Gordon Astall

Who is Gordon Astall?

Gordon Astall is an English former professional footballer. He played as an outside right, and represented the Football League, the England B team and played twice for the full England side. At club level he made 456 appearances in the Football League.

Astall was born in Horwich, near Bolton, Lancashire. He was playing amateur football for Southampton when he signed professional with Plymouth Argyle in November 1947. He had previously been an unsuccessful triallist at his local side Bolton Wanderers. His league debut came in February 1948 at home to Luton Town, and he soon became a regular in the Home Park side, helping Plymouth to the Third Division South title in 1952. That same year he was selected for the England B team. In October 1953 he was signed by Second Division rivals Birmingham City for a fee of £14,000, following his Plymouth wing colleague Alex Govan to St Andrew's. He had played 188 league games for Plymouth, scoring 42 goals.

As a goalscoring outside right, he replaced the Scot Jackie Stewart in the Birmingham side and quickly became an important member of a side which won the Second Division title in 1955 and reached the 1956 FA Cup Final, losing 3–1 at Wembley to Manchester City.