Gilbert Arthur Alsop (22 September 1908 – 16 April 1992) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

who played as a forward in the Football League for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

Early life

Alsop was born in

Frampton Cotterell Frampton Cotterell is a large village and parish, in South Gloucestershire, South West England, on the River Frome. The village is contiguous with Winterbourne to the south-west and Coalpit Heath to the east. The parish borders Iron Acton t ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

to Arthur George Alsop, a coal miner, and Florence Caroline Alsop (née Thornell). He had three older siblings; Frederick, Hilda and Arthur. After leaving school, he signed for local amateur side Latteridge for a time, before signing for Southern League

Bath City Bath City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club is affiliated to the Somerset FA and currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club have ...

in August 1927.

Professional career

In December 1929 he moved to

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

side

on professional terms. He spent two seasons with the ''Sky Blues'' but failed to gain a regular starting place, making only 16 league appearances and scoring four times. He started the first of two very successful spells at

in September 1931, scoring on his debut in a 2–0 win over

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

. He went on to score 15 times in his first season with the ''Saddlers''. In January 1933 he scored the opening goal in Walsall's 2–0 win over

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful managers in the early 20th ...

's Arsenal in the

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 ...

. A result still regarded as one of the greatest FA Cup upsets of all-time. After a remarkable scoring return of 40 goals in all competitions in 1933–34 and 48 goals in all competitions in 1934–35, Alsop attracted the attention of clubs further up the league and moved to First Division

in November 1935. However, Alsop found his first team opportunities were severely limited by the form of W. G. Richardson and Harry Jones, managing only one league appearance for the club in his two seasons at

The Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an all-seater football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of Championship club West Bromwich Albion since 1900, when it became the sixth ground to be used by the cl ...

. Alsop signed for

in May 1937 and scored 30 goals in 39 senior matches in the Southern League and the

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

. He scored in Ipswich's first ever match in the Football League – a 4–2 victory over

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

in August 1938. He returned to Walsall in October 1938 and, despite the outbreak of war, made a further 106 appearances and continued his prolific goalscoring form for the midlands side. He played his last full season at Fellows Park as player-coach to Walsall's third team in 1947–48, before eventually retiring in May 1948. In all competitions, Alsop played 324 times for Walsall and scored 226 goals.

Later life

Alsop worked behind the scenes at Fellows Park for a further 20 years or so after retiring and later became groundsman of the playing fields adjoining Walsall Arboretum. He was still attending home games at

Bescot Stadium Bescot Stadium, also known as the Poundland Bescot Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a association football, football stadium in Walsall, England, and the current home ground of Walsall F.C., Walsall Football Club. It was built in 1989–90, ...

, right up to his death in April 1992 at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alsop, Gilbert 1908 births 1992 deaths Bath City F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. wartime guest players People from South Gloucestershire District English Football League players English footballers Sportspeople from Gloucestershire Association football forwards