Bert Head
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Bertram James Head | ||
| Date of birth | 8 June 1916 | ||
| Place of birth | Midsomer Norton, England | ||
| Date of death | 4 February 2002 (aged 85) | ||
| Place of death | Reading, England | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Midsomer Norton | |||
| ?–1936 | Welton Rovers | ||
| 1936–1952 | Torquay United | 225 | (6) |
| 1952–1953 | Bury | 22 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1956–1965 | Swindon Town | ||
| 1965–1966 | Bury | ||
| 1966–1973 | Crystal Palace | ||
| 1973 | Bath City | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
Bertram James Head (6 June 1916 – February 2002) was an English professional football player and manager.
Head was born in Midsomer Norton and began his career with his local team before joining Welton Rovers. He moved to Torquay United in October 1936 and made his debut, at right-back, in a 1–0 win at home to Aldershot on 7 November 1936. He was not a regular for his first two seasons with Torquay, but was an ever-present in the 1938–39 season before his career was interrupted by War. When league football resumed in August 1946, Head was again a first choice in the Torquay team, although by now had moved to the centre of defence. He went on to make over 200 league appearances for Torquay before joining Bury in February 1952.
He played eleven times for Bury that season, with a further eleven league appearances the following season before retiring to the Bury coaching staff.
After beginning his coaching career at Gigg Lane, Head progressed to Chief Scout and then Assistant Manager with the club before taking over as manager of Swindon Town in October 1956.
It was an unenviable job. Swindon finished the season just one place off the bottom in the 1956–57 season, and having to apply for re-election. With the league being restructured at the end of the 1957/58 season, it would be crucial for the Town to finish in the top half of the table – to avoid having to become founder members of the newly created Fourth Division. Against all the odds, Swindon finished just three points behind the leaders, Brighton & Hove Albion in fourth place, and took their place in Division Three. In contrast, Head's former side, Torquay, had finished runners-up to Ipswich Town on goal average the previous season, but finished fourth from bottom in 1957–58 and found themselves in the new Division Four.
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