John Malkin (9 November 1925 – 19 May 1994) was an English

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

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 ...

Career

Malkin was born in

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 ...

and was spotted by scouts in 1942 playing football in the Army and was signed by his local club

. Malkin was a winger who had the daunting task of replacing the role of

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English Association football, footballer who played as an Forward (association football)#Outside forward, outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the Br ...

in the number 7 shirt, after he joined

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

in 1947. He made his debut against Everton in March 1948 but didn't become a regular first team player until the 1949–50 season where he made 29 appearances. Injury kept Malkin out for most of the 1950–51 season but he did make a return for the poor 1951–52 and 1952–53 campaigns which saw Stoke relegated to the Second Division. He scored 11 goals in 42 matches in 1953–54 his best performance in his career and spent two more season in the squad before retiring due to injury. He also enjoyed a brief spell as coach for

following his injury.

After football

After leaving competitive football, Malkin started work for the

Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

. In 1994 Malkin died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malkin, John 1925 births 1994 deaths English men's footballers Stoke City F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football wingers Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent People from Longton, Staffordshire 20th-century English sportsmen