Geoffrey Samuel Scott (31 October 1956 – 17 October 2018) was an English professional

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 made 176 appearances in

the 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 ...

playing for

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

, Leicester City,

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

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 ...

, Northampton Town and Cambridge United. He played as a defender.

Football career

Scott was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, and played began his career with

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 ...

. He failed to earn a professional contract with Villa and played non-league football for Kings Heath, Solihull Borough and Highgate United before joining

in 1977. He made his

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 on 22 October 1977 as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat away at Blackburn Rovers. He played regularly for Stoke, making 78 league appearances in two and a half years, and was part of the side that gained promotion to the First Division in the 1978–79 season. He played 16 First Division games before signing for Leicester City as the replacement for

Dennis Rofe Dennis Rofe (born 1 June 1950, in Epping, Essex, United Kingdom) is a former professional football player, who spent most of his playing career with Leicester City before spending many years in various coaching capacities at Southampton. Ear ...

who had recently joined Chelsea. Scott spent two years at Leicester, and was part of the side that won the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

title in the 1979–80 season. He played 39 league games, before signing for

. Scott remained at Birmingham only a few months, then played for

, Northampton Town and Cambridge United, where his League career ended because of injury. He returned to the Birmingham area and played for Solihull Borough,

Moor Green Moor Green is a historic home located near Brentsville, Prince William County, Virginia. It dates to the early-19th century, and is a two-story, five-bay, Federal style brick residence, with a one-room, two-story ell. It has a standing seam met ...

and Highgate United, becoming

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

of the latter club in the 1988–89 season.

After football

After retiring from the game, Scott took a degree in business studies and worked in the telecommunications industry. He returned to football when appointed secretary of the Stoke City Old Boys Association, and became chief executive of Xpro, an organisation supporting the health and welfare of former professional footballers. Scott suffered from cancer in his later years and died on 17 October 2018 at the age of 61.

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

Honours

; Stoke City *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

third-place promotion: 1978–79 ; Leicester City * Football League Second Division champions: 1979–80

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Geoff 1956 births 2018 deaths Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Solihull Borough F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Moor Green F.C. players English Football League players Highgate United F.C. players Highgate United F.C. managers English football managers