THE funeral of former Bradford City centre forward Rodney Green takes place in Elland tomorrow.

The striker, who enjoyed an outstanding goal scoring record during two seasons at Valley Parade, died, aged 79, last month.

Halifax-born Green began his career with his home club and later played for Bradford (Park Avenue) before joining City in 1962 as a replacement for David Layne.

Layne was transferred to Sheffield Wednesday for a City record fee of £22,500 in the 1962 close season after establishing a club record 34 League goals in 1961-2 when City just missed out on promotion from the old Fourth Division.

Green had big boots to fill, but he filled them, scoring 39 goals in 66 appearances, including 29 in his second season – 1963-4 – when City again just missed out on promotion.

He joined Gillingham in the summer of 1964 and he later played for Grimsby, Charlton, Luton and Watford before moving to South Africa in 1970 and ending his career there with Durban United.

In all, he scored 96 goals in 237 League appearances for his six English clubs.

He returned to Halifax when his football career was over and opened an antiques shop in the town and later founded a furniture importing company at Elland.

His funeral takes place on Wednesday, December 12 (2pm) at Park Wood Crematorium, Elland.