Bert Sproston (22 June 1915 – 27 January 2000) was an English football full back who is remembered for playing both at international level for the England national football team and at club level for Leeds United,

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, Millwall and Tottenham Hotspur. He was born in Elworth on 22 June 1914. He played for England 11 times and also won 2 wartime caps. With Manchester City he made 125 appearances and scored 5 goals. After his playing career ended he spent over two decades as trainer at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. He died on 27 January 2000. After appearing in the infamous Germany vs England game in Berlin in 1938 he was approached by Rolf Friedland who was a 17-year-old Jew trying to escape Nazi Germany. Upon his return to the UK after the game he worked with Tottenham and the FA to secure an invitation for Rolf to visit the UK for a representative football match from which Friedland managed to turn the visit into a permanent stay. On an England trip to Berlin in 1938, Sproston told Stanley Matthews "I know nowt 'bout politics and t'like. All I knows is football. But t'way I see it, yon 'Itler fella is an evil little twat".

References

External links

Profile
at leedsfans.org
Profile
at EnglandStats.com 1915 births 2000 deaths English footballers England international footballers England wartime international footballers Manchester City F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff English Football League players English Football League representative players Association football fullbacks {{England-footy-defender-1910s-stub