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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Roy Thomas Frank Bentley | ||
| Date of birth | (1924-05-17)17 May 1924 | ||
| Place of birth | Shirehampton, England | ||
| Date of death | 20 April 2018(2018-04-20) (aged 93) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1939–1946 | Bristol City | 0 | (0) |
| 1946–1948 | Newcastle United | 48 | (22) |
| 1948–1956 | Chelsea | 324 | (130) |
| 1956–1960 | Fulham | 142 | (23) |
| 1960–1962 | Queens Park Rangers | 45 | (0) |
| Total | 559 | (175) | |
| International career | |||
| 1949–1955 | England | 12 | (9) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1963–1968 | Reading | ||
| 1969–1972 | Swansea City | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Roy Thomas Frank Bentley (17 May 1924 – 20 April 2018) was an Englishfootball player and manager.
A formerforward, Bentley played 367 games forChelsea and captained the club to their firstLeague Championship in the1954–55 season. He also won 12caps for theEngland national side.
Bentley was born inShirehampton, Bristol, Gloucestershire and attended Portway Boys Secondary School.[1]
He married Violet M. Upton in 1946.[1]
Bentley served in theRoyal Navy during the Second World War and afterwards played for bothBristol City andBristol Rovers before signing forNewcastle United in 1946. He was with the club for less than two years, but formed a key part of a forward line which also includedJackie Milburn,Len Shackleton andCharlie Wayman. He reached anFA Cup semi-final with the club in the1946–47 season, but they were defeated 4–0 by eventual winnersCharlton Athletic.[2]
In January 1948 Bentley signed for London side Chelsea for £11,000,[3] partially because he had been advised by hisdoctor that a move south would be a remedy for the lung problems from which he occasionally suffered. He arrived at Chelsea as a replacement forTommy Lawton, who had also moved to Chelsea in search of a cure for lung trouble, and was initially compared unfavourably with his predecessor. His Chelsea career took off slowly as he struggled to adapt to an unfamiliar style of play. They lost 2–4 at home toHuddersfield Town on his debut and he scored just three goals in his first four months with the club.
From there, however, Bentley's fortunes changed. He was an early exponent of the deep-lying centre forward position, an unorthodox tactic which often unsettled opposing defenders. This, combined with a strong heading ability and a powerful shot, saw him score 23 goals in his first full season with Chelsea, making him the club's top scorer, for which he also earned his firstEngland call-up. Though Chelsea's league form during his time there was often patchy, he played a key part in their first major FA Cup run for almost two decades in 1950. He scored two goals in a 3–0 fifth round win againstChesterfield while in the quarter-final againstManchester United his thunderous shot from 30 yards clinched a 2–0 win. Chelsea were eventually knocked out in the semi-finals byArsenal, despite Bentley giving them a 2–0 lead. During his time at Chelsea, he was picked for theLondon XI in theInter-Cities Fairs Cup.
After another semi-final loss in 1952, again to Arsenal,Ted Drake arrived as Chelsea's new manager. Within three years, Bentley had captained Chelsea to their firstLeague title, in1954–55.[4] In addition to beingcaptain, he scored 21 league goals during the season, including a hat-trick against Newcastle and two strikes in a 4–3 win against principal rivalsWolverhampton Wanderers. Bentley remained with Chelsea for only one more season and was one of the first to leave as the ageing championship-winning side was gradually broken up by Drake.
Bentley scored 150 goals in 367 appearances for Chelsea. At the time, this made him the club's leading goalscorer. He is presently joint-fifth in Chelsea'sall-time goalscorers list behindFrank Lampard,Bobby Tambling,Kerry Dixon andDidier Drogba, and level withPeter Osgood.[4] He was Chelsea's top scorer in each of his eight full seasons at Stamford Bridge.
Bentley signed for Chelsea'sWest London neighboursFulham in 1956. At Fulham Bentley was converted into a centre-half and they reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1958, where he was once again on the losing side. In 1960 he left Fulham but again stayed in West London, this time moving toQueens Park Rangers, where he saw out the remainder of his playing career.
Bentley was anEngland international for six years. He made his debut againstSweden and played for his country at the1950 FIFA World Cup, including the 1–0 defeat to theUSA. He scored the winning goal againstScotland in qualifying for that tournament. Although both finalists were guaranteed places in the World Cup (the top two finishers in theBritish Home Championships would qualify for the World Cup), the SFA had said that if they did not win the Home Nations, they would withdraw from the World Cup. As Scotland lost due to Bentley's goal, they withdrew and he was duly christened "the man who robbed Scotland of Rio." In November 1954 he scored a hat-trick againstWales. He earned twelve England caps and scored nine goals. Bentley was the last surviving member of England's 1950 World Cup squad.[3]
Following his retirement from playing, Bentley moved into management. He took over atReading and laterSwansea City, winning promotion to the oldThird Division with the latter. He returned to Reading in 1977, this time as club secretary.
Bentley lived inChigwell,Essex during the late 1980s before relocating toReading, Berkshire where he lived in 2014. At his death in April 2018, he was the last surviving player from England's1950 World Cup squad.[3]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Bristol City | 1945–46 | – | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| Newcastle United | 1946–47 | Second Division | 36 | 19 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 22 |
| 1947–48 | Second Division | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 3 | |
| Total | 48 | 22 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 25 | ||
| Chelsea | 1947–48 | First Division | 14 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 3 |
| 1948–49 | First Division | 40 | 21 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 23 | |
| 1949–50 | First Division | 39 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 22 | |
| 1950–51 | First Division | 38 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 11 | |
| 1951–52 | First Division | 32 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 17 | |
| 1952–53 | First Division | 37 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 17 | |
| 1953–54 | First Division | 41 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 21 | |
| 1954–55 | First Division | 41 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 22 | |
| 1955–56 | First Division | 38 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 46 | 16 | |
| 1956–57 | First Division | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| Total | 324 | 130 | 42 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 367 | 152 | ||
| Fulham | 1956–57 | Second Division | 32 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 15 |
| 1957–58 | Second Division | 31 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 8 | |
| 1958–59 | Second Division | 35 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 0 | |
| 1959–60 | First Division | 29 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 2 | |
| 1960–61 | First Division | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 0 | |
| Total | 142 | 23 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 158 | 25 | ||
| Queens Park Rangers | 1961–62 | Third Division | 29 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 0 |
| 1962–63 | Third Division | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 | |
| Total | 45 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 559 | 175 | 75 | 27 | 3 | 1 | 637 | 203 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1949 | 1 | 0 |
| 1950 | 5 | 2 | |
| 1951 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1952 | 2 | 1 | |
| 1953 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1954 | 2 | 4 | |
| 1955 | 2 | 2 | |
| Total | 12 | 9 | |
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Reading | 1 January 1963 | 1 February 1969 | 321 | 136 | 79 | 106 | 042.4 | [5] |
| Swansea City | 7 August 1969 | 16 October 1972 | 173 | 66 | 49 | 58 | 038.2 | [5] |
| Total | 494 | 202 | 128 | 164 | 040.9 | |||
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| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
