FORMER England footballer and Bolton headteacher Warren Bradley has died, aged 73.

Mr Bradley won three international caps at outside right during a four-year spell with Manchester United from 1958.

Unlike most youngsters, however, his true ambition had not been to play football but to teach.

"All I really wanted was to be a headmaster," he said in an interview in 2005.

Mr Bradley achieved that ambition in 1968 and eventually went on to become head at Deane Comprehensive School, now Ladybridge High, between 1982 and 1988.

He died on June 6 in Manchester.

Born in Hyde, Cheshire, Mr Bradley signed schoolboy terms for Bolton Wanderers, aged 14. He appeared just nine times for Wanderers' second team between 1953 and 1955 before playing as an amateur for Bishop Auckland, during which time he made 11 appearances for the England amateur team.

He was one of three players drafted in from the North-east club by Sir Matt Busby to play for his post-Munich disaster Manchester United team.

After signing as a part-time professional, Mr Bradley's strong displays - he scored 12 times in 24 appearances during 1958/9 - resulted in his call-up to the full England team in 1959.

Soon after, however, he found himself plagued by a knee injury and second choice at Old Trafford to a young Johnny Giles.

He was sold to Bury for £2,500 in March 1962 and later played for Northwich Victoria, Macclesfield Town and Bangor City.

Mr Bradley began his teaching career at Great Stone Secondary Modern School, Stretford, and went on to teach in Trafford before moving to Deane.

In 1988, he retired from Deane School and became a school inspector until he fully retired in his sixties.