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Full name Edward Dennis Herbert Uphill
Date of birth 11 August 1931(1931-08-11)
Place of birth Bath, England
Date of death 7 February 2007 (aged 75)
Place of death Watford, England
Playing position inside forward
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
Tottenham Hotspur
Reading
Coventry City
Mansfield Town
Watford
Crystal palace
Dennis Uphill (born 11 August 1931 in Bath– died 7 February 2007 in Watford) was a professional fooballer who played for Tottenham Hotspur, Reading, Coventry City, Mansfield Town,Watford Town and Crystal Palace.
Football career
Uphill signed as a professional for Spurs in September 1949 and made his Football League debut against Sunderland on 2 February 1950. He played a part in the push and run side of 1950-51 when he scored one goal and made two appearances in the position of inside forward. Uphill made a total of six appearances and scored twice between 1950-53. Signed by Reading in an exchange deal which involved Johnny Brooks in February 1953 he went on to make 92 appearances and netting 42 goals for the club. Uphill joined Coventry City in October 1955 where he completed 49 appearances and scoring on 16 occasions. In March 1957 he transferred to Mansfield Town where he featured in 83 games and found the net 38 times. Uphill went on to join Watford in June 1959 and played in 51 matches and scoring 30 goals. He finished his senior career at Crystal Palace in October 1960 where he played 63 games and scoring on 17 occasions.
After football
After retiring from the game through injury, he gained a turf accountants licence and ran a book makers business in Watford, before owning a removals company. He retired fom work in 1995, but stood as a Conservative candidate in the Watford local council election.
Born in Bath in 1931 he joined Tottenham as a junior in 1948 after being spotted playing for Western League side Peasedown Colliery. Spurs loaned him out to crack amateur outfit Finchley before he turned professional in 1949.
A short, stocky but skilful inside-forward Denis never became a regular at White Hart Lane but was a valuable understudy to England international Eddie Baily. He made his debut during Spurs 1950-51 championship season, in a 1-1 home draw with Sunderland. He played only six league games in four years, scoring two goals before moving to third division Reading in 1953. He scored 42 goals in three seasons at Elm Park before City’s flamboyant manager Jesse Carver, under pressure to revert to English tactics after a run of poor away results, saw Uphill (his first signing) and another signing Ken McPherson as the ideal front pairing to pacify the critics.
He was signed after appearing as a guest player in a home friendly with First Division Burnley. He showed Carver enough in the 1-2 defeat to convince the manager to sign him.
After making his league debut in a 1-1 draw with Aldershot, Denis was soon on the score-sheet and scored 12 goals in 31 games as City made a vain attempt at promotion. He netted two goals in the 5-3 Christmas Eve win over Norwich and another brace in the 3-1 win over Ipswich later in the season. During that season the club had the unusual situation of a forward line including Denis Uphill, Peter Hill and Jimmy Hill.
In 1956-57, with Harry Warren in charge, Denis lost his place and scored only four goals in 19 games and was made available for transfer. After rejecting a move to Ipswich he signed for Mansfield in March 1957. In 1959 he returned south to play for Watford and in his first season scored an amazing 30 goals as the Hornets won promotion from Division Four. His partnership with Cliff Holton (who scored 42 goals) yielded 72 of Watford’s 92 league goals that season. In October 1960 Crystal Palace, managed by his former Spurs boss Arthur Rowe, snapped him up and he scored 21 goals in 74 games for the South London side, including one in their 2-0 win at Highfield Road which virtually sealed Billy Frith’s fate in 1961. He appeared alongside Bill Glazier and Brian Lewis, both who later joined City.
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