5'7.5" 9st.11lb.

b. Westhoughton 21 November 1903

d. Bournemouth 13 March 1986

Debut 7 December 1929 (26y 16d) Final Game 27 August 1938 (34y 279d)

First Goal 25 December 1929 Final Goal 11 December 1937

CAREER: Hart Common Mission Church ‘21;Hindley Green Athletic ‘22;Wigan Borough '22;Hindley Green Athletic;Bolton Wanderers ‘23:Horwich RMI '24;Burnley Mar'25 (£125)[167-43];Blackburn Rovers Dec'29-'39 (£5,850).

INTERNATIONALS England 3 apps

’28 v Fra,Bel.’29 v Sco.

FOOTBALL LEAGUE 1 app ’29 v IL.

FL               324 apps    108 gls

FAC             20 apps        7 gls

Total        344 apps     115 gls

Penalty record T 14 Sc 9 Sv 2 M 3

Emergency goalkeeper  1 g 10 m 0 gls

Strike rate 269m

War time

NL                1 apps       2 gls

LC               16 apps       7 gls et 30 m

Penalty record  T 1 Sv 1

Bruton commenced playing with a church school who were champions of the Westhoughton League in his first season. His potential was obvious and he moved upwards to Hindley Green and then Wigan Borough in six months but unwilling to wait for regular football in Wigan he returned to Hindley Green. Bolton signed him to play for the A team but Bruton was seeking a way out of the pit in which he worked and signed for Horwich, where he had been promised a job at the loco works. This did not materialise but Burnley spotted him, and signed him at the head of the pit shaft as he came up from work. With full time training he developed into one of the finest wingers of his generation, able to beat a man with finesse or speed and capable of scoring goals when he came inside. The Rovers paid a massive fee for him but they were rewarded with nearly ten seasons of classic wing play which only ended when he broke his leg. He took up coaching and was given a role with the juniors but service in the war curtailed this. After the war he was appointed assistant secretary and took over as emergency manager in 1947 when Will Scott was ill. He succeeded him but when the club was relegated he paid the penalty. He later managed Bournemouth for six years. A fine cricketer, he played many years for Heaton in the Bolton League.