Barry John Bridges (born 29 April 1941) 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, rugby lea ...

who played as a forward 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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for Chelsea,

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. The team compete in the ...

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

and

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

and was capped four times for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Career

Bridges was signed by Chelsea in July 1956 having been spotted whilst playing for Norwich and Norfolk Boys. He turned professional in May 1958, made his debut for the club against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

in February 1959, and scored in a 3–2 victory. He first established himself in the Chelsea side during the 1961–62 season, and though the club were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

, he nevertheless proved himself a prolific goalscorer as he found the net 20 times that season. A prolific and versatile forward who could play in the centre or on the wing, Bridges was an important part of manager

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times bet ...

's re-structured Chelsea attack, alongside Bobby Tambling and

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (6 January 1943 – 25 November 2023), often referred to as El Tel, was an English football player and manager who played for clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers and won two caps for E ...

. He helped the club gain

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back to the First Division at the first attempt, and then challenge for the major honours. His most successful season with the club was in 1964–65, in which he scored 27 goals in 42 matches, as Chelsea won the League Cup but faltered late-on in their championship and FA Cup challenges. It was during that season that Bridges, along with several other players, was punished by Docherty for breaking a

curfew A curfew is an order that imposes certain regulations during specified hours. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to remain indoors during the evening and nighttime hours. Such an order is most often issued by public authorit ...

, after which the manager's relationship with his players deteriorated. Following one more season with Chelsea, Bridges was sold to Second Division club

in May 1966 for a club-record £55,000. He continued his impressive scoring record at St Andrew's, netting 47 times in just over 100 games, and helped the side reach the League Cup semi-finals in 1967 and the FA Cup semi-finals a year later. Following the latter defeat, he moved to

and then had spells at

and Highlands Park in South Africa. He retired having scored over 200 career goals. He won four

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for the England national team, all in 1965, and scored his only goal in a 1–1 draw with

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. Bridges was in the preliminary squad of forty players selected by

Alf Ramsey Sir Alfred Ernest Ramsey (22 January 1920 – 28 April 1999) was an English association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. As a player, he represented England national football team, the England national ...

for the

1966 World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the final to win their first ever ...

, but failed to make the final team. He later moved into management, first in Ireland as

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

of St Patrick's Athletic in May 1976 until he resigned in February 1978. While at

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

he brought

Gordon Banks Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional care ...

into the team for one match. He was also player-manager at

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

. He then returned to his native Norfolk to manage Dereham Town,

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 north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

and Horsford United.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridges, Barry 1941 births Living people Footballers from Norfolk English men's footballers England men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football wingers Chelsea F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Highlands Park F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players English Football League players League of Ireland players English Football League representative players English football managers St Patrick's Athletic F.C. managers Sligo Rovers F.C. managers King's Lynn F.C. managers Dereham Town F.C. managers League of Ireland managers People from Horsford Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland