656 Dave Bamber

Biography

Dave Bamber was a tall and strong centre forward, great in the air and had an eye for the back of the net proven over a ten year career full of goals. However Bamber joined a Hull City side struggling in the relegation zone when he signed in February 1990 and his contribution took a while to materialise as he remained goalless in his first seven starts. A late goal in a March 1990 win against his former side Swindon Town opened his account and as the Tigers compiled a run of six wins during April 1990 Bamber netted two more goals against Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

With safety confirmed, City manager Stan Ternent invested heavily in the Tigers’ squad during the 1990-91 close season but several of his purchases were failures and City again struggled. Bamber started the season on the bench before returning to the starting eleven in October 1990 and scoring goals in consecutive matches against Brighton & Hove Albion and Plymouth Argyle, though both strikes were valueless consolations during heavy defeats. Changes were needed and in November 1990 Bamber was jettisoned to his former club Blackpool, initially on loan, drawing a rapid close to his nine month tenure at Boothferry Park.

John David Bamber was born in Prescot in Lancashire and took a path into football that was unconventional in the late 1970s – the footballing egghead route. Bamber played for Huyton Boys as a teenager and spent time playing for Liverpool’s youth team during the 1976/77 season as he studied for his A levels. It was intellectual prowess that came to the fore rather than his football skills as he won a place to study Economics at Leicester University. He continued to play Sunday League football in the Merseyside area during the 1977/78 season and in August 1978 he signed for Cheshire League side St Helens Town while continuing his studies. He scored regularly for St Helens and in January 1979 he switched to Cheshire League rivals Winsford United, ending the 1978/79 season combining games for The Blues with various University representative tours – in April 1979 he starred in a Universities home championship tournament played in Northern Ireland, scoring the winner for English Universities in the final.

In September 1979 Bamber joined Division Three side Blackpool – alongside fellow University product Wayne Harrison Dave was the first signing of new Tangerines manager Stan Ternent, the man that would sign him for Hull City eleven years later. Combining reserve team football with the final year of his studies in Leicester, Bamber quickly impressed and made his senior debut in a November 1979 FA Cup tie against Wigan Athletic. He was handed occasional first team starts during the remainder of the 1979/80 season and netted his first goal for Blackpool in an April 1980 defeat of Carlisle United, by which time Ternent’s tenure as manager had ended and World Cup winner Alan Ball had taken over.

Bamber signed a full time contract for Blackpool in the summer of 1980 but was absent at the start of the 1980/81 season after catching a virus that required a spell of recovery in hospital. He played more regularly from December 1980 onwards and netted three goals to add to the Anglo Scottish Cup goal he had scored against Blackburn Rovers four months earlier – but these goals were not enough to save Blackpool from relegation to Division Four in May 1981. Dropping down a division enabled Bamber to find his goalscoring form and he was a first team regular throughout the 1981/82 season, scoring seventeen goals and claiming his first senior career hattrick in a September 1981 demolition of Halifax Town. Bamber also returned a double figure goals haul in the 1982/83 season, an impressive feat given he missed practically the entire second half of the season due to a groin injury. By the 1983 close season Bamber had scored 37 goals for the Tangerines in 105 senior appearances.

In June 1983 Blackpool’s financial woes forced them to sell Dave to Division One side Coventry City for a £50,000 fee, a big elevation and big price tag for the young striker. He immediately featured up front for the Sky Blues’ first team and netted four goals in his first nine starts, but a tailing off of form saw him rested in January 1984 and in March 1984 he was sold – he scored four goals in 22 appearances for Coventry City, the last of which triggered a clause that earned previous club Blackpool a much-needed additional £20,000 fee.

In March 1984 Division Three side Walsall paid £60,000 to sign Bamber and in his second game for the Saddlers he netted a brace against Hull City. Despite punishing the Tigers, the indifferent form in front of goal experienced in his latter months at Coventry still dogged him at Walsall and in November 1984 he lost his first team place after netting seven goals in 23 appearances. Transfer listed by Walsall at his own request, Bamber attracted interest from Wolverhampton Wanderers but in December 1984 Division Two side Portsmouth, managed by his former Blackpool boss Alan Ball, spent £20,000 to claim his signature. Dave had to wait until February 1985 for his Pompey debut against Barnsley, which he celebrated with a goal, but he continued to struggle for first team action and made only four appearances for the Fratton Park side. In March 1985, just three months after joining Portsmouth, he nearly moved to Bolton Wanderers but that transfer was cancelled at the last moment – instead he had to wait until August 1985 to seek relief from his Pompey nightmare, joining Swedish side Trelleborgs FF on a three month loan that saw him score once in 4 appearances, mirroring his tally for Portsmouth.

