Keith Edwin Bertschin (born 25 August 1956) is an English former professional football player and coach.
A striker, Bertschin began his professional career with Ipswich Town (1973–1977), before playing for Birmingham City (1977–1981), Norwich City (1981–1982; 1982–1984), Stoke City (1984–1987), Sunderland (1987–1988), Walsall (1988–1990), Chester City (1990–1991) and Aldershot (1991–1992). He also played non-League football and had a short spell playing in the United States with the Jacksonville Tea Men in 1982.
Playing career Bertschin was born in Enfield and began his career with Barnet before joining Ipswich Town in 1973. He scored seven times for England's Youth team in nine appearances. England Youth Appearances He made a perfect start to professional football scoring on his debut scoring the winning goal in a 2–1 victory over Arsenal in April 1976. He scored again two days later against West Ham United. He became a full member of the squad in 1976–77 scoring six goals in 30 appearances as Ipswich finished in 3rd position. Bertschin joined Birmingham City in July 1977 for a fee of £135,000. He spent four seasons at St Andrew's making 143 appearances scoring 41 goals and helped the club gain promotion in 1979–80. His goal against Arsenal at Highbury in October 1977 won The Big Match Golden Goal award for 1977–78.
Bertschin joined Norwich City in August 1981 and helped the Canaries gain promotion to the First Division in 1981–82. He scored twice against his old club Birmingham in a 5–1 victory earning Norwich their first victory of the 1982–83 season. He spent the summer of 1982 playing in the United States for Jacksonville Tea Men.
Bertschin left Carrow Road in November 1984 to join Stoke City. Stoke were rock bottom of the table when Bertschin joined in 1984–85 and he could do little to prevent the side failing to an embarrassing relegation which saw Stoke go down with a then record low points tally. In 1985–86 had a fine season top-scoring with 23 goals, 19 coming in the league and he won the player of the year award. Unfortunately for Stoke he was their only consistent goalscorer and the side finished in a mid-table position of 10th. He scored eight goals in 27 appearances in 1986–87 before he was sold to Sunderland in March 1987. He couldn't prevent Sunderland being relegated but played a major role in 1987–88 which saw the Black Cats win the Third Division title. Bertschin ended his professional career at Walsall, Chester City and Aldershot before dropping into non-league football.
Bertschin played for Solihull Borough, Evesham United and was a member of the Barry Town team which won the Welsh Cup in 1994 with a 2–1 victory against Cardiff City. He then went on to play for Worcester City, Hednesford Town, Tamworth and finally Stafford Rangers.
Coaching career After retiring from playing, he worked as an agent for a number of players before his appointment to the coaching staff at Birmingham City. In November 2007, when Birmingham manager Steve Bruce left to join Wigan Athletic, Bertschin and other members of Birmingham's backroom staff accompanied him. In June 2009, when Bruce moved on to Sunderland, Bertschin again followed. On 29 June 2012 it was announced that Bertschin had taken up the post of first team coach at Hull City. On 2 August 2016, the club sacked Bertschin from his position of first team coach.
Bertschin took temporary charge of Solihull Moors on 9 November 2016 following the departure of Marcus Bignot. He was then assistant manager at Solihull and was then appointed first-team coach of the Solihull Moors Ladies team.
Career statistics + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueFA CupLeague CupOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsIpswich Town1975–76First Division32000000321976–77First Division296001000306Total328001000338Birmingham City1977–78First Division421123103048141978–79First Division921010001121979–80Second Division371233203345181980–81First Division304324100377Total11829981016314341Norwich City1981–82Second Division361230100040121982–83First Division40854420049141983–84First Division33751620044101984–85First Division5200000052Total114291351140013838Jacksonville Tea Men (loan)1982NASL143–––143Stoke City1984–85First Division2522000002721985–86Second Division421910323249231986–87Second Division218401010278Total882970424210333Sunderland1986–87Second Division1120000211331987–88Third Division255102022307Total3671020434310Walsall1988–89Second Division2001030112511989–90Third Division35932105344131990–91Fourth Division0000001010Total5594240747114Chester City1990–91Third Division190310000221Career total47611437163272112566149
Honours Birmingham City Football League Second Division third-place promotion: 1979–80
Norwich City Football League Second Division third-place promotion: 1981–82
Stoke City Stoke City player of the year: 1986
Sunderland Football League Third Division champions: 1987–88
Barry Town Welsh Cup winners: 1993–94
References General
Specific
External links Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk