Keith Edwin Bertschin (born 25 August 1956) is an English former professional football player and coach.

Keith Bertschin
Personal information
Full name Keith Edwin Bertschin[1]
Date of birth (1956-08-25) 25 August 1956 (age 67)[1]
Place of birth Enfield, England[1]
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2]
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1972–1973 Barnet
1973–1977 Ipswich Town 32 (8)
1977–1981 Birmingham City 118 (29)
1981–1984 Norwich City 114 (29)
1982Jacksonville Tea Men (loan) 14 (3)
1984–1987 Stoke City 88 (29)
1987–1988 Sunderland 36 (7)
1988–1990 Walsall 55 (9)
1990–1991 Chester City 19 (0)
1991–1992 Aldershot
1992–1993 Solihull Borough
1993–1994 Evesham United
1994 Barry Town
1994–1995 Worcester City
1995–1996 Hednesford Town
1996 Tamworth
1996–1998 Stafford Rangers
Total 476 (114)
International career
1975 England Youth 9 (7)
1977–1978 England U21 4 (0)
Managerial career
2016 Solihull Moors
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

A striker, Bertschin began his professional career with Ipswich Town (1973–1977), before playing for Birmingham City (1977–1981), Norwich City (1981–1982; 1982–1984), Stoke City (1984–1987), Sunderland (1987–1988), Walsall (1988–1990), Chester City (1990–1991) and Aldershot (1991–1992). He also played non-League football and had a short spell playing in the United States with the Jacksonville Tea Men in 1982.[1]

Playing career edit

Bertschin was born in Enfield and began his career with Barnet before joining Ipswich Town in 1973. He scored seven times for England's Youth team in nine appearances. [3] He made a perfect start to professional football scoring on his debut scoring the winning goal in a 2–1 victory over Arsenal in April 1976. He scored again two days later against West Ham United. He became a full member of the squad in 1976–77 scoring six goals in 30 appearances as Ipswich finished in 3rd position. Bertschin joined Birmingham City in July 1977 for a fee of £135,000.[4] He spent four seasons at St Andrew's making 143 appearances scoring 41 goals and helped the club gain promotion in 1979–80. Bertschin joined Norwich City in August 1981 and helped the Canaries gain promotion to the First Division in 1981–82. He scored twice against his old club Birmingham in a 5–1 victory earning Norwich their first victory of the 1982–83 season.[5] He spent the summer of 1982 playing in the United States for Jacksonville Tea Men.

Bertschin left Carrow Road in November 1984 to join Stoke City.[1] Stoke were rock bottom of the table when Bertschin joined in 1984–85 and he could do little to prevent the side failing to an embarrassing relegation which saw Stoke go down with a then record low points tally. In 1985–86 had a fine season top-scoring with 23 goals, 19 coming in the league and he won the player of the year award.[1] Unfortunately for Stoke he was their only consistent goalscorer and the side finished in a mid-table position of 10th.[1] He scored eight goals in 27 appearances in 1986–87 before he was sold to Sunderland in March 1987.[1] He couldn't prevent Sunderland being relegated but played a major role in 1987–88 which saw the Black Cats win the Third Division title. Bertschin ended his professional career at Walsall, Chester City and Aldershot before dropping into non-league football.[1]

Bertschin played for Solihull Borough, Evesham United and was a member of the Barry Town team which won the Welsh Cup in 1994 with a 2–1 victory against Cardiff City.[6] He then went on to play for Worcester City, Hednesford Town, Tamworth and finally Stafford Rangers.[1]

Coaching career edit

After retiring from playing, he worked as an agent for a number of players before his appointment to the coaching staff at Birmingham City. In November 2007, when Birmingham manager Steve Bruce left to join Wigan Athletic, Bertschin and other members of Birmingham's backroom staff accompanied him.[7] In June 2009, when Bruce moved on to Sunderland, Bertschin again followed.[8] On 29 June 2012 it was announced that Bertschin had taken up the post of first team coach at Hull City.[9] On 2 August 2016, the club sacked Bertschin from his position of first team coach.[10]

Bertschin took temporary charge of Solihull Moors on 9 November 2016 following the departure of Marcus Bignot.[11] He was then assistant manager at Solihull and was then appointed first-team coach of the Solihull Moors Ladies team.[12]

Career statistics edit

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[13]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[a] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Ipswich Town 1975–76 First Division 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2
1976–77 First Division 29 6 0 0 1 0 0 0 30 6
Total 32 8 0 0 1 0 0 0 33 8
Birmingham City 1977–78 First Division 42 11 2 3 1 0 3 0 48 14
1978–79 First Division 9 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 11 2
1979–80 Second Division 37 12 3 3 2 0 3 3 45 18
1980–81 First Division 30 4 3 2 4 1 0 0 37 7
Total 118 29 9 8 10 1 6 3 143 41
Norwich City 1981–82 Second Division 36 12 3 0 1 0 0 0 40 12
1982–83 First Division 40 8 5 4 4 2 0 0 49 14
1983–84 First Division 33 7 5 1 6 2 0 0 44 10
1984–85 First Division 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 2
Total 114 29 13 5 11 4 0 0 138 38
Jacksonville Tea Men (loan) 1982 NASL 14 3 14 3
Stoke City 1984–85 First Division 25 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 27 2
1985–86 Second Division 42 19 1 0 3 2 3 2 49 23
1986–87 Second Division 21 8 4 0 1 0 1 0 27 8
Total 88 29 7 0 4 2 4 2 103 33
Sunderland 1986–87 Second Division 11 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 13 3
1987–88 Third Division 25 5 1 0 2 0 2 2 30 7
Total 36 7 1 0 2 0 4 3 43 10
Walsall 1988–89 Second Division 20 0 1 0 3 0 1 1 25 1
1989–90 Third Division 35 9 3 2 1 0 5 3 44 13
1990–91 Fourth Division 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Total 55 9 4 2 4 0 7 4 71 14
Chester City 1990–91 Third Division 19 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 22 1
Career total 476 114 37 16 32 7 21 12 566 149

Honours edit

Birmingham City
Norwich City
Stoke City
Sunderland

References edit

General
  • Canary Citizens by Mark Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001), ISBN 0-7117-2020-7
  • Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  • "Keith Bertschin". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  • "Players: Keith Bertschin". NASL Jerseys. Dave Morrison. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
Specific
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lowe, Simon (2000). Stoke City The Modern Era – A Complete Record. Desert Island Books. ISBN 1-874287-39-2.
  2. ^ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 352. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. ^ England Youth Appearances
  4. ^ "Keith Bertschin". Pride of Anglia. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Magic Moment: 1982 – Keith Bertschin scores twice as Norwich City record first victory on return to Division One". Norwich Evening News 24. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  6. ^ "Football: Barry demolish Cardiff's dream". The Independent. 16 May 1994. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  7. ^ "Nigel Spink set to follow Steve Bruce to Wigan". Birmingham Mail. 24 December 2007. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  8. ^ "Bruce named as Sunderland manager". BBC Sport. 3 June 2009. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  9. ^ "New Staff Announcement". The Tigers Official Website. Hull City A.F.C. 29 June 2012. Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  10. ^ Mullan, Charlie (3 August 2016). "Hull City part company with first team coach Keith Bertschin". Hull Daily Mail. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  11. ^ "Solihull appoint Bertschin as head coach". BBC Sport.
  12. ^ "Keith Bertschin appointed First Team Coach of Moors Ladies". Solihull Moors. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  13. ^ Keith Bertschin at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)

External links edit