Gerry Cakebread
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gerald Cakebread | ||
| Date of birth | 1 April 1936 | ||
| Place of birth | Acton, England | ||
| Date of death | 24 September 2009 (aged 73) | ||
| Place of death | Taunton, England | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1954–1965 | Brentford | 348 | (0) |
| 1965–1967 | Hillingdon Borough | ||
| 1966–1969 | Taunton Town | ||
| Barnstaple Town | |||
| 1976 | Minehead | ||
| National team | |||
| 1954 | England Youth | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Gerald "Gerry" Cakebread OBE (1 April 1936 – 24 September 2009) was an English football goalkeeper who played in the Football League for Brentford. He remained a part-time player throughout his professional career. Cakebread was posthumously inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in May 2015.
Cakebread began his career as a junior at the club he supported as a boy, Brentford. He was a part of the youth team which reached the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup during the 1951–52 season. During his National Service, Cakebread was preferred to future England international goalkeeper Eddie Hopkinson by the selectors of the Royal Air Force representative team. While still an amateur, Cakebread made his first team debut in a 1–0 Division Three South defeat to Norwich City on 23 October 1954. He made two further appearances during the 1954–55 season, while working a job outside football. At the end of the campaign, Cakebread declined to sign a full professional contract and instead signed semi-professional terms. For the 1955–56 season manager Bill Dodgin named Cakebread his first choice goalkeeper ahead of Sonny Feehan.
Over five of the next six seasons, Cakebread would go on to make over 45 appearances a season and set a club record for consecutive appearances, playing 187 games in a row between November 1958 and March 1963. His run was ended by a leg injury, which saw him miss the rest of Brentford's 1962–63 Division Four title-winning season. Cakebread returned to action for the club's record 9–0 win over Wrexham on 15 October 1963, replacing Bill Slater in the lineup. After a run of five games, he lost his place to Chic Brodie and made just one further appearance during the 1963–64 season, playing what would be his final game for the club in 2–2 draw with West London rivals Queens Park Rangers on 20 March 1964. Cakebread dropped into the reserve team for the 1964–65 season and won the London Challenge Cup with the side. He departed Griffin Park in June 1965, having made 374 appearances, a total which places him eighth on the club's all-time list. Cakebread was posthumously inducted into the Brentford Hall of Fame in May 2015.
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