Bradford John “Jock” Image 2 St Mirren 1922

Description

Goalkeeper Jock Bradford played both sides of the First World War for Greenock Morton, for whom he had signed from junior club Kirkintilloch Harp. Although perhaps he was unlucky he didn’t receive international honours with several very good Scottish keepers such as Jimmy Brownlie ahead of him, he did represent The Scottish League in a 1-0 defeat to The Southern League at Millwall in October 1912.

He signed for St Mirren in February 1921 and went on to make 239 appearances for The Buddies, and his standing was such that he was  inducted into the St Mirren Hall of Fame in 2011. Bradford played in goal when Saints won the Copa Inauguracion Les Corts, better known as the Barcelona Cup in 1922. St Mirren became the first Scottish club to win a trophy in Europe when they defeated England’s representatives Notts County in the final of the competition. The competition was held to mark the opening of Barcelona’s new stadium Camp de les Corts.

But perhaps the highlight of his career came in 1926 when Bradford won a Scottish Cup winner’s medal, keeping goal when St Mirren made their second Scottish Cup Final appearance, beating Celtic 2-0 at Hampden Park in front of 98,000 spectators.