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Since retiring from football Bell had various sales-related jobs before working
with young offenders for Blackburn with Darwen Council. Bell's son Andy also
became a professional footballer and his uncle Harry Bell played in the
Football League in the 1940s and 1950s.
In an interview he gave to a Wolves web site he recalled his post football days.
”I was 28 when injury forced me to quit the game and I went into selling insurance,”.
“I did quite well and was head-hunted for another sales job, this time with United Biscuits.
“Then I moved into selling closed-circuit TV and my background helped open a few doors.
I was working alongside the Football Trust at times. “My next job was as national sales manager for a
company who imported ironmongery from the other side of the world.
“Within 12 months, I had been head-hunted again and was off selling furniture made from porcelain.
I was project manager looking at markets overseas and was travelling a lot to America and Europe.
“We had a young family, though, so I took a job back in Wolverhampton with James Gibbons,
only to pack in after three months when I realised I was travelling even more.
“We decided to start our own business, buying and doing up terrace homes in the Blackburn area,
but one of the companies I had previously worked for approached me about buying them and
I got hold of the bathroom accessory side of the business.
“That was enjoyable for the best part of ten years and, when I sold it.., it allowed me a lot of freedom
and the chance of semi-retirement.
“That way of life was fine for 12-15 months before I decided to go back into employment,
helping young offenders. I had already done some football coaching for youngsters and came to
appreciate the benefits of keeping them off the streets, so I went into it full time.
“I work for the local council in Blackburn and have been with them for (many) years.
It’s like a
last-chance saloon before custody and it’s the only job, apart from football and when I ran
my own business, that I’ve stayed in for more than two years.”
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