George Kinnell (22 December 1937 – 16 October 2021) was a Scottish

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 in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

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 ...

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

, Sunderland and Stoke City.

Career

Born in

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

, Kinnell started his career in Scotland firstly playing for junior club Crossgates Primrose before joining

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in 1959 for £200. After serving four years with the "Dons" Kinnell earned a move to English Football League side Stoke City in 1963 for a fee of £35,000. Although he was a midfielder by trade manager

Tony Waddington Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football manager at both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City. Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at Stoke City. He progre ...

played him in forward position during the 1965–66 season due his physical strength. He never managed to adapt to his new role and quickly returned to the midfield. He later joined

, Sunderland, and

and he finished his career in Australia, firstly in Melbourne with Juventus where he helped the club win the

Victorian State League The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer leagu ...

and

Dockerty Cup The Dockerty Cup is an annual association football knock-out competition open to all Victorian clubs across the Victorian football league system. The tournament is named after the former president of Football Federation Victoria Harry Dockerty. ...

in 1970 and then in Perth, with Kingsway Olympic and Kiev.

Personal life

Kinnell was the brother of footballer Andy Kinnell and the cousin of Scotland international

Jim Baxter James Curran Baxter (29 September 1939 – 14 April 2001) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a left half. He is generally regarded as one of the country's greatest ever players. He was born, educated and started his career ...

. He died on 16 October 2021, at the age of 83.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinnell, George 1937 births 2021 deaths People from Cowdenbeath Scottish footballers Association football midfielders Stoke City F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Crossgates Primrose F.C. players Vancouver Royals players United Soccer Association players Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate soccer players in Canada