Remembering Brendan Bradley

The following is a guest article, penned by Dave Wilkinson. Thanks Dave.

During a recent holiday to Ireland I got in to conversation with a Donegal shopkeeper and the name of Brendan Bradley came up. Whilst I had rated him highly during his brief time with the Imps, what I hadn’t realised was that he is an absolute legend in his homeland, holding many records.

He was born in Derry and initially signed for his home town club. As a young lad he struggled to get into the first team and after 14 appearances over three seasons he signed for Finn Harps for the princely sum of £100 for the start of the 1969/70 season. Harps were based in the small Donegal town of Ballybofey and it was their first venture in the Irish top division. Most people thought they would struggle at this level, but they finished comfortably mid table and Bradley was the leagues leading scorer with 18 goals (only 34 games in an Irish season). He repeated this feat with 20 goals the following season.

In the summer of 1972 he was signed by David Herd for the Imps on the recommendation of midfielder Jimmy McGeough who had arrived the same summer from Waterford. He made his debut for City in the second league game of the season a 1-1 draw away to Darlington. Two games later he scored his first goals notching a brace in a 3-0 win away to Workington – a game the team flew to taking a number of supporters with them on their chartered flight from East Midlands Airport to Carlisle!

This heralded a glut of goals for Bradley, scoring in five successive games and racking up a total of 7 in this run.

In terms of goal scoring, there was a bizarre start to the 72/3 season as up until mid December when George Peden netted a penalty in a 2-2 draw at Newport County only Bradley, Dixie McNeil and Percy Freeman had contributed to our 31 goals to that point! It was Boxing Day before another Imp scored in open play, John Worsdale getting the goal in a 1-1 draw at Doncaster.

The Newport game was significant for two reasons, it represented Graham Taylor’s first game as manager, Herd having been sacked following a poor run of results. Also, although unknown at the time, it was the last time that Bradley scored for the Imps. He did play a further 12 games but without finding the net – quite probably the longest drought of his career. In March 1973 he returned to Finn Harps for a fee reportedly of £4,000. It was felt that he suffered from homesickness, and this probably contributed to his loss of form. Nonetheless, 12 goals in 31 league appearances, plus one in two FA Cup games is a more than satisfactory return.

However, it is what followed that makes him a legend in the Emerald Isle. In 1973/4 he scored 2 of the goals as Finn Harps won the FAI Cup beating St Patrick’s 3-1 in the final. In 1974/5 he was the leagues leading scorer for the third time, netting 21 on this occasion. This however was merely a precursor to 1975/6 (wasn’t that a decent season for us too?) Bradley scored no less than 29 to become the leading scorer in the league for the fourth time, this included all six in a 6-1 victory over Sligo, which remains the most goals scored by a single player in a match in the League of Ireland. At the time of writing (23rd October 2018), 29 remains the most goals in a single season by one player, but that record was equalled last Friday when Pat Hoban of champions Dundalk scored two against Sligo – he also missed a penalty! Hoban has one game remaining to break this particular record of Bradley’s! I watched the last half hour of the Dundalk v Sligo match on the TV and Bradley was mentioned at least three times in this short spell!

In the 75/6 season Bradley played only 26 games, so to score 29 was phenomenal. Not surprisingly he was voted the Soccer Writers Association of Ireland Personality of 1976

He later also played for Athlone Town, Sligo Rovers and latterly Derry City where he ended his career in 1986. He also made one appearance for Toronto in the NASL during the off-season in Ireland, one of his team mates being his idol, the legendary Eusebio! At the end of this time he had a career total of 247 league goals in 425 appearances. He scored a total of 309 goals in all competitions. His 235 Irish League goals remains a record that many feel is unlikely to ever be beaten. A poll in the Irish Examiner in 2015 rated him the Greatest Player of all time in the history of the Irish League!!!

These records are incredible by anybody’s standards, but are made all the more remarkable by the fact that, apart from his time at Lincoln, he was also working as a painter and decorator!

His name is still revered in Ireland and a “synth pop group” from Derry called Strength NIA released a number simply called Brendan Bradley. I have listened to it on You Tube and have to say I think it’s crap! But then I am in my sixties, it may be appreciated by a younger demographic. It purports to tell the story of Bradley being detained by the British Army when he attempted to travel from his home in Derry (in the north) to Ballybofey (in the republic) to play for Finn Harps. This was in the 70’s at the height of the troubles and adds another dimension to his unbelievable career.

Bradley was recently reported as saying that his one regret was not staying in England longer, and perhaps getting picked up by a big club. It is believed that Tottenham Hotspur were monitoring him at one stage. It seems strange that his loss of form coincided with Graham Taylor taking over, but Bradley harbours no grudges, stating that he “really liked Graham” and he was not surprised when he ended up managing England. He does admit to being a home bird though, and as his future record would suggest, homesickness was a much more likely cause of his problems than lack of ability.

I always remember Bradley as probably the most naturally gifted and skilful forward we have had in my time as an Imp, the only similar player I can compare him to would be Peter Graham. Thanks for the memories Brendan, just a pity they were so few.