Robert William Mountford (23 February 1952 – 26 August 2008) was an English

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 ...

who played 277 matches 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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for various clubs, scoring 64 goals. He debuted for

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

in April 1969 and became a first-team regular after signing professional forms in February 1970. He was

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

ed out to

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

and

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

in 1974 before he joined

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

for £2,000 in December of that year. He scored 41 goals in 117 league and cup games before moving on to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. ...

in 1977. He switched to

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration (law), administration in ...

the following year before joining

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

via Crewe Alexandra in 1980. He emigrated to Australia the following year and played and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

ed at numerous teams, including

Newcastle KB United Newcastle KB United are a defunct Australian association football club. They participated in the National Soccer League from 1978 until early in the 1984 season. History The first Newcastle based team to play in a national league, Newcastle K ...

Brisbane City FC Brisbane City Football Club is an Australian semi-professional football club based in Newmarket, Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in 1952, the club competed in the National Soccer League until the 1986 season where they were relegated back to St ...

, and

Adamstown Rosebud Adamstown Rosebud Football Club (founded July 12, 1889) is a semi-professional soccer club based in Adamstown a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales. The club is part of Northern NSW Football and has teams competing in Senior and Youth NPL comp ...

. He became a prison warder at

Cessnock Correctional Centre Cessnock Correctional Centre, an Australian minimum and maximum security prison for males, is located in Cessnock, New South Wales. The centre is operated by Corrective Services NSW an agency of the Department of Justice of the Government of ...

in 1988.

Playing career

As a youth, he played for local village team Brown Edge before being spotted by

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while st ...

and persuaded to join

juniors. He graduated through the Vale youth set-up to make his

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

debut as a substitute in a 2–0 defeat at

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at T ...

on 19 April 1969. Signing professional forms under

Gordon Lee Gordon Lee may refer to: *Gordon Lee (comic store owner) (1958–2013), American comic book store owner charged with distributing obscene materials *Gordon Lee (congressman) (1859–1927), U.S. congressman from Georgia *Gordon Lee (footballer) (193 ...

in February 1970, he made his full debut in a 2–0 defeat by

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mov ...

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

in a

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 ...

first round match on 18 August 1971. The young striker was gradually broken into the team over the 1971–72 and 1972–73 seasons. He was a regular in the 1973–74 side that battled against

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open league ...

from the Third Division. The following season saw the Vale push for promotion under

Roy Sproson Roy Sproson (23 September 1930 – 24 January 1997) was an English footballer and football manager for Port Vale. A one-club man, he holds the all-time appearance record for Vale, making 837 starts (and 5 substitute appearances) for Vale ...

's stewardship, with Ray Williams,

Brian Horton Brian "Nobby" Horton (born 4 February 1949) is an English former footballer and manager. He spent 16 years as a professional player and 22 years as a manager, making 689 appearances and managing 1,098 matches. In addition to this he spent four ...

and new signing

Terry Bailey Terence Bailey (born 18 December 1947) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder. His son Mark Bailey also played professional football. After a brief association with Winsford United, he joined Stafford Rangers in 1968. He s ...

providing 41 goals between them. Unable to establish himself in the new set-up, Mountford joined

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

strugglers

on a one-month

in October 1974. That December he joined

, another side failing to find the net. He made five appearances for the "Alex" before being sold to

Walter Joyce Walter Joyce (10 September 1937 – 29 September 1999) was an English professional footballer and manager who played as a wing half, born in Oldham, Lancashire. His son, Warren Joyce Warren Garton Joyce (born 20 January 1965) is an Engl ...

for £2,000 later in the month. The "big, bustling, old fashioned, centre forward" was in his element at

Spotland Spotland ( ) is a district of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. The Rochdale ward name is Spotland and Falinge. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 10,805. It lies on the River Spodden, and is the home of Spotland St ...

. The 1975–76 and 1976–77 seasons were spent in mid-table obscurity in the basement division, but with 41 goals in 117 games, Mountford was a sensation for the club. He moved on to

in September 1977 for £10,000 but struggled with injuries at

Leeds Road Leeds Road was a football stadium in Huddersfield, England. It operated from its construction in 1908 until the Kirklees Stadium was opened nearby for the 1994–95 season. It was the home of Huddersfield Town A.F.C. from 1908 to 1994 and wa ...

. The 1977–78 season saw the "Terriers" performing comfortably in the Fourth Division under Tom Johnston's stewardship, but Rochdale missed Mountford's goals – they finished bottom with 24 points and 43 goals scored. In 1978, he joined

George Kirby George Kirby (June 8, 1923 – September 30, 1995) was an American comedian, singer, and actor. Career Born in Chicago, Kirby broke into show business in the 1940s at the Club DeLisa, a South Side establishment that employed a variety-sho ...

, another club at the foot of the

. The 1978–79 and 1979–80 seasons were difficult, with Mountford bagging eleven goals from 62 league games. In 1980, he joined

Tony Waddington Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football manager at both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City. Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at Stoke City. He progres ...

's Crewe Alexandra permanently but played just three games before joining

later in the year. He scored three goals in nine league games for

Jimmy McGuigan James McGuigan (1 March 1924 – 30 March 1988) was a Scottish professional football player and manager. Career Playing career McGuigan, who played as a wing half, played junior football with Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic, before turning professi ...

's "Hatters" during the 1980–81 season.

Coaching career

After leaving Stockport, Mountford emigrated to Australia, playing for

, also serving as their assistant

. After a spell with

and Blacktown he was appointed assistant coach and youth coach at

Newcastle Breakers Newcastle Breakers FC are a defunct Australian football (soccer) club. Formed out of elements of the Newcastle Austral club, they participated in the National Soccer League from season 1991/1992, until their dissolution in 1999/2000. The club fare ...

. He later coached Azzuri, Newcastle-Port Stephens juniors and Edgeworth under 19s. In April 2007, he took charge at

and was still at the helm at the time of his death. He joined the Prison Service in 1988, whilst still coaching, becoming a warden at

Cessnock, New South Wales Cessnock is a city in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about by road west of Newcastle. It is the administrative centre of the City of Cessnock LGA and was named after an 1826 grant of land called Cessnock Estate, which was owne ...

. Mountford died on 26 August 2008 in Australia following a lengthy battle against cancer. He was survived by his wife and their two children; Paul and Anna.

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountford, Bob 1952 births 2008 deaths English men's footballers Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent Men's association football forwards Port Vale F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Newcastle KB United players Brisbane City FC players Blacktown City FC players English Football League players National Soccer League (Australia) players Association football coaches English football managers English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Deaths from colorectal cancer in Australia Deaths from cancer in New South Wales