Gerry Cakebread

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Gerry Cakebread
OBE
Personal information
Full name Gerald Cakebread[1]
Date of birth (1936-04-01)1 April 1936
Place of birth Acton, England
Date of death 16 September 2009(2009-09-16) (aged 73)[1]
Place of death Taunton, England[1]
Position Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1954–1965 Brentford 348 (0)
1965–1967 Hillingdon Borough
1966–1969 Taunton Town
Barnstaple Town
1976 Minehead
International career
1954 England Youth 3 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gerald Cakebread OBE (1 April 1936 – 16 September 2009) was an English footballer who made over 340 appearances in the Football League for Brentford as a goalkeeper. He remained a part-time player throughout his professional career.[2] Cakebread was posthumously inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in May 2015 and was described as "arguably Brentford's finest ever goalkeeper".[3]

Club career

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Brentford

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Cakebread began his career as a junior at the club he supported as a boy, Brentford.[2] He was a part of the youth team which reached the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup during the 1951–52 season.[2] During his National Service, Cakebread was preferred to future England international goalkeeper Eddie Hopkinson by the selectors of the Royal Air Force representative team.[4] While still an amateur, Cakebread made his first team debut in a 1–0 Third Division South defeat to Norwich City on 23 October 1954.[5] He made two further appearances during the 1954–55 season, while working a job outside football.[2] At the end of the campaign, Cakebread declined to sign a full professional contract and instead signed semi-professional terms.[2] For the 1955–56 season manager Bill Dodgin named Cakebread his first choice goalkeeper ahead of Sonny Feehan.[2]

Over five of the next six seasons, Cakebread would go on to make over 45 appearances a season and set a club record for consecutive appearances, playing 187 games in a row between November 1958 and March 1963.[2][5] His run was ended by a leg injury, which saw him miss the rest of Brentford's 1962–63 Fourth Division title-winning season.[2] Cakebread returned to action for the club's record 9–0 win over Wrexham on 15 October 1963, replacing Fred Ryecraft in the lineup.[5] After a run of five games, he lost his place to Chic Brodie and made just one further appearance during the 1963–64 season.[5] He played what would be his final game for the club in 2–2 draw with West London rivals Queens Park Rangers on 20 March 1964.[5] Cakebread dropped into the reserves for the 1964–65 season and won the London Challenge Cup with the team.[6][7] He departed Griffin Park in June 1965, having made 374 appearances, a total which places him eighth on the club's all-time list.[2] Cakebread was posthumously inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in May 2015.[8]

Non-League football

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After his departure from Brentford, Cakebread dropped into non-League football and signed for Southern League First Division club Hillingdon Borough.[2] He helped the club to a second-place finish and promotion to the Premier Division in the 1965–66 season.[2] Cakebread joined Western League club Taunton Town in the late 1960s and played a part in the club's 1968–69 league title success.[2] He followed with a short spell at Western League club Barnstaple Town, whom he joined in 1969.[9] Cakebread joined Southern League First Division South club Minehead on a short-term emergency deal for the final game of the 1975–76 season.[2] Needing a draw against second-place Dartford to win the league championship, Cakebread kept a clean sheet in a 2–0 win.[2]

International career

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Cakebread won three caps for England at youth level and was a part of the 1954 FIFA Youth Tournament squad.[10] He was twice named in the U23 squad, but did not play.[11]

Personal life

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Cakebread worked for the Admiralty during and after his football career as a draughtsman.[9][11] He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1994 Birthday Honours for his work on Hydrographics at the Ministry of Defence.[11][12] He died in September 2009, after a long illness.[13]

Career statistics

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Brentford 1954–55[5] Third Division South 3 0 0 0 — 3 0
1955–56[5] Third Division South 45 0 2 0 — 47 0
1956–57[5] Third Division South 38 0 3 0 — 41 0
1957–58[5] Third Division South 45 0 1 0 — 46 0
1958–59[5] Third Division 45 0 4 0 — 49 0
1959–60[5] Third Division 46 0 2 0 — 48 0
1960–61[5] Third Division 46 0 2 0 3 0 51 0
1961–62[5] Third Division 46 0 5 0 1 0 52 0
1962–63[5] Fourth Division 28 0 1 0 2 0 31 0
1963–64[5] Third Division 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
Total 348 0 20 0 6 0 374 0
Minehead 1975–76[2] Southern League First Division South 1 0 — — 1 0
Career total 349 0 20 0 6 0 375 0

Honours

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Brentford

Hillingdon Borough

Taunton Town

Individual

References

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  7. ^ a b Haynes 1998, p. 82.
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  12. ^ United Kingdom list: Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  13. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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