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Bobby
Langton |
Blackburn Rovers FC,
Preston North End FC, Bolton Wanderers FC
11 appearances, 1 debut goal
P 11 W 8 D
1 L 2 F 32: A 11
77% successful
1946-50
captain: none
minutes played: 990 |
|
 |
|
Profile |
|
Full name |
Robert Langton |
|
Born |
8 September 1918 in Burscough,
Lancashire [registered in
Ormskirk, September 1918]. To William Langton and Alice (née
Blinkhorn). His father was a boatman on the Leeds & Liverpool
Canal.
Attended St. John's Church of England School,
Burscough. |
|
Married |
to
Margaret Smith
[registered in Ormskirk, March 1947]. Oldest children are
twins Christine and William R.. Third child, Michael...? |
|
Died |
13 January 1996 in Burscough, aged
77 years 127 days
[registered in West Lancashire, January 1996], following a short
illness. |
|
Height/Weight |
5'
6", 10st.
10lbs [1949]. |
|
Source |
Douglas Lammings' An
English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990] & FindMyPast.com |
|
Club Career |
|
Club(s) |
Shortly
after leaving school he began playing football for Burscough Victoria FC
in the Southport & District Amateur League. In October 1937, he went on
trial to Blackburn Rovers FC and the following month Rovers signed him as
a professional for a fee of £50. During the war, he appeared for the army
representive sides in India, where he was serving with the Welch
Regigment, and also for Glentoran FC. After 107 league
appearances, both sides of the war, and 24 goals, in August 1948,
Langton was transferred to Preston North End FC in an exchange deal that
was valued at over £20,000, then a world record. But after only
58 league appearances, and fourteen goals, Langton was signed by
Bolton Wanderers FC in November 1949, for £22,250, making
118 league appearances, scoring sixteen goals. For the 1953-54
season, Langton refused terms with Bolton and requested a transfer, so in September 1953,
after many bids were turned down, he returned to Ewood Park
where he would end his career in league football with another 105
league appearances and another 33 goals. In May 1956 he retired
from league football at the age of 37, but the following month returned to
Northern Ireland to join Ards FC where he spent a season, scoring
twelve goals in 41 league appearances. He was then persuaded to join a
team of ex-professionals that he had assembled at non-league Wisbech Town
FC. He spent three years with Wisbech including a short spell at
Kidderminster Harrier FC, before ending his career as a player by signing
a one month contract with Colwyn Bay FC in October 1960. |
|
Club honours |
Football
League Division Two winners 1938-39; Irish Cup
runners-up 1944-45; FA Cup runners-up 1952-53; |
|
Individual honours |
Football
League (nine appearances) |
|
Distinctions |
Bobby Langton
Way exists in Burscough. Alongside Burscough FC's ground. |
|
Source |
Douglas Lammings' An English
Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990] & Burscough FC website |
|
England Career |
|
Player number |
One of nine who
became the 655th
player (663) to appear for England. |
|
Position(s) |
Outside-left |
|
First match |
No. 227, 28 September 1946, Ireland 2 England
7, a British Championship match at Windsor Park, Donegall Avenue, Belfast, aged 28 years
20 days.
 |
|
Last match |
No. 259, 7 October 1950, Ireland 1 England 4,
a British Championship match at Windsor Park, Donegall Avenue, Belfast, aged 32 years 29 days. |
|
Major tournaments |
World Cup
Finals 1950 (provisional party); British
Championship 1946-47, 1949-50, 1950-51; |
|
Team honours |
British
Championship winners 1946-47, 1949-50; |
|
Individual honours |
England B
(five appearances, 1947-50) |
|
Distinctions |
None |
|
Beyond England |
|
After finishing playing Langton did
some scouting for Accrington Stanley FC and had spells as trainer/coach at
Kings Lynn and Wisbech before returning home for good and becoming manager
of his local Burscough FC in 1965. During his five years in charge the
club won the Lancashire Combination championship and the Lancashire Junior
Cup. He left the club in 1971. As with many ex-professionals, turned his
hand to becoming a licensee from 1961. -
An English Football Internationalists' Who's Who.
