George Switzer (born 13 October 1973) is an English former

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 ...

most famous for being part of

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 ...

's 1992

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

-winning team. A left-back, Switzer played for

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

, Hyde United, Salford City,

Irlam Irlam is a suburb in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, it had a population of 19,933. It lies on flat ground on the south side of the M62 motorway and the north bank of the Manchester Ship Canal, southwest of Salford ...

and AFC Monton before his retirement in 2013.

Career

Born in Salford,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, Switzer began his career as a youth player at

, having joined the club in 1982 after being spotted playing for the local Barrhill Lads Club when he was only eight years old. Switzer was part of the United youth team that won the

in 1992, playing with future United stars such as

Gary Neville Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit and former player. He is also a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a comm ...

Ryan Giggs Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his List of one-club men in association football, entir ...

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

and

Paul Scholes Paul Scholes (born 16 November 1974) is an English football coach, pundit, former player, and co-owner of Salford City. He spent his entire professional playing career with Manchester United, for whom he scored over 150 goals in more than 700 ...

. Following on from this success, Switzer was offered a professional contract with the Red Devils; however, unlike his team-mates, who received multi-year deals, Switzer was only offered one year. Switzer was released at the end of the 1992–93 season. Switzer then signed for

on a free transfer in July 1993. However, Switzer only played for the Quakers for one season, failing to hold down a regular place, before being given another free transfer in the summer of 1994. He then signed for Hyde United in the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

, and played for them for six years from 1994 to 2000, making over 200 appearances for the East Manchester team. Since then, Switzer has played for Salford City, but left his home-town club in 2006 to sign for

. After a short time there, he signed for AFC Monton.

Personal life

Outside of football, Switzer has had a number of careers, including working as an optical technician for Dolland & Aitchison at their factory in Salford, and driving a van for a Manchester courier firm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Switzer, George 1973 births Living people Footballers from Salford English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Manchester United F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players Salford City F.C. players Irlam F.C. players English Football League players Northern Premier League players