He was born in Hyde, and educated at Hyde Grammar School, where he played for Bolton Wanderers youth and B teams for eight years. He then attended Hatfield College at the University of Durham, and appeared for Durham City before joining Northern League side Bishop Auckland, one of the leading amateur clubs in the country, in 1955. In February 1958, many of the players and staff of Manchester United were killed or injured in the Munich air crash. In order to fulfil their immediate fixture commitments, they needed to find several good players at short notice, and turned to Bishop Auckland for help. Three England amateur internationals, including Bradley, were loaned to United's reserve team while the club tried to rebuild. After a few months, having recovered from his injuries received in the crash, United's manager Matt Busby returned to work and was impressed by Bradley. He was signed as a part-time professional in November 1958, taking a job as a teacher in Stretford, and made his first-team debut for United against his old club, Bolton Wanderers. In May 1959, Bradley was selected by England manager Walter Winterbottom, and became the first and only player to play for both the professional and amateur England teams in the same season. He played just three games for the full England team, including a tour of Mexico and the United States, and scored twice. However, his career at Manchester United never progressed any further, and he was transferred to Bury in 1962 for £2,500. He left Bury after a couple of seasons, and after brief spells with Northwich Victoria, Macclesfield Town and Bangor City, he retired in 1966. After his retirement from football he had a long career as a headteacher, and worked with the Manchester United ex-players association.
Honours
England: 3 caps,
2 goals England Amateurs:
11 caps Bishop Auckland:
FA Amateur Cup winners 1956, 1957.
Thanks to Wikipedia.
EDIT
According to 'The Website of Dreams' Warren Bradley played in 63 league games for Manchester United, scoring 20 goals, and in 4 FA cup games, scoring once. I was fortunate to see most of the home games in which he played and several of the away games as well.
Thanks Dave, for this information.
According to 'The Website of Dreams' Warren Bradley played in 63 league games for Manchester United, scoring 20 goals, and in 4 FA cup games, scoring once. I was fortunate to see most of the home games in which he played and several of the away games as well.
ReplyDeleteRemember him from the Grammar school when he was a prefect. Nice bloke.
ReplyDeleteWarren was a true sportsman who graced himself both at cricket and football.
ReplyDeleteI remember bowling at him during a junior match when he was playing for his school Hyde Grammar against my team Newton CC, and he always impressed me as a very good all round cricketer.
Later I believe he played for Stockport SS at cricket.
But it was as a footballer he hit the highlights.
Warren was a gentleman who Hyde should be proud of.