Trevor Ford

Trevor Ford (October 1, 1923 - May 29 2003) was a Welsh international center forward who played for Aston Villa, Cardiff City, Sunderland and Swansea Town. He was born and died in Swansea.

In October 1950, 27-year-old Ford was the subject of British football transfer record when he signed for 'Bank of England' club Sunderland for £30,000 from Aston Villa. He was a footballing celebrity at the time due to his prolific scoring record. He made 128 appearances for Villa between January 1947 and October 1950 scoring 61 goals.

At Sunderland, he failed to gel on the pitch with team-mate, and former record-breaking signing Len Shackleton - although his goal-scoring record was still impressive. He was involved in an illegal-payments scandal which saw the club suffer heavy financial penalties; Ford was temporarily suspended from the game.

He signed for Cardiff City in December 1953 for £29,500. He spent 3 years at the club before retiring, aged 33. Ford still holds the club record for the fastest goal scored, which he set on 23 October, 1954 against Charlton Athletic, after just fifteen seconds. He was tempted out of retirement a year later, signing for Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. After a brief spell at Newport County he ended a long-career playing his football in Romford.

Ford played 117 times for Sunderland (108 league, 9 cup) and he scored 70 goals (67 league, 3 cup).
He was capped 38 times for Wales, becoming their all-time joint aggregate goal-scorer with 23 goals. He was not included in the Welsh squad for the 1958 World Cup following his suspension from the game.

References

*All the Lads - A complete who's who of Sunderland AFC, Garth Dykes & Doug Lamming, 1999