Fred Durrant

Fred Durrant
Personal information
Full name Frederick Harry Durrant[1]
Date of birth (1921-06-19)19 June 1921
Place of birth Dover, England
Date of death 5 March 2010(2010-03-05) (aged 88)
Place of death Dover, England[1]
Playing position Centre forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Folkestone
1938–1946 Brentford 4 (3)
→ Aldershot (guest)
→ Blackburn Rovers (guest)
1946–1949 Queens Park Rangers 51 (26)
1949–1950 Exeter City 17 (5)
1950–1952 Dover
Teams managed
1950–1957 Dover
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Frederick Harry Durrant (19 June 1921 – 5 March 2010) was an English professional football forward and manager who played in the Football League, most notably for Queens Park Rangers.[2] After dropping into non-league football in 1950, he played for and managed Kent League side Dover.[2]

Playing career

Brentford

A centre forward, Durrant began his career at Southern League side Folkestone,[3] before signing for Division One side Brentford on his 17th birthday in 1938.[2] He failed to make a first team appearance before the outbreak of the Second World War the following year saw competitive football suspended.[4] Durrant made wartime appearances for the Bees and guested for Aldershot and Blackburn Rovers.[2][4] Following the end of the war, Durrant finally made his debut in the abridged 1945–46 season, scoring on his debut in a 2–2 FA Cup third round first leg draw with Tottenham Hotspur on 5 January 1946.[4] He scored three further goals in the following rounds (until the Bees were knocked out in the sixth), finishing the season with four goals from six appearances.[4] Durrant made his Football League debut in a Division One match versus Blackpool on 2 September 1946, scoring the opening goal in a 2–2 draw.[4] He made the headlines in the following game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, leaving the pitch concussed during the first half, then returning for the second half and scoring two goals in a 2–1 win.[2][4] After two further appearances, Durrant was surprisingly transferred by manager Harry Curtis.[2] Durrant scored seven goals in only 10 games for the Bees.[2]

Queens Park Rangers

Durrant joined Division Three South side Queens Park Rangers in late September 1946, for a then-record £4,500 fee.[2] With the club's regular centre forwards away on army duty, Durrant was signed to bolster the high-flying club's frontline.[5] Denied promotion with a second-place finish during the 1946–47 season, Durrant finally won the first silverware of his career when Rangers brought home the Division Three South title in 1948.[6] After scoring 26 goals in 53 games,[5] Durrant departed Loftus Road in February 1949.[5]

Exeter City

Durrant signed for Division Three South side Exeter City in February 1949, for a then-club record £5,000.[2] In an injury-affected spell, he managed 5 goals in 17 league appearances, before retiring from league football in 1950.[7]

Dover

Durrant saw out his career with a spell at Kent League Division One side Dover, who were managed by former Brentford teammate George Poyser.[2] He retired in 1952.

Management career

Durrant undertook a player-manager role upon joining Dover and remained in the role after retiring from playing.[8][9][10] He had a successful time with the club, winning the Kent League and Senior Cup double in the 1951–52 season and the Kent League Cup in 1956–57.[10][11][12]

Personal life

After football, Durrant settled in Dover and ran a cafe.[3] His nephew, Chris Penn, is a retired first-class cricketer who played for Kent. At the time of his death in March 2010, Durrant was Brentford's oldest-living player.[3]

Honours

As a player

Queens Park Rangers

Dover

As a manager

Dover

Career statistics

Club Season League FA Cup Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Brentford 1945–46[4] — — 6 4 6 4
1946–47[4] First Division 4 3 — 4 3
Total 4 3 6 4 10 7
Queens Park Rangers 1946–47[14] Third Division South 22 14 0 0 22 14
1947–48[6] 27 12 0 0 27 12
1948–49[15] Second Division 2 0 2 0 4 0
Total 51 26 2 0 53 26
Exeter City 1948–49[7] Third Division South 13 4 — 13 4
1949–50[7] 4 1 0 0 4 1
Total 17 5 0 0 17 5
Career total 72 34 8 4 80 38

References

  1. 1 2 "Fred Durrant". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920–2006. Harefield: Yore Publications. p. 51. ISBN 978-0955294914.
  3. 1 2 3 "Brentford | News | Latest News | Latest News | FRED DURRANT RIP". 7 March 2010. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 White, Eric, ed. (1989). 100 Years Of Brentford. Brentford FC. pp. 375–379. ISBN 0951526200.
  5. 1 2 3 "In Memory Of Fred Durrant | Independent Rs". indyrs.co.uk. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 "QPRnet – Seasonal Stats – Files – 1947–48". Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 "Durrant, Frederick – The Grecian Archive". grecianarchive.exeter.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  8. ↑ "THREE CUPS Pubs of Dover". dover-kent.com. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  9. ↑ "RED LION (Charlton) Pubs of Dover". dover-kent.com. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 "The 1956–57 Team in May". doverteamphotos.tripod.com. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 "The 1951–52 team". doverteamphotos.tripod.com. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  12. ↑ "Football Club History Database – Dover". fchd.info. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  13. ↑ "The 1950–51 team". doverteamphotos.tripod.com. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  14. ↑ "QPRnet – Seasonal Stats – Files – 1946–47". Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  15. ↑ "QPRnet – Seasonal Stats – Files – 1948–49". Retrieved 21 November 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.