Barry Bridges - 1966 to 1968

Last updated : 06 February 2010 By Brian Cartlidge

Born at Horsford, near Norwich, on 29th April 1941, he was playing for Norwich & Norfolk Boys when spotted by Chelsea.

Bridges was one of the first products of the Stamford Bridge 'nursery' to play for England when he won the first of his four caps in April 1965 against Scotland at Wembley, two weeks before his 24th birthday.

For the London club he scored 93 goals in 205 senior appearances after establishing himself in the first team following Jimmy Greaves' departure to Italy in 1961.

His prowess in front of goal continued in his two seasons at St. Andrew's where he netted 47 goals in 102 outings.

A fast forward (Bridges was a sprint champion in his schooldays) he occupied a free-role at Blues. He could play with both feet and played at left and right wing as well as centre forward.

He helped Blues to the League Cup semi-final in 1967 and the FA Cup semi-final in 1968 before a move back to the capital and QPR in August 1968.

He later played at Millwall, Brighton, Highlands Park in South Africa, St. Patrick's in Ireland, where he was player-manager and Sligo Rovers, also as manager, before entering Non-League soccer in 1979.

After a career which saw him clock-up more than 550 League & Cup appearances and over 200 goals he retired from football in the early 1980's to became a hotelier in Brighton.