Edward Gaskell (19 December 1916 – 10 February 2009) 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 ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. He is best remembered for his time in the Football League with Brentford, with whom he had a 15-year association as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

and coach. He also held coaching positions at

non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

clubs Hendon,

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont and Kenton, and east of Headstone. The area accommodates ...

Southall Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...

and with the Football Association at

Lilleshall Lilleshall is a village and civil parish in the county of Shropshire, England. It lies between the towns of Telford and Newport, on the A518, in the Telford and Wrekin borough and the Wrekin constituency. There is one school in the centre of ...

Playing career

Early years

, Gaskell began his career playing for local club Romiley St Chad's, before moving to Football League club

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

, for whom he failed to make an appearance. He moved to

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 ...

club

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

in June 1936 and departed the following year, again without making an appearance. After writing to every Cheshire League club in a bid to find a new club, Gaskell was offered a trial at

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.

Brentford

After spurning interest from Aston Villa and declining a trial with Manchester United, Gaskell joined First Division club Brentford on 30 October 1937 for a £500 fee. Third-choice behind James Mathieson and

Joe Crozier Joseph Richard Crozier (February 19, 1929 – October 11, 2022) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and head coach who played and coached primarily in the minor leagues. After playing the better part of 12 seasons in the minor lea ...

, Gaskell's hopes of a quick first team debut were delayed due to being forced to undergo an operation to correct an injury suffered in a

London Combination The Football Combination was a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England, the Midlands and Wales; other clubs from the Midlands and those from the North playing in the Central League (it is n ...

match for the reserves in 1938. In the meantime, manager Harry Curtis brought in Frank Clack, which pushed Gaskell even further down the pecking order. Gaskell ultimately failed to make a professional appearance for the club before the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

in September 1939 saw professional football suspended. He remained with the club for a short time during the early part of the war and suffered the ignominy of conceding seven goals in the last 25 minutes of a

West London derby The West London derby is the name given to a football derby played between any two of Brentford, Chelsea, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers, all of whom are situated within West London. This particular derby is less prominent than other such derb ...

with

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

in December 1939. Following the end of hostilities in 1945 and past what he felt were his prime years, Gaskell still found himself behind Joe Crozier in the pecking order and had to wait until 27 December 1947 to make his debut for the Bees, which came over a decade since he signed for the club, in a 2–1 Second Division defeat to former club

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. He managed just one further appearance during the 1947–48 season and just one in the following campaign. In recognition of over 10 years' service, Gaskell was given a benefit cheque for £750 in 1948 (worth £ in ). First-choice goalkeeper Joe Crozier departed Griffin Park in May 1949 and Gaskell took over the position and played the first 14 games of the 1949–50 season, before suffering a

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blo ...

injury in a 1–0 defeat to

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

on 22 October 1949. He failed to make another appearance during the 1949–50 season and lost his place in the team to Alf Jefferies. After recovering, Gaskell made just two appearances during the 1950–51 season and fell to third in the pecking order behind Jefferies and Reg Newton. Gaskell managed a run of 19 appearances during the 1951–52 season, which included appearances in the third and fourth rounds of the Bees'

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 ...

run. He made up his mind to retire at the end of the season and despite manager Jackie Gibbons trying to persuade him otherwise, Gaskell retired in May 1952. He made just 38 appearances during 15 years with the Bees. He was awarded a joint- testimonial with Tom Manley in April 1954. Gaskell returned to Griffin Park in 2004, as part of the celebrations for the ground's 100th anniversary. At the time of his death in February 2009, Gaskell was Brentford's last-surviving pre-war player and he was posthumously inducted into the club's Hall of Fame in 2019.

Representative career

While with Buxton in 1937, Gaskell represented the Cheshire League representative team against their Southern League counterparts in the annual fixture between the two leagues.

Managerial and coaching career

Non-League football

Gaskell served as manager of

Athenian League The Athenian League was an English amateur football league for clubs in and around London. The league was originally to be called the Corinthian League,Athenian Football League minutes 1912-1921 (National Football Museum, Preston). but this nam ...

clubs Hendon,

and

in the mid-1950s.

Football Association

In the mid-1950s, Gaskell was one of the first instructors at

, at the time the FA's youth academy. He also took up an offer from former Brentford teammate George Smith to train and coach the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

team at

Bisham Abbey Bisham Abbey is a Grade I listed manor house at Bisham in the English county of Berkshire. The name is taken from the now lost monastery which once stood alongside. This original Bisham Abbey was previously named Bisham Priory, and was the trad ...

before international matches. Then-England manager

Walter Winterbottom Sir Walter Winterbottom (31 March 1913 – 16 February 2002) was an English football player and coach. He was the first manager of the England national team (1946–1962) and Director of Coaching for The Football Association (the FA). He ...

included Gaskell in a coaching programme which visited schools around England and he also coached for the

London FA The London Football Association (LFA) is the regional Football Association for inner areas of London. The London FA was established in 1882 and is affiliated to The Football Association. The London FA administers all levels of men's, women's and ...

Brentford 'A'

In 1959, Brentford manager Malky McDonald appointed Gaskell manager of the Brentford 'A', the club's third team. Two unremarkable seasons followed in the Seanglian League, though Gaskell identified future first team successes

Peter Gelson Peter William John Gelson (18 October 1941 – 26 April 2021) was an English professional footballer who played in the Football League for Brentford as a centre back and wing half. A cult hero amongst the club's supporters, he is third on the ...

, Tommy Higginson and John Docherty and played them in the team while they were progressing through the

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yo ...

and reserve ranks.

Personal life

Gaskell was a Manchester City supporter. While playing non-League football with Buxton, he combined his playing duties with digging holes for the local council. During his early period at Brentford, Gaskell shared a house in Windmill Road with Ted Farrelly. Gaskell served as PT Instructor at

Aldershot Barracks The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkhas ...

during the Second World War and was friends with

Frank Swift Frank Victor Swift (26 December 1913 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City and England. After starting his career with local clubs near his home town of Blackpool, in 1932 he was signed b ...

and Matt Busby while there. In later life, Gaskell worked for Platt's Grocers in

Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in ...

and later for the

Customs service Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...

for 20 years. As of June 2004, he was retired and living in Berkshire. Gaskell married Patience in 1944 and they had six children – Paul, Clare, Julia, Philip, Sally and Lynn.

Career statistics

Honours

Hendon *

: 1952–53 Individual * Brentford Hall of Fame

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaskell, Ted 1916 births People from Bredbury Footballers from Greater Manchester Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport English men's footballers Brentford F.C. players English Football League players Stockport County F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Buxton F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers 2009 deaths Hendon F.C. managers Wealdstone F.C. managers Southall F.C. managers Brentford F.C. non-playing staff English football managers Military personnel from Manchester British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Physical Training Corps soldiers