Bantams and Whites

Last updated : 23 August 2010 By @pnemad

Footballers who have played for Bradford City & PNE

 

408) Frank Beresford

137) Dickie Bond

694) Les Chapman

907) Omar Daley

279) Sandy Doolan

359) Jock Ewart

739) Greg Fee

455) Jimmy Gooch

892) Jonathan Gould

668) Terry Gray

581) Bobby Ham

183) Jimmy Henderson

928) Dave Hibbert

573) Gerry Ingham

425) Jack Jennings

763) Mark Leonard

639) Peter Litchfield

456) Andy McLaren

909) Guylan N’dumbu-Nsungu

564) John Ritchie

345) Norman Robson

575) Alex Spark

838) Mark Stallard

273) George Waddell

910) Gavin Ward

432) Dickie Watmough

930) Simon Whaley

534) Dave Wilson

 

Player Profile – Bobby Ham

 

Robert Stanley (Bobby) Ham was born Bradford on 29 March 1942. He was taken on as a member of the Bradford Park Avenue groundstaff aged just 15. After three months in the ‘A’ team Ham joined Huddersfield and Bradford City youth teams, he signed professional for  Bradford Park Avenue in October 1961. He made his league debut in a 1-0 victory against Hull on 3 March 1962.


After 6 goals from 25 appearances for Park Avenue he had operation to repair a long standing groin injury forced Ham out of the game for a short period. After a stint with Gainsborough Trinity he joined Grimsby in February 1964 as reserve team player coach and scored once in 2 appearances for the first team. He worked his way back into the Avenue team in August 1964 and in 1965/66 he hit 24 goals, including four against Newport County in  a6-1 win on 12 February 1966.


After a further 47 goals from 140 appearances Bradford City paid Avenue £2,750 for his services in February 1968. He was instrumental in City's promotion in 1969 become the first Bradford born player to top the goalscoring charts including four goals in  a 5-0 win over York on 9 October 1968.

 

The following year he scored a hat-trick as City demolished Bournemouth 8-1 on 24 January 1970. Alerted by his scoring record, Preston signed Ham for £8,000 in October 1970. He had scored 40 goals from 115 league appearances for the Banthams.

 

Ham made his Preston debut scoring in a 1-1 draw at Plymouth on 24 October 1970 and scored 3 in his next 4 matches. Ham scored 11 goals from 30 appearances during the 1970/71 season and with his partnership with Gerry Ingram, who scored 22 league goals, helped Preston win the Third Division Championship. He never scored more than a single goal in a match and was never on a losing side when he scored in 1970/71.

 

After 4 goals in 13 appearances in 1971/72 he joined Rotherham. His last Lilywhite appearance was a 3-2 defeat at Orient on 18 October 1971.

 

Ham scored 24 goals from 68 appearances for Rotherham, but after the Millers relegation in 1973 he rejoined Bradford City in July 1973. He was again the top scorer in his last season at Valley Parade in 1974/75 and in his final spell with the Banthams Ham has netted 24 goals from 73 appearances.

 

He later managed Gainsborough Trinity, Matlock and Guisele and along with his brother Alan, Ham ran the Bradford Dukes speedway

 

Bobby Ham has been a Bradford Community Broadcastings co-commentator on matchdays and recently he joined the Bradford City board as a director.