Brian Abrey
{{short description|English footballer (born 1939)}}
{{use British English|date=July 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Brian Abrey
| image =
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1939|04|25}}
| birth_place = Hendon, London, England
| height = {{height|ft=5|in=11}}{{cite book |last1=Whitehead |first1=Jeff |last2=Drury |first2=Kevin |title=The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years |year=2008 |publisher=Breedon Books |location=Derby |isbn=978-1-85983-629-3 |page=8}}
| position = Wing half
| youthyears1 = 1955–1961 |youthclubs1 = Chelsea
| years1 = 1961–1963 |clubs1 = Colchester United |caps1 = 38 |goals1 = 1
| totalcaps = 38 | totalgoals = 1
}}
Brian Anthony Abrey (born 25 April 1939) is an English former footballer who played as a wing half in the Football League for Colchester United. Having begun his career at Chelsea, Abrey spent one full season at Colchester before having to retire through injury.
Career
Born in Hendon, London, Abrey was invited to join Chelsea in 1955 by manager Ted Drake, but never managed to break into the first-team during his five-year stay. After representing a New York team in the inaugural International Soccer League in the summer of 1960, Abrey joined Colchester United, where he would make his Football League debut on 19 August 1961 in a 3–0 win over Stockport County.{{cite web |title=Colchester United – Match details – Colchester Utd 3–0 Stockport County |url=http://coludata.co.uk/matchdetails.asp?mid=887 |publisher=Coludata.co.uk |accessdate=10 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624073014/http://www.coludata.co.uk/matchdetails.asp?mid=887 |archivedate=24 June 2009 }} He scored his first professional goal in a 2–2 draw with Millwall on 28 October 1961,{{cite web |title=Colchester United – Match details – Colchester Utd 2–2 Millwall |url=http://coludata.co.uk/matchdetails.asp?mid=905 |publisher=Coludata.co.uk |accessdate=10 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130710212709/http://coludata.co.uk/matchdetails.asp?mid=905 |archivedate=10 July 2013 }} and scored his second and final goal for the U's in the following match on 4 November 1961 in a 3–3 FA Cup draw with Peterborough United at London Road.{{cite web |title=Colchester United – Match details – Peterborough United 3–3 Colchester Utd |url=http://coludata.co.uk/matchdetails.asp?mid=906 |publisher=Coludata.co.uk |accessdate=10 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130710212705/http://coludata.co.uk/matchdetails.asp?mid=906 |archivedate=10 July 2013 }} He helped Colchester gain promotion to the Third Division as the U's finished the season as Fourth Division runners-up.{{cite web |title=League Two (Tier Four) Honours |url=http://www.coludaybyday.co.uk/Statistics/Player%20Stats/PlayerHonours/PlayerLeagueTwo.html |publisher=Coludaybyday.co.uk |accessdate=14 March 2013 }}
Abrey could only manage one appearance in the 1962–63 season, a 2–0 defeat to Northampton Town in the second round of the League Cup on 26 September 1962{{cite web |title=Colchester United – Match details – Northampton Town 2–0 Colchester Utd |url=http://coludata.co.uk/matchdetails.asp?mid=950 |publisher=Coludata.co.uk |accessdate=10 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130504225119/http://coludata.co.uk/matchdetails.asp?mid=950 |archivedate=4 May 2013 }} as he was forced to retire from playing following a recurring knee injury in April 1963, having made 38 league appearances and scoring one goal.{{cite web |title=COLCHESTER UNITED:1950/51–1989/90 & 1992/93–2011/12 |url=http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/colchester/colchester.html |publisher=Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database |accessdate=10 July 2013}}
Later life
Career statistics
| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | ||||||||
| rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season !colspan="3"|League !colspan="2"|FA Cup !colspan="2"|League Cup !colspan="2"|Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| rowspan="2" valign="centre"|Colchester United
|38 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 42 | 2 | |
| 1962–63
|0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| colspan="3"|Career total
!38 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 43 | 2 |
References
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abrey, Brian}}
Category:Footballers from the London Borough of Barnet
Category:English men's footballers
Category:Men's association football wing halves