Stuart Ford (footballer)
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Stuart Ford (born 20 July 1971) is an English former professional football
goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
. He started his career as an apprentice at
Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...
in June 1987. He spent five years at Rotherham, but made just five
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appearances. Despite serving a promising apprenticeship and helping the club win the Northern Intermediate Cup, he failed to dislodge Kelham O'Hanlon and then Billy Mercer as the number one keeper. After a successful loan spell at
Scarborough FC Scarborough Football Club was a association football, football club based in the seaside resort of Scarborough, North Yorkshire. They were one of the oldest football clubs in England, formed in 1879, before they were wound up on 20 June 2007, w ...
at the end of 1991–92 season, he signed a one-year contract with the Seadogs, where he fought for the starting position with Mark Evans. Scarborough's highlight of the 1992–93 season was a League Cup run, which included victories over
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 ...
,
Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...
,
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, ...
, before going out to a
Nigel Winterburn Nigel Winterburn (born 11 December 1963) is an English former professional footballer, coach and current television personality for BT Sport. He played primarily as a left back from 1981 to 2003. He is best known for his role alongside the like ...
goal against
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. At the end of that season he was released by Scarborough, but Ford was signed by
Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...
to be understudy to Andy Beasley. After playing a handful of games at Rovers, Ford moved back to Scarborough, but after an injury plagued season and only a few first team appearances he was to find himself without a contract at a professional club in 1995. In August 1995 he signed for non-league Gresley Rovers where he stayed for 5 years, helping them win the Southern League Championship. Due to ground grading Gresley could not take a place in the
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. After winning many personal honours and establishing himself as a firm crowd favourite, he eventually moved on to Hednesford Town, Ilkeston Town and Alfreton Town, before finishing his career at AFC Barnsley. Ford helped them to promotion in his first season, losing just one league game and conceding just 18 goals. In 2011, Ford launched a range of retro goalkeeping gloves.


References


External links

*
GresleyFC.com
1971 births Living people Footballers from Sheffield English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Rotherham United F.C. players Scarborough F.C. players English Football League players People educated at Firth Park Academy {{England-footy-goalkeeper-stub