Trevor Ford
Welsh association football player (1923-2003)

Trevor Ford (1 October 1923 – 29 May 2003) was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a forward for Swansea Town, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Cardiff City, PSV Eindhoven, Newport County and Romford, as well as for the Wales national team. A prolific scorer throughout his career, he scored 202 league goals in 401 matches, the majority coming in the First Division during a career that spanned fifteen years.
Described by The Independent as a "fearsomely physical" forward, Ford began his career with his hometown club Swansea Town during wartime and played for less than one season in the Second Division. He moved to Aston Villa in 1947 where he scored consistently in the First Division, finishing as the club's top scorer for three consecutive seasons between 1947 and 1950.
In October 1950, he transferred to Sunderland for the sum of £30,000, breaking the British transfer fee record at the time. At Sunderland, Ford formed a strike partnership with England international Len Shackleton, known as the "clown prince of football". However the relationship between the two was acrimonious and the club was unable to mount a title challenge despite their investment, finishing in mid-table in each of Ford's seasons at Roker Park. He left Sunderland in 1953 to return to Wales with Cardiff City. He spent three seasons at Ninian Park before being suspended by the Football Association after revealing details of illegal payments being made to players during his time at Sunderland in an attempt to avoid the maximum wage at the time. Unable to play in Britain due to the suspension, Ford joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven but returned to Britain in 1960 when his suspension was lifted to finish his career with short spells at Newport County and Romford.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Trevor Ford” as welsh association football player (1923-2003). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as welsh association football player (1923-2003). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2196018. VIAF identifies the subject as 107982826. The Library of Congress control number is nb2010005423. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1923, 2003, 1947 and 1950.
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This entry incorporates text from “Trevor Ford” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.