Alan Francis Woolfall (30 November 1956 – 20 April 2023) was an English

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 ...

who played as a forward. He scored fourteen goals in 75 league games in a seven-year career in the Football League. He turned out for Bury and Port Vale, as well as

non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

sides

Skelmersdale United Skelmersdale United Football Club is a football club from Skelmersdale, Lancashire. They are currently members of the and play at The Community Ground, Burscough. The club is a member of both the Liverpool F.A. and the Lancashire County Footb ...

and Marine.

Career

Bury

Woolfall played for

before joining Bury, who finished 14th in the Third Division in 1974–75 under the stewardship of Bobby Smith. The "Shakers" finished 13th in 1975–76, before missing out on the

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

places by four places and five points in 1976–77. After

Bob Stokoe Robert Stokoe (21 September 1930 – 1 February 2004) was an English footballer and manager who was able, almost uniquely, to transcend the traditional north-east animosity between the region's footballing rivals, Newcastle United and Sunderlan ...

took charge at

Gigg Lane Gigg Lane is a football ground in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, built for Bury F.C. in 1885. The first match was played on 12 September 1885 between Bury and a team from Wigan. One of the world's oldest professional football stadiums, G ...

, Bury dropped to 15th in 1977–78 and 19th in 1978–79.

Port Vale

Woolfall joined Port Vale in August 1979. He scored on both his league and

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

débuts, but failed to gain a regular spot in a team struggling near the bottom of the Fourth Division. In all he made seven league and three cup appearances in 1979–80, and scored three goals (at

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

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 ...

, and

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

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

John McGrath used him eleven times in 1980–81, and Woolfall found the net once against

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

. In all he made 21 appearances and scored four goals (all away from

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

) during a two-season spell, before he was given a free transfer to Northern Premier League side Marine in May 1981.

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolfall, Alan 1956 births 2023 deaths Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Skelmersdale United F.C. players Bury F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Marine A.F.C. players English Football League players Northern Premier League players