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George Armstrong (footballer)
Encyclopedia
George "Geordie" Armstrong (9 August 1944 – 1 November 2000) was an English
football
player and coach, primarily associated with Arsenal
.
Born in Hebburn
, County Durham
, Armstrong had trained as an electrician
while playing in youth football, and was rejected by both Newcastle United
and Grimsby Town
. Nevertheless, he succeeded in joining Arsenal as a youth player in August 1961. Initially he had been a forward
but was soon switched to the wing. He made his debut not long after joining the club; while still only 17, he started against Blackpool
on 24 February 1962 in a match that Arsenal won 1-0. Although he started out as understudy to Johnny MacLeod
and Alan Skirton
, by the 1963-64
season he had become a regular in the side, and in 1964-65
he missed only two matches.
Over his long career with the Gunners, Armstrong became one of Arsenal's most consistent players, who was noted for the quality and accuracy of his crossing and corner kick
s, as well as for his tireless running up and down the wing; he primarily played on the left, but was also effective on the right. As he matured, he became one of the few players of the Billy Wright era (along with Jon Sammels
and Peter Storey
) to become an integral part of Wright's successor Bertie Mee
's Arsenal side, which ended the club's long trophy drought.
After losing two successive League Cup
finals in 1967-68
and 1968-69
, Armstrong helped the Gunners win the 1969-70
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
and the 1970-71
League and FA Cup
double
; Armstrong was an ever-present in the Double-winning team that season, setting up a number of goals for his team-mates, which included teeing up Ray Kennedy
's winning header against Tottenham Hotspur
, in the match that won Arsenal the League title. He was also voted Arsenal's Player of the Year in 1970.
Armstrong remained with the club through the 1970s, as Arsenal failed to win any further trophies after their Double win; he played at least thirty matches in each season he was at the club during that decade. However, after falling out with Mee's successor, Terry Neill
, he moved to Leicester City
in the summer of 1977 for £15,000. He played only 14 League matches in his single season with the Foxes, and finished his career with Stockport County
before retiring in 1979.
Having spent fifteen full seasons at Arsenal, most of them as an ever-present, Armstrong at the time held the club's all-time record for appearances - 621 competitive first-team appearances, including exactly 500 in the league; his record has since been overtaken only by David O'Leary
and Tony Adams
. He also scored 68 goals for Arsenal. Surprisingly for such a high-standing player, he was never capped for the full England
side, despite plenty of youth and U23 caps; this was primarily because of England manager Sir Alf Ramsey
's policy of not using wingers.
After retiring from playing, Armstrong moved into coaching, and worked for a variety of clubs, including Fulham
, Aston Villa
, Middlesbrough
, QPR
and Enderby Town (as manager), as well as FK Mjølner in Norway
and was manager of the Kuwaiti national team
between 1988 and 1989. In 1990, before the Iraqi invasion, he returned to England and joined Arsenal as reserve team coach, a post he remained at for the remainder of his life, despite the many managerial upheavals the club underwent.
During his time at Arsenal Armstrong was responsible for bringing many young players through the Arsenal ranks, including Steve Morrow
, Ray Parlour
and Paul Dickov
. On 31 October 2000, Armstrong collapsed after an unexpected brain haemorrhage whilst at a club training session; he died in Hemel Hempstead Hospital in the early hours of the following morning.
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...
player and coach, primarily associated with 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...
.
Born in Hebburn
Hebburn
Hebburn is a small town situated on the south bank of the River Tyne in North East England, sandwiched between the towns of Jarrow and Bill Quay...
, County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
, Armstrong had trained as an electrician
Electrician
An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, stationary machines and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure. Electricians may also...
while playing in youth football, and was rejected by both Newcastle United
Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
and Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town F.C.
Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town...
