George William Showell (9 February 1934 – 18 December 2012) 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 in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

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 ...

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 ...

and

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

. He spent the majority of his playing career with Wolverhampton Wanderers, featuring in two league championship-winning seasons and in the 1960 FA Cup Final.

Career

Showell was born in

Bilston Bilston is a market town in the City of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. It is in the Black Country, south east of Wolverhampton city centre and close to the borders of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, Sandwell ...

and signed up by

in 1949. After several seasons in the reserves, he made his senior debut on 2 April 1955 in a 1–1 draw against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

. This was the first in a run of games he had at the end of the 1954–55 season,. He did however play in two of the club's league championship triumphs, as well as in the 1960 FA Cup Final, where they beat

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

3–0 at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

, and the

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

and 1960 Charity Shield matches. He finally gained a regular first-team role after Billy Wright retired at the beginning of the 1959–60 campaign, and over the first half of the 1960s was a first-choice player at Molineux, amassing 218 appearances in total. When the club were relegated in 1965, Showell moved to

. He spent just eighteen months there before joining

in November 1966, where he finished his playing career. He remained with Wrexham until 1990, as assistant manager, trainer,

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

, and physiotherapist, and was one of 20 inaugural inductees to the club's Supporters Association Hall of Fame. He died on 18 December 2012 aged 78. He collapsed while shopping at a supermarket and died later in Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Honours

Wolverhampton Wanderers *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

: 1959–60

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Showell, George 1934 births 2012 deaths Footballers from Bilston English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen