Alan William Starling (born 2 April 1951) was a 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 le ...

, who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

Playing career

Starling began his career as an apprentice with

, turning professional in April 1969 and making his league debut the following season. He joined

on loan in February 1971, playing just once, in a 4–0 defeat at home to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

in place of regular keeper

Andy Donnelly Andy Donnelly (born 1 May 1943) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career Born in Lanark, Donnelly played for Coltness United, Clyde, Millwall, Weymouth, Torquay United and Cape Town City A cape is a ...

, before returning to Luton. He moved to

in June 1971 and went on to make over 200 appearances for the Cobblers. In April 1976 he scored a penalty in the penultimate game of the season, against

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

, ensuring that every regular player for Northampton that season has scored at least once. He also holds the record of the most minutes without conceding a goal for

when he went 595 minutes unbeaten between 25 October and 29 November 1975.Clean Sheets; The Definitive Record
''ntfc.co.uk.'' 2010-01-25. Retrieved 2010-01-26. In March 1977 he joined

References

English footballers English Football League players Association football goalkeepers Luton Town F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players 1951 births Living people Footballers from Dagenham Place of birth missing (living people) {{England-footy-goalkeeper-stub