Allenby C. Chilton
(16 September 1918 – 15 June 1996)
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 le ...
.
Playing career
Chilton started his career with
Seaham Colliery
The Seaham Colliery was a coal mine in County Durham in the North of England. The mine suffered an underground explosion in 1880 which resulted in the deaths of upwards of 160 people, including surface workers and rescuers.
Among the dead were 3 ...
before joining
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
as an amateur in the summer of 1938, but he never played a senior game for the
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...
club.
Chilton transferred to
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
soon after in November 1938 and made his first team debut against
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...
in September 1939. Chilton's early career was cut short by the Second World War although he made guest appearances for
Airdrieonians
Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...
,
Cardiff City
Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...
,
Hartlepools 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 Har ...
,
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
,
Newcastle United
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...
and
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...
who he helped to win the
War Cup South Final in 1944. He served in the Durham Light Infantry and saw active service in the
Normandy Landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
also in 1944.
Chilton established himself as a centre half in
Matt Busby
Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager, who managed Manchester United F.C., Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 197 ...
's first post-war team and helped United to triumph in the
1947–48 FA Cup and was a key member of the
1951–52 league championship winning team. He was made club captain during the
1953–54 season. Having missed just 13 games in nine seasons at United and with 175 consecutive appearances to his name, Chilton requested a rest from first team action in early 1955. He was replaced by
Mark Jones, one of the rising
Busby Babes
The "Busby Babes" were the group of footballers, recruited and trained by Manchester United F.C. chief scout Joe Armstrong and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, who progressed from the club's youth team into the first team under the management of ...
, and never returned to first team action.
Management career
Grimsby Town
He left the club in March 1955 to become player-manager with
Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...
. He joined the Mariners late in the
1954–55 season and was unable to stop them having to apply for re-election, but the following season under his management they were champions of Division Three North – the only club ever to go from re-election to promotion in one season.
Wigan Athletic
Chilton continued as manager at Grimsby Town until April 1959 when he joined
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1932, ...
as manager for one season during
1960–61.
Hartlepools United
Chilton joined Hartlepools United as a scout for the
1961–62 season and became manager during
1962–63.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chilton, Allenby
1918 births
1996 deaths
English footballers
Liverpool F.C. players
Manchester United F.C. players
Hartlepool United F.C. wartime guest players
Middlesbrough F.C. wartime guest players
Newcastle United F.C. wartime guest players
Charlton Athletic F.C. wartime guest players
Grimsby Town F.C. players
English football managers
England international footballers
Grimsby Town F.C. managers
Wigan Athletic F.C. managers
Hartlepool United F.C. managers
1954 FIFA World Cup players
English Football League players
Footballers from Sunderland
Durham Light Infantry soldiers
British Army personnel of World War II
Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) wartime guest players
Cardiff City F.C. wartime guest players
Association football central defenders
FA Cup Final players