Arthur Richard Albiston (born 14 July 1957) is a Scottish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, Kick (football), kicking a Football (ball), ball to score a Goal (sport), goal. Unqualified, Football (word), the word ''football'' normally means the form of football tha ...

player. Albiston played for

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 Salford to the west. The two ...

for most of his career, making almost 500 appearances for the club. He also made 14 international appearances for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and was selected for their

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

squad.

Career

Albiston joined

as an apprentice in July 1972, turning professional in July 1974. He made his debut in a

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 ...

Third Round match against local rivals

Manchester City 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 ...

in 1974. He made 485 appearances in 14 years, playing at

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, and scored six goals. He helped the club win the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Re ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

. Albiston left Manchester United in August 1988 for

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has p ...

, managed by ex-Red Devils boss

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits. Nic ...

, on a free transfer. By the time of his departure from

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

he was the longest-serving player at the squad and the only player remaining from the Tommy Docherty era. He made his Albion debut in a league match away at Leicester City early in the 1988–89 season, and went on to make 47 appearances and score two goals that season, after which he returned to his homeland to sign for

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mi ...

, and went on to play for Chesterfield, Chester City,

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of the ...

in Norway and Ayr United. He retired from senior football in 1994. In his professional career, he made 464 appearances and scored seven goals. He also later joined non-League sides

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea sepa ...

, Witton Albion and

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester city centre and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the ...

. Albiston also earned 14

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 Jav ...

for

, making his debut on 28 April 1982 against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. His total includes one game at the

, a 0–0 draw against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

on 13 June 1986. Following his retirement from playing, Albiston managed

(1996–97), was a junior coach at Manchester United (2000–04) and has also worked as a radio summariser for Manchester Independent. He currently works for MUTV, Manchester United's official television channel, acting as match summariser during live coverage of the club's reserve and academy teams.

Honours

As a player

;

* Second Division **Winner (1): 1974–75 *

**Winner (3):

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

**Winner (2):

(*=shared)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albiston, Arthur 1957 births Living people 1986 FIFA World Cup players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Chesterfield F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Droylsden F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Norway Manchester United F.C. players Molde FK players Eliteserien players Footballers from Edinburgh Scotland international footballers Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish football managers Scottish footballers English Football League players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Witton Albion F.C. players Sittingbourne F.C. players Scotland under-21 international footballers Ayr United F.C. players People educated at Forrester High School Droylsden F.C. managers Association football fullbacks FA Cup Final players