the club record for the fastest goal scored for the club, which he set on 23 October 1954 against Charlton Athletic, after just fifteen seconds. After leaving Cardiff in 1956, he released his autobiography I Lead the Attack in which he revealed that he was involved in an illegal-payments scandal while at Sunderland, with the club attempting to circumvent the maximum wage at the time by offering payments and other incentives to players. Ford detailed several ways that Sunderland's board of directors had attempted to add extra bonuses such as offering houses for free or at hugely reduced costs to players and the free installation of new kitchen appliances whenever needed. The revelations saw the club suffer heavy financial penalties and Ford was temporarily suspended from the game. However, he maintained that he never regretted releasing the book. Following his suspension, Ford initially announced his retirement from football at the age of 33 but decided to come out of retirement in 1957. With the suspension in place, he was forced to look overseas for a club, signing for Dutch club PSV Eindhoven who were managed by Englishman George Hardwick at the time. Despite averaging a goal nearly every other game, Ford was largely in the shadow of one of the PSV's all-time greats in Coen Dillen during his spell with the club and failed to win a trophy during his three-year stint in Holland. He eventually won his case for reinstatement, returning to The Football League with a brief spell at Newport County in the Third Division. He ended a long career playing his football at Romford. In 1955, Ford also guest appeared for Southern Premier League side Gloucester City. International career Ford made his first appearance for Wales on 4 May 1946 in a 1–0 defeat to Northern Ireland in a wartime international. He won his first official cap soon after, making a goal scoring debut in Wales' first official international since the end of the war, a 3–1 victory over Scotland in 1946–47 British Home Championship at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham. He missed the following match of the competition against England but returned to the side for the final match of the competition, scoring Wales' goal in a 2–1 defeat to Ireland. He continued his scoring start for Wales with another goal against Scotland in the following British Home Championship in 1947, his third goal in his