Gary Talbot (15 December 1937 – 22 December 2019) was a professional footballer in the 1960s with

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, where he set a record as the second highest

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 ...

goalscorer, and

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

. He also worked as a

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

Playing career

Talbot was signed by new Chester manager

Peter Hauser Peter Benjamin Hauser (20 April 1934 – 9 March 2000) played professional football for Blackpool before becoming player-manager of Chester in 1963. This made him one of the first foreign managers in English football. A wing-half, former u ...

in September 1963 as a 25-year-old, after the press photographer was spotted playing in a charity match. Within days he made his

debut against Newport County, scoring in a 3–0 victory. He then netted twice as Chester drew 2–2 at Barrow and he was comfortably the club's top scorer with 23 league goals to his name by the end of the season. The 1964–65 season saw Chester score 141 goals in

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

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 ...

and

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

, with Talbot and fellow forwards

Jimmy Humes Jimmy Humes (born 6 August 1942) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. He played in The Football League for four clubs. Playing career Humes began his career with Preston North End, making his debut aged 17 in a ...

Mike Metcalf Mike Metcalf (24 May 1939, Liverpool – 26 December 2018) was an English professional footballer who made more than 300 appearances in The Football League for Wrexham and Chester. Metcalf began his career with Everton, before joining Wrexham ...

Elfed Morris Elfed Morris (9 June 1942 – 4 November 2013) was a Welsh professional footballer. He played in the English Football League for Wrexham, Chester and Halifax Town. Playing career The nephew of former Wrexham manager Billy Morris, Elfed joined ...

and

Hugh Ryden Hugh Johnston Ryden (born 7 April 1943) is a Scottish footballer, who played as an inside forward in the Football League for Bristol Rovers, Stockport County, Chester and Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football ...

all netting at least 20 goals. Talbot bagged 35 of them (28 in the league), including a hat-trick in two minutes and 57 seconds in the closing stages of an

5-0 derby win over Crewe. Injuries limited Talbot's appearances and goal tally over the next two seasons, and he was allowed to switch to

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

rivals

in the summer of 1967. He netted 20 times in 37 league appearances before surprisingly returning to Chester in time for the 1968–69 campaign. Talbot once again broke the 20 goal barrier, with his tally of 22 leading him as the

leading scorer. Talbot then opted to retire from professional football, with his final game being a 2–0 win over Lincoln City in April 1969. This match also marked the debuts of Nigel Edwards and

Grenville Millington Grenville Rodney Millington (born 10 December 1951 in Queensferry, Flintshire) is a former professional footballer who played in The Football League as a goalkeeper. He enjoyed a long career with Chester and was voted the club's BBC Cult Hero i ...

, with the pair going on to play more than 500 league matches for Chester between them. Talbot left as Chester's record

goalscorer (previously held by

Frank Wrightson Frank Lawrence Wrightson (9 January 1906 – 1979), also known as Paddy Wrightson, was an English footballer who scored 123 goals from 236 appearances in the Football League playing as an inside forward or centre forward in the 1920s and 1 ...

) with 83 goals, and it was not until September 1992 that

Stuart Rimmer Stuart Alan Rimmer (born 12 October 1964) is an English former footballer who is Chester City's record goalscorer. He scored 134 Football League goals in two spells for Chester, and also represented seven other clubs during his professional ca ...

would pass the total. Talbot then had a spell playing for Irish side Drumcondra. He worked for many years as a photographer in the Chester where he had a photographic studio, From there he travelled the World photographing world leaders such as The President of Kenya, Presidents of Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Malaysia. He also Photographed members of The Royal Family including Princes Diana. , singers and Film Stars. His Photographic work was Internationally renowned. He is survived by his wife and two children .

Honours

;with Crewe Alexandra *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

fourth-place promotion: 1967–68

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot, Gary 1937 births 2019 deaths Footballers from Blackburn English men's footballers English Football League players Chester City F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Photographers from Lancashire Men's association football forwards League of Ireland players Drumcondra F.C. players