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Noel Brian Bedford (born Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales, 24 December 1933) is a former professional footballer. He played the majority of his career at QPR, as a centre forward.

He started his professional career at Reading, where he was spotted by Ted Bates who signed him for Southampton in July 1955. He made only a handful of appearances for Southampton before moving on to Bournemouth in August 1956.

After scoring 32 goals in 75 games for Bournemouth he was signed by QPR manager Alec Stock in 1959 for just £750 and made his debut for QPR in August 1959 in a 2-0 win against Swindon Town. He went on to play 258 league games for Rangers scoring a remarkable 161 goals (180 in all competitions) He is QPR's second highest goalsorer behind George Goddard. Unfortunately, despite being a prolific striker during his time at QPR they never managed to achieve promotion to the Second Division, the closest they managed was a third place finish in 1960-61 with Bedford scoring an impressive 33 in 44 league games that season.

Bedford was transferred to Scunthorpe United in August 1965 just as a young and dynamic QPR team was taking shape (they would cruise to the Third Division title and win the League Cup just two seasons later).

After short spells at Brentford and Scunthorpe United he played briefly in the United States with Atlanta Chiefs. On returning from the U.S. in 1967 however the Football Association banned him from playing as the U.S. Football Association was at the time not affiliated. After a year he successfully appealed the ban and joined Bexley United but a knee injury forced him to retire.

Throughout his career he maintained a high strike rate, scoring 229 goals in 399 league appearances.

After his retirement from playing he became a professional tennis coach and he was later the stadium manager at Loftus Road, before retiring to Llandaff in 1995.

[edit] References

• Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk (2003). In That Number - A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology. ISBN 0-9534474-3-X. 
• Macey, Gordon (1993). Queens Park Rangers - A Complete Record. The Breedon Books Publishing Company Limited. ISBN 978-1-873626-40-5.