Reginald William Newton (26 June 1926 – 21 November 1976) was an English 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

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

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

and

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

Playing career

Leyton Orient

, Newton began his career with the Dagenham Works team and earned a move to the

with

in April 1948. He made 23 league appearances for the struggling

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 ...

club during the 1948–49 season and departed

Brisbane Road BetWright Stadium, traditionally known as Brisbane Road and originally known as Osborne Road, is a football stadium in Leyton, East London, England. It has been the home ground of Leyton Orient since 1937, before which it was the home of amat ...

at the end of the campaign.

Brentford

Newton moved across

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to sign for

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

in July 1949, in a part-exchange for Alan Smith. Newton was a second-choice goalkeeper behind Alf Jefferies, Ted Gaskell and

Gerry Cakebread Gerald Cakebread OBE (1 April 1936 – 16 September 2009) was an English footballer who made over 340 appearances in the Football League for Brentford as a goalkeeper. He remained a part-time player throughout his professional career. Cakebread ...

for much of his time at

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a association football, football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground was in a predominantly resi ...

, but was first-choice during the 1953–54 season and made 42 appearances in a campaign which saw the Bees relegated to the Third Division South. Newton left the club in February 1957, having made 87 appearances in just under eight years with Brentford. Nonetheless, his service to the club was recognised when he was awarded the share of the benefits from a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

shared with George Bristow, Ken Horne and

Billy Sperrin William Thomas Sperrin (9 April 1922 – 21 June 2000) was an English association football, football inside forward and Coach (association football), coach. He made 100 appearances as a player for Brentford F.C., Brentford and was later a member ...

in 1956.

Later career

Newton dropped into

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

to sign for Kent League First Division club Tunbridge Wells United in February 1957. New Brentford manager

Malky McDonald Malcolm MacDonald (26 October 1913 – 26 September 1999) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager, best remembered for his time as a utility player with Celtic and as a manager with Kilmarnock and Brentford. MacDonald managed the Sco ...

re-signed Newton in July 1957, as backup for Gerry Cakebread and

Sonny Feehan John Ignatius "Sonny" Feehan (17 September 1926 – 11 March 1995) was an Irish footballer who played as a goalkeeper for several clubs in both Ireland and England. Born in Dublin, Feehan began his football career as an amateur with Dublin-bas ...

. He failed to make an appearance during the 1957–58 season and was given a free transfer in May 1958. Newton ended his career with spells at Southern League clubs

Yiewsley Yiewsley ( ) is a large suburban village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, 2 miles (3 km) south of Uxbridge, the borough's commercial and administrative centre. Yiewsley was a chapelry in the ancient parish of Hillingdon, Middl ...

and Chelmsford City.

Personal life

Upon the outbreak of the

Second World War 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 ...

, Newton joined the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

and was trained at

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

to be a PT instructor. While at Aldershot he was friends with

Frank Swift Frank Victor Swift (26 December 1913 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City and England. After starting his career with Fleetwood, near his hometown of Blackpool, in 1932 he was signed by ...

Denis Compton Denis Charles Scott Compton (23 May 1918 – 23 April 1997) was an English multi-sportsman. As a cricketer he played in 78 Test matches and spent his whole career with Middlesex. As a footballer, he played as a winger and spent most of his ca ...

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool F.C., Liverpool. Shankly brought su ...

and

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish football player and manager, who managed Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–71 season. He was the first manager of an E ...

. During and after his later years as a player at Brentford, Newton worked as a decorator. He died in November 1976, at the age of 50.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Reg 1926 births 1976 deaths Men's association football goalkeepers Brentford F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players English Football League players English men's footballers Hillingdon Borough F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Footballers from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Southern Football League players Tunbridge Wells F.C. players British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Physical Training Corps soldiers Kent Football League (1894–1959) players Military personnel from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets 20th-century English sportsmen