Howard Anthony Gayle (born 18 May 1958) 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 for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

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 ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, Halifax Town,

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 ...

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

. Gayle began his career with

, becoming the first black player to play for the team. After loan spells with

and

he joined

in search of regular first team football. He then played for

and had a short spell in the United States playing indoor football with the Dallas Sidekicks. He returned to England and played for

and ended his career with Halifax Town.

Club career

Gayle was born in

Toxteth Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the county of Merseyside. Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Liverpool, Canning, Dingle, Liverpool, Dingle, and Edge Hill, Merseyside, Edge Hill ...

and joined the youth ranks at local side

in 1974. He signed a professional contract with the club in 1977, becoming the first black player to play for Liverpool, which was seen as a "victory" for the black community in Liverpool. His finest hour for Liverpool came in the

1980–81 European Cup The 1980–81 European Cup was the 26th season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football competition. The tournament was won for a third time by Liverpool, who beat six-time champions Real Madrid in the final. In the 11 seasons up to and ...

semi-final second leg away at

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

when he came on as an early substitute to help Liverpool draw 1–1 and progress to the final on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

. Although he was a non-playing substitute in the final, he was rewarded with a winner's medal. After loan spells at

and

he left

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

after making just five appearances. While at Newcastle he became the first Black player to represent them in the Football League when he made his debut against Cambridge United on 27 November 1982. Gayle joined

where he played in the 1982–83 season scoring once against West Ham and then he hit 10 in 45 during the 1983–84 campaign. Gayle then signed for Len Ashurst's

, where he became a popular player playing in two seasons before moving to the United States to play for Dallas Sidekicks in the Major Indoor Soccer League. He returned to England in April 1987 to play for

, playing six matches at the end of the 1986–87 season, scoring twice in a 3–2 defeat against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

. He then spent five years at

, where he was that club's first black player, the third club where he had achieved this milestone. He signed for them in 1987 and was a regular striker in their quest for top-flight football after an absence of more than 20 years. He scored a total of 23 goals in the 1988-89 season, but Blackburn missed out on promotion with a playoff final defeat. However, by the time Blackburn were promoted to the newly created

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

in 1992, Gayle had fallen down the pecking order in favour of expensive new signings Mike Newell and

David Speedie David Robert Speedie (born 20 February 1960) is a Scottish former footballer who played for several clubs in England during the 1980s and 1990s, most notably Chelsea, Coventry City, Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers. He accumulated more than 500 ...

, and with the arrival of national record signing

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer (born 13 August 1970) is an English Association football, football pundit and former professional player who played as a striker (association football), striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of all time and one of t ...

that summer, it was clear that Blackburn manager

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time as well as one of Celtic's, Liv ...

felt that Gayle was surplus to requirements at

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a Association football, football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the English Football League, Football League and Premier League, who have played there since ...

. Gayle joined Halifax Town in the newly renamed

Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the Third Division become the fourth tier of English football. In 2 ...

but managed just five league appearances as they were relegated to the

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

. After leaving Halifax he had a brief trial at

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

, before retiring from football.

International career

As an overage player, he helped England win the

1984 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The 1984 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 4th staging of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The qualifying stage spanned two years (1982–84) and had 30 entrants. Albania, Iceland and Wales competed in the competition for the firs ...

, in which he scored a goal in the final against Spain.

Personal life

Gayle was born to a father from

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

and a mother from

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. In August 2016, it was reported that Gayle had turned down a nomination for an MBE for his work with " Show Racism the Red Card", saying it would be "a betrayal to all of the Africans who have lost their lives, or who have suffered as a result of Empire." He released his autobiography in October 2016 titled ''61 Minutes in Munich''.

Career statistics

Honours

Liverpool *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

winner: 1980–81 Sunderland *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

runner-up: 1984–85 England under-21 *

Club career

International career

Personal life

Career statistics

Honours

References

External links