John moved across London to West Ham United in December 1976 after a twelve year career at
Highbury which saw him net 111 goals in 379 league games. He is pictured above during the
Arsenal's 1-0 win against Southampton .
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| Arsenal: |
1963-1964 |
Played |
1 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1964-1965 |
Played |
13 |
Scored |
7 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1965-1966 |
Played |
32 |
Scored |
8 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1966-1967 |
Played |
30 |
Scored |
4 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1967-1968 |
Played |
39 |
Scored |
10 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1968-1969 |
Played |
34 |
Scored |
15 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1969-1970 |
Played |
39 |
Scored |
12 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
|
|
|
|
|
. |
|
|
| |
1970-1971 |
Played |
41 |
Scored |
15 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1971-1972 |
Played |
34 |
Scored |
8 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1972-1973 |
Played |
38 |
Scored |
15 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1973-1974 |
Played |
32 |
Scored |
7 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1974-1975 |
Played |
29 |
Scored |
7 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1975-1976 |
Played |
15 |
Scored |
3 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1976-1977 |
Played |
2 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
| Transferred to West Ham Utd in December 1976 |
| |
1976–1977 West Ham United 28 (0)
1977–1978 Blackburn Rovers 38 (10
|
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A prolific and fearless goalscorer with an emerging Arsenal side in the late 1960s, it was impossible for opposition defenders to ignore John Radford. The courageous Gunners target man was no slouch when it came to finding the back of the net and it was during a particularly eye-catching season in 1969 that Alf Ramsey chose to take a glance at him in England colours. Radford, a quick runner for a heavier player, was typically robust and uncompromising at Wembley as England drew 1-1 with Romania, but the crowd's unkind reaction to World Cup hero Roger Hunt on the same evening overshadowed the debutant's contribution. Hunt asked to be excluded from future England duty and Ramsey responded by reducing England's three-pronged strike force to a big and little pairing, leaving John in the cold as Geoff Hurst was joined by Manchester City's inexperienced but different Francis Lee.
Radford won European honours and then the 'double' with Arsenal as further England hopes passed him by, but after his terrific personal run in the all-conquering 1971 side (he is pictured above playing for the Gunners that season), Ramsey recalled him amidst a huge flurry of experimentation with new strikers. By now 27 and at a peak, Radford featured as a sub for Hurst in a qualifier for the 1972 European Championships as England won 3-2 against Switzerland in Basle, but it simply wasn't to be. It was hard to separate a lot of England's good club centre forwards but only so many would make it thoroughly at international level, and Radford was not one of them.
(Matthew Rudd)
After retiring, he became a pub landlord and enjoyed several spells as manager of Bishop's Stortford in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
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