Cliff Portwood

Cliff Portwood

Personal information
Full name	Clifford Portwood
Date of birth	17 October 1937 (1937-10-17) (age 74)
Place of birth	Salford, Greater Manchester, England
Playing position	Winger/Inside-forward
Youth career
	Manchester Athletic
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1955–1959	Preston North End	0	(0)
1959–1961	Port Vale	61	(33)
1961–1963	Grimsby Town	92	(35)
1963–1969	Portsmouth	99	(28)
	Durban United
Total		252+	(96+)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Clifford (Cliff) Portwood (born 17 October 1937) is a former English footballer.

Playing career

Cliff Portwood started his career with Manchester Athletic before joing Preston North End in 1955. He quickly became a regular for the first 11, becoming Tom Finney's understudy. He joined Port Vale for £750 in August 1959. and was the club's top scorer for the 1960–61 season with 26 goals.^[1] He was sold to Grimsby Town for £6,000 in July 1961, later playing for Portsmouth where he was the club's top scorer in the 1964–65 season with 12 goals.

After leaving Pompey in 1970 he went to South Africa, playing and coaching with Durban United. Whilst in Durban, he entered a singing competition and won a recording contract in Australia.

Singing career

Moving to Melbourne permanently in the early 1970s, he became a successful recording artist and TV personality, earning several gold records and appearing on prime time TV most weekends.

Portwood returned to England in the early 1980s, on his return he appeared on several talent shows and in 1982 recorded a World Cup song with members of the 1966 World Cup squad. "Up there oh England" was pulled due to a licensing issue on the B-side. The song was done in conjunction with his producer friend, Mike Brady, who wrote the original song "Up there Cazaly", a number one in Australia.

In the late 1990s he had for several years been going to Florida and successfully singing on the cabaret circuit there in the winter months, until a lung condition meant he had to return full time to England in 2008.

Cliff still watches Portsmouth play regularly at Fratton Park and lives and resides in Alton, Hampshire.

References

1. ^ Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 236. ISBN 0952915200. http://www.amazon.ca/Port-Vale-Personalities-Jeff-Kent/dp/0952915200. 

Persondata
Name	Portwood, Cliff
Alternative names	Clifford Portwood
Short description	Footballer
Date of birth	17 October 1937
Place of birth	Salford, Greater Manchester, England
Date of death
Place of death