Ronnie Bird (footballer)

Ronnie Bird

Personal information
Full name	Ronald Philip Bird
Date of birth	27 December 1941
Place of birth	Birmingham, England
Date of death	20 March 2005 (aged 63)
Place of death	Cardiff, Wales
Playing position	Winger
Youth career
–	Birmingham City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1959–1961	Birmingham City	0	(0)
1961–1965	Bradford Park Avenue	129	(39)
1965–1966	Bury	13	(3)
1966–1971	Cardiff City	107	(24)
1971–1972	Crewe Alexandra	20	(0)
1972–197?	Gloucester City
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Ronald Philip Bird (27 December 1941 – 20 March 2005), known as Ronnie Bird, was an English professional footballer who scored 66 goals from 269 appearances in the Football League.

Career

Born in Erdington, Birmingham,^[1] Bird began his career as an apprentice at his hometown club Birmingham City but found first team chances hard to come by and left to join Bradford Park Avenue, being signed by manager Jimmy Scoular. He quickly established himself in the side and helped the club to retain their division three status after being promoted the previous year. He eventually left the club in 1965 to join Bury but only spent seven months at Gigg Lane before being signed again by Jimmy Scoular, this time at his new club Cardiff City for £5,000. He helped the club to win the Welsh Cup in his first season, one of three times he won the competition at Cardiff, and gained a reputation for scoring spectacular goals.

He left Cardiff after five seasons at the club and joined Crewe Alexandra where he spent one year before dropping into non-league football with Gloucester City. After retiring from football he took over as manager at Ebbw Vale and Bridgend Town before later returning to work with Jimmy Scoular as his assistant manager at Newport County. He left his post at the club during the 1978/79 season and later took over as landlord of the Golden Cross and Romilly Arms pubs in Cardiff. His experience in the trade prompted Cardiff City to hire him to take charge of the several bars in the clubs ground and he later took up a number of positions at the club including match day hospitality manager, manager of the players restaurant and a commentator for the clubs website. He was taken ill in 2003 and subsequently stepped down from his various roles at the club, although after recovering somewhat he later returned to commentate on matches again before he died in the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, in 2005.^[1]

Honours

Cardiff City

• Welsh Cup: 1966–67, 1969–70, 1970–71

References

• Hayes, Dean (2006). The Who's Who of Cardiff City. Breedon Books. ISBN 1-85983-462-0.

1. "Ronnie Bird". Cardiff City F.C. 22 March 2005. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011.