Clubs managed: Swindon Town, Bury, Crystal Palace, Bath City

Bert Head had been a player with Torquay United long before he joined Bury as Assistant Manager in 1951 and he became boss at Swindon Town in 1956. His time at the County Ground was very successful and in 1965 he took charge of Bury before joining Crystal Palace in April 1966.

After two seasons in the Second Division, when Bert gained precisely the same finishing positions as his predecessor Dick Graham (seventh then eleventh), he managed the club into the top-flight for the very first time. This was achieved with a run of 16 undefeated matches in the spring of 1969 to gain Palace a status that appeared to have been impossible only a few months earlier.

Bert's task was by no means finished - having led the club to the top-flight he now had to keep it there. Partly with the benefit of some clever transfers, Bert reshaped the side so that on three occasions relegation was avoided. Then in March 1973, with another cliffhanger in the offing, a new administration brought in Malcolm Allison and Bert was moved upstairs. He left quietly soon afterwards joining Bath City where he would go on to win promotion for them in 1975.

Bert's achievements at the club will always be unique and are warmly remembered. He took Palace to the top-flight for the first time; kept them there, against all the odds for nearly four seasons and he was one of the most likeable men ever to be associated with the club.

Source: The Men Who Made Crystal Palace, Rev. Nigel Sands (Tempus, 2004)