Frank Wignall (born 21 August 1939) is an English retired international

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 professionally for Everton,

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

and

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

, as well as at international level with

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He later became player-manager of

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

. After a spell with the Qatar national team, In July 1981 he was appointed manager of

Shepshed Charterhouse Shepshed Dynamo Football Club is an English association football, football club based in the small town of Shepshed in the north west of Leicestershire, England. Founded as Shepshed Albion towards the end of the 19th century, the team played for ...

Club career

Wignall signed for Nottingham Forest from Everton in 1963 for, a then club record transfer of, about £20,000. He made his debut on 24 August 1963 against

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 ...

and scored his first goal in his second game away to

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 ...

on 29 August. He was Forest's top scorer during his first two seasons there with 21 goals in the 1963–64 season and 16 goals in the 1964–65 season. His last competitive appearance was in the FA Cup at

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

on 17 February 1968. Wignall played for Derby County between 1969 and 1971, and began the 1971–72 season playing regularly, scoring 5 goals in 11 league appearances. However he was transferred to

late in 1971 and Derby went on to win the First Division title that season in his absence.

International career

Wignall played twice for England as a centre forward. He scored his two international goals on his England debut against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

in a 2–1 victory on 18 November 1964. His second and final game for England was in a 1–1 draw away to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Wignall believed that he might have made the England squad for the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

, had he not broken his leg, saying that "I was in the England team and Geoff Hurst took my position. All because I broke me leg".

References

1939 births Living people English footballers English football managers England international footballers Chorley F.C. players Everton F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players King's Lynn F.C. players Qatar national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Qatar People from Blackrod Leigh Genesis F.C. players English expatriate football managers English Football League players English Football League representative players Burton Albion F.C. players King's Lynn F.C. managers Association football forwards {{England-footy-forward-1930s-stub