Douglas Lamming (1990). Hatton Press, p.153/54. |
|
Bobby Langton - Career Statistics |
|
Parties |
Apps |
comp. apps |
Mins. |
Goals |
goals ave.min |
comp. goals |
Capt. |
Disc. |
|
|
11 |
4 |
990 |
1 |
990
min |
1 |
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. |
|
Bobby Langton
- Match Record - All Matches - By
Colour of Shirt |
|
Type |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS
|
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts
% |
W/L |
|
Home |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
18 |
4 |
+14 |
0 |
2 |
4.50 |
1.00 |
100.0 |
+4 |
|
Away |
7 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
14 |
7 |
+7 |
2 |
3 |
2.00 |
1.00 |
64.3 |
+2 |
| All
- White |
11 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
32 |
11 |
+21 |
2 |
5 |
2.909 |
1.00 |
77.3 |
+6 |
|
Bobby Langton
- Match Record - By Type of Match |
|
Type |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS |
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts% |
W/L |
|
WCP
|
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
+1 |
0 |
1 |
1.00 |
0.00 |
100.0 |
+1 |
|
WCF |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
=0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
=0 |
| World Cup |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
+1 |
0 |
1 |
1.00 |
0.00 |
100.0 |
+1 |
|
British Championship |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
3 |
+12 |
0 |
2 |
3.75 |
0.75 |
100.0 |
+4 |
|
Note that the 1949-50
records of the World Cup and British Championship are
duplicated, and one set is therefore deducted from the grand total. |
| Friendly |
7 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
17 |
8 |
+9 |
2 |
3 |
2.429 |
1.143 |
64.3 |
+2 |
| All |
11 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
32 |
11 |
+21 |
2 |
5 |
2.909 |
1.00 |
77.3 |
+6 |
|
Bobby Langton
- Match Record - Tournament Matches |
|
World Cup Preliminary Competition |
|
Type |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS |
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts% |
W/L |
|
WCP/BC 1948-50 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
+1 |
0 |
1 |
1.00 |
0.00 |
100.0 |
+1 |
|
WCP
All |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
+1 |
0 |
1 |
1.00 |
0.00 |
100.0 |
+1 |
|
British Championship Competition |
|
Type |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS |
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts% |
W/L |
|
BC 1946-47 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
2 |
+8 |
0 |
1 |
5.00 |
1.00 |
100.0 |
+2 |
|
BC 1949-50 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
+1 |
0 |
1 |
1.00 |
0.00 |
100.0 |
+1 |
|
BC 1950-51 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
+3 |
0 |
0 |
4.00 |
1.00 |
100.0 |
+1 |
|
BC
All |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
3 |
+12 |
0 |
2 |
3.75 |
0.75 |
100.0 |
+4 |
|
All Competition |
|
Type |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS |
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts% |
W/L |
|
WC |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
+1 |
0 |
1 |
1.00 |
0.00 |
100.0 |
+1 |
|
BC |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
3 |
+12 |
0 |
2 |
3.75 |
0.75 |
100.0 |
+4 |
|
Note that the 1949-50
records of the World Cup and British Championship are
duplicated, and one set is therefore deducted from the grand total. |
|
All |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
3 |
+12 |
0 |
2 |
3.75 |
0.75 |
100.0 |
+4 |
Match
History
|
Club:
Blackburn Rovers F.C. - 7 full appearances (630 min),
1 goal |
manager: Walter
Winterbottom - 11 full appearances (990 min),
1 goalx
|
|
Age
28 |
|
1 |
227 |
28 September 1946 -
Ireland 2 England 7, Windsor Park, Belfast |
BC |
AW |
Start
83 |
11 |
|
2 |
228 |
30 September 1946 - Ireland (Éire) 0 England 1,
Dalymount Park, Dublin |
Fr |
AW |
Start |
11 |
|
3 |
229 |
13 November 1946 -
England 3 Wales 0,
Maine Road, Manchester |
BC |
HW |
Start |
11 |
|
4 |
230 |
27 November 1946 -
England 8 Netherlands 2,
Leeds Road, Huddersfield |
Fr |
HW |
Start |
11 |
|
5 |
232 |
3 May 1947 -
England 3 France 0,
Arsenal Stadium, Highbury |
Fr |
HW |
Start |
11 |
|
6 |
233 |
18 May 1947- Switzerland 1 England 0,
Hardturm
Stadion, Zürich |
