Gordon Reginald Turner (7 June 1930 – 23 December 1976) was an English

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 was best known as a

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. He is Luton Town's all-time top goalscorer, with 243 in the League and 276 overall.

Football career

Luton Town

Born in Doncaster, the son of a

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

professional footballer, Turner began his own footballing career as a right sided

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. During his

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, two Chief Petty Officers, both

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

ians, saw his raw talent and tipped off

Dally Duncan Douglas "Dally" Duncan (14 October 1909 – 2 January 1990) was a Scottish football player and manager. A left-winger, Duncan joined Hull City from Aberdeen Richmond in 1928 and spent his entire professional career in English football. He joined ...

, the manager of

. Duncan happened to know the teenage Turner's father, having played alongside him for Hull—whether or not this influenced his judgement, Turner was signed on as an apprentice in 1949. He made his debut on 9 December 1950, in a 4–1 defeat at

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

, playing in midfield. However, the following season, he was given the opportunity to play up front and soon began scoring many goals, including a hat-trick in his fourth game. Over the next few seasons Turner developed into Luton's star player—he scored 32 goals during the 1954–55 season to secure top flight football at

Kenilworth Road Kenilworth Road is an association football stadium in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It has been the home ground of Luton Town F.C., Luton Town Football Club since 1905. The stadium has also hosted women's and youth international matches, includ ...

for the first time, and continued to help Luton hold their own in the First Division. Turner was dropped from the team for 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 ...

for the 1958–59 season due to injury—despite Turner's absence, Luton marched to the final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

to face

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 ...

in their first Cup final. Despite Turner's return to fitness, Luton named an unchanged side, meaning Turner was still not picked. Luton lost 2–1. Turner's last Football League match came on 25 April 1964, as Luton beat

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

2–1 at Kenilworth Road. By his final game, he had scored 243 league goals for the club, and 276 in all competitions. Both of these figures stand as club records in 2009.

Later career

After he had retired from the League, Turner joined his former Luton team-mate

Jesse Pye Jesse Pye (22 December 191919 February 1984) was an English footballer. He played in the Football League for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Luton Town and Derby County and scored twice in the 1949 FA Cup Final for the former. Pye's first professio ...

Wisbech Town Wisbech Town Football Club is a football club based near Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Fenland Stadium. History Although a Wisbech Town existed in the 1890s, the current club was estab ...

, where Pye was

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 ...

. He then spent a season at

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

, scoring 37 goals. Turner contracted motor neurone disease when he was 41, and died two days before Christmas in 1976 at the age of 46.England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Gordon 1930 births 1976 deaths Footballers from Doncaster English footballers English Football League players Luton Town F.C. players Wisbech Town F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players English Football League representative players Association football forwards