Albert Roy Linnecor (30 November 1933 – 25 November 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 lea ...

who made 281 appearances 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 ...

playing for

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 ...

and Lincoln City. He played as a

wing half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

Career

Linnecor was born in the

Nechells Nechells () is a district ward in central Birmingham, England, whose population in 2011 was 33,957. It is also a ward (politics), ward within the Government of Birmingham, England#Districts, formal district of Ladywood. Nechells local government ...

district of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. He attended Lea Village School and played representative schools football for

Saltley Saltley is an inner-city area of Birmingham, England, east of the city centre. The area is part of the Washwood Heath ward, and was previously part of the Nechells ward. It is part of the Ladywood constituency in the city. History Saltley was ...

Boys. When he left school he worked for the

Hercules Cycle and Motor Company The Hercules Cycle and Motor Company Limited was a British bicycle manufacturer founded on 9 September 1910 in Aston in England.Company registration 111679: Companies House – http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/ The name Hercules was chosen for ...

, assembling bicycles, and played for his

works team A works team, sometimes also referred to as factory team and company team, is a sports team that is financed and run by a manufacturer or other business, institution, or organization in a broad sense. Works teams have very close ties with thei ...

on Saturday mornings and for Brookhill Juniors on Sundays. A

supporter, he signed for the club in 1950, initially as an amateur. After completing his

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...

, he turned professional in May 1952. He had to wait nearly four years for his first-team debut, which came on 7 March 1956, deputising for the injured Roy Warhurst in a

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

game at

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

which finished 1–1. One of several players tried in the half-back line in the run-up to the 1956 FA Cup Final, Linnecor was not selected for that game. He played 11 times in the following season, and in April 1957 was sold to Lincoln City as a makeweight in the £15,000 deal which took Dick Neal in the opposite direction. After narrowly avoiding

relegation 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 ...

from 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 ...

in 1957, Linnecor remained at Lincoln for the rest of his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

career, a further seven full seasons, during which he scored 55 goals from 287 appearances in all competitions. He is remembered for the

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 Wick ...

he scored against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

in 1960 to give Lincoln a 3–1 victory and inflict on Liverpool their first home league defeat of the year. In the 1964 close season, Linnecor left Lincoln, by then in the Fourth Division, and moved into

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, 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 ...

with

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, newly formed and playing in the Lincolnshire League. He then played for Grantham Town, where he scored 11 goals from 88 appearances, helping the club reach the second round of the

1968–69 FA Cup The 1968–69 FA Cup was the 88th season of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. Manchester City won the competition for the fourth time, beating Leicester City 1–0 ...

, where they were defeated only in the last few minutes of the match by that season's League Cup winners

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

, and to victory in the

Midland League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midl ...

Cup. After that he played for

Worksop Town Worksop Town Football Club is an English football club based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. The team play in the . They are nicknamed ''The Tigers'' and play their home games at Sandy Lane in Worksop. History Previous clubs The club claims it w ...

and Bourne Town, whom he assisted to successive

United Counties League The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''GCE Hire Fleet Ltd. United Counties League'') is an England, English association football, football league covering an area including the English Counties of the United Kingdom, ...

titles, and coached junior players at Lincoln City. After leaving full-time football, Linnecor worked as a salesman before becoming a storeman at Ruston's. He managed Ruston Sports football team for a number of years, and was a vice-president of the club. On retirement, Linnecor and his wife, Beryl, settled in the

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

area. Linnecor died on 25 November 2012.

References

External links

Linnecor's profile and photo
at The Lincoln City FC Archive (via archive.org) {{DEFAULTSORT:Linnecor, Bert 1933 births 2012 deaths Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Men's association football wing halves Birmingham City F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Boston Town F.C. players Grantham Town F.C. players Worksop Town F.C. players Bourne Town F.C. players English Football League players Midland Football League players English football managers 20th-century British Army personnel Royal Army Service Corps soldiers United Counties League players 20th-century English sportsmen