Peter Stanley Sampson was a professional footballer, who spent his entire Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 career with Bristol Rovers

Bristol Rovers F.C.

Bristol Rovers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Bristol, that competes in Football League Two. The team plays its home matches at the Memorial Stadium, in the Horfield area of the city....

, and who also went on to play for Trowbridge Town

Trowbridge Town F.C.

Trowbridge Town F.C. are a football club based in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, and they play at Woodmarsh on the southern edge of the town. They are currently members of the Hellenic Football League Division One West.-History:...

 after retiring from the professional game.

Sampson was born in Great Wakering

Great Wakering

Great Wakering is a village in Essex, England. The nearest large town is Southend which is approximately four miles to the west of the village...

, in Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, and attended Great Wakering School, for whom he once scored 72 goals in a single season. He initially trained as a butcher, before being called up to the army and stationed in West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. He bought himself out of the army for £65, and returned to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 to sign as an amateur for Bristol Rovers. He turned professional with the club in 1948, and had a thirteen-year-long career with them, making 340 league appearances and scoring four goals during that spell. He moved to Trowbridge Town in 1961, where he stayed for two years before taking over as assistant manager of his former youth club, Oldland.

Away from football, Sampson had run a poultry business with his Bristol Rovers teammate Vic Lambden

Vic Lambden

Victor David Lambden was a professional footballer who played for Bristol Rovers in the Football League. After retiring from professional football, he dropped out of the league to play for Trowbridge Town....

 while playing in Bristol, and after his retirement from the sport he worked as a gardener and a milkman in his adopted home town of Cadbury Heath

Cadbury Heath

Cadbury Heath is a suburb of Bristol, located in South Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom.-Banjo Island:Cadbury Heath contains the infamous council estate Park Estate aka 'Banjo Island'....

.

Towards the end of his life he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...

, and spent his last few years living at a nursing home in Congresbury

Congresbury

Congresbury is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated in the Unitary authority of North Somerset, and in 2001 had a population of 3,400. It lies on the A370, roughly equidistant between Junction 21 of the M5 and Bristol Airport, approximately south of Bristol city centre,...

 near Bristol. He died on 16 May 2009, aged 81.

He was the cousin of former Chelsea

Chelsea F.C.

Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...

 player Les Stubbs

Les Stubbs

Leslie 'Les' Stubbs was an English footballer.Playing mainly as an inside forward, Stubbs started out with his local side, Great Wakering Rovers before signing for Southend United. He made his debut for Southend in 1948 and scored 45 goals in 88 games over the next four seasons...

.

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