Education
The "Cobblers" finished bottom of the Football League in 1993-1994.
The "Cobblers" finished bottom of the Football League in 1993-1994.
A forward, he scored 44 goals in 182 league appearances in a seven-year career in the Football League. He turned professional at Northampton Town in August 1993. He was loaned out to Dagenham & Redbridge in December 1995, and was transferred to Oxford United later in the month.
He switched to Blackpool in August 1998, where he enjoyed loan spells out to Portuguese Vale and Rushden & Diamonds.
After a game at Nene Park, he was involved in a car accident on the A45, and died of his injuries, aged 25. Northampton-born Aldridge joined Coventry City as a schoolboy, but was released in 1990.
He began his professional career as a trainee with his local side, Northampton Town, joining them from Braunston leaving school in the summer of 1991, and turning professional in August 1993. On 15 October 1994, he scored the first-ever competitive goal at Northampton"s new Sixfields Stadium, in a 1–1 draw with Barnet.
Northampton rose to 17th in the Third Division in 1994-1995 under Ian Atkins"s stewardship.
He moved to Dagenham & Redbridge on loan in December 1995, and later that month moved to Oxford United on a free transfer, where he was intended to replace Wayne Biggins. He scored four goals in 29 games in 1997-1998, but lost his first team place after manager Denis Smith was replaced by Malcolm Shotton. In February 1998, Aldridge joined Southend United on loan, playing eleven times for Alvin Martin"s struggling Second Division side, before returning to Oxford, who released him at the end of the season.
In August 1998 he joined Second Division Blackpool, and was the club"s top scorer in 1998-1999 with ten goals.
However he then fell out with manager Nigel Worthington, and in September 1999 he joined Portuguese Vale on loan, and made three goalless appearances for Brian Horton"s First Division "Valiants" in 1999–2000. In January 2000 he joined Conference club Rushden & Diamonds, also on loan, and scored sixty seconds into his debut in an FA Trophy victory at Bath City.
He was travelling home towards Northampton on the westbound A45 after the game when his Peugeot was involved in a collision with a Bayerische Motoren Werke travelling in the opposite direction. After being cut free from his car, he was taken to Northampton General Hospital with serious injuries.
He was later transferred to Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, where he died early the following morning.
An inquest into his death, conducted in October 2000, recorded a verdict of accidental death. with Oxford United.
