Ray Ellam

DOB: 9th May 1950

Position: Striker

Season of first appearance: 1969/70

Season of last appearance: 1969/70

Full Appearances: 15

Substitute: 1

Goals: 7

Also played for:

Bradford City (0) and Canterbury City.

Player Profile:

Tall, well-built centre-forward born in Hemsworth, West Yorkshire who began his career with Bradford City but never made the first team there.

Ray then joined Margate in the summer of 1969. He'd scored 28 goals for Bradford's reserves during the 1968/69 season and at the time Margate manager Almer Hall described Ray as being "a strong powerful player".

Ray made his debut in a Southern League game at Hereford on 9.8.69, the opening day of the 1969/70 season. A week later he scored his first two goals for the club as Margate crushed Yeovil 7-0 at Hartsdown. The local press described him as being "a bonny battler" and Ray went on to score three more goals before the end of August but then found himself in the reserves for long spells, punctuated by the occasional first team appearance. He'd scored seven times in 16 appearances (one as sub) when he left the club early in February 1970 to pursue a career with the Metropolitan Police.

Ray soon had a change of heart about quitting football and before the end of February he joined Canterbury. At the time Canterbury boss Roy Evans called him "one of the most promising strikers I have seen" and Ray scored three goals for City in the 15 Southern League appearances he made before the end of the 1969/70 season. He stayed with Canterbury for the 1970/71 campaign and made a further 33 Southern League appearances (one as sub). Ray scored four league goals during the season and on 13.2.71 he scored for City as they went down 2-1 at Margate in a Kent Senior Cup tie.

Ray later went on to represent the Army and West Yorkshire Police at football and his brother Roy made over 400 Football League appearances with Bradford, Huddersfield and Leeds.

By November 2001 Ray was back in Thanet and in 2013 he was living in Ramsgate.