. Nevertheless, he succeeded in joining Arsenal as a youth player in August 1961. Initially he had been a 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...
but was soon switched to the wing. He made his debut not long after joining the club; while still only 17, he started against Blackpool
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...
on 24 February 1962 in a match that Arsenal won 1-0. Although he started out as understudy to Johnny MacLeod
Johnny MacLeod
John Murdoch "Johnny" MacLeod is a Scottish association football player.-Biography:Born in Edinburgh, MacLeod started his career at his local club, Hibernian, and played 85 times for the Edinburgh side between 1957 and 1961, where he made a name for himself as a talented right-winger...
and Alan Skirton
Alan Skirton
Alan Frederick Graham Skirton is an English former footballer.-Playing career:Skirton started out as a player with West Twerton Youth Club in his home city of Bath before joining Bristol City as an amateur. However, they did not retain him and he then joined hometown club Bath City in the Southern...
, by the 1963-64
1963-64 in English football
The 1963–1964 season was the 84th season of competitive football in England, from August 1963 to May 1964:-Overview:* Liverpool won the League Championship.* West Ham United won the FA Cup.* Leicester City won the League Cup.-Diary of the season:...
season he had become a regular in the side, and in 1964-65
1964-65 in English football
The 1964–65 season was the 85th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:* After a three-way tussle for the League title between Manchester United, Leeds United and Chelsea, Manchester United came out on top and were crowned champions....
he missed only two matches.
Over his long career with the Gunners, Armstrong became one of Arsenal's most consistent players, who was noted for the quality and accuracy of his crossing and corner kick
Corner kick
A corner kick is a method of restarting play in a game of association football. It was first devised in Sheffield under the Sheffield Rules 1867...
s, as well as for his tireless running up and down the wing; he primarily played on the left, but was also effective on the right. As he matured, he became one of the few players of the Billy Wright era (along with Jon Sammels
Jon Sammels
Jonathon Charles "Jon" Sammels is an English former footballer.Sammels joined Arsenal, the club he supported as a boy, in 1961. He was a regular in the reserves and a successful youth international winning seven caps for England. He scored on his first-team debut for the Gunners on 27 April 1963,...
and Peter Storey
Peter Storey
Peter Edwin Storey is an English former football player.Storey spent most of his career at Arsenal, joining the club as an apprentice in 1961 and turning professional the following year...
) to become an integral part of Wright's successor Bertie Mee
Bertie Mee
Bertram "Bertie" Mee OBE was an English football player and manager, noted for managing Arsenal to their first Double win in 1971. He was the younger brother of fellow footballer Georgie Mee.-Early life:...
's Arsenal side, which ended the club's long trophy drought.
After losing two successive League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
finals in 1967-68
1967-68 in English football
The 1967–68 season was the 88th season of competitive football in England.-Honours:Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour. * indicates new record for competition-FA Cup:...
and 1968-69
1968-69 in English football
The 1968–69 season was the 89th season of competitive football in England.-First Division:Leeds United won the League for the first time in their history, finishing six points ahead of Liverpool...
, Armstrong helped the Gunners win the 1969-70
1969-70 in English football
The 1969–70 season was the 90th season of competitive football in England.-First Division:Everton won their seventh title, finishing nine points clear of Leeds United with Chelsea in third and newly promoted Derby County in fourth...
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The competition was the idea of Swiss pools supremo Ernst Thommen, Ottorino Barassi from Italy, and the English Football Association general secretary Stanley Rous, all of whom later became senior officials...
and the 1970-71
1970-71 in English football
The 1970–71 season was the 91st season of competitive football in England.-First Division:Arsenal won the league championship at the end of a season which would soon be followed by their FA Cup final tie with Liverpool. Arsenal secured the league title at White Hart Lane, the home of bitter rivals...
League and FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
double
The Double
The Double is a term in association football which refers to winning a country's top tier division and its primary cup competition in the same season...
; Armstrong was an ever-present in the Double-winning team that season, setting up a number of goals for his team-mates, which included teeing up Ray Kennedy
Ray Kennedy
Raymond Kennedy is an English former football player who won every domestic honour in the game with Arsenal and Liverpool in the 1970s...
's winning header against Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
, in the match that won Arsenal the League title. He was also voted Arsenal's Player of the Year in 1970.
