Stuart Edgar Sharratt (born 26 February 1942) is an English former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

who made 152 league and cup appearances for Port Vale between 1966 and 1972. He previously played for

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, Nantwich Town, and Oswestry Town.

Career

Stuart played for Ball Haye Green, Padgate Teacher Training College,

, Nantwich Town and Oswestry Town, before joining Jackie Mudie's Port Vale for £2,000 in March 1966. He was favoured ahead of the ageing Jimmy O'Neill and the inexperienced David Ikin, and played 15 Fourth Division games at the end of the 1965–66 season. He played 49 of the club's 50 games in the 1966–67 campaign, beating off competition from young hopeful Billy McNulty. Sharrat was an ever-present during the 49 game 1967–68 season. In March 1968,

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

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 ...

arranged a £15,000 transfer to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

, however, Sharratt refused the move. However, injury struck on 14 August 1968 as he cracked a

kneecap The patella (: patellae or patellas), also known as the kneecap, is a flat, rounded triangular bone which articulates with the femur (thigh bone) and covers and protects the anterior articular surface of the knee joint. The patella is found in m ...

in a 2–0 defeat at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

in the first round of the League Cup, later contracting a

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

in his

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. Upon his recovery he became a part-time player and barely got a game, though he did play instead of Keith Ball in 18 Third Division games in the 1970–71 season, and went on to feature 18 times in the 1971–72 season. His

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

was terminated by manager Gordon Lee in May 1972 because he was unable to get released from his work as a college lecturer to play in 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 ...

. He appealed and the club were forced by 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 ...

to honour his contract to 30 June 1972.

Post-retirement

Stuart has increasingly attended Vale matches as a supporter since 1986. In 2015, he underwent surgery to treat a

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharratt, Stuart 1942 births Living people Footballers from Leek, Staffordshire English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Nantwich Town F.C. players Oswestry Town F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players English Football League players Schoolteachers from Staffordshire