Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Graham Mark Benstead [1] | ||
Date of birth | 20 August 1963 | ||
Place of birth | Aldershot, England | ||
Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) [2] | ||
Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Frimley Green (goalkeeping coach) | ||
Youth career | |||
Wimbledon | |||
–1981 | Queens Park Rangers | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1981–1985 | Queens Park Rangers | 0 | (0) |
1985 | → Norwich City (loan) | 1 | (0) |
1985–1988 | Norwich City | 15 | (0) |
1987 | → Colchester United (loan) | 18 | (0) |
1988 | → Sheffield United (loan) | ||
1988–1990 | Sheffield United | 47 | (0) |
1990–1993 | Brentford | 112 | (0) |
1993 | → Kettering Town (loan) | ||
1994–1995 | Kettering Town | ||
1995–1997 | Rushden & Diamonds | 45 | (0) |
1997 | Kingstonian | 0 | (0) |
1997–1998 | Brentford | 1 | (0) |
1998–1999 | Basingstoke Town | 19 | (0) |
1999 | → Chertsey Town (loan) | ||
2000–2003 | Farnborough Town | 5 | (0) |
2003–2004 | Stevenage Borough | 0 | (0) |
International career | |||
1981 | England Youth | 1 | (0) |
1994 | England Semi-Pro | 3 | (0) |
Managerial career | |||
Farnborough Town (caretaker) | |||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Graham Mark Benstead (born 20 August 1963) is an English retired professional footballer who made over 110 appearances as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Brentford. He also played League football for Sheffield United, Colchester United, Norwich City and was capped by England at youth and semi-pro level. Benstead is goalkeeping coach at Frimley Green. [3]
Born in Aldershot, Hampshire, Benstead began his career as a part-time player at Wimbledon and then entered the youth system at Queens Park Rangers. [4] [5] He signed his first professional contract in 1981. [5] He had to wait until 8 January 1983 to make what would be his only appearance for the club, which came with a start in a 3–2 FA Cup third round defeat to West Bromwich Albion. [6] After a loan spell with Norwich City late in the 1984–85 season, Benstead joined the newly relegated Second Division club at the end of the campaign for an initial £10,000 fee, with up to £35,000 in add-ons. [7]
After promotion straight back to the First Division in 1985–86 and in the face of competition from new £100,000 signing Bryan Gunn, Benstead began the 1986–87 season as Norwich City's first-choice goalkeeper, but a shoulder injury suffered in November 1986 effectively ended his Carrow Road career. [7] After loan spells with Colchester United and Sheffield United, he joined the latter club on a permanent contract for a £35,000 fee in 1988. [5]
Benstead was a regular for Sheffield United during the 1988–89 season, at the end of which the club celebrated promotion to the Second Division after a second-place finish. [5] [8] He lost his place to Simon Tracey during the 1989–90 season and made just one further appearance for the club before moving to Third Division Brentford in July 1990 for a £60,000 fee, [9] with a further £10,000 to be paid after 25 appearances. [5] Benstead had a successful first season with Brentford, missing just one match, keeping 23 clean sheets and winning the club's Supporters' and Players' Player of the Year awards. [10] [11] [12] Despite suffering from hamstring and knee injuries, [13] things were even better during the 1991–92 season, when the Bees finished the campaign as champions of the Third Division. [11] [14]
Despite missing four months of the 1992–93 First Division season with knee ligament damage and a hamstring injury, [15] Benstead made 32 appearances during the campaign, [11] which ended with relegation straight back to the Second Division. [14] Benstead rejected the new contract offered to him during the 1993 off-season and was made available for loan. [16] He failed to see eye-to-eye with new manager David Webb and made just seven early-1993–94 season appearances before joining Conference high-flyers Kettering Town on loan in October 1993. [5] [17] The deal was made permanent in December 1993, with Benstead signing on a free transfer. [17] Benstead made 144 appearances during just over three seasons at Griffin Park. [5]
Benstead's 18 months with Conference club Kettering ended with second and sixth-place finishes respectively and he dropped down to the Southern League Premier Division to move to Northamptonshire rivals Rushden & Diamonds in June 1995. [18] [19] He had an excellent 1995–96 season, helping the club to the Premier Division title and promotion to the Conference. [19] [20] Benstead made just seven appearances during the 1996–97 season and had a non-playing spell with Kingstonian, [21] before making a surprise return to Brentford in July 1997, as player/goalkeeping coach on a week-to-week contract. [19] [22] [23] Minor surgery required by first-choice goalkeeper Kevin Dearden meant that Benstead made his second debut for the club in a 3–1 defeat to York City on 11 October 1997. [23] [24] He made one further appearance in an FA Cup first round replay versus former club Colchester United on 25 November, [24] before being released by new manager Micky Adams in January 1998. [23]
Benstead joined Isthmian League Premier Division club Basingstoke Town in 1998 and wound down his career with spells at Chertsey Town, Farnborough Town and Stevenage Borough. [23]
Benstead was capped once by England youth and won three caps for England Semi-Pro in 1994. [22] [25] [26]
Benstead has worked as a goalkeeping coach at Brentford, Basingstoke Town, Chertsey Town, Farnborough Town, Stevenage Borough and Frimley Green. [3] [23] [27] He served as caretaker manager of Farnborough Town for one match and in 2004 was assistant to manager Graham Westley at Stevenage Borough. [27] [28]
Benstead works as a self-employed painter and decorator. [29]
This section needs expansionwith:
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Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Queens Park Rangers | 1982–83 [6] | Second Division | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |
Norwich City (loan) | 1984–85 [30] | First Division | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | |||
Norwich City | 1986–87 [30] | First Division | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
1987–88 [30] | First Division | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
Total | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | ||
Colchester United (loan) | 1987–88 [31] | Fourth Division | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 [lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 19 | 0 |
Brentford | 1990–91 [11] | Third Division | 45 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 9 [lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 61 | 0 |
1991–92 [11] | Third Division | 37 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 [lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 42 | 0 | |
1992–93 [11] | First Division | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 [lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 32 | 0 | |
1993–94 [11] | Second Division | 5 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | — | 7 | 0 | |||
Total | 112 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 142 | 0 | ||
Rushden & Diamonds | 1995–96 [19] | Southern League Premier Division | 39 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | 6 [lower-alpha 4] | 0 | 51 | 0 | |
1996–97 [19] | Conference | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 [lower-alpha 5] | 0 | 7 | 0 | ||
Total | 45 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | 7 | 0 | 58 | 0 | |||
Brentford | 1997–98 [24] | Second Division | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | |
Total | 113 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 144 | 0 | ||
Basingstoke Town | 1997–98 [32] | Isthmian League Premier Division | 7 | 0 | — | — | — | 7 | 0 | |||
1998–99 [33] | Isthmian League Premier Division | 12 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | 4 [lower-alpha 6] | 0 | 22 | 0 | ||
Total | 19 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | 29 | 0 | |||
Farnborough Town | 2000–01 [34] | Isthmian League Premier Division | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3 [lower-alpha 7] | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
2001–02 [34] | Conference | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 3 [lower-alpha 8] | 0 | 8 | 0 | ||
2002–03 [35] | Conference | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Total | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | 12 | 0 | |||
Stevenage Borough | 2002–03 [35] | Conference | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | |||
2003–04 [36] | Conference | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
2004–05 [37] | Conference | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Career total | 182 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 281 | 0 |
Sheffield United
Brentford
Rushden & Diamonds
Individual
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