John Radford

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John Radford (born 22 February 1947 in Hemsworth, Yorkshire) is a former English football player.

Playing mostly as an inside forward or centre forward (and occasionally as a right-winger), Radford spent most of his career at Arsenal. He joined the club as an apprentice in 1962, turning professional in February 1964. He was a prolific goalscorer in the youth and reserve teams, before making his first-team debut against West Ham United on March 21, 1964 (his only appearance of the 1964-65 season. Radford continued to be sparingly used the next season, but did become Arsenal's youngest ever hat-trick scorer, against Wolves on January 2, 1965, at the age of 17 years and 315 days, a record that remains to this day.

By the start of 1965-66 Radford was an Arsenal regular, and particularly blossomed under the stewardship of Bertie Mee; in 1968-69 he scored nineteen goals and reached a League Cup final. As Radford peaked, so did Arsenal; in 1969-70 he again scored nineteen goals, and helped Arsenal win the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, their first trophy in seventeen years. The following season 1970-71 Radford scored 21, his best single tally in a season, as Arsenal won the FA Cup and League Championship double for the first time.

By now, Radford was an England international, having already won four caps for the U-23 side. He made his full England debut in a friendly against Romania on January 15, 1969. However, he was not a favourite of England manager Sir Alf Ramsey and won only one further cap, against Switzerland on October 13, 1971; Radford scored in neither match.

He continued to play for Arsenal through the first half of the 1970s, until an injury in 1975-76 restricted his appearances and allowed the partnership of Malcolm Macdonald and Frank Stapleton to become Arsenal's first-choice attacking duo. Restricted to just two appearances in the first four months of 1976-77, Radford moved on to West Ham United in December 1976 for £80,000. In all he played 481 times for Arsenal, scoring 149 goals, which makes him (as of 2006) Arsenal's fourth all-time top scorer.

After a year and 28 league appearances and no goals with the Hammers, Radford joined Blackburn Rovers in 1977. He was moderately successful with the Second Division side, scoring ten times in 38 league appearances. He left Rovers in 1978 and played for non-league Bishop's Stortford before retiring. After retiring, he became a pub landlord, and enjoyed several spells as manager of Bishop's Stortford in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

[edit] References

• Harris, Jeff & Hogg, Tony (ed.) (1995). Arsenal Who's Who. Independent UK Sports. ISBN 1-899429-03-4.