Alan Frederick Graham Skirton (23 January 1939 – 12 May 2019) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, who played as a winger, spending the majority of his career at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. A "prolific winger", Skirton was known as the 'Highbury Express' during his seven-year tenure at the

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

club.

Playing career

Skirton started out as a player with West Twerton Youth Club in his home city of Bath before joining

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

as an amateur. However, they did not retain him and he then joined hometown club Bath City in the Southern League. He soon attracted the attention of several other clubs.

won the fight for his signature, signing him in January 1959 for £5,000. Soon after signing, however, Skirton contracted

pleurisy Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity (Pulmonary pleurae, pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant d ...

and

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

and was out of action for eighteen months. He finally made his debut for Arsenal against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

on 20 August 1960. He played sixteen games that season, sharing the

right wing Right-wing politics is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...

position with Danny Clapton. He supplanted Clapton altogether the following season, and scored nineteen goals in 40 matches, making him the club's top scorer for that season. After the signing of Johnny MacLeod in the summer of 1962, Skirton was switched to the left wing, where he played for the next four seasons, albeit irregularly, as Arsenal manager Billy Wright preferred to field only one out-and-out winger. The emergence of the young George Armstrong also meant Skirton's place was under threat, and Skirton shared duties with Armstrong for his final two seasons at the club. Nevertheless, Skirton still averaged twenty appearances a season, and made history by becoming the first Arsenal player to score a goal in a European match at

Highbury Highbury is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

, against Danish club,

Stævnet Stævnet ( or ''the meeting'') or Copenhagen XI were a Danish association football representative team which had its prime before 1970, however it was active until 1994. Stævnet participated in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the precursor of UEFA C ...

on 22 October 1963. However, Wright's successor,

Bertie Mee Bertram Mee (25 December 1918 – 21 October 2001) was an English footballer and manager. After his playing career was cut short by injury, he later became a manager and led Arsenal to their first Double win in 1971. Playing career Born in Hig ...

, was looking to youth as the means to success for the Gunners. After playing the first two matches of the 1966–67 season, Skirton signed for

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

on 12 September 1966 for £65,000. He had played 153 matches for Arsenal, scoring 53 goals. Skirton scored on his debut for Blackpool five days later in the 1966–67 season, ironically at Highbury in a 1–1 draw, although he limped off injured later in the game. After missing three games, he scored once in a 3–1 victory over

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

, and two more in a 3–1 win at Stamford Bridge over Chelsea. His home debut saw ''the Seasiders'' beat

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

6–0 at

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a association football, football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool Football Club since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two be ...

with Skirton scoring twice. However, his goalscoring was not so prolific in the rest of the season and he finished the season with ten league and cup goals in 28 games. His eight league goals that season though couldn't save ''the Seasiders'' from relegation to Division Two. In the 1967–68 season, Blackpool narrowly missed out on promotion back to the top flight, finishing third on goal average behind Ipswich Town and

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

. Skirton scored 17 league goals that season. After 17 games at the start of the 1968–69 season, Blackpool manager

Stan Mortensen Stanley Harding Mortensen (26 May 1921 – 22 May 1991) was an English professional footballer, notable for his part in the 1953 FA Cup final (subsequently known as the " Matthews Final"), in which he became the only player ever to score a hat- ...

saw the emergence of

Ronnie Brown Ronnie G. Brown Jr. (born December 12, 1981) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). After graduating from Cartersville High School in Georgia, Brown attended Auburn Uni ...

on the right wing, and he allowed Skirton to return to the

West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...

where he joined Bristol City for £15,000 on 20 November 1968. He went on to play for

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

, and South African club Durban City F.C. He ended his career at Weymouth who he helped to win the Southern League Cup in the 1972–73 season.

Post-retirement

Just before he retired from playing, Skirton became assistant commercial manager at Weymouth, before rejoining his old club Bath City as commercial manager in July 1974. On 14 September 1981 he joined Yeovil Town to take up the same position and remained there until his retirement in 2002. He died on 12 May 2019 at the age of 80.

Honours

Weymouth * Southern League Cup winner: 1972–73

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skirton, Alan 1939 births 2019 deaths Footballers from Bath, Somerset English men's footballers Men's association football wingers Bath City F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Durban City F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen

Playing career

Post-retirement

Honours

References

Further reading

External links