Alan Foggon (born 23 February 1950) is an English former 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 ...

. His regular position was as a forward.

Early life

Foggon was born in

West Pelton Pelton is a village and electoral ward in County Durham, in England. The population of the village and ward taken at the 2011 census was 8,250. It is located about two miles to the northwest of Chester-le-Street. The village of West Pelton is loca ...

, County