John Kirton (4 March 1916 – 12 March 1996) was a Scottish

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

English 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

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 ...

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 ...

. He made 249 appearances for Stoke.

Career

Kirton was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and played for St Marchers and Banks O' Dee, winning several Scottish schoolboy cap.

's Scottish based scouts recommend him to manager

Bob McGrory Robert Gerald McGrory (17 October 1891 – 24 May 1954) was a Scottish footballer who played in the Football League for Burnley and Stoke City with whom he later had a long spell as manager. McGrory played football with Dumbarton before joinin ...

who signed him in the summer of 1935 and he made a number of appearances as cover for

Frank Soo Frank Soo (8 March 1914 – 25 January 1991) was an English professional football player and manager of mixed Chinese and English parentage. He was the first player of Chinese origin to play in the English Football League, and the first player ...

over the following two seasons. Kirton's chance to claim his own place arrived when Soo moved to right half to fill in Arthur Turner's retirement in September 1938, playing in 38 matches in 1938–39. His career was interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and he continued to play for the club during the hostilities. He also guested for

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 ...

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 ...

and

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

. By chance he was in the same battalion as a number of his Stoke team-mates and the unit's team prospered well in the Army football cup. Once the

had been resumed Kirton lead Stoke to their first title challenge in 1946–47, described as the 'heartbeat of the side' Kirton's Stoke lost their must win match against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

and missed out on the grand prize. Stoke recorded record profits that season but little of it filtered down to the players and discontent set in. Kirton suffering from a broken ankle that restricted him to just one appearance in eighteen months handed in a transfer request in the summer of 1948, along with five other players. Kirton settled his differences with the club and following

Neil Franklin Cornelius "Neil" Franklin (24 January 1922 – 9 February 1996) was an English footballer who played for Crewe Alexandra F.C., Crewe Alexandra, Hull City A.F.C., Hull City, Stockport County F.C., Stockport County and Stoke City F.C., Stok ...

's departure to

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

he made team captain in August 1950 and missed just six matches in 1950–51 at just one, at the age of 36 in 1951–52. With Stoke heading for relegation in 1952–53 he lost his place to John Sellars and he moved to

on a free transfer. He was made player-coach and made eight appearances under manager

Ivor Powell Ivor Verdun Powell, MBE (5 July 1916 – 6 November 2012) was a Welsh football player and manager. He won eight caps for Wales. A wing half, he began his professional career with Queens Park Rangers in September 1937. His career was inter ...

before deciding to retire. Kirton continued to play football for Hinckley Athletic and worked at Downings Tileries and returned to

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

to earn a living in the building trade. He died in March 1996 at the age of 80.

Career statistics

Source:

References

External links

*
John Kirton
at LondonHearts.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirton, John Scottish men's footballers Bradford City A.F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players English Football League players 1916 births 1996 deaths Men's association football wing halves Banks O' Dee F.C. players Footballers from Aberdeen Hinckley United F.C. players Scotland men's wartime international footballers