Where Are They Now?                                   Profiles of ex-Luton players

Godfrey Ingram

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Height: 5 ft 07". Weight: 11 st. Born: Luton, 26.10.1959. Nationality: England. International Honours: England Schoolboy.

A former England schoolboy and England youth international, Godfrey was a football prodigy who regularly scored over 100 goals a season in the local Luton youth leagues as a youngster, including a record 112 goals at age 15. Godfrey was a skilful, fast and gifted forward equally happy as an attacking midfield play maker.

Godfrey Ingram during his early years as a Luton player.

In fact he was so highly regarded that, after a stellar performance in a classic England v Germany game in the final of the European Youth Cup in 1975, a game in which he scored two goals including the winner, the West German National Team Coach Helmut Schoen hailed Godfrey as being the "next Pele" after running the young German defence ragged. Schoen recommend Godfrey to several European teams but Godfrey stayed loyal to his roots by turning down a dream move to top Bundesliga Side Schalke 04 in favour of joining Luton Town at age 16.

As a young lad from Luton, he was a big Hatters fan. During the 1969-70 season he ran out before a game leading the team out as mascot for the day.  He was already being talked about as the ‘Next big thing’ when he was handed his League debut as a substitute by then Hatters boss Harry Haslam in a 0-1 home defeat to Oldham Athletic on January 14th 1978. Godfrey progressed through the youth scheme with Luton Town under the skilled coaching of Uruguayan Danny Bergara.

However, just 8 days after handing Ingram his debut, Haslam left the club and David Pleat took over as the manager and began arguably the greatest-ever period in the club’s history but a frustrating period for Godfrey. 

With the Hatters languishing in mid-table in Division Two, Pleat gave Godfrey a further 2 first-team appearances in the final two games of that campaign, the 1977-78 season.  He came on as a substitute in a 0-1 loss at Millwall before starting for the first time at senior level in the final match of the season against Burnley at home, a game in which he wore the number 9 shirt and scored on his full debut - immediately catching the imagination of the Luton supporters in the Oak Road when he jumped onto the safety fence to celebrate with those he’d been standing with a few years back.

Hopes were still high that Godfrey would continue to develop and fulfill the great expectations that he had built up in people’s minds. 

He entered the following season very much in Pleat’s thoughts and he made his first appearance of the season in only the second match of the campaign, as a substitute in a 1-3 defeat at Crystal Palace.  Two further first-team appearances followed during that season – both starting appearances – in away defeats to Bristol Rovers and Brighton & Hove Albion as Luton finished the season in a disappointing 18th place.  It was also a very disappointing season for Godfrey who never got an extended run of games to settle into the side.

Godfrey pictured during his time with the New York Cosmos.

Godfrey then had a spell with New York Cosmos in 1979 where he played alongside the legendary stars Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Johann Neeskens, Wim Risjbergen and Carlos Alberto. Godfrey made his debut in front of 77,000 fans in a friendly against the 1978 Argentina World Cup side and their newest discovery Maradona. Godfrey immediately took to the razzmatazz of the NASL and became a regular at the famous Studio 54 Night club in Manhattan with his newly found friends Mick Jagger and actor Tony Curtis.

On his return to Luton, he did make more of an impression when he made 17 League appearances and scored 5 goals – as well as several goals in the FA Cup against Leyton Orient and a screamer against Newcastle United.  Despite his perseverance, he was never given an extended run in Luton’s side and would sporadically partner Brian Stein in attack as Pleat continued to prefer Steve White, his new record signing.

Godfrey pictured once again at Luton.

Godfrey played the first 3 matches of the 1981-82 season and a 2-1 win at Bolton Wanderers on September 5th 1981 was his last appearance for the club.

Earlier that year Godfrey had completed a successful trial with Aberdeen under Alex Ferguson, but Ferguson cited the asking fee of £150,000 as too high.  There had also been rumours that Chelsea were about to make an offer but Godfrey finally got a fresh start when he surprisingly agreed to make a move to California to join George Best at the San Jose Earthquakes - owned at the time by Milan Mandaric, who would later own Portsmouth and Leicester City.

