Ray Spencer
Personal information
Full name Raymond Spencer[1]
Date of birth (1933-03-25)25 March 1933
Place of birth Kings Norton, England
Date of death 2016 (aged 82–83)
Position(s) Wing half
Youth career
19??–1950 Aston Villa
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1950–1958 Aston Villa 0 (0)
1958–1961 Darlington 97 (5)
1961–1964 Torquay United 59 (1)
1964–1965 Bath City
1965–196? Bridgwater Town
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Raymond Spencer (25 March 1933 – 2016) was an English professional footballer who made 156 appearances in the Football League playing as a wing half or centre half for Darlington and Torquay United. He began his career with Aston Villa without playing for their first team, and went on to play non-league football for Bath City and Bridgwater Town. He represented England at schoolboy level.

Life and career

Raymond Spencer was born in Kings Norton, Birmingham, on 25 March 1933.[2] He played at inside left for England schoolboys against their Welsh counterparts at Highfield Road, Coventry, in 1948; a match preview described him as "a born footballer who uses his head and both feet."[3][4] His younger brother Malcolm, also a schoolboy international, was on the books of Wolverhampton Wanderers but never went on to League football.[5]

Spencer joined Aston Villa as a junior, and turned professional in June 1950.[2] After four years with no first-team appearances, Villa listed him on a free transfer, but changed their minds and re-engaged him.[6] Despite remaining a Villa player for a further four years, which included a spell of National Service in the Royal Air Force,[7] he never made the first team.[2]

He signed for Darlington, and finally made his Football League debut just days short of his 25th birthday, on 19 March 1958 in a 2–1 defeat at home to Southport in the Third Division North. His first senior goal arrived three days later, again in a home defeat, this time against Chester.[8] His progress was interrupted when he broke a leg during a match in October 1958 and was out for five months, but once restored to fitness, he was a regular in the side playing mainly at left half or centre half for the next two years.[9][10] His Darlington career is best remembered for his opening goal in the shock defeat of First Division team West Ham United in the inaugural season of the League Cup.[11][12] The Daily Mirror reported how, "after only twenty seconds, [Lance Robson] swung the ball over to inside right Bobby Baxter, who teed it up for left half Ray Spencer to slam in a glorious goal from thirty yards (27 m)."[13] Spencer made 106 appearances for Darlington and scored seven goals.[14]

In June 1961, Spencer joined Torquay United. Although Darlington manager Eddie Carr thought he was worth more than the small fee received, the player wanted to relocate to his wife's home town and the club were "doing a good turn to a good club man."[15] He made 59 league appearances for Torquay, scoring once, in three years at the club.[16] He moved into non-league football, first with Bath City, for which he made 10 appearances in all competitions,[17] and then with Bridgwater Town.[1]

Spencer was married to Maeve. He died in 2016.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 "Player search: Spencer, R (Ray)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "Spencer, Raymond (Ray)". Aston Villa Player Database. Jörn Mårtensson. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  3. ↑ "Boys' international at Highfield Road". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 8 April 1948. p. 6.
  4. ↑ "Schoolboy International. England beat Wales". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 10 April 1948. p. 1.
  5. ↑ "Villa new boy will always remember Cup day". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 9 May 1953. p. 4.
  6. ↑ Matheson, Charles (22 May 1954). "Happy ending to Johnny Dixon's German misadventure". Sports Argus. Birmingham. p. 4.
  7. ↑ "Second Scot to follow Clem?". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 18 August 1956. p. 4.
  8. ↑ Tweddle (2000), p. 54.
  9. ↑ Sewell, Albert (19 October 1958). "Uproar at three League games". Sunday Dispatch. London. p. 12.
  10. ↑ Tweddle (2000), pp. 55–57.
  11. ↑ "Looking back at the past". Farewell to Feethams. Darlington Supporters' Trust. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  12. 1 2 "Tribute to Ray Spencer". Darlington F.C. 9 July 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  13. ↑ "Cup rout for Hammers". Daily Mirror. London. 25 October 1960. p. 29.
  14. ↑ Tweddle (2000), p. 108.
  15. ↑ "Torquay sign Spencer". Evening Express. Aberdeen. 10 June 1961. p. 6.
  16. ↑ "Ray Spencer". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  17. ↑ "All time list of Bath City FC players". Bath City F.C. Archived from the original on 11 August 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.

Sources

  • Tweddle, Frank (2000). The Definitive Darlington F.C. Nottingham: Soccerdata. ISBN 978-1-899468-15-7.
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