A superbly-gifted player, Broadbent could make goals and score them.
He had an outrageous body swerve, immaculate ball control and pinpoint passing ability. It says everything about his standing in the game that two of football’s most gifted players, George Best and Peter Knowles, were ardent admirers. Knowles described him as like a “ballet dancer on grass”. When Broadbent was signed from Brentford aged 17, the £10,000 fee made him the country’s most expensive teenager. The buy proved to be a bargain. He won three First Division championship medals and played in the 1960 FA Cup final win over Blackburn. He also figured in all four famous floodlit friendly wins – over Spartak, Honved, Dynamo and Real Madrid. He was top scorer in league and cup games in 1958–9 with 22 goals. Broadbent played in England’s first ever under-23 international in 1954 but his debut in a senior international did not come until the 1958 play-off against USSR in the World Cup finals in Sweden. The great Sir Stanley Matthews once suggested that England should build their team around Broadbent yet he won only seven caps.
Date of birth: May 15, 1933, Elvington, Kent.
Years with Club: 1951 to 1965.
Club signed from: Brentford.
Appearances: 497.
Goals: 145.
International caps: 7 for England. 1 for England under-23, 1 for England B.
