Vincent Lee Bartram was born on 7 August 1968 in Birmingham and started as a footballer with Wolverhampton Wanderers at a time when they were in the fourth division.
After a series of loans with Blackpool, Cheltenham, and WBA he moved to Bournemouth in 1991, playing over 100 games for them under the management of Harry Redknapp.
In 1994 George Graham at Arsenal bought him for £250,000 as second keeper to David Seaman. Here he was coached by Bob Wilson, and played 11 games in 1994/5 but then no more until going to Huddersfield on loan in 1997.
After this he moved to Gillingham in March 1998. It is interesting to note that in his first season he played in goal for Gillingham in the third division play off final against Manchester City. Gillingham lost that but got promotion to the second division (Championship) the following season with Vince Bartram in goal.
After over 200 games for Gillingham he retired in 2004, apparently after colliding with goalkeeper Tony Warner who had entered Vince’s penalty area, to try and score from a corner in the last minute.
In total, he made over 200 appearances for the Gills, before his retirement from the game in February 2004 following that keeper on keeper collision.
Since then it is reported that he has run an organisation called KeeperStars UK. He is now development goalkeeping coach at Southampton.
| Years | Team | League Games |
| 1986–1991 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 5 |
| 1989 | Blackpool (loan) | 9 |
| 1990 | Cheltenham Town (loan) | 5 |
| 1991 | West Bromwich Albion (loan) | 0 |
| 1991–1994 | Bournemouth | 132 |
| 1994–1998 | Arsenal | 11 |
| 1997 | Huddersfield Town (loan) | 12 |
| 1998–2004 | Gillingham |
The books
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal
The complete Arsenal Anniversary series is to be found on the Arsenal History Society site.
You can read about Arsenal today on Untold Arsenal
“We all agree that Bartram is better than Lukic”