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22 October 2020
 

Jeff Astle sings.....

 

Jeff Astle

West Bromwich Albion FC

5 appearances, 0 goals

P 5 W 3 D 1 L 1 F 4: A 2
*(actual F 4: A 2)
70% successful

1969-70

disciplined: none
captain:
none
minutes played:
358

Jeff Astle

Profile

Full name Jeffrey Astle

(*Actual for and against are the goals scored
while the player was on the field.)

Born 13 May 1942 in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire [registered in Basford, June 1942].
Attended Devonshire Drive School and Walker Street School, Eastwood
Married to Loraine J. Whitehead [registered in Basford, December 1963].
Died 19 January 2002, at Queens Hospital, Burton-on-Trent, aged 59 years 252 days [registered in East Staffordshire, November 2002].
Death notes

In retrospect his eccentric and disinhibited displays on the Baddiel and Skinner's 'Fantasy Football' may have been early signs of dementia, which was established by 1997; subsequent cerebral CT scans demonstrated frontal lobe shrinkage. His condition worsened rapidly, and on 19 January 2002 he collapsed and died while visiting his daughter. In a landmark case, the South Staffordshire coroner Andrew Haigh concluded that Astle's brain condition was caused by repeated heading of the ball; it was effectively death by industrial injury (the first recorded for a footballer), likened by Mr Haigh to the brain injuries noted in boxers. - NCBI

Height/Weight 5' 11½", 11st. 6lbs [1969].

Source

Douglas Lammings' An English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990].

Biographies Striker! - Jeff Astle, edited by Philip Osborne. [Pelham, London. 1970.]
 

Although playing for Notts County from 1959 to 1964, Astle's name is synonymous with West Bromwich Albion, for whom he scored the winning goal against Everton in the 1968 FA Cup Final. This centre-forward had a short and inglorious England career and retired from league football in 1973 to pursue a life away from the game.  Jeff has now become a cult figure following his wonderfully surreal singing appearances on TV's Fantasy Football League.  Such was his popularity that during 1995 he began performing on the university circuit as one of football's most unlikely, but zaniest, personalities. - A Football Compendium, Peter J. Seddon (1999).

  King of the Hawthorns!: The Jeff Astle Story - glenn Willmore & John Homer. [Perspective Publishing, London. 2002.]

Club Career

Club(s): Played schoolboy football in Nottingham, particularly West Notts Schools and Holy Trinity Youth Club in Kimberley.  Picked up by Notts County FC as an amateur in 1958, assisting John Player FC in Nottingham until he turned professional in October 1959. Joined West Bromwich Albion FC in September 1964 for £25,000, he went on to make 395 league appearances and scored 169 goals.  Hellenic FC from South Africa in 1974. Joined non-league Dunstable Town FC in July 1974, Weymouth FC in 1975 and Atherstone Town late in 1976.  Joined Hillingdon Borough FC on loan in February 1977, before retiring in late 1977.
Club honours: Football League Cup winners 1965-66, runners-up 1966-67, 1969-70; FA Cup winners 1967-68;
Individual honours Football League (two appearances); Midlands' 'Player of the Year' 1967-68; Football League Division One Top Scorer 1969-70 (25);
Distinctions The Astle Gates at The Hawthorns were unveiled in Astle's honour in 2003.

Source

Douglas Lammings' An English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990].

England Career

Player number 860th player to appear for England.
Position(s) Centre-forward, inside-forward.
First match No. 431, 7 May 1969, England 2 Wales 1, a British Championship match at Empire Stadium, Wembley, London, aged 26 years 359 days.
Last match No. 447, 11 June 1970, Czechoslovakia 0 England 1, a World Cup Finals group match at Estádio Jalisco, Guadalajara in Brazil, aged 28 years 29 days.
Major tournaments World Cup Finals 1970;
British Championship
1968-69, 1969-70;
Team honours British Championship winners 1968-69, shared 1969-70;
Individual honours None
Distinctions None

Beyond England

After retirement, launched an industrial (window) cleaning business, and became a media star on BBC2's Fantasy Football.  Lived in Manor Drive, Netherseal, Derbyshire. - BBC Sport/The Guardian

 

Jeff Astle - Career Statistics
Squads Apps comp. apps Starts Sub on Sub off Mins. Goals goals ave.min comp. goals Capt. Disc.
13 5 4 0 1 1 358 0 0 min 0 none none
minutes are an approximation, due to the fact that many matches rarely stick to exactly ninety minutes long, allowing time for injuries and errors.

 

Jeff Astle - Match Record - All Matches
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L
Home 3 2 1 0 3 1 +2 1 2 1.00 0.333 83.3 +2
Neutral 2 1 0 1 1 1 =0 1 1 0.50 0.50 50.0 =0
All 5 3 1 1 4 2 +2 2 3 0.80 0.40 70.0 +2

 

Jeff Astle - Match Record - By Colour of Shirt
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L
White 4 2 1 1 3 2 +1 2 2 0.75 0.50 62.5 +1
Blue 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1 0 1 1.00 0.00 100.0 +1
All 5 3 1 1 4 2 +2 2 3 0.80 0.40 70.0 +2

 

Jeff Astle - Match Record - By Type of Match
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L

WCP

0 0 0 0 0 0 =0 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 =0
WCF 2 1 0 1 1 1 =0 1 1 0.50 0.50 50.0 =0
World Cup 2 1 0 1 1 1 =0 1 1 0.50 0.50 50.0 =0
British Championship 2 1 1 0 2 1 +1 1 1 1.00 0.50 75.0 +1
Friendly 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1 0 1 1.00 0.00 100.0 +1
All 5 3 1 1 4 2 +2 2 3 0.80 0.40 70.0 +2