His time in the United States in the NASL established Godfrey as a lightning quick striker and made him a firm fans favourite, his new found status as the Earthquakes main striker saw him break Best’s scoring record with 17 goals, including 11 game winning goals in his first season. Mr. Excitement as he was known was finally fulfilling his early potential. In 1982 Godfrey returned to English football in a £200,000 move to Cardiff City to become Cardiff’s record signing, a record that lasted until the year 2000. However after 4 goals in 7 full games, the Earthquakes invoked a buy back clause when it became apparent that George Best had played his final game for the club.

Godfrey in action for the San Jose Earthquakes.

The following season, Godfrey and Yugoslavian international Slavisa Zungul formed a formidable partnership, again breaking all scoring records as the Earthquakes won all 15 of their home games and ended up as Western Division Champions before losing in the semi-finals of the NASL Soccer Bowl. Both Godfrey and Zungul were voted onto the All-Star team.  Godfrey would be voted to the team a total of 4 times in his career.

In 1986, Godfrey teamed up again with Zungul in the MISL (Major Indoor Soccer League).  The two combined with Preki (later to play for Everton) and Gary Heale (an ex-Luton Town youngster) to lead the Tacoma Stars to the final, but they lost the best of 7 series in a heart breaking final game to Dallas Sidekicks in front of a record indoor soccer crowd of 26,000 fans.

Ironically, Godfrey was bought by Dallas on January 11, 1988 in a deal with the St. Louis Steamers that cost Dallas their first and second round draft choices in the 1988 MISL draft and $75,000 cash after Sidekicks leading scorer, Brazilian Tatu, was injured in the first regular season game at Tacoma. Godfrey scored his first two goals as a Dallas Sidekick player on January 21, 1988 against Baltimore.  He also scored the only hat-trick as a Dallas Sidekick player in Game 2 of the Divisional Semi-Final play-off series at Cleveland.

Godfrey at Dallas Sidekicks.

In the 1988-89 season, Godfrey scored the Game Winning Goal on November 13, 1988 vs Tacoma, but this would be his last game as a Dallas Sidekick player after 39 games and 32 goals in the indoor League.

Always at the top in the goal scoring charts, Godfrey then returned to Tacoma, coached at the time by ex-Derby County winger Alan Hinton, for the remainder of the 1988-89 season before moving back to St. Louis Storm for the remainder of his career in the Major Indoor Soccer League.

After the collapse of the MISL, Godfrey returned to England and briefly joined Non-League Buckingham Town to keep fit and pass on his experience to their younger players as he is a personal friend of their then manager Morell Maison.  He was club captain of the Non-League side during the 2000-01 season.

Godfrey is now a successful businessman based in California and partners with well-known African American Entrepreneur Michael V. Roberts, whom he met whilst playing in St. Louis. Their joint interests include Telecoms, Aviation, Financial Services, Commercial Property, Software and Consultancy.  Godfrey still plays regularly for singer Rod Stewart’s football team in Los Angeles.

Godfrey Ingram the businessman.

Recently Godfrey joined the Luton2020 bid, the fan based consortium, as a key investor.  When asked why he became involved Godfrey replied “It’s full circle for me, I was born in Luton, raised in Luton and had the great fortune to serve Luton as a player but had to leave the club I loved to fulfill my potential. It is rare that any person has the opportunity to give back to their own community in such a fulfilling way.  I have fond memories of standing in the Oak Road with my Dad watching my heroes; Branston, Read, Jardine, MacDonald, Slough and Rioch as a kid. And who can ever forget the power and mesmerizing skills of Graham French, seeing him play was the single most important reason I started playing football. It’s time for us to create a new history and some fresh memories for the kids in our community. I’m really proud to be part of the consortium and investing my resources, time and knowledge to help achieve an exciting future for our club."

Profile By:  James Garley