Dave Bamber
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Dave Bamber | ||
Personal information | ||
---|---|---|
Full name | David Bamber | |
Date of birth | February 1, 1959 (age 48) | |
Place of birth | Prescot, England | |
Height | 6'3" | |
Nickname | Bambs | |
Playing position | Forward (retired) | |
Senior clubs1 | ||
Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
1979-1982 1983-1983 1983-1984 1984-1984 1985-1987 1988-1988 1988-1989 1989-1990 1990-1994 |
Blackpool Coventry Walsall Portsmouth Swindon Watford Stoke Hull City Blackpool Total |
19 (3) 20 (7) 4 (1) 108 (31) 18 (3) 43 (8) 28 (5) 113 (60) 439 (147) |
81 (29)
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
David Bamber (born February 1, 1959, in Prescot, Merseyside) is a retired English professional footballer. In youth and junior football, he played for Manchester University and St. Helens Town.
Contents |
[edit] Career
He began his professional career at Blackpool in 1979. His starting debut came on December 29, 1979, in a loss at Chester City. He scored his first goal for the Seasiders on April 7, 1980, in a league encounter against Carlisle at Bloomfield Road. During the next four years of struggle, Bamber scored 36 goals in 100 games in all competitions under four different managers.
Coventry came in for his services prior to the 1983/84 season. Blackpool, though sad to see Bamber leave, had the emerging of Paul Stewart to fall back on.
He went on to play for six other clubs before returning to Blackpool to bring his fifteen-year playing career to a close. He was re-signed to the Seasiders initially on loan, in December 1990, by the departing Graham Carr. A month later, shortly before kick-off against Tottenham Hotspur in an FA Cup tie on January 5, 1991, new Seasiders manager Billy Ayre agreed to pay Hull £50,000 for his services.
Bamber played at Wembley twice in successive seasons (1990-91 and 1991-92) in his second spell at Blackpool, both in the play-off finals, and both of which went to penalty shoot-outs. In the first final, against Torquay, Bamber put his spot-kick wide of Gareth Howells' left-hand post, handing promotion to the Tangerines' south-coast opponents. The following year, however, Blackpool were victorious in the same manner against Scunthorpe and were promoted to the new Division Two. Bamber, who played despite needing an operation on his knee (preserving his record of being an ever-present throughout the season), scored Blackpool's regulation-time goal. He didn't partake in the penalty shoot-out.
After retiring from football he became a property developer in the Blackpool area.
[edit] Honours
Swindon Town
- Division Four champion: 1985/86
- Division Three play-off winner: 1986/87
- Top goalscorer: 1986/87 (21 goals)
Blackpool
- Division Four play-off winner: 1991/92
[edit] Trivia
- After Blackpool's loss to Torquay in the 1990-91 play-off final, the Gulls named their fanzine Bamber's Right Foot, in mockery of the Seasiders striker's penalty miss.
- Scored a hat-trick for Blackpool in a 4-2 win over Mansfield Town on August 27, 1991, in the first round, second leg of the League Cup, putting the Tangerines through to a second-round date against Barnsley.
- Also nicknamed "Dipper Bamber" for the way he lurched forward to head the ball.
- Near the end of his career, he could be seen doing weird pre-match back exercises on the pitch.
[edit] References
- Calley, Roy: Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887-1992, Breedon Books Sport, 1992.
- Mattick, Dick (2002). Swindon Town Football Club - 100 Greats. Stroud: Tempus Publishing, 14. ISBN 0752427148.
[edit] External links
Categories: 1959 births | Living people | People from Prescot | English footballers | Football (soccer) strikers | Blackpool F.C. players | Coventry City F.C. players | Walsall F.C. players | Portsmouth F.C. players | Swindon Town F.C. players | Watford F.C. players | Stoke City F.C. players | Hull City A.F.C. players