He joined hometown club Birmingham as an amateur in 1938, and turned professional in February 1939, but had not played for the first team when the outbreak of the Second World War put a stop to the Football League.
[2] He played intermittently in the later years of wartime competition, contributing 9 goals from 11 games as Birmingham won the Football League South in the 1945–46 season,[4] and finally made his debut in the Second Division on 7 September 1946 in a 2–0 home defeat to Burnley.
[7] He finished up with 23 goals from 27 league games, which made him Walsall's leading scorer for 1947–48, despite moving back to the Second Division with Bury in March 1948, well before the end of the season.
After three years he moved to his last Football League club; Chesterfield paid £6,000 for his services in February 1951 in the hope that his goalscoring might save them from relegation from the Second Division.
[12] In his final season, the club organised a benefit match for him against a Football Association Guest XI; 7,000 spectators turned up, far in excess of the usual home attendance.