{{short description|English footballer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Use British English|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Bobby Laverick | image = | caption = | fullname = Robert Laverick | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1938|6|11|df=y}} | birth_place = Castle Eden, England | death_date = | death_place = | height = {{height|ft=5|in=9}}<ref name=Carder139/> | position = Left wing, Striker | youthyears1 = 1953–1956 | youthclubs1 = Chelsea | years1 = 1956–1958 | clubs1 = Chelsea | caps1 = 7 | goals1 = 0 | years2 = 1959–1960 | clubs2 = Everton | caps2 = 22 | goals2 = 6 | years3 = 1960–1962 | clubs3 = Brighton & Hove Albion | caps3 = 63 | goals3 = 20 | years4 = 1962–1963 | clubs4 = Coventry City | caps4 = 4 | goals4 = 0 | years5 = 1963–1964 | clubs5 = Corby Town | caps5 = | goals5 = | years6 = 1964–1967| clubs6 = King's Lynn | caps6 = | goals6 = | years7 = 1967–1968 | clubs7 = South Shields | caps7 = | goals7 = | years8 = 1968–1970 | clubs8 = Ashford Town | caps8 = | goals8 = | years9 = 1970 | clubs9 = Ramsgate | caps9 = | goals9 = | years10 = 1970–1971 | clubs10 = Tonbridge | caps10 = | goals10 = | years11 = 1971–1972 | clubs11 = Ashford Town | caps11 = | goals11= | years12 = 1972–1973 | clubs12 = Snowdown Colliery Welfare | caps12 = | goals12= | years13 = 1973–1977 | clubs13 = Ashford Town | caps13 = | goals13= | years14 = 1977 | clubs14 = Canterbury City | caps14 = | goals14= | manageryears1 = 1972–1973 | managerclubs1 = Snowdown Colliery Welfare (player-manager) }} '''Robert Laverick''' (born 11 June 1938) is an English former professional footballer who scored 26 goals from 96 appearances in the Football League playing on the left wing for Chelsea, Everton, Brighton & Hove Albion and Coventry City.<ref name=BH>{{Hugman|11396|accessdate=13 August 2022}}</ref>
Laverick was born in Castle Eden, County Durham.<ref name=BH/> He joined Chelsea's youth set–up in 1953<ref>{{cite journal |first=Stan |last=Halsey |date=30 August 1953 |title=Drake's Gamble |journal=Daily Mirror |pages=P17}}</ref> and was part of their 1954–55 South East Counties Youth League winning and FA Youth Cup semi-final teams.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thechels.info/wiki/1954-55_South_East_Counties_League |title=1954-55 South East Counties League |work=thechels.info |publisher=TheChels.org |accessdate=13 August 2022}}</ref> In November 1954 he played one match for the England Youth team, scoring against the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite journal |first=David |last=Williams |date=22 November 1954 |title=England tip-toe in tulip-land |journal=Daily Herald |pages=P8}}</ref> Laverick played seven matches in the Football League First Division for Chelsea in 1957,<ref name="WBL">{{cite web |url=https://www.worldfootball.net/person/pe529653/bobby-laverick/club-matches/ |title=Bobby Laverick » Club matches » Premier League |work=Worldfootball.net |publisher=HEIM:SPIEL Medien GmbH & Co. KG |access-date=13 August 2022}}</ref> but his progress was interrupted by two years National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He failed to establish himself in the Chelsea first team and in February 1959 just prior to the end of his National Service Laverick was signed by First Division club Everton<ref>{{cite journal |date=18 February 1959 |title=Laverick goes – so quietly |journal=Daily News (London) |pages=P10}}</ref> for a sizeable £6,000 transfer fee.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Ian |last=Wooldridge |date=5 May 1960 |title=Everton |journal=Daily News (London) |pages=P14}}</ref> He scored on his debut for the 'Toffees'<ref>{{cite journal |first=Jack |last=Rowe |date=19 February 1959 |title=Wing punch will come from Laverick |journal=Liverpool Echo |pages=P12}}</ref> and played eleven of the last thirteen matches of the 1958–59 season scoring five goals.<ref name="WBL"/> In July 1959 he underwent an emergency appendix operation<ref>{{cite journal |first=Michael |last=Charters |date=25 July 1959 |title=Laverick has rush operation |journal=Liverpool Echo |pages=P7}}</ref> which delayed his start to the 1959–60 season. After his convalescence he played eleven league matches in the second quarter of the season, scoring one goal<ref name="WBL"/> – but thereafter didn't play any further league matches for the Everton first team.