Armstrong remained with the club through the 1970s, as Arsenal failed to win any further trophies after their Double win; he played at least thirty matches in each season he was at the club during that decade. However, after falling out with Mee's successor, Terry Neill
Terry Neill
William John Terence "Terry" Neill is a Northern Ireland former football player and manager.-Playing career:Born in Belfast, Neill played as a youth for Bangor, before moving in December 1959 to Arsenal. He spent a year in Arsenal's youth side, before making his debut against Sheffield Wednesday...
, he moved to Leicester City
Leicester City F.C.
Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...
in the summer of 1977 for £15,000. He played only 14 League matches in his single season with the Foxes, and finished his career with Stockport County
Stockport County F.C.
Stockport County Football Club is an English football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The club formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, shortly afterwards merging with Heaton Norris F.C., and adopted the current name on 24 May 1890 on the creation of the County Borough of Stockport...
before retiring in 1979.
Having spent fifteen full seasons at Arsenal, most of them as an ever-present, Armstrong at the time held the club's all-time record for appearances - 621 competitive first-team appearances, including exactly 500 in the league; his record has since been overtaken only by David O'Leary
David O'Leary
David Anthony O'Leary is an Irish football manager and former player. His managerial career began at Leeds United and later he managed Aston Villa. He most recently worked as the manager of Al-Ahli Dubai...
and Tony Adams
Tony Adams (footballer)
Tony Alexander Adams, MBE is an English football manager and former player.Adams spent his entire playing career of 22 years as a defender at Arsenal. He is considered one of the greatest Arsenal players of all time by the club's own fans and was included in the Football League 100 Legends...
. He also scored 68 goals for Arsenal. Surprisingly for such a high-standing player, he was never capped for the full 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...
side, despite plenty of youth and U23 caps; this was primarily because of England manager Sir Alf Ramsey
Alf Ramsey
Sir Alfred Ernest "Alf" Ramsey was an English footballer and manager of the English national football team from 1963 to 1974. His greatest achievement was winning the 1966 World Cup with England on 30 July 1966...
's policy of not using wingers.
After retiring from playing, Armstrong moved into coaching, and worked for a variety of clubs, including Fulham
Fulham F.C.
Fulham Football Club is a professional English Premier League club based in southwest London Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they play in the Premier League, their 11th current season...
, Aston Villa
Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...
, Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...
, QPR
Queens Park Rangers F.C.
Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...
and Enderby Town (as manager), as well as FK Mjølner in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and was manager of the Kuwaiti national team
Kuwait national football team
The Kuwait National Football Team is the national team of Kuwait and is controlled by the Kuwait Football Association. They made one World Cup Finals appearance, in 1982, managing a draw with Czechoslovakia but losing to England and France. During the match against France, France scored a goal...
between 1988 and 1989. In 1990, before the Iraqi invasion, he returned to England and joined Arsenal as reserve team coach, a post he remained at for the remainder of his life, despite the many managerial upheavals the club underwent.
During his time at Arsenal Armstrong was responsible for bringing many young players through the Arsenal ranks, including Steve Morrow
Steve Morrow
Stephen Joseph "Steve" Morrow is a Northern Irish former football player. He is currently International Partnerships Performance Supervisor at Arsenal Football Club, where he also played for much of the 1990s.-Playing career:...
, Ray Parlour
Ray Parlour
Raymond "Ray" Parlour , is a retired English footballer. He spent his career playing for Arsenal, Middlesbrough and Hull City. During his Arsenal career he was nicknamed "The Romford Pelé"; although the nickname was given with an ironic sense of humour, on account of his solid performance but...
and Paul Dickov
Paul Dickov
Paul Dickov is a retired Scottish footballer, turned manager who is currently in charge of League One side Oldham Athletic...
. On 31 October 2000, Armstrong collapsed after an unexpected brain haemorrhage whilst at a club training session; he died in Hemel Hempstead Hospital in the early hours of the following morning.
External links
- Obituary in The Guardian
- Photo and biography at sporting-heroes.net
- George Armstrong tribute on Arsenal-land