tour |
AL |
Start |
11 |
|
1 |
b |
21 May 1947 - Switzerland 0 England 0,
Genève |
AD |
Start |
11 |
|
234 |
25
May 1947- Portugal 0 England 10,
Estádio Nacional,
Lisboa |
AW |
unused sub |
|
Age 30 |
|
8 |
241 |
26 September 1948 -
Denmark 0 England 0,
Idrætsparken, København |
Fr |
AD |
Start |
11 |
|
9 |
246 |
13 May 1949 -
Sweden 3 England 1,
Råsunda Fotbollstadion, Solna |
tour |
AL |
Start |
11 |
|
b |
15 May 1949 - Finland A 0 England 4, Olympiastadion, Helsinki |
AW |
party member |
|
247 |
18 May 1949 -
Norway 1 England 4,
Ullevål Stadion, Oslo |
AW |
|
3 |
b |
18 May 1949 - Netherlands A 1 England 4,
Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam |
AW |
Start |
11 |
|
248 |
22 May 1949 - France 1 England 3, Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris |
AW |
withdrawn party member |
|
Age 31 |
|
10 |
253 |
15 April 1950
- Scotland 0 England 1,
Hampden Park,
Glasgow |
BC/
WCP |
AW |
Start |
11 |
|
4 |
b |
11 May 1950 - Italy 5 England 0,
Stadio San Siro, Milano |
tour |
AL |
Start |
11 |
|
254 |
14 May 1950 -
Portugal
3
England 5,
Estadio Nacional,
Lisboa |
AW |
party member |
|
5 |
b |
17 May 1950 - Netherlands A 3 England 0,
Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam |
AL |
Start |
11 |
|
255 |
18 May 1950 -
Belgium
1 England 4,
Stade
du Heysel, Bruxelles |
AW |
party member |
|
b |
21 May 1950 - Luxembourg 1 England 2, Stade Municipal, Stad Lëtzeburg |
AW |
unused sub |
|
England's selectors
announced
on May 9, two partys (A and B) of 14 players each, for two separate
tours. Of the 28 names, twelve did not make it to the final World Cup
party, including Bobby Langton. |
Notes
With Tom Finney and the incomparable Stan Matthews bestriding English
football so majestically in the immediate post-war years, international
prospects for wing men of less rarefied talents were limited. All credit,
then, to Bobby Langton for collecting 11 appearances and doing enough to suggest
that he might have won many more.
The forthright Lancastrian, who was always ready to stand up for
his employment rights during an era when clubs believed that players
should be seen and not heard, was a powerful outside-left with a
rasping shot. In his early days, he relished cutting in from the flank
to create havoc with his direct running, though many maintained he was
more effective in later years, when wily tactical acumen compensated
for reduced pace.
Langton turned professional with Blackburn Rovers, having been
signed for pounds 50 from the non-League Burscough Victoria as a
teenager in 1937. Within a year he was in the senior side, becoming
top marksman with 14 strikes in 37 games as Rovers won the second
division title in 1938-9. Then came the war, much of which he spent as
an infantryman in India, though some of it he was a guest with
Glentoran, helping them to reach the Irish Cup Final.
With Finney preferred fleetingly to Matthews on the right flank,
England gave Langton his first cap in their opening peacetime
international, against Northern Ireland at Belfast in 1946, and he
scored in a 7-2 victory. He retained his place for several matches,
thereafter playing intermittently until winning his last honour in
1950.
By then he had changed clubs, having left Blackburn when they were
relegated in 1948 and joined Preston North End in a pounds 16,000
deal. Langton scored a goal after only seven seconds of an early game
for his new employers, but did not settle at Deepdale, Bolton
Wanderers paying a club record pounds 20,000 for his services in 1949.
He served the Trotters well, picking up an FA Cup losers' medal
against Blackpool in the famous "Matthews final" of 1953, only for a
dispute to result in his return to Blackburn that autumn. Though 34,
he proved a sound acquisition, contributing fruitfully for three years
before a brief spell in Ulster with Ards. There followed service to a
succession of non-League clubs, culminating with a stint as boss of
his home club Burscough Rangers in 1968.
Langton epitomised the finest traditional qualities of Lancashire
football - down-to-earth realism, spiced with a certain flair.
Ivan Ponting - Independent Obituary
____________________
CG
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|
England
Football Online