Full name Ronald Philip Bird Name Ronnie Bird Role Footballer | Place of death Cardiff, Wales Years Team | |
 | ||
Date of birth (1941-12-27)27 December 1941 Date of death 20 March 2005(2005-03-20) (aged 63) Died March 20, 2005, Cardiff, United Kingdom | ||
Place of birth Birmingham, England | ||
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, most notably for Bradford Park Avenue and Cardiff City.
Contents
Career
Born in Erdington, Birmingham, Bird played football at youth level for England alongside Bobby Moore. He began his club career as an apprentice at his hometown club Birmingham City, turning professional in January 1959 at the age of 18, but found first team chances hard to come by and left to join Bradford Park Avenue, being signed by manager Jimmy Scoular in June 1961. He quickly established himself in the side and helped the club to retain their division three status after being promoted the previous year. He became a prolific penalty scorer at the club and his 14 penalties scored in league football remains a club record.
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. He scored 21 times during two seasons with the Tigers, being appointed club captain for the 1973–74 season.
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, having been diagnosed with leukaemia, 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.