Jackie Bestall

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Jackie Bestall
Personal information
Full name John Gilbert Bestall
Date of birth(1900-06-24)24 June 1900
Place of birth Beighton, Sheffield, England
Date of death 11 April 1985(1985-04-11) (aged 84)
Place of death Doncaster, England
Height5 ft 2+1⁄2 in (1.59 m) [1]
Position(s) Inside forward
Youth career
Beighton Miners Welfare
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1925 Rotherham County 2 (0)
1925–1926 Rotherham United 59 (16)
1926–1938 Grimsby Town 427 (76)
International career
1935 England 1 (0)
Managerial career
1946–1949 Doncaster Rovers
1949–1953 Blackburn Rovers
1953–1954 Nelson
1959–1960 Doncaster Rovers
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

John Gilbert Bestall (24 June 1900 – 11 April 1985) was an English international footballer, he also played top-division football and captained Grimsby Town, and later managed Doncaster Rovers and Blackburn Rovers.

Contents

Rotherham County and Rotherham United

Bestall made his debut for Rotherham County towards the end of the 1924–25 season, playing the last two games. County finished bottom of Division Three (North) that season and merged with Rotherham Town to form the new club, Rotherham United, that took the place of County in Division Three (North) for 1925–26.

Jackie was an ever-present in the 1925–26 season and in scoring 12 goals he was instrumental in producing much better fortunes. He playing in the first 17 games of the 1926–27 season before being sold shortly before an FA Cup tie at Lincoln City to Grimsby Town due to financial difficulties.

Grimsby Town

Bestall is regarded as "perhaps the greatest name on Town's roll-call – a diminutive craftsman full of guile and possessed of outstanding constructive qualities". [2] He had a lounge at Blundell Park and the smallest road in Grimsby and Cleethorpes named after him. [3]

Bestall captained Grimsby to the 1933–34 Second Division title and back into the First Division after two seasons in the Second. This helped Bestall to earn his only England cap aged 34 years, 226 days against Northern Ireland on 6 February 1935. [4] He is the sixth oldest player to make his England debut and was the first Grimsby player to be capped by England.

He played in Grimsby's first FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, but was injured early in the game, which Arsenal won 1–0. Grimsby Town fans believed that Bestall was targeted by the Arsenal defenders in the hope of deliberately injuring him. [5]

Bestall played 427 league games for Town, only ever beaten by Keith Jobling and latterly John McDermott.

After retirement

When Bestall retired he had numerous jobs in football, coaching at Birmingham City and chief scout, chief scout at Doncaster Rovers, managing Blackburn Rovers and two spells as manager of Doncaster.

In tribute to his career at Grimsby Town, the town named a street after him.

Honours

Grimsby Town

All-Time Club Performance
ClubDivisionYearsLeagueCupTotal
AppGoalsAppGoalsAppGoals
Rotherham County Third Division (North) 1924–25 200020
Rotherham United 1925–26 4212304512
1926–27 17400174
Club Totals6116306416
Grimsby Town Second Division 1926–2723721258
1927–28 4110104210
1928–29 3911204111
First Division 1929–30 3910204110
1930–31 4210324512
1931–32 37232404
Second Division 1932–33 40520425
1933–34 4211204411
First Division 1934–35 41510425
1935–36 41262474
1936–37 31340353
1937–38 11020130
Club Totals4277630745783
Career totals4889233752199

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References

  1. ↑ "No new faces in Grimsby's first team". Sunday Dispatch Football Guide. London. 23 August 1936. p. iv – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ Lamming, Douglas (1985). A Who's Who of Grimsby Town AFC 1890–1985. Hutton Press. ISBN   0-907033-34-2.
  3. ↑ electronicfishcake.com Archived 2 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine – Player Profile
  4. ↑ englandstats.com – England Cap
  5. ↑ Football Poets Archived 20 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine – Another Reason for Hating Arsenal
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