Clifford Collinson (3 March 1920 – September 1990) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

during the 1946–47 season. Born in

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 ...

, in north-east England, Collinson was spotted playing for Urmston Boys Club towards the end of the

Second World War 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 ...

and joined Manchester United as an amateur in May 1946. He turned professional in September 1946, before making his debut for the club in a scoreless draw away to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

on 2 November 1946. He went on a run of seven consecutive games, culminating with a 2–1 defeat to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

on 14 December 1946. However, he was not able to claim the "number one" jersey from

Jack Crompton John Crompton (18 December 1921 – 4 July 2013) was an English professional association football, footballer. Born in Hulme, Manchester, Lancashire, he was a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

on a regular basis and never played for the club again.

External links

Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk

at MUFCInfo.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Collinson, Cliff 1920 births 1990 deaths Footballers from Middlesbrough English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Manchester United F.C. players English Football League players