I never got to see Brian Bedford play, did anyone else on here? He never gets as much acclaim as Rodney, Stan and co but he scored a lot of goals and I wondered where he stood in comparison to some of our more famous players ... I read that he became stadium manager too, anyone meet him?
I rate him with Clive Allen & Charlie Austin he was a goal machine who always worked with a lump to do his leg & muscle work .Never met but saw him play many times
Yes remember seeing him, top draw in heading ability but not so good on the floor, bit like polter but more prolific, remember seeing him & keen scoring hatricks against Luton which we won 7-1 on a cold night, not sure of year probably about 62/63.
yes bedford was my hero he was the hardest player ever to play for qpr and the greatest ever header of the ball ever to play for qpr but on the floor he could miss an open goal,yes i love him so much but unlike rodney and stan he had no approach work,he used to go into the penelty area and there would be blood every where he was just so tough but his heading was devastational and also he can score hatricks all headers there will never be another bedford he used to comunicate with me on fantasy island quite a lot i hope hes ok as i havent heard from him for about two years but you can pm him he will respond my dream is that they will give him a testimonial and send him on a world cruise
He also provided the voice of Disney's Robin Hood. Truly a renaissance man. How did he compare to George Goddard, Ted?
Quite the goal scoring record, as for George Goddard, who my Dad often talked about. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Brian Bedford Personal information Full name Noel Brian Bedford Date of birth 24 December 1933 (age 82) Place of birth Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) Playing position Centre forward Youth career Beddau Youth Club Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1954-1955 Reading 3 (1) 1955-1956 Southampton 5 (2) 1956-1959 Bournemouth 75 (32) 1959-1965 Queens Park Rangers 258 (161) 1965-1966 Scunthorpe United 37 (23) 1966-1967 Brentford 21 (10) 1967 Atlanta Chiefs 4 (4) 1968-1969 Bexley United https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Bedford_(footballer) “You Will Score Goals said ‘Psychiatrist’ Alec Stock – and I Did!” – Brian Bedford Posted on August 1, 2014 by Finney I came across the following article written by Brian Bedford, in a copy of Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly from March 1962: ‘Change you club…change your luck! That’s what they say in soccer and that’s the way it has gone for me. A little over two years ago I was unwanted, had been transferred for the third time after service with Reading, Southampton and Bournemouth. I thought my football future was over. I had been in Bournemouth’s FA Cup “giant-killing” side of 1957 when I played the deep-lying centre-forward role. Two years later I was on the transfer-list. It was then that Alec Stock took me to Queen’s Park Rangers for £750 (another £250 after 12 games)…gave me a new lease of life and put me among the goals again. Last March I got my 100th in senior soccer. More than half of these I had netted for the Rangers. I owe a lot to Alec Stock. As well as being a fine manager he is a first-rate psychiatrist. Until I met Alec I had had an inferiority complex. He changed that. Now he reckons he scores half my goals for me! But for bad weather Alec Stock might not have seen me. Alec was Leyton Orient’s manager and when his own match was cancelled, he came to Shepherd’s Bush to watch Bournemouth play Rangers. I led the Bournemouth attack; had one of my best games, and scored in our 4-0 win. Alec must have remembered that. please log in to view this image Everyone reckoned that the Rangers had got me for a bargain price – especially when I scored 27 times in my first season and followed it up in the winter of 1960-61 by equalling George Goddard’s club record of 37, set up in 1929-30. I got 34 in the league and FA Cup alone – a figure equalled by my old RAF pal, Jimmy Wheeler, for Reading. It was Jimmy who got me my first successful trial with Reading when I finished National Service. He and I had been colleagues in the Uxbridge station team. I was centre-forward and on either side I had Jimmy and Eddie Firmani. With those two fine ball-players helping me, I netted over 60 goals. Before my Reading venture, Eddie Firmani had arranged a trial for me with Charlton Athletic. But their mid-week games clashed with RAF matches and as we were having a great run in the RAF Cup, I was not able to go. Jack Smith was Reading’s manager when I went there. I had a very mediocre first season and at the end of it I was given a free transfer. Before I had time to become downhearted, Ted Bates helped to get me to Southampton – Ted was then trainer, but he soon succeeded George Roughton as manager. There, I scored about 20 goals in the reserves. But, to my surprise, I was transfer-listed at the end of only one season! Another chance came my way at Bournemouth under Freddie Cox. I was just in time for the greatest cup run in Dean Court history. We went to Molineux, in the third round to beat mighty Wolves, defeated Tottenham Hotspur on our own ground and went out 1-2 to Manchester United in the sixth round. Don Welsh succeeded Freddie Cox and although I had totalled more than 30 goals for Bournemouth in my three seasons there, I did not fit in. Rangers have lately preferred me as an inside-forward. They must have been right, for although I scored 21 goals in 35 games as a centre-forward when I joined the club, since the switch to inside-forward, I totalled over 40 goals in a little more than 50 appearances.’ Brian amassed a total of 180 goals in 284 appearances for the R’s before moving on to Scunthorpe United in September 1965. Steve Russell http://www.indyrs.co.uk/2014/08/you...chiatrist-alec-stock-and-i-did-brian-bedford/
What a great read...halcyon days wh en players took the bus to the Ground with fans....as much as the game has moved on the players are now a million miles away from the supporters!
its so precous to remember the old days because its through these memories that you realise how magnificent warnock trully is he dosnt even have to spend money to bring in players we go out and waste 2-5 million on conor washington who will never score a goal for qpr and yet warnock who spends no money on players will win this division next season by twelve clear points it just dosnt make sense how can ferdinand be so useless and warnock so brilliant