In August 1960 Laverick joined Football League Second Division club Brighton<ref name=Carder139>{{cite book |first1=Tim |last1=Carder |first2=Roger |last2=Harris |title=Albion A–Z: A Who's Who of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C |year=1997 |publisher=Goldstone Books |location=Hove |page=139 |isbn=0-9521337-1-7 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref> with a £7,000 transfer fee being paid by the 'Seagulls'.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Bill |last=David |date=14 August 1960 |title=Bobby on the move at Brighton |journal=The People |pages=P20}}</ref> In the 1961–62 season, in which Brighton were relegated, he was Brighton's joint-top scorer (alongside Johnny Goodchild and Tony Nicholas), with 10 goals in all competitions.<ref>Carder & Harris, ''Albion A–Z'', p. 338.</ref>
Laverick moved on in the summer of 1962 to Coventry City, then of the Football League Third Division, who paid a £2,500 transfer fee for him.<ref>{{cite journal |date=13 August 1962 |title=''No Strings Attached'' to Chairman's £30,000 Gift to City F.C. |journal=Coventry Evening Telegraph |pages=P25}}</ref> He played only 4 league matches for the 'Sky Blues' and having lost his first team spot requested a transfer. This resulted in March 1962 in his move for a small fee into non-League football with Southern League second tier Division 1 club Corby Town.<ref>{{cite journal |date=28 March 1963 |title=Bobby Laverick joins Corby |journal=Coventry Evening Telegraph |pages=P45}}</ref>
After eighteen months with the 'Steelmen', early in the 1964–65 season Laverick was on the move again and in a player exchange deal moved to Southern League Premier Division club King's Lynn.<ref>{{cite journal |date=22 September 1964 |title=League win still eludes Lynn |journal=Lynn Advertiser |pages=P18}}</ref> He was now playing as a striker/inside forward rather than as a winger and scored 79 goals from a total of 209 matches for the 'Linnets' (and was top scorer in the 1966–1967 season). In December 1967 he left King's Lynn and returned to his native North East and joined, for a transfer fee, North Regional League club South Shields.<ref>{{cite journal |date=1 December 1967 |title=Laverick moves to South Shields |journal=Lynn Advertiser |pages=P28}}</ref>
Laverick's next club, which he joined on a free transfer six months later in June 1968, was Southern League second tier Division 1 club Ashford Town who were managed by his one–time Chelsea team-mate Peter Sillett.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Eddie |last=Hemmings |date=14 June 1968 |title=Peter Sillet signs forwards |journal=Kentish Express |pages=P20}}</ref> He was with the 'Nuts and Bolts' for two seasons during each of which he was the clubs leading scorer notching 58 goals in a total of 121 matches.<ref>{{cite journal |date=2 May 1987 |title=Farewell to Essella Park Souvenir Programme |journal=Ashford Football Club |pages=P17}}</ref> In the latter of the two seasons, 1969–70, Laverick's 22 league goals helped the club secure promotion. On leaving Ashford, for the 1970–71 season he initially signed–on with Southern League Division 1 club Ramsgate<ref>{{cite journal |first=Nigel |last=Munson |date=1 July 1970 |title=Laverick and Webb signed by Rams |journal=East Kent Times |pages=P15}}</ref> but after a couple of months there he moved on to fellow Southern League Division 1 side Tonbridge.<ref>{{cite journal |date=20 November 1970 |title=Clifton the only Ramsgate doubt |journal=Kentish Express |pages=P24}}</ref>
August 1971 saw Laverick return to Ashford in the role of the Reserve Team captain,<ref>{{cite journal |first=John |last=White |date=20 August 1971 |title=Laverick back with Town |journal=Kentish Express |pages=P18}}</ref> for whom he now played as a defender in their Kent League campaign. The team were runners–up in the 1972 Kent League Cup and additionally he turned-out several times for Ashford's Southern League Division 1 first team. A year later at the commencement of the 1972–73 season Laverick was appointed player/manager of Snowdown Colliery Welfare who were restarting their Kent League team from scratch.<ref>{{cite journal |date=11 August 1972 |title=Bobby takes over Colliers |journal=Kentish Express |pages=P10}}</ref> In February 1973 citing difficulties with travelling to training he resigned from the 'Colliers' and took on the coaching role with the Kent League Ashford Town Reserve team<ref>{{cite journal |date=23 February 1973 |title=Kent League Round-up |journal=Kentish Express |pages=P14}}</ref> – playing once again a few matches in emergency for the Southern League Ashford first team. For the 1977–78 season Laverick took the assistant managers role with Southern League Division 1 South club Canterbury City<ref>{{cite journal |date=16 August 1977 |title=Laverick moves to Canterbury |journal= Thanet Times |pages=P26}}</ref> and additionally, at the age of 39, to alleviate player shortage played for the club.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{NeilBrownPlayers|player2/bobbylaverick}} *{{WorldFootball.net|bobby-laverick}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laverick, Bobby}} Category:1938 births Category:Living people Category:Footballers from County Durham Category:English men's footballers Category:Men's association football forwards Category:Chelsea F.C. players Category:Everton F.C. players Category:Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Category:Coventry City F.C. players Category:Nuneaton Town F.C. players Category:Corby Town F.C. players Category:King's Lynn F.C. players Category:Gateshead United F.C. players Category:Ashford United F.C. players Category:Ramsgate F.C. players Category:Tonbridge Angels F.C. players Category:English Football League players Category:Southern Football League players Category:20th-century British Army personnel Category:Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers