After eight games out Gilliver was able to return from the bench at the beginning of March after a couple of reserve team outings and was then back in the starting lineup in place of the injured McNeil. After a disappointing home draw with Gillingham he was then on the mark with a late goal to help bring both points back from Exeter with City well set in third place. However, the fit again McNeil was back again instead for a 2-0 defeat at Brentford before Gilliver in turn replaced the ex-Northampton man for a top of the table clash with Scunthorpe. In a close game in front of over 16,000 at Sincil Bank, Gilliver scored what at the time was his most crucial ever goal for the club and what also turned out to be his last one as his powerful header was the only goal of the match.
The win moved City moved up to second in the table and Gilliver retained his place for the next five games which however produced only one win as City slipped out of the top four promotion places. He was then replaced in the side by Percy Freeman for two games, both at home, as firstly Barrow were beaten 3-2, but the second resulting in a 1-0 defeat to Darlington which effectively ended City’s promotion hopes.
With Freeman now injured Gilliver was back in the side for three more games, all of which were drawn, with a 0-0 scoreline at home to Crewe being his last appearance in a City shirt. Changes made for the last game of the season saw him an unused substitute, his total for the season being 39 games in all competitions with 10 goals scored.
The reasons for Allan Gilliver’s sale to fellow Fourth Division side Bradford City in the summer of 1972 would seem to be linked to David Herd’s wish to sign up-and-coming goalscoring star Brendan Bradley from Northern Irish football. With Bradley’s arrival it would have left City with a surplus of strikers including the promising 21-year-old John Ward so one had to go. Also, the £4,000 received for Gilliver from Bradford went half way to the cost of signing Bradley.
At Bradford Allan Gilliver went on to have his best season since leaving Huddersfield, finishing as top scorer for the Valley Parade club with a total of 20 goals in 47 games in all competitions. Almost needless to say, he scored in his first game against the Imps with two goals in Bradford’s 3-1 home win at the beginning of December.
The 1973/74 season was less successful for him, but with a still respectable 12 goals in 33 games for Bradford. However, he was released on a free transfer in the summer of 1974 joining Stockport County who had just finished bottom of the league. Gilliver managed just 28 games for the Edgeley Park club, scoring five goals before his Football League career seemed as if it had come to an end at the age of 30. During the early summer of 1975 he played a handful of games for American side Baltimore Comets where he joined former Bradford City team mates Gerry Ingram and John Napier. He then returned to Lincolnshire in the September to join Northern Premier League Boston United.
Gilliver made 18 appearances for the Pilgrims, scoring three goals before going on loan to Buxton. He remained in the Northern Premier League, spending a couple of months with Gainsborough at the start of the 1976/77 season before his footballing career came almost to an end.
Meanwhile, Gilliver had shown some prowess as a cricketer, turning out for the Sussex second Xl during his time with Brighton, and playing as a professional in the Bradford League, most notably with the Brighouse club where he set a club record in 1978 for the most runs in a season. He was however later outdone by his son Mark who also with Brighouse became the leading Bradford League run-maker of all time, with the pair becoming the only father and son to both hit 1,000 runs in a season.
In August 1978 Allan Gilliver registered with Bradford City as a non-contract player having returned to work for them in a variety of roles which eventually ranged from groundsman to stadium manager including safety officer, bar supervisor, and commercial manager. In April 1979 he was called into the first team at the age of 34, starting one Fourth Division game and coming off the subs’ bench in the next.
Gilliver was the groundsman at the time of the tragic fire at Valley Parade in 1985, and Bradford captain and later Imps manager Peter Jackson later recalled: ‘About half the Bradford team ran back to the dressing room but we were there about 30 seconds when Allan Gilliver came along shouting: “Get out, everyone!”
On Bradford’s return to the rebuilt Valley Parade in 1986 Gilliver was appointed stadium manager and continued to work for the club with a testimonial match held for him in 1998 before he retired in 2007.
In 2011. Allan Gilliver was diagnosed with vascular dementia and degenerative Alzheimer’s Disease, and as with the late West Bromwich and England centre forward Jeff Astle the condition in his case is thought to be connected with a career of heading a football. This has led to the setting up of Bradford Memory Walks organised by Allan Gilliver’s wife Christine which take place in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society.
The photo shows Allan Gilliver with Bradford City manager Stuart McCall at the 2016 Bradford Memory Walk.
Allan Gilliver’s Football League appearances totalled 296 with 95 goals scored.
Sorry – a mistake I didn’t spot. It should read at one point: ‘…he was nevertheless still joint top scorer for Brighton with eight goals from 28 games by the middle of February 1971’ (Not 1970). That was when Gilliver joined Lincoln City.