Raymond John Bishop (born 24 November 1955) is a Welsh former 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 ...

. During his career, he played over 150 games 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 ...

for

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

, Newport County and

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

Career

Bishop, a forward, began his football career with Bargoed Youth Club. He was a Boys Club International for Wales, winning caps against England and Scotland in 1973, and played for Great Britain against Belgium. He joined Welsh League side Tredomen at the age of 18. He moved on to

Ton Pentre Ton Pentre () is a village in the Rhondda, Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Historic counties of Wales, Historically part of Glamorgan, Ton Pentre, a former industrial coal mining village, is a district of the comm ...

before joining Southern League side

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

, while working as a

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

engineer. He had a two-month spell on trial with

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

, then managed by

Alan Mullery Alan Patrick Mullery (born 23 November 1941) is an English former footballer and manager. After enjoying a successful career with Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur, and the England national team in the 1960s and 1970s, he became a manager working wit ...

, but was unsuccessful and returned to Cheltenham from where he was signed by

for a fee of £3,000 in January 1977. His league debut came in August the same year, and he went on to make 102 league appearances for the Bluebirds, scoring 33 goals. On 26 February 1981, after losing his place in the Cardiff side, he moved to local rivals Newport County, costing £10,000, but could not settle suffering multiple injuries, making only 25 appearances, scoring 7, before moving on a free transfer to

in August 1982. He scored four times in his first three games for Torquay, but after getting injured in the third game never regained full fitness at

Plainmoor Plainmoor is an association football stadium located in the Plainmoor suburb of Torquay, Devon, England. Since 1921, the stadium has been the home of Torquay United F.C., Torquay United Football Club, who currently compete in the National Leagu ...

and retired from football in 1984, having made 40 league appearances for Torquay, scoring 8 times. Having finished his professional football career, he became a prolific property developer in the West country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, Ray 1955 births Living people People from Hengoed Footballers from Caerphilly County Borough Welsh men's footballers Cheltenham Town F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players English Football League players People educated at Lewis School, Pengam Men's association football forwards Ton Pentre F.C. players