Les Bradd (born 5 November 1947) is an English 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, rugb ...

. He is notable for being the all-time leading goalscorer for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

Rotherham United

Bradd started his league career at

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

who signed him from non-league club East Sterndale. His spell at Millmoor was a brief one, in which he only scored one goal which, ironically, was the winning goal against

, the club with which he is most associated, in a League Cup tie. He joined Notts shortly afterwards.

Notts County

It was at Notts County where his career took shape. Bradd spent eleven seasons at

Meadow Lane Meadow Lane Stadium is a football stadium in Nottingham, England. It is the home ground of Notts County, who have played there since it opened in 1910. The stadium was also home to Notts County Ladies F.C. from 2014 until 2017. It currently h ...

, barely missing a game as the club climbed steadily away from the lower reaches of the fourth division into a comfortable second division position. Though the club struggled in his first season, Bradd finished top scorer, with 10 goals. It was the arrival of Don Masson in 1968 that kick started the club's upturn in fortune over the next decade. The 1970/71 season saw the club win promotion, and the

Division Four 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 ...

title, by 9 points. The club finished fourth in its first season back in the Third Division, with Bradd finishing as top scorer with 21 goals. The following season Bradd earned his second promotion with the club as it returned to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

after a long absence, also reaching the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

quarter finals, a run which saw County beat two top flight clubs, Stoke and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, with Bradd scoring in both games. Although linked to moves to the top flight with

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

and WBA, Bradd spent a further five seasons at the club, which saw County establish themselves as a comfortable second division side. Bradd finished as top scorer a further two times, in 1975/76 and 1976/77, though the last of these was jointly held with Mick Vinter. During this period the club embarked on another notable League Cup run in 1975/76, again reaching the Quarter Finals and knocking out

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

and Everton on the way. The defeat of Everton came in a 2-1 Replay victory at Meadow Lane in which Bradd scored twice in arguably his finest County performance. Finally in 1978, at the age of 30, after 11 seasons which saw Bradd score 125 league goals, he was sold to

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is withi ...

Stockport County

Stockport's purchase of Bradd proved to be an inspired one as Bradd scored 31 league goals in his three-year spell at

Edgeley Park Edgeley Park is a football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for rugby league club Stockport RFC in 1891, by 1903, the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County Football Club moved in. Edgeley Park is an all-seater stadium hold ...

, despite often being employed as a central defender. Whilst at Stockport Bradd scored the only

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three w ...

of his career when he netted three times in the last ten minutes as Stockport came from 4-1 down to claim a 4–4 draw against promotion chasing

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough ha ...

. Another highlight from his time at Edgely Park came when he scored against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

in the League Cup. Bradd was freed by Stockport at the end of the 1980/81 season.

Late career

Bradd joined

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington ...

following his release from Stockport. Despite being 33 years of age, Bradd helped the club, who had only joined the football league three years earlier, to their first ever promotion, scoring nineteen league goals. He also netted yet another memorable game in the League Cup, scoring a goal as Wigan shocked

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

with a 4–2 win. The following season Bradd made another twenty two third division appearances for Wigan, scoring five times. He also briefly went on loan to

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

, scoring in his only appearance. He retired at the end of the season at the age of thirty five.

External links

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Career Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradd, Les 1947 births Living people People from Buxton English footballers Association football forwards Rotherham United F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players English Football League players