Trevor Ford

This article is about the Welsh footballer. For the British geologist, see Trevor D. Ford. For the American football player, see Trevor Ford (American football).

Trevor Ford

File:Trevor Ford (1959).jpg
Personal information
Date of birth	(1923-10-01)1 October 1923
Place of birth	Swansea, Wales
Date of death
Place of death	Swansea, Wales
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1946–1947	Swansea Town	16	(9)
1947–1950	Aston Villa	120	(60)
1950–1953	Sunderland	108	(67)
1953–1956	Cardiff City	96	(39)
1957–1960	PSV Eindhoven	53	(21)
1960–1961	Newport County	8	(3)
International career
1946–1957	Wales	38	(23)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Trevor Ford (1 October 1923 – 29 May 2003) was a Welsh international centre forward footballer who played for Aston Villa, Cardiff City, Sunderland and Swansea Town. He was born and died in Swansea.

Football career

In October 1950, 27-year-old Ford was the subject of British football transfer record when he signed for 'Bank of England club' Sunderland for £30,000 from Aston Villa. He was a footballing celebrity at the time due to his prolific scoring record. He made 128 appearances for Villa between January 1947 and October 1950 scoring 61 goals.

At Sunderland, he failed to gel on the pitch with team-mate and former record-breaking signing, Len Shackleton. He signed for Cardiff City in December 1953 for £29,500, a club record fee at the time. He spent three years at the club before retiring, aged 33.

Ford still holds the club record for the fastest goal scored, which he set on 23 October 1954 against Charlton Athletic, after just fifteen seconds. After leaving the club in 1956, he revealed in his autobiography that he was involved in an illegal-payments scandal while at Sunderland, which saw the club suffer heavy financial penalties; Ford was temporarily suspended from the game.

Ford decided to come out of retirement, but with the suspension in place, he was forced to look overseas for a club, signing for Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. He eventually won his case for reinstatement, returning to The Football League with a brief spell at Newport County. He ended a long career playing his football at Romford. In 1955, Ford also guest appeared for Southern Premier League side Gloucester City.

He was capped 38 times for Wales, becoming their all-time joint aggregate goal scorer with 23 goals. He was not included in the Welsh squad for the 1958 World Cup, following his suspension from the game; his last international appearance had come the previous year.

Cricket career

In 1968, Ford briefly acted as a substitute fielder for Glamorgan in their County Championship match against Nottinghamshire at St. Helen's, Swansea in the match during which Sir Garfield Sobers hit his world record six sixes from an over bowled by Malcolm Nash.

Death

Ford died in his native Swansea in May 2003 at the age of 79.

References

• All the Lads – A complete who's who of Sunderland AFC, Garth Dykes & Doug Lamming, 1999