Kenneth Todd (born 24 August 1957) 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 scored 11 goals in 52 games in the

English 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 ...

for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

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 ...

, and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

in the late 1970s. Despite being bought for £37,000 by Vale and £20,000 by "Pompey", he dropped into the Southern League with Fareham Town and

Waterlooville Waterlooville is a town in the Borough of Havant in Hampshire, England, approximately north northeast of Portsmouth. It is the largest town in the borough. The town had a population of 64,350 in the 2011 Census. It is surrounded by Purbrook, ...

Career

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Todd began his career at

Sammy Chung Cyril Chung (16 July 1932 – 28 August 2022), better known as Sammy Chung, was an English football player and manager, one of the first Anglo-Chinese players in English football. Playing career Chung was born in Abingdon-on-Thames to a Chines ...

, having been

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

ed by Joe Mycock, who lived opposite his school in

Staindrop Staindrop is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is situated approximately north east of Barnard Castle, on the A688 road. According to the 2011 UK census the population was 1,310, this includes the hamlets of Cleatlam ...

. He joined the club as an apprentice on his 15th birthday after a trial in the summer of 1972, despite advances from

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

and

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 ...

, as he was impressed by the club providing him with tickets for the

1972 UEFA Cup final The 1972 UEFA Cup Final was the final of the first UEFA Cup football tournament. It was a two-legged contest played on 3 May and 17 May 1972 between two English clubs, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur. This was the first UEFA club com ...

against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. He was a member of the 1976

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

side that were beaten 5–0 on aggregate in the final by

Black Country derby The Black Country derby is the name given to any local derby between England, English association football, football teams West Bromwich Albion F.C., West Bromwich Albion, Walsall F.C, Walsall and Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., Wolverhampton Wan ...

rivals

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

. He made his debut for the senior team on 6 November 1976, in a 3–1 victory over

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 ...

at Molineux. He went on to make a further four appearances, scoring one goal against

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 ...

, as Wolves won

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 ...

as champions 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 1976–77. Wolves then finished 15th 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 1977–78, and Todd featured in only one game, a home defeat to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

Port Vale

Despite his lack of experience,

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 ...

Dennis Butler Dennis Anthony Butler (born 24 June 1944) is an English former professional football player and manager. He played as a winger for Bolton Wanderers between 1959 and 1968 before ending his playing career following five years at Rochdale. Later ...

broke a club record to purchase him for a £37,000 fee in August 1978. However, he struggled to live up to his price tag and was singled out for abuse 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 ...

. He scored eight goals in 42 Fourth Division and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

games in the 1978–79 season. He lost his first-team place under new boss

Alan Bloor Alan Bloor (born 16 March 1943) is an English former professional footballer and manager. He made 394 league appearances in the Football League for both Potteries teams. He spent 18 years as a centre-half at Stoke City between 1960 and 1978, ...

in August 1979 and played just three games in the 1979–80 season before he was sold on to

for £20,000 in October.

Portsmouth and later career

He scored just one goal in three Fourth Division games for

Frank Burrows Frank Burrows (30 January 1944 – 24 November 2021) was a Scottish football player and manager who played as a central defender. Life and career Frank Burrows began his football career at Scottish club Raith Rovers. In 1965, he moved south t ...

's "Pompey" in the 1979–80 promotion campaign. He left

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a association football, football ground in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and is the home of Portsmouth F.C., Portsmouth Football Club. Fratton Park's location on Portsea Island is unique in English professional football, as it ...

and later played for Fareham Town ( Southern League) and

. He scored 50 goals in one season for the "Hawks" and later worked as

Havant Havant ( ) is a town in the south-east corner of Hampshire, England. Nearby places include Portsmouth to the south-west, Southampton to the west, Waterlooville to north, Chichester to the east and Hayling Island to the south. The wider borough ...

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 ...

. Todd also returned to Portsmouth as the

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or Sports league, league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team (a ...

manager. In a 2014 interview, he stated that he was "amazed" when Burrows offered him the position, as the pair had fallen out the moment he first arrived at the club.

Personal life

Todd married Suzanne and had a daughter, Ella.

Career statistics

Honours

Wolverhampton Wanderers *

runner-up: 1976

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Todd, Ken 1957 births Living people Footballers from County Durham English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Fareham Town F.C. players Waterlooville F.C. players Havant Town F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Men's association football player-managers English football managers Portsmouth F.C. non-playing staff 20th-century English sportsmen