217 Bert Turner

Biography

Albert “Bert” Turner was an outside left who began his Football League career at Hull City. Born in Sheffield, he played for Sheffield Association League side Ecclesfield and scored 23 goals in the 1927/28 season, then signed for Midland League side Denaby United in September 1928 and continued to develop before joining Hull City in March 1929.

After three games on the Tigers’ left wing at the end of the 1928/29 season Bert began the 1929/30 season in the first eleven and scored his first senior goal against Southampton in September 1929. But he lost his first team place at the end of the month, described unkindly in the Hull Daily Mail as a “jog-along recruit”, and had to wait until March and April 1930, in the maelstrom of an FA Cup run and a relegation battle, to reappear in the first eleven. Turner remained with the Tigers following relegation but was used rarely in the 1930/31 season, though he did add his second and final goal in black and amber against Accrington Stanley in November 1930. He left the club in the 1931 close season.

In August 1931 Turner joined Division Three North side Walsall and made his August 1931 debut against his former club Hull City. He scored his first Walsall goal a month later against Hartlepools United and as the season wore on Turner’s prowess in front of goal improved, netting seven times in 9 starts during February and March 1932. He continued his form into the 1932/33 season but was dropped from the first eleven for much of the second half of the season and left the Saddlers in the 1933 close season having scored 22 goals in 58 appearances.

Albert signed for Division Three North side Doncaster Rovers in June 1933, returning to live closer to his Sheffield roots. He had to wait until December 1933 for his first run in the first team against Gateshead – Doncaster won 5-2 and Turner notched a debut goal. He remained in the first team for the rest of the season and hit a rich vein of form in February, March and April 1934, as he had done with Walsall two years previously, this time scoring twelve goals in 12 starts including an April 1934 hattrick against Rochdale. This form continued into the 1934/35 season when he scored 27 goals in all competitions for a Doncaster side that lifted the Division Three North league title – Bert scored a January 1935 hattrick against Accrington Stanley then bettered that three weeks later with five goals in a 7-1 demolition of New Brighton. Bert remained a key part of the Doncaster forward line in the 1935/36 season though he found goals harder to come by in the higher division. In the 1936/37 season Bert dropped out of the first team after Christmas as Doncaster finished bottom of the Division Two table and returned to the third tier. When he left Doncaster Rovers in May 1937 Turner had scored 54 goals in 122 appearances.

In May 1937 Bert joined Division Three South side Cardiff City and in the 1937/38 season he returned to goalscoring form with 21 goals that included braces against five opponents. His last start for Cardiff came in September 1938, which took his tally for the Bluebirds to 22 goals in 48 appearances. After a spell out of the first team Turner transferred to Division Three South rivals Bristol Rovers in December 1938, and in half a season at Eastville he scored four times in 21 appearances.

In July 1939 he dropped down a level to join Southern League side Bath City and took work as a fitter in the Bristol area’s aircraft manufacturing industry. In October 1946 he joined Somerset-based local league side Street FC, but his playing days soon drew to a close and he returned once again to his South Yorkshire roots. Bert died in [XXX in Month 19XX].

Bert’s son Gordon Reginald Turner was born in Hull in 1930 and in 1949, following completion of his National Service, Gordon joined a Luton Town side managed by Bert’s former Hull City team-mate Dally Duncan. Over the next 15 years Gordon scored 243 league goals for Luton, which remains a club record, and played for many years alongside future Tiger George Cummins. Gordon died of motor neurone disease in December 1976 at the age of 46.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 3 September 1907, Sheffield
Hull City First Game: 9 March 1929, Clapton Orient H (Division Two), 21 years, 187 days old
Hull City Final Game: 27 April 1931, Rotherham United A (Division Three North), 23 years, 236 days old

Clubs

Ecclesfield, Denaby United (1928-1929), Hull City (1929-1931), Walsall (1931-1933), Doncaster Rovers (1933-1937), Cardiff City (1937-1938), Bristol Rovers (1938-1939), Bath City (1939), Street (1946)

Hull City Record

Career: 19 apps, 2 goals

Bert Turner
SeasonLGE
App
LGE
Gls
FAC
App
FAC
Gls
FLC
App
FLC
Gls
EUR
App
EUR
Gls
OTH
App
OTH
Gls
1928/2930
1929/30111
1930/3151

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