Alan A'Court (30 September 1934 – 14 December 2009) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who mostly played for

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. He gained five caps for England and represented the nation at the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the 6th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first and only FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Br ...

Playing career

Born in

Rainhill Rainhill is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the 2011 census was 10,853. Historically part of Lancashire, Rainhill was a township in the ecclesiastical parish of Prescot ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England, A'Court was a winger who started out at Prescot Cables as an amateur before he was signed by Reds manager Don Welsh. A'Court made his debut in a league match at

Ayresome Park Ayresome Park was a football stadium in the Ayresome area of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Middlesbrough F.C. from its construction in time for the 1903–04 season, until the Riverside Stadium opened in 1995. It ...

on 7 February 1953, a game that saw Liverpool take both the points from a 3–2 win. His first goal came a month later on 14 March, again in a league match, this time at

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

in a 2–0 victory over

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

. A'Court, who followed

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

, signed from Prescot as an 18-year-old in September 1952, spurning the advances of Everton and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

to become an Anfield apprentice, a decision that paid off as just six months after joining he made his first team debut. The following season A'Court played 16 times, as Liverpool were relegated to the Second Division. During the Anfield club's first season in the second tier of English football A'Court established himself as a first team regular making 33 league and cup appearances. A'Court remained consistent as Liverpool failed to regain their top flight status. By the age of 24 years and 89 days he had played 200 league games for the Reds becoming the youngest player to do so, a record that still stands. Although the strong and talented A'Court could have left to play for teams in the First Division, his loyalty to Liverpool was rewarded in 1961–62 when, as an ever-present, he and the Reds celebrated promotion back to the First Division under the guidance of

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool F.C., Liverpool. Shankly brought su ...

, finishing a full eight points (in the days of two points for a win) clear of second placed

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

. A'Court was selected 23 times during Liverpool's first season back amongst football's elite teams; he helped Liverpool to an eighth-place finish in the First Division. Whilst still in Division 2 A'Court's skill alerted

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

manager

Walter Winterbottom Sir Walter Winterbottom (31 March 1913 – 16 February 2002) was an English football player and coach. He was the first manager of the England national team (1946–1962) and Director of Coaching for The Football Association (the FA). He r ...

, who was looking for a player to replace an injured

Tom Finney Sir Thomas Finney (5 April 1922 – 14 February 2014) was an English international footballer who played from 1946 to 1960 as a winger or centre forward for Preston North End and England. He is widely acknowledged to have been one of England' ...

; Winterbottom handed the left winger the first of his five

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

on 6 November 1957 in a British Championship match against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

. A'Court's only goal for his country and a goal for

Duncan Edwards Duncan Edwards (1 October 1936 – 21 February 1958) was an English footballer who played as a left-half for Manchester United and the England national team. He was one of the Busby Babes, the young United team formed under manager Matt Busby ...

were not enough to prevent England losing the game 3–2. The highlight of his career was representing England at the

in Sweden, where he played in England's last three matches against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

(0–0),

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

(2–2), and the group stage play-off game against the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

(0–1). He did this despite playing for a club in the Second Division. Unfortunately for A'Court, injuries began to take their toll. He missed the whole of the 1963–64 championship winning season, so Shankly signed Peter Thompson from

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

. After spending most of his career at Liverpool, playing 382 times and scoring 63 goals, A'Court was allowed to leave. He joined

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

for a fee of £4,500 in October 1964. A'Court's final outing in a Red shirt was in a historic match: Liverpool's first ever European match at

, the game was a

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

preliminary round 2nd leg match on 14 September 1964. Liverpool had won the first encounter with

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic side KR 5–0 but rather than treat the return leg as a mere formality, the Reds finished off the job with a comprehensive 6–1 victory.

Coaching career

A'Court later became player-coach at

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

before taking on various coaching jobs, including posts in Zambia and New Zealand, he also became assistant manager at

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

when

Tony Waddington Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football player and manager. He managed both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City. Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at ...

called upon his services in 1969. In January 1978

George Eastham George Edward Eastham, OBE (23 September 1936 – 20 December 2024) was an English footballer who played as a midfielder or inside forward for Newcastle United, Arsenal and Stoke City, as well as being a member of England's 1966 World Cup-w ...

was sacked and A'Court was put in caretaker charge. His only match in charge of Stoke came in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

at home to non-league

Blyth Spartans Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is an association football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park. They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secre ...

in 1977–78, Stoke lost the match 3–2. Once new manager Alan Durban was appointed A'Court moved to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

as an assistant manager. He then went to join the sport staff at North Staffordshire Polytechnic. He managed Nantwich Town from September 1983 to April 1984.

Post retirement

After finally retiring from football, A'Court ran a tobacconist/newsagent shop on the borders of

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

and

Bebington Bebington () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Cheshire, it is south of Liverpool, close to the River Mersey on the eastern side of the Wirral Peninsula ...

. A'Court died of cancer on 14 December 2009.Former Stoke boss A'Court dies, aged 75
Retrieved on 15 December 2009

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list England's goal tally first.'' :''Score and result list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after A'Court's goal.''

Managerial statistics

References

; Specific ; General * *

External links

Profile
at the Liverpool F.C. website
Player profile at LFChistory.net

Exclusive interview at LFChistory.net
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Acourt, Alan 1934 births 2009 deaths 1958 FIFA World Cup players England men's international footballers England men's under-23 international footballers English football managers English men's footballers Men's association football wingers Liverpool F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players People associated with Staffordshire University People from Rainhill Footballers from Merseyside Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens Stoke City F.C. managers English Football League players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Deaths from cancer in England English Football League managers Stoke City F.C. non-playing staff English Football League representative players People educated at Prescot Grammar School Nantwich Town F.C. managers English football coaches 20th-century English sportsmen