Brian Joicey

Infobox Football biography
playername = Brian Joicey


fullname = Brian Joicey
nickname =
height =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1945|12|9
cityofbirth = Winlaton
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
currentclub =
position = Centre Forward
youthyears = 1962–1969
youthclubs = Ashington A.F.C.
Blyth Spartans A.F.C.
Tow Law Town F.C.
North Shields F.C.
years = 1969–1971
1971–1976
1976–1978
1978–?
clubs = Coventry City
Sheffield Wednesday
Barnsley
Bakewell
Frickley Athletic
Matlock Town
Total
caps(goals) = 0039 0(9)
0145 0(48)
0 93 0(43)
Non League
Non League
Non League
277 (100)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
manageryears =
managerclubs =

Brian Joicey was a professional footballer who played for Coventry City, Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley, England, in a career that lasted from 1969 to 1979. Joicey was a centre forward who did not play league football until he was 23 years old, he made 277 league appearances and scored 100 goals.

Playing career

Amateur in the 1960s

Brian Joicey was born in the Winlaton area of Blaydon, Tyne and Wear on the 19th of December 1945. He played as a youth for Clara Vale F.C. [http://www.claravalefc.ik.com/home.ikml Clara Vale F.C.] Confirms that Joicey played for Clara Vale.] On leaving school he played for the Northern League clubs Ashington, Blyth Spartans and Tow Law Town. He started to make a name for himself as a footballer when playing as an amateur for North Shields in the late 1960s. He was a member of the North Shields team that won the Northern League and the FA Amateur Cup in the 1968-69 season, Joicey scored one of the goals which beat Sutton United 2-1 at Wembley Stadium to win the Amateur Cup that season and made a major contribution, scoring 44 goals as the team finished top of the Northern League.

Coventry City

Joicey’s success with North Shields alerted some professional league clubs and he surprisingly signed for First Division Coventry City in preference to Newcastle United for the start of the 1969-70 season, he made 39 league appearances and scored nine goals in his two full seasons with Coventry as they finished sixth in Division One in his first season with the club and qualified for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Joicey scored a goal in the Fairs Cup victory over Trakia Plovdiv at Highfield Road in October 1970 [http://galeb.etf.bg.ac.yu/~mirad/Archive/FC1971.HTM galeb.etf.bg.ac.yu.] Gives Fairs Cup info.] . During his time with Coventry Joicey was never an automatic selection for the first team and played a large amount of reserve team football as Neil Martin was preferred as first choice centre forward. [http://www.justcatnaps.com/collection/GoodisonCoventryBrianJoicey.html www.justcatnaps.com.] Gives general information.]

heffield Wednesday

Joicey started the 1971-72 season with Coventry but before the end of August he had joined Second Division Sheffield Wednesday. Wednesday manager Derek Dooley was interested in signing City’s Dave Clements and watched him in a game, he was impressed with Joicey’s performance in the same game and it resulted in both players joining Wednesday on August 27 for a combined fee of £100,000. Joicey made his first team debut for Wednesday four days later in an away match at Middlesbrough and scored his first goal on September 4 against Portsmouth. Joicey finished leading scorer for Wednesday in each of his first three seasons with the club, one of the highlights of his stay at Hillsborough was a hat-trick in a 3-2 FA Cup 4th round replay victory over First Division Crystal Palace at Villa Park on 19 February 1973.

Brian’s fourth season with Wednesday was not a success, he was plagued by injury and poor form as the team were relegated to the Third Division, he scored two goals in 23 appearances as the club tried numerous permutations in the forward line. Another unsuccessful season (1975-76) led to Joicey being sold to Fourth Division Barnsley on a free transfer in July 1976. [http://www.adrianbullock.com/swfc/stats/play0305.htm Sheffield Wednesday Archive.] Gives details of Sheffield Wednesday career.]

Barnsley

Joicey's time with Barnsley was quite successful, scoring 43 goals in 93 league appearances. He was ever present in his first season (1976-77) and ended that campaign as Division Four’s top scorer with 26 league goals, he also scored an FA Cup hat-trick against Boston United that year. His career was sadly cut short by injury in October 1979 when he collapsed on the field in Barnsley’s away match with York City. He was taken to hospital where initial tests indicated kidney damage. It was announced a few days later that the first diagnosis was wrong and he had suffered a (minor) stroke. Brian was forced to retire from professional football although he did make some appearances later in non league football, most notably for Frickley Athletic and Matlock Town. Barnsley organised a testimonial match against a combined Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United side to mark the end of his career with Mick Channon and David Speedie taking part amongst other stars.

Retirement

After retiring Brian opened "Brian Joicey Motors" a second hand car dealership on Middlewood Road, just half a mile from the Sheffield Wednesday ground and now works as a car salesman for a Honda franchise in the south of Sheffield."The Wednesday Boys", Jason Dickinson & John Brodie, ISBN 0 9547264 9 9 Page 159 Gives biographical information.] "The Men Who Made Sheffield Wednesday Football Club", Tony Matthews, ISBN 978 0 7524 4156 6 Gives details of Sheffield Wednesday career and biographical information.]

References