Fred Ford

Who was Fred Ford?

Frederick George Luther Ford is a former footballer and manager.

Ford played for a number of clubs, including Arsenal, Charlton Athletic, Millwall Athletic and Carlisle United. It was at Carlisle that he began his coaching career. He also became a part-time Staff Coach with the Football Association, where besides being a course instructor, he additionally coached the England B team and Under-23 side.

In 1955 he linked up with a former Charlton colleague, Bert Tann and gained widespread recognition for his work as Rovers' first team coach. This prompted Rovers' closest rivals, Bristol City to appointing him as their manager in 1960, He remained in charge of City until 1967 when he moved to Swindon Town for the first time as a coaching assistant.

Ford moved to City's rivals Bristol Rovers in 1968 and took up the post of team manager until 1969 when he was appointed manager at Swindon Town.

Swindon had just won the 1969 League Cup and promotion to Division Two but Danny Williams had left the club without a coach.