Clifford Charles "Cliff" Holton (April 29, 1929 – June 4, 1996) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

er.

Born in Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, Holton played as a full back for non-league Oxford City

Oxford City F.C.

Oxford City Football Club is an English football club, currently playing in the Southern Football League Premier Division after gaining promotion via the Division One South & West playoffs...

 as a youth, before joining Arsenal

Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

 in October 1947 at the age of 18. He spent three seasons in the Gunners' reserve team, eventually converting to a centre forward

Striker

Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...

. He made his debut against Stoke City

Stoke City F.C.

Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...

 on December 26, 1950; initially a bit-part player, he became an established regular in the side in 1951-52

1951-52 in English football

The 1951–52 season was the 72nd season of competitive football in England.-Honours:Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour...

 and remained there for three seasons. He was in the Arsenal side to reach the FA Cup Final in 1952.

With 22 goals (19 of them in the league) he helped Arsenal to a First Division

Football League First Division

The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....

 title in 1952-53

1952-53 in English football

The 1952–53 season was the 73rd season of competitive football in England.-Events:This was the closest championship win in English league history at the time, with Arsenal claiming the title by just 0.099 of a goal. Both Arsenal and Preston had identical records aside from their goal averages...

. However, he lost his place in the Arsenal side in 1954-55

1954-55 in English football

The 1954–1955 season was the 75th season of competitive football in England, from August 1954 to May 1955:-Overview:* Chelsea win the League Championship for the first time.* Newcastle United win the FA Cup....

, before returning the following season (1955-56

1955-56 in English football

The 1955–56 season was the 76th season of competitive football in England. The First Division was won by Manchester United, the fourth time they had won that particular accolade.-Awards:Football Writers' Association...

), having been converted into a utility man - playing in defence, midfield

Midfield

Midfield is the part of a sports pitch that lies approximately in the center. It is a term most commonly associated with football to refer to the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region, but it can be used in field hockey to describe the same area, or in...

 or up front. He continued to figure for Arsenal for another three seasons and on October 6, 1956, he scored four goals in a home match against Manchester City

Manchester City F.C.

Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...

, becoming the first player since Jack Lambert

Jack Lambert (association footballer)

John "Jack" Lambert was an English footballer.A large and robust centre forward from Greasbrough near Rotherham, Yorkshire, Lambert was turned down by Sheffield Wednesday after a trial, so started his career playing for Rotherham County in 1922. He soon made a move to Leeds United, but spent three...

 to score more than three in a game at Highbury

Arsenal Stadium

Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, North London, which was the home ground of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006...

. In all he scored 88 goals in 217 matches for the Gunners. Although he was often tipped for an England

England national football team

The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

 place, he never won a cap for his country.

Holton was sold to Watford

Watford F.C.

Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as Watford F.C., Watford, or by the team's nickname The Hornets . Watford Rovers, Founded in 1881, entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1886, and the Southern League a decade...

 in October 1958 for £10,000, a somewhat surprising move, considering Watford were in the newly formed Fourth Division

Football League Fourth Division

The Fourth Division of The Football League was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season...

 at the time. Holton spent three seasons with the Hornets, mostly at centre forward. He formed a successful partnership with Dennis Uphill

Dennis Uphill

Dennis Uphill was an English professional footballer who played for Tottenham Hotspur, Reading, Coventry City, Mansfield Town, Watford and Crystal Palace.- Football career :...

, scoring a club record 48 goals in 1959-60

1959-60 in English football

The 1959–60 season was the 80th season of competitive football in England.-Diary of the season:17 November 1959: Phil Taylor resigns as manager of Liverpool after three years as manager, with all three of his seasons in charge ending with a narrow failure to win promotion to the First...

, which also saw the club promoted to the Third Division

Football League Third Division

The Football League Third Division was the 3 tier of English Football from 1920 until 1992 when after the formation of the Football Association Premier League saw the league renamed The Football League Division Two...

. Holton was then controversially sold to Northampton Town

Northampton Town F.C.

Northampton Town Football Club are an English professional football club based in Northampton, Northamptonshire. They currently play in Football League Two, the lowest league division, after being relegated from League One on the last day of the 2008–09 season...

 in 1961 where he scored a club record 36 goals in 1961-62

1961-62 in English football

The 1961–62 season was the 82nd season of competitive Football in England.-Overview:The season was notable for the remarkable achievement of Ipswich Town winning the League Championship. Under the managership of Alf Ramsey, the club progressed from the old Third Division South to the First Division...

, thus achieving the rare feat of holding the all-time goals in a season record at two different clubs.

He later played for Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace F.C.

Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...

, Watford (for a second time), Charlton Athletic

Charlton Athletic F.C.

Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...

 (in a deal which saw Stewart Scullion

Stewart Scullion

Stewart McNab Adam Scullion is a Scottish former footballer, who played as a winger. Born in Bo'ness, Scotland, he started his professional career in the Football League, helping Watford to the Third Division title, and then spending three seasons at Sheffield United. After a second spell at...

 move in the opposite direction) and Leyton Orient

Leyton Orient F.C.

Leyton Orient F.C. are an English professional football club in East London. They currently play in Football League One and are known to their fans as the O's.Leyton Orient have spent one season in the top flight of English football, in 1962–63...

. He finally retired in 1968, and left the game completely to take up a career in engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

. He died suddenly while on holiday in 1996, at the age of 67.