Albert Beech (24 September 1912 – 20 June 1985) was an English

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 defender for

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

, and

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

. He played in the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

with Huddersfield and won the

Cheshire Senior Cup The Cheshire County Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Cheshire Senior Cup, is a football knockout tournament founded in the 1879–80 season and involves teams from Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, England. I ...

with Altrincham.

Early and personal life

Albert Beech was born on 24 September 1912 in

Fenton, Staffordshire Fenton is one of the six towns that amalgamated with Hanley, Tunstall, Burslem, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent to form the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910, later raised to city status in 1925. Fenton is often referred to as "the Forgot ...

; he married and later died in Fenton.

Career

Before joining

in November 1930, Beech played for Leek Alexandra and Stoke St. Peter's. He turned professional in September 1931. He made his only appearance for the club in a 2–1 home defeat to

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

on 28 November 1931. He left on a free transfer in May 1933 and moved on to

. He was the club's top-scorer in the 1933–34 campaign, scoring 24 goals in 49 games, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against Crewe Alexandra Reserves in a 6–2 win on 2 December. He won the

with the club, as Altrincham beat

Congleton Town Congleton Town Football Club is an association football club based in Congleton, Cheshire, England. They currently play in the and are full members of the Cheshire County Football Association. The club have played in a number of regional leagu ...

1–0 in the final at

Edgeley Park Edgeley Park is a association football, football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for Stockport RFC, a rugby league club, in 1891, by 1903 the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County F.C., Stockport County Football Club moved i ...

. Having proven himself in the

Cheshire County League The Cheshire County League was a football league founded in the north west of England in 1919, drawing its teams largely from Cheshire, surrounding English counties and North Wales. Initially the league was dominated by the reserve teams of Fo ...

, he was signed by

club

in June 1934, alongside left-back James Taylor. He played three matches in the 1934–35 campaign. He scored four goals in 16 games during the 1935–36 season, with his first goal in the Football League coming on 14 April in a 1–1 draw with

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. He featured just three times in the 1936–37 season, his final appearance coming in a 5–0 defeat at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

on 27 February. He was sold on to

for a £1,000 fee in June 1937. He played 13

Third Division South The Third Division South of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

matches in the 1937–38 season. He then returned to Fenton and played for

before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

ended his professional career at the age of 27.

Career statistics

Honours

Altrincham *

: 1934

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beech, Albert People from Fenton, Staffordshire Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Port Vale F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players English Football League players 1912 births 1985 deaths 20th-century English sportsmen