 1953 for a fee of £750. Bannister made 17 appearances during his one season with Chesterfield before dropping down to

Non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

in the summer of 1954 to spend four seasons with

. At the end of his time with King's Lynn, Bannister was awarded a benefit match in April 1958 against his old club Sheffield Wednesday. Bannister's final two seasons in football were with

Cheshire County League The Cheshire County League was a football league founded in the north west of England in 1919, drawing its teams largely from Cheshire, surrounding English counties and North Wales. Initially the league was dominated by the reserve teams of Footba ...

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 ...

, captaining the side to Cheshire Senior Cup success in 1960.

After playing

Bannister went into insurance after retiring from football in 1960, but in 1961 he returned to football when he was invited to be a coach of Sheffield Wednesday's youth side. He remained a coach a Hillsborough until 1967 when he moved into

scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

for new players for the club. When Jack Charlton was appointed Wednesday manager in October 1977, Bannister was appointed as a match analyser and in 1983 he was appointed Sports and Recreation Manager, holding that post until his retirement in 1989. During his retirement he continued to watch Wednesday. He died on 13 March 2012.''"The Wednesday Boys"'', Jason Dickinson & John Brodie, Pickard Communication, , pages 199, Gives general biography.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannister, Keith 1923 births 2012 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players King's Lynn F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players English Football League players Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Military personnel from Sheffield Footballers from Sheffield