Bradley Robert Sandeman (born 24 February 1970) is an English former

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 249 league and cup appearances in a nine-year career in the

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 ...

. A versatile

passer ''Passer'' is a genus of Old World sparrow, sparrows, also known as the true sparrows. The genus contains 28 species and includes the house sparrow and the Eurasian tree sparrow, two of the most common birds in the world. They are small birds wi ...

of the ball, he began his career at

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

in 1988. He was sold on to Maidstone United for £10,000 in February 1991, before he was allowed to join

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

on a free transfer in July 1992. He helped the club to win

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

out of 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 1993–94, before he was given a free transfer to

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

in May 1996. He moved on to

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

in March 1997 and later had spells with

non-League 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 ...

clubs

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Latimer Park. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in 1976, and have ...

, Leek Town,

Hyde United Hyde United Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England, formed in 1919. The team's strip is red shirts and black shorts and their home ground is the 4,250 capacity Ewen Fields. Hyde United's record ...

, Kidsgrove Athletic, Witton Albion and

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the , the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1983 afte ...

Playing career

Northampton Town

Sandeman started his career at

under the management of

Graham Carr William Graham Carr (born 25 October 1944) is an English former professional footballer, manager and scout. He is currently an associate director for Northampton Town. Club career Carr, a half-back, joined his first professional club, North ...

in 1986. The "Cobblers" avoided

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 ...

out of the Third Division in 1988–89 only due to their superior

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

. They failed to avoid the drop into the Fourth Division in 1989–90, which led to Carr being sacked and replaced by

Theo Foley Theo Foley (2 April 1937 – 26 June 2020) was an Irish footballer and football manager/coach. He was born in Inchicore, Dublin, Ireland. Playing career During his footballing career, he played as a defender for Home Farm, Exeter City, Nor ...

Maidstone United

Sandeman left the County Ground in February 1991, having been sold on to league rivals Maidstone United for a £10,000 fee; the move reunited him with former boss Graham Carr. The "Stones" finished in the lower half of the table in both 1990–91 and 1991–92. He left the club just months before its collapse.

Port Vale

He joined

in July 1992, with

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

John Rudge John Robert Rudge (born 21 October 1944) is an English former professional football player and manager who is the president of club Port Vale. Rudge began his playing career at Huddersfield Town in November 1961, but made little impact at t ...

looking to add strength in depth to help with the push for

out of the

. He was played at wing-back in 1992–93 until he picked up a

thigh In anatomy, the thigh is the area between the hip (pelvis) and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb. The single bone in the thigh is called the femur. This bone is very thick and strong (due to the high proportion of bone tissu ...

injury in February, which required an operation. This caused him to miss both the

1993 Football League Trophy final The 1993 Football League Trophy final was a football match between Port Vale and Stockport County on 22 May 1993 at Wembley Stadium, London. It was the final match of the 1992–93 Football League Trophy, the 10th season of what had previously ...

and the 1993 Second Division play-off final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

. He was used sparingly following his recovery, leaving him to play a limited role in the 1993–94 promotion campaign until he re-gained his first-team spot in May 1994. He was a first-team regular in the

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 ...

in 1994–95, before he fell out of favour once again in July 1995 following the arrival of Andy Hill. The 1995–96 season was his last at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

, and was not picked to play in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup (, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) was a European football competition. The competition was ...

. He was given a free transfer to

in May 1996.

Rotherham United

Originally signed to play at right-back, he was soon pushed further forward into midfield. The "Millers" suffered relegation out of the Second Division in 1996–97 under

Danny Bergara Daniel Alberto Bergara de Medina (24 July 1942 – 25 July 2007) was a Uruguayan footballer and manager. Playing career Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Bergara began his playing career at the age of 16, playing for Racing Club in the Uruguayan ...

. However, Sandeman had left

Millmoor The Millmoor Ground, commonly known as Millmoor, is a football stadium in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It was the home ground of Rotherham County between 1907 and 1925, and then its successor Rotherham United until 2008. The stadium ...

for

in March 1997.

Later career

He made just seven appearances for the "Bulls", and left the club in the summer after the

Edgar Street Edgar Street, currently known as MandM Edgar Street Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Hereford and was the home of Hereford United Football Club from the club's formation in 1924 until December 2014, when the club was w ...

club were relegated to the

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

under

Graham Turner Graham John Turner (born 5 October 1947) is an English former footballer who became a manager. His son Mark was also a professional footballer. He is fourth behind only Alex Ferguson, Neil Warnock and Arsène Wenger in terms of most games man ...

. He spent the first half of the 1997–98 season with

, before joining Conference rivals

in December 1997, who were managed by former teammate Steve Berry. He later combined his duties as a

postal worker A postal worker is one who works for a post office, such as a mail carrier. In the U.S., postal workers are represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL–CIO, National Postal Mail Handlers Union – NPMHU, the National Associ ...

with playing semi-professional football. He signed with Leek Town in July 2000 and scored seven goals in 55 appearances in the 2000–01 season as the "Blues" were relegated out of the Northern Premier League Premier Division; he was voted as the club's Player of the Season. He then moved on to

, but did not make an appearance for the "Tigers". He served Witton Albion as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

in August 2003, winning all four matches. He also played 37 games in the 2002–03 season and 26 games in the 2003–04 season. He joined Kidsgrove Athletic in July 2004. He signed with

in February 2005 after being recruited by Clive Walker.

Coaching career

In 2008, he joined Kent League club

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

, becoming assistant manager at the club the following year. He helped the "Wells" to reach the 2013 FA Vase final. He was appointed as a

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 * Coac ...

at Lordswood in July 2015. He followed manager James Collins to help coach Cray Valley Paper Mills in 2016.

Style of play

Sandeman was a versatile player, an accomplished and effective

of the ball, and a great and committed

tackler A tackler was a supervisor in a textile factory responsible for the working of a number of power looms and the weavers who operated them. The title derived from the job, which was to "tackle" any mechanical problems encountered with the looms i ...

Career statistics

Playing statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Individual * Leek Town F.C. Player of the Season: 2000–01 Port Vale *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

second-place promotion: 1993–94

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandeman, Bradley 1970 births Living people Footballers from Northampton English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Northampton Town F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. (1897) players Port Vale F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Leek Town F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players Kidsgrove Athletic F.C. players Witton Albion F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players Tunbridge Wells F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players Northern Premier League players Isthmian League players English football managers Witton Albion F.C. managers Northern Premier League managers English football coaches