Gilbert Arthur Alsop (22 September 1908 – 16 April 1992) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

Early life

Alsop was born in

Frampton Cotterell Frampton Cotterell is a village and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, on the River Frome. The village is contiguous with Winterbourne to the south-west and Coalpit Heath to the east. The parish borders Iron Acton to the north a ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

to Arthur George Alsop, a coal miner, and Florence Caroline Alsop (née Thornell). He had three older siblings; Frederick, Hilda and Arthur. After leaving school, he signed for local amateur side Latteridge for a time, before signing for Southern League

Bath City Bath City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club is affiliated to the Somerset FA and currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. Nicknamed the "R ...

in August 1927.

Professional career

In December 1929 he moved to

Football League 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 ...

side

on professional terms. He spent two seasons with the ''Sky Blues'' but failed to gain a regular starting place, making only 16 league appearances and scoring four times. He started the first of two very successful spells at

in September 1931, scoring on his debut in a 2–0 win over

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

. He went on to score 15 times in his first season with the ''Saddlers''. In January 1933 he scored the opening goal in Walsall's 2–0 win over

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English Association football, football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful manage ...

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 ...

in the

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 ...

. A result still regarded as one of the greatest FA Cup upsets of all-time. After a remarkable scoring return of 40 goals in all competitions in 1933–34 and 48 goals in all competitions in 1934–35, Alsop attracted the attention of clubs further up the league and moved to

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 ...

in November 1935. However, Alsop found his first team opportunities were severely limited by the form of W. G. Richardson and Harry Jones, managing only one league appearance for the club in his two seasons at

The Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an All-seater stadium, all-seater association football, football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of EFL Championship, Championship club West Bromwich Albion F.C. ...

. Alsop signed for

in May 1937 and scored 30 goals in 39 senior matches in the Southern League and the

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 ...

. He scored in Ipswich's first ever match in the

– a 4–2 victory over

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

in August 1938. He returned to Walsall in October 1938 and, despite the outbreak of war, made a further 106 appearances and continued his prolific goalscoring form for the Midlands side. He played his last full season at

Fellows Park Fellows Park was a football stadium in Walsall, England. It was the home ground of Walsall F.C. from 1896 until 1990, when the team moved to the Bescot Stadium. Fellows Park was situated about a quarter of a mile away from the club's present ...

as player-coach to Walsall's third team in 1947–48, before eventually retiring in May 1948. In all competitions, Alsop played 324 times for Walsall and scored 226 goals.

Later life

Alsop worked behind the scenes at

for a further 20 years or so after retiring and later became groundsman of the playing fields adjoining Walsall Arboretum. He was still attending home games at

Bescot Stadium Bescot Stadium, currently known as the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in the area of Bescot, Walsall, West Midlands, England, and is the current home ground of Walsall Football Club and Aston Vill ...

, right up to his death in April 1992 at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alsop, Gilbert 1908 births 1992 deaths Bath City F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. wartime guest players People from South Gloucestershire District English Football League players English men's footballers Footballers from Gloucestershire Men's association football forwards 20th-century English sportsmen