Bruce Stuckey

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Right-winger Bruce Stuckey was spotted by one of Exeter City’s many local scouts in 1962 when he was ripping apart defenders some 10-20 years his senior for Newton Abbot Spurs aged just 15. Bruce joined City as an apprentice and graduated into the first team ready for the 1965/66 season, making his debut in a 2-1 win at Brentford in November. He scored his first goal for the club on New Years’ Day but couldn’t nail down a regular first team spot, making 27 sporadic appearances during his first two years at the club. Fortunes changed for Bruce at the beginning of the 1967/68 season as he started the opening 12 matches and scored three goals while also getting the first red card of his career against Halifax Town. This attracted the attention of First Division Sunderland, who paid £15,000 for Bruce’s signature half-way through that season. The winger struggled to break into Sunderland’s first team and so just two years later he was back in Devon, but this time with his hometown side Torquay United, where he played 88 times and scored 8 goals in three years. After spells at Reading and Bournemouth, Bruce left the UK to finish his playing career in America, making 13 appearances for the Connecticut Bicentenns. Post-playing, Bruce forged a number of careers ranging from being a Child Care Officer, part-time cricketer to an entertainer across the pubs and clubs of south Devon.