BRIAN GREENHALGH
Bill Leivers signed Brian Greenhalgh as a 24-year-old from Huddersfield in the summer of 1971. After a tough first season in the Football League, Leivers knew that expectations at The Abbey Stadium were growing. The signing of a young striker from a first division club was a statement that the time had come for Cambridge United to step it up a gear.
Brian was a lean, rangy striker, not a big centre forward, and usually wore the No.8 shirt. It was the 1970s, so think Mick Channon rather than Malcolm MacDonald. His hair was fashionably long(ish), his legs were ‘telescopic’, (according to one match report). Bill Leivers compared him to a thoroughbred racehorse.
Quickly striking up an effective strike partnership with David Lill, it didn’t take Brian long to endear himself to United fans; he scored four goals in the 6-0 thrashing of Darlington just seven games into his Abbey career. This scoring feat has been bettered only once, by Steve Butler, across more than 2,000 Cambridge United League games. He finished his first campaign as United’s top scorer, by a mile, with 19 goals, all in the League.
In his second season Brian’s goals – 18 in total – helped fire the U’s to promotion to the old Third Division and he was voted Player of the Year. He didn’t score in the promotion decider against Mansfield at The Abbey in April 1973, but his run down the right wing, and perfectly placed ball into the box, set up Ronnie Walton for the U’s winner. See for yourself, the goals from the game are on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noM3MT5FyLg]
Scoring goals is one way to win over the hearts of Cambridge United fans, but to do it against Peterborough makes you a true hero! Brian managed four in four games against ‘that lot up the A1’. He also had the distinction of scoring the club’s first ever goal in the League Cup, at Aldershot in August 1973.
United struggled in the higher division and, needing funds to help re-build the team, Bill Leivers sold him to Bournemouth for £40,000 in February 1974. This was in the middle of the miners’ strike and daily power cuts; news about the departure of their star striker was the last thing U’s fans wanted to hear. His final goal in black and amber deserved a bigger audience than the 588 that were reported to have been at Rochdale that Tuesday afternoon during the ‘three-day-week’. Despite his departure Brian was still, and for the third season in a row, United’s top scorer with 11 goals.
Brian hung up his boots in 1976 at the age of only 29 and later enjoyed a highly successful career as a scout; he was Chief Scout at Everton and Watford in the 1990s. As a player, though, Brian will be best – and very fondly – remembered as the cultured striker than helped Cambridge United establish themselves as a Football League club to be reckoned with.
Brian’s record of 48 goals (none were penalties) in 128 appearances across two-and-a-half seasons stands up very well against those of the Abbey’s all-time finest strikers, of which there have been many.
Watch the video of the 1973 match between Cambridge United and Mansfield which secured promotion for the U's
You can see Brian making the pass for Ronnie Walton to score
Bill Leivers signed Brian Greenhalgh as a 24-year-old from Huddersfield in the summer of 1971. After a tough first season in the Football League, Leivers knew that expectations at The Abbey Stadium were growing. The signing of a young striker from a first division club was a statement that the time had come for Cambridge United to step it up a gear.
Brian was a lean, rangy striker, not a big centre forward, and usually wore the No.8 shirt. It was the 1970s, so think Mick Channon rather than Malcolm MacDonald. His hair was fashionably long(ish), his legs were ‘telescopic’, (according to one match report). Bill Leivers compared him to a thoroughbred racehorse.
Quickly striking up an effective strike partnership with David Lill, it didn’t take Brian long to endear himself to United fans; he scored four goals in the 6-0 thrashing of Darlington just seven games into his Abbey career. This scoring feat has been bettered only once, by Steve Butler, across more than 2,000 Cambridge United League games. He finished his first campaign as United’s top scorer, by a mile, with 19 goals, all in the League.
In his second season Brian’s goals – 18 in total – helped fire the U’s to promotion to the old Third Division and he was voted Player of the Year. He didn’t score in the promotion decider against Mansfield at The Abbey in April 1973, but his run down the right wing, and perfectly placed ball into the box, set up Ronnie Walton for the U’s winner. See for yourself, the goals from the game are on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noM3MT5FyLg]
Scoring goals is one way to win over the hearts of Cambridge United fans, but to do it against Peterborough makes you a true hero! Brian managed four in four games against ‘that lot up the A1’. He also had the distinction of scoring the club’s first ever goal in the League Cup, at Aldershot in August 1973.
United struggled in the higher division and, needing funds to help re-build the team, Bill Leivers sold him to Bournemouth for £40,000 in February 1974. This was in the middle of the miners’ strike and daily power cuts; news about the departure of their star striker was the last thing U’s fans wanted to hear. His final goal in black and amber deserved a bigger audience than the 588 that were reported to have been at Rochdale that Tuesday afternoon during the ‘three-day-week’. Despite his departure Brian was still, and for the third season in a row, United’s top scorer with 11 goals.
Brian hung up his boots in 1976 at the age of only 29 and later enjoyed a highly successful career as a scout; he was Chief Scout at Everton and Watford in the 1990s. As a player, though, Brian will be best – and very fondly – remembered as the cultured striker than helped Cambridge United establish themselves as a Football League club to be reckoned with.
Brian’s record of 48 goals (none were penalties) in 128 appearances across two-and-a-half seasons stands up very well against those of the Abbey’s all-time finest strikers, of which there have been many.
Watch the video of the 1973 match between Cambridge United and Mansfield which secured promotion for the U's
You can see Brian making the pass for Ronnie Walton to score