Frank Wignall (born 21 August 1939) is an English former

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 professionally for Everton,

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

and

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

, as well as at international level with

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He later became player-manager of

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

. After a spell with the Qatar national team, In July 1981 he was appointed manager of Shepshed Charterhouse.

Club career

Wignall signed for Nottingham Forest from Everton in 1963 for, a then club record transfer of, about £20,000. He made his debut on 24 August 1963 against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

and scored his first goal in his second game away to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 29 August. He was Forest's top scorer during his first two seasons there with 21 goals in the 1963–64 season and 16 goals in the 1964–65 season. His last competitive appearance was in the FA Cup at

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

on 17 February 1968. Wignall played for Derby County between 1969 and 1971, and began the 1971–72 season playing regularly, scoring 5 goals in 11 league appearances. However he was transferred to

late in 1971 and Derby went on to win the First Division title that season in his absence.

International career

Wignall played twice for England as a centre forward. He scored his two international goals on his England debut against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

in a 2–1 victory on 18 November 1964. His second and final game for England was in a 1–1 draw away to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Wignall believed that he might have made the England squad for the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FI ...

, had he not broken his leg, saying that "I was in the England team and Geoff Hurst took my position. All because I broke me leg".

References

1939 births Living people English men's footballers English football managers England men's international footballers Chorley F.C. players Everton F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players King's Lynn F.C. players Qatar national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Qatar People from Blackrod Footballers from Greater Manchester Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton Leigh Genesis F.C. players English expatriate football managers English Football League players English Football League representative players Burton Albion F.C. players King's Lynn F.C. managers Men's association football forwards {{England-footy-forward-1930s-stub