Broadbent I

[graingrover]

Broadbent I was Albert and played over 200 games for us in the 1950/60s scoring 39 goals from the left wing . Let’s hope Broadbent II is as successful. Good luck and best wishes to him . Albert played in the team I watched as a kid and it has taken all these years for a namesake to appear at Rovers yet it is a common North of England name ( Oldham origin)  name I believe .

Albert Henry Broadbent[1]
Date of birth   20 August 1934
Date of death   23 October 2006 (aged 72)
Position left  wing
   
1953–1955   Notts County   31   (11)
1955–1957   Sheffield Wednesday   81   (17)
1957–1959   Rotherham United   48   (14)
1959–1961   Doncaster Rovers   100   (20)
1961–1963   Lincoln City   38   (4)
1963–1966   Doncaster Rovers   106   (19)
1965–1967   Bradford Park Avenue   56   (11)
1966–1968   Hartlepools United   25   (3)
1968–1969   Scarborough

[Bentley Bullet]

Good old Yogi. Legend has it that he was as mad as a hatter.

[drfchound]

Looking at that list of clubs he only stayed once for more than two years before moving on again.
I remember him from his second spell at Rovers.
A very good player.

[Herbert Anchovy]

This is great!! My old man used to wax lyrical about Albert Broadbent when I was a young ‘un back in Rosso. I do remember him being a bit of a ‘character’ apparently!

[idler]

We always thought that when he first came back from Lincoln he didn't seem as good as he had been previously. He did settle down though and was very skilful, adding a lot to the team.
I remember  one game where they were doing the pre match kick-about and he was having a bit of banter with the home fans in front of the town end. He suddenly dropped his shorts and mooned them.
There would be hell on these days for that.
There is one team photo where he is sticking his folded arms out and grinning like a Cheshire Cat. I can only imagine that the photographer said smile and he was taking the mickey.

[Donnywolf]

He used to spray passes all over , sometimes into empty spaces

My dad must have liked him because he used to say " he's always a step ahead of the others " lol

[idler]

He was a very intelligent player.
I remember we were beating Bradford Park Avenue away 1-0 early season 1965. Very late on he got the ball near to the half way line way line and instead of taking it forward he turned and ran back to give our keeper the ball. An early example of running the clock down, before it was popular.

[Goole Rover]

He used to spray passes all over , sometimes into empty spaces

My dad must have liked him because he used to say " he's always a step ahead of the others " lol

I recall talking to one of his team mates of the sixties and a very respected player at Rovers who said “the trouble with Yogi was that he would never pass the ball when you were in a better scoring position”.

[Alickismyhero]

In todays football the attacker users step overs to confuse the defender Albert would roll the ball with the studs of his boots forward before  moving around and away.

 I don't recall having seen anyone else do it with the exception of the Brazilians. Way ahead of his time Albert.

[Silkscarf]

1 Why was he nicknamed Yogi?

2 Have we had any Alberts since?

For a while we seemed to have several players called Jamie. This was a name I’d never heard before. It took me a while before I realised it was simply James but nobody used that and Jim or Jimmy as a nickname was old hat.

I’m glad we’ve got a Bobby again. For a while every Robert was a Robbie.

[Donnywolf]

Good question. I knew him as Yogi and of course connected that to Yogi B(ear) of Cartoon fame, and in truth accepted that at face value

So it would be good to see if anyone knows for sure

[selby]

  I had a screen in the car replaced a couple of years ago, the person replacing the screen noticed my Rovers top, and said his grand father used to play for us.
  Yogi's grand son, the tails he had told him backed up the the previous posts about his character, and the grandson said he loved the club and his time with us, as a player he was an entertainer, a one off and as has been said probably before his time, great memories.
  The grand son also said he used to say he played with one of the greatest players in the world while with us, he thought it was a bit of a joke, I told him about the King.