In November 1985 Bamber joined Division Four side Swindon Town, initially on a one month loan that was extended to two months. When Swindon refused to pay the £20,000 fee demanded by Portsmouth in January 1986 Bamber’s loan came to an abrupt end after 11 goalless appearances. However as the Robins challenged at the top of the Division Four they again turned to Bamber in March 1986, paying a £15,000 fee for his signature. Dave rewarded this outlay with a goal in his second Swindon debut against Burnley and during late March and April he netted an impressive eight goals in eight appearances that helped propel the Robins to the Division Four title. In the 1986/87 season to resurgent Swindon Town won a second successive promotion via a play-off victory over Gillingham, with Bamber a first team regular throughout and striking twenty goals in all competitions. That form continued into the 1987/88 season as Bamber added another eighteen goals, taking his Swindon Town tally to 47 goals in 135 appearances.

In June 1988 Bamber was transferred to Division Two rivals Watford after he was unable to agree a new contract at Swindon, a £105,000 fee was decided by a Football League tribunal and represented good profit on the £15,000 paid two years earlier. Dave started the 1988/89 season with two goals in his first four starts but his form again tailed off and by December 1988 he had scored four goals in 22 appearances for the Hornets. In December 1988 Division Two rivals Stoke City paid £190,000 for Bamber – another remarkable profit over just six months – and Dave rewarded Stoke boss Mick Mills with eight goals during the remainder of the 1988/89 season. The Potters slumped to the foot of the table during the first half of the 1989/90 season with Bamber netting only two times. His final appearance came in January 1990, which took his tally for Stoke City to eleven goals in 49 appearances. In early February 1990 he joined Hull City for a £130,000 fee, replacing recently departed front man Billy Whitehurst in the Tigers’ squad.

In November 1990 Bamber returned to his first senior club, signing a one month loan deal at Division Four side Blackpool hours before Tangerines boss Graham Carr was relieved of his duties. Carr’s replacement Billy Ayre endorsed the move for Bamber and Dave saw a renaissance of his career during his mid thirties. His loan was extended for a second month days before Hull City boss Stan Ternent, the man who allowed the extension, was sacked and his move was made permanent in return for a £25,000 fee hours before Blackpool embarked on a lucrative January 1991 FA Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur. Bamber’s second Blackpool debut in December 1990 featured a goal against Hereford United, kickstarting a run of twenty league games that yielded seventeen goals and propelled Blackpool up the League table only to lose the May 1991 Wembley play-off final to Torquay United – Bamber’s penalty shootout miss handed Torquay their victory and spawned a new Gulls fanzine called “Bamber’s Right Foot”. Regrouping for the 1991/92 season, Blackpool won promotion out of Division Four and into the newly-minted League Division 2 via a play-off final victory over Scunthorpe United – Bamber scored 36 goals that season including an August 1991 League Cup hattrick against Mansfield Town and the Tangerines’ only goal at Wembley in May 1992 that set up the win after a penalty shoot-out.

Dave missed the first half of the 1992/93 season due to a persistent knee injury, he returned in January 1993 and netted thirteen goals as the Tangerines eased out of the relegation zone. He remained at Blackpool for two further years but persistent pelvic and groin injuries meant his game time was restricted. He joined the Blackpool coaching staff during the 1994 close season and drew a close to his playing career in April 1995. In his second spell at Blackpool Bamber scored 73 goals in 139 appearances, taking his career tally to 189 goals in 531 senior appearances – not bad for an Economics student. Bamber was inducted in Blackpool’s Hall of Fame in April 2006 having scoring 110 goals for the club across two spells that bookended his career.

After football Bamber pursued a successful second career as a building contractor and developer in Blackpool, focussing on housing and commercial property renovations and rebuilds.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 1 February 1959, Prescot
Hull City First Game: 3 February 1990, Sheffield United H (Division Two), 31 years, 2 days old
Hull City Final Game: 17 November 1990, Bristol City A (Division Two), 31 years, 289 days old

Clubs

St Helens Town (1978-1979), Winsford United (1979), Blackpool (1979-1983), Coventry City (1983), Walsall (1983-1984), Portsmouth (1984-1985), Trelleborgs FF (1985, loan), Swindon Town (1985-1986, loan), Swindon Town (1986-1987), Watford (1988), Stoke City (1988-1990), Hull City (1990), Blackpool (1990-1991, loan), Blackpool (1991-1995)

Hull City Record

Career: 30 apps, 5 goals

Dave Bamber
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1989/9019 (0)3
1990/916 (3)22 (0)0

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