Johnny Goodchild (2 January 1939 – 25 August 2011) was a 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 scored 71 goals from 238 appearances 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 ...

playing as an

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

for

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 ...

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

Career

Goodchild was born in

Sherburn Hill Sherburn Hill is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the east of Sherburn, County Durham, Sherburn. From 1835 to 1965, the Sherburn Hill Colliery operated near the village. In 1851, the Ebenezer Primitive Methodism, Pri ...

, County Durham. He worked as a miner and played for Ludworth Juniors before signing for

. He scored on his first-team debut, on 4 September 1957 in a 3–2 home defeat of

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

in the

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 ...

, and produced 16 goals the following season. He then fell out of favour, and, despite scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

away at

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 ...

in February 1961, his first game of the 1960–61 season, never appeared for the club again. Goodchild remembers "thinking to myself that if I couldn't get into the team after scoring a hat-trick away from home, I'd be on the transfer list at the end of the season. That's exactly what happened." He joined

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club

, and in his first season with the club, was their joint-top scorer (alongside Bobby Laverick and Tony Nicholas) with 10 goals in all competitions. Two years later, by which time the club had been twice

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

and were now playing in

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier L ...

, he was top scorer on his own, with 15 goals in all competitions. In 1964–65, Goodchild was one of six goalscorers to reach double figures as Albion won the Fourth Division title. He returned to the north of England in 1966, spending a season with

and a brief spell with

. Goodchild was a keen

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. He first played for his village side, in Littletown, at 14, and appeared for Durham Second XI in 1959. He played cricket for many years in the Durham County League for Ushaw Moor CC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodchild, Johnny 1939 births 2011 deaths Footballers from County Durham English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Sunderland A.F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players York City F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Goole Town F.C. players English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen