Billy Ashcroft (born 1 October 1952) is an English retired

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 both as a

central defender 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 as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He made his League debut for

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 ...

on 3 September 1977 in a 2–1 defeat at

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 pla ...

, after having previously served

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

for seven years, playing 219 matches and scoring 72 goals. Ashcroft was transferred to

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese Bo ...

in the Netherlands in 1982, where he stayed for three years, making 77 league appearances and scoring 29 goals. He was the club top-scorer in the 1983–84 season. In 1985, he moved to

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 adop ...

, where he scored twice in 23 league appearances.

References

Billy Ashcroft career stats
a
Sporting-Heroes.net

1952 births Living people English men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Men's association football forwards Middlesbrough F.C. players FC Twente players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Footballers from Liverpool English Football League players Eredivisie players Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands {{England-footy-forward-1950s-stub