John David Gaskell (born 5 October 1940) is an English former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Gaskell started his career as a youth player with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. He helped United win several trophies during the 1960s. He left the club for

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

in June 1969.

Career

Born in

Orrell Orrell may refer to: *Orrell, Greater Manchester, a district of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan **Orrell (ward), an electoral ward of the Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council *Orrell, Merseyside, an urban area east of Bootle, in the Metropolitan Bo ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, Gaskell began his football career with Manchester United F.C. having been spotted playing for youth team Orrell St Luke's. He made his senior debut for United on 24 October 1956, when he played in the

1956 FA Charity Shield The 1956 FA Charity Shield was the 34th FA Charity Shield, an annual football match held between the winners of the previous season's Football League and FA Cup competitions. The match was contested by Manchester United, who had won the 1955–56 ...

at the age of 16 years and 19 days, making him the youngest player ever to have played for the club. His league debut came over a year later, in a 4–3 home defeat to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

on 30 November 1957. He was not with the Manchester United squad when their aeroplane

crashed "Crashed" is the third U.S. rock Single (music), single, (the fifth overall), from the band Daughtry (band), Daughtry's debut album. It was released only to U.S. rock stations on September 5, 2007. Upon its release the song got adds at those stat ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

on the way home from a

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

tie on 6 February 1958, killing eight players. By the early 1960s, he had become a regular in the United first team, covering for first choice goalkeeper

Harry Gregg Henry Gregg, (27 October 1932 – 16 February 2020), was a Northern Irish professional footballer and manager. A goalkeeper, he played for Manchester United during the reign of Sir Matt Busby, with a total of 247 appearances for the club. He w ...

. The zenith of Gaskell's career came in 1963, when he kept goal for United in their

1963 FA Cup Final The 1963 FA Cup Final was the final of the 1962–63 FA Cup, the 82nd season of England's premier club football competition. The match was played at Wembley Stadium (which was fully roofed for the first time) on 25 May 1963 and contested by Manch ...

win over

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. A succession of injuries to Gregg meant that Gaskell was in and out of the first team on a regular basis, but the signing of

Pat Dunne Patrick "Pat" Dunne (9 February 1943 – 25 September 2015) was an Irish professional football goalkeeper. He played internationally for the Republic of Ireland and professionally in both Republic of Ireland and England. Dunne played in Dublin ...

in May 1964 meant that Gaskell was relegated to the position of third-choice goalkeeper. Both Gregg and Dunne left in 1966, but the arrival of

Alex Stepney Alexander Cyril Stepney (born 18 September 1942) is an English former footballer who was Manchester United's goalkeeper when they became the first English club to win the European Cup. Early career Born in Mitcham, Surrey, Stepney had unsucce ...

and the emergence of young

Jimmy Rimmer John James Rimmer (born 10 February 1948) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Manchester United, Swansea City, Arsenal and Aston Villa. Rimmer, who won two European Cup winners medals, has been ...

meant that Gaskell was still third-choice at the club, so he left in the summer of 1969. On departing from

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

, Gaskell signed for Wrexham and remained there for three years. He worked for Post Office Telephones (now BT) for a short period before moving to South Africa, where he played for

Arcadia Shepherds Arcadia Shepherds are a South African association football club based in Arcadia, Pretoria. It is affiliated with the Football Association of Pretoria (FAP). History The club was founded in 1903, and was briefly renamed ''Arcadia United'' in th ...

until his retirement.

Honours

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1964–65, 1966–67 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

References

External links

David Gaskell
at StretfordEnd.co.uk

at MUFCInfo.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaskell, David 1940 births Living people People from Orrell English footballers Association football goalkeepers Manchester United F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Arcadia Shepherds F.C. players English Football League players FA Cup Final players