 

Jeff Astle - Match Record - Tournament Matches
World Cup Final Tournaments
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L
WCF 1970 2 1 0 1 1 1 =0 1 1 0.50 0.50 50.0 =0
WCF All 2 1 0 1 1 1 =0 1 1 0.50 0.50 50.0 =0
British Championship Competitions
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L
BC 1968-69 1 1 0 0 2 1 +1 0 0 2.00 1.00 100.0 +1
BC 1969-70 1 0 1 0 0 0 =0 1 1 0.00 0.00 50.0 =0
BC All 2 1 1 0 2 1 +1 1 1 1.00 0.50 75.0 +1
All Competition
Type P W D L F A GD FTS CS FAv AAv Pts% W/L
WC 2 1 0 1 1 1 =0 1 1 0.50 0.50 50.0 =0
BC 2 1 1 0 2 1 +1 1 1 1.00 0.50 75.0 +1
All 4 2 1 1 3 2 +1 2 2 0.75 0.50 62.5 +1

Jeff Astle - Match History
 Club: West Bromwich Albion F.C. - 5 full appearances

manager: Alf Ramsey - 5 full capsx

Age 26
- 430 3 May 1969 - Northern Ireland 1 England 3, Windsor Park, Belfast BC AW squad member
1 431 7 May 1969 - England 2 Wales 1, Empire Stadium, Wembley HW Start 9
- 432 10 May 1969 - England 4 Scotland 1, Empire Stadium, Wembley HW squad member
Age 27
2 437 10 December 1969 - England 1 Portugal 0, Empire Stadium, Wembley Fr HW Start 9
- 440 18 April 1970 - Wales 1 England 1, Ninian Park, Cardiff BC HW squad member
- 441 21 April 1970 - England 3 Northern Ireland 1, Empire Stadium, Wembley HW
3 442 25 April 1970 - Scotland 0 England 0, Hampden Park, Glasgow HW Start 9
Age 28
- 443 20 May 1970 - Colombia 0 England 4, Estadio Nemesio Camacho, Olímpico Fr AW squad member
- 444 24 May 1970 - Ecuador 0 England 2, Empire Stadium, Wembley AW
- 445 2 June 1970 - England 1 Romania 0, Estádio Jalisco, Guadalajara WCF NW squad member 22
4 446 7 June 1970 - Brazil 1 England 0, Estádio Jalisco, Guadalajara NL Sub 65
5 447 11 June 1970 - Czechoslovakia 0 England 1, Estádio Jalisco, Guadalajara NW Start off 63

1-0 when substituted

- 448 14 June 1970 - West Germany 3 England 2ᴭᵀ, Estadio de Guanajuato, León NL squad member 22

Notes

The centre-forward Jeff Astle, who has died suddenly aged 59 after collapsing at his daughter's home, was famously remembered for an important goal and a cataclysmic miss.  The first came two and a half minutes into extra time at Wembley, and won the 1968 Cup Final for West Bromwich Albion against Everton. The second was two years later in Guadalajara, when he blazed an easy chance over the Brazilian bar in the World Cup, robbing England of an equaliser. "How did Jeff miss that chance?" agonised Alan Ball, as he sat by the pool next morning at the Guadalajara Hilton.

Five times capped for England, once as a substitute, Astle turned professional at 17 with his local team, Notts County. Standing 5ft 11in, weighing some 11 stone, he was hardly a giant, though he was celebrated for his heading abilities.

West Bromwich took him from the third division to the first in 1964, and he would go on to score 137 times for them in 292 games. Much the most celebrated of his goals was that which won the 1968 final. Faced with a robust Everton defence, marked by centre-back Brian Labone, who would be a teammate in the 1970 World Cup, and without a fellow striker, Astle spent much of the game working on the wings. He might have scored soon after half-time when, for once eluding Labone, he sent in a powerful header from Bobby Hope's cross that flew just wide of a post. His winning goal came when, stumbling through an attempted foul by Everton's Howard Kendall, Astle raced on for a right-footed shot, which was blocked. When the ball came back to him, a fine left-footed drive tore past the Everton keeper, Gordon West, and into the righthand top corner of the goal.

In Guadalajara, he came on against Brazil, eventual winners of the World Cup, as a substitute, with England a goal down. He immediately began to trouble a none too solid defence with his power in the air. Heading down a high cross, he gave Ball a clear opportunity, but Ball threw it away. Later, when a panic-stricken Brazilian defender headed the ball to Astle's feet, he shot over the top. 

Astle was first capped for England against Wales in 1968. His next four international appearances came the following season, against Scotland, Portugal, and in the 1970 World Cup against Brazil and Czechoslovakia.

Astle was well known for his wry sense of humour, and from 1995 appeared on Baddiel and Skinner's Fantasy Football League television show. Off screen, his speciality was imaginary postcards, which he would suddenly declaim. Arriving in Rio airport with the English party in 1969, he "sent" one to the England trainer Harold Shepherdson. "Dear mother: No injuries yet, so I've not been seen on television. PS: Have still not carried a bag. Love Harold."

Astle later worked as window cleaner with a sign saying "misses no corners".

Jeff Astle, footballer, born May 13 1942; died January 19 2002 - Obitituary in The Guardian.

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CG