Charles Alfred Crowe (30 October 1924 – 27 February 2010) 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 ...

who played as a defender. He spent the majority of his career at his hometown club

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 ...

. He also spent a season at

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

at the end of his career.

Career

Crowe was born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

in 1924. In his teenage years he appeared for the local football teams, Heaton & Byker Youth Club and Wallsend St. Lukes. He signed for the biggest team in the city,

, in October 1944. At the time he joined the club, Newcastle were only able to play friendly matches as

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

was taking place and all the football leagues in England were suspended. He made 24 appearances in two years for Newcastle as a left-back. He made his

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 competi ...

debut on 5 January 1946 in a match against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

and had to wait until December of that year his official

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

debut; he only made four appearances for Newcastle from January until the end of the 1946–47 season. During the 1947–48 season he featured in just two league games as the club won promotion to the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

. Crowe found his chances limited during the following years and made only a handful of appearances. Crowe became a regular member of the Newcastle team in the 1950–51 season, a very successful year for the club in which they finished fourth in the First Division in only their third season back at that level. Crowe was also part of the side that reached the 1951 FA Cup final and participated in a 2–0 victory against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. Crowe won his only trophy in this match as, despite Newcastle winning the FA Cup a further two times before the end of his career, he did not play in the 1952 final and missed the

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

match against

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 Salford to the west. The tw ...

through injury. Crowe had been playing mainly in the reserves for the previous couple of seasons but re-established himself as the first-choice left-half. He was also appointed as captain in place of

Joe Harvey Joseph Harvey (11 June 1918 – 24 February 1989) was an English football player and later manager. He spent much of his career at Newcastle United; he was the club's longest serving captain, manager, and, as of 2022, the last to win a major ...

. He moved to

in February and worked as player-coach in the 1956–57 season. He was selected for the Third Division North representative team in October 1957.

Retirement

Crowe retired from the game in 1957 at the age of 33, having made 178 appearances in the league for Newcastle and scoring five goals from defence. Many referred to him by his famous name 'Mr. Chuckles'. He was offered a coaching job at Newcastle when

Charlie Mitten Charles Mitten (17 January 1921 – 2 January 2002) was an English football player and manager who came through the junior ranks at Manchester United. Over his career, Mitten also played for Fulham, Mansfield Town and Altrincham in England, and ...

became the manager but he was unimpressed by the wage being offered. He briefly managed in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

but was forced to return to England due to the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

in the country. Paul Joannou wrote in his book about the history of Newcastle United, ''The Black 'n' White Alphabet'', "A player who rarely took the headlines, Crowe got on with the rough and tumble in the middle of the field as a spoiler of the opposition's tactics and winner of the ball, while he was also used to good effect as a marker."

Alzheimer's

Crowe was diagnosed with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

in 1998 while he was living with his 82-year-old wife Ruth in

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...

. He subsequently moved to Hunter Hall care-home. In 2009, he began the "Charlie Crowe Appeal" with the aim of helping people with Alzheimer's disease. His daughter Lesley Edmondson started a campaign that aimed to raise £1.5 million to buy a medical scanner for

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

's Campus for Aging and Vitality that can detect early signs of the disease. The campaign was backed by former Newcastle players and managers such as

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer CBE DL (born 13 August 1970) is an English football pundit and retired football player and manager who played as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest players in Premie ...

Sir Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

and actor

Kevin Whately Kevin Whately (born 6 February 1951) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Neville "Nev" Hope in the British comedy drama ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'', Robert "Robbie" Lewis in the crime dramas ''Inspector Morse'' 1987–2000 and ...

. A book entitled "Charlie Crowe's Scrapbook" was to be re-released as one of the ways of raising money. A television programme was broadcast on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

show ''

Inside Out Inside Out may refer to: *Backwards (disambiguation) or inverse Books * '' Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd'', by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason * ''Inside Out'', Christian book by Larry Crabb * ''Inside Out'', novel by Barry Eisler ...

'' for

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

and

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

in March 2009. He was 85 years old and the last surviving player from the 1951 FA Cup winning side. Crowe died in

North Tyneside General Hospital North Tyneside General Hospital is a district general hospital located on Rake Lane in North Shields, Tyne and Wear. It is managed by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital, which replaced several other local hospitals ...

on 27 February 2010.

dedicated their 2–1 away win over

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

to him thanks to

Andy Carroll Andrew Thomas Carroll (born 6 January 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Championship side Reading. He has played in the Premier League and English Football League for Newcastle United, Preston North End, Liv ...

and

Fabricio Coloccini Fabricio Coloccini (; ; born 22 January 1982) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Coloccini began his club career at Boca Juniors in his native Argentina attracting the attention of A.C. Milan. He faile ...

Honours

winner:

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

References

External links

Spartacus entry

Charlie Crowe Appeal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowe, Charlie 1924 births 2010 deaths Men's association football defenders Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in England English men's footballers Mansfield Town F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne English Football League players Deaths from dementia in England