Jackie Bestall

John Gilbert "Jackie" 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.

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
Position(s) Inside Forward
Youth career
Beighton Miners Welfare
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1925 Rotherham County 2 (0)
1925–1926 Rotherham United 59 (16)
1926–1938 Grimsby Town 427 (76)
National team
1935 England 1 (0)
Teams managed
1946–1949 Doncaster Rovers
1949–1953 Blackburn Rovers
1953–1954 Nelson
1959–1960 Doncaster Rovers
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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".[1] He had a lounge at Blundell Park and the smallest road in Grimsby and Cleethorpes named after him.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

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
Club Division Years League Cup Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals
Rotherham County Third Division (North) 1924–25 2 0 0 0 2 0
Rotherham United 1925–26 42 12 3 0 45 12
1926–27 17 4 0 0 17 4
Club Totals 61 16 3 0 64 16
Grimsby Town Second Division 1926–27 23 7 2 1 25 8
1927–28 41 10 1 0 42 10
1928–29 39 11 2 0 41 11
First Division 1929–30 39 10 2 0 41 10
1930–31 42 10 3 2 45 12
1931–32 37 2 3 2 40 4
Second Division 1932–33 40 5 2 0 42 5
1933–34 42 11 2 0 44 11
First Division 1934–35 41 5 1 0 42 5
1935–36 41 2 6 2 47 4
1936–37 31 3 4 0 35 3
1937–38 11 0 2 0 13 0
Club Totals 427 76 30 7 457 83
Career Totals 488 92 33 7 521 99

References
  1. Lamming, Douglas (1985). A Who's Who of Grimsby Town AFC 1890–1985. Hutton Press. ISBN 0-907033-34-2.
  2. electronicfishcake.com Archived 2 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine – Player Profile
  3. englandstats.com – England Cap
  4. Football Poets Archived 20 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine – Another Reason for Hating Arsenal
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