John Radford

Arsenal

John Radford was born in Hemsworth, Yorkshire to a butcher. He joined Arsenal as an apprentice in 1962, turning professional in February 1964. At the club he played mostly as an inside forward or centre forward and occasionally as a right-winger. He was a prolific goalscorer in the youth and reserve teams, before making his first-team debut against West Ham United on 21 March 1964, his only appearance of the 1963-64 season. Radford was used slightly more the next season, playing 15 times, and became Arsenal's youngest ever hat-trick scorer, against Wolves on 2 January 1965, at the age of 17 years and 315 days, a record that remains to this day. By the start of 1965-66 Radford was an Arsenal regular, and particularly blossomed under the stewardship of Bertie Mee. Although he had been moved out to the right wing, in the 1968-69 season he scored nineteen goals and reached the League Cup final. During the 1969-70 season he again scored nineteen goals, and helped Arsenal win the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup which was their first trophy in seventeen years. Radford scored the second goal in Arsenal's 3–0 win in the second leg of the final, which they won 4–3 on aggregate. By now, Radford had been moved up front again and continued to score regularly. The following 1970-71 season Radford scored 21, his best single tally in a season, forming a partnership with Ray Kennedy that between them recorded 47 goals. With his goals, Radford was an instrumental part of Arsenal's…

Radford as an England youth international, won four caps for the under-23 side. He made his full debut for the Three Lions in a friendly against Romania on 15 January 1969. However, he was not a favourite of England manager Sir Alf Ramsey and won only one further cap, against Switzerland on 13 October 1971; Radford scored in neither match.

Radford has been married to wife Engel since 1968. Engel, of the Netherlands and John have two sons, Ian and Robert. He became a landlord, running the Greyhound pub in Thaxted, Essex. In 1997, Radford became a grandfather (through Ian) for the first time to a boy named Brandon. In 2001, a granddaughter was born (also by Ian) named Jovi-Lee.

Player

Arsenal

Football League First Division: 1970–71 FA Cup: 1970–71; runner-up: 1971–72 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 1969–70 Bishop's Storford

Isthmian League: 1980–81 FA Trophy: 1980–81 Individual

Arsenal Player of the Season: 1967–68, 1972–73

Manager

Bishop's Stortford

Isthmian League Cup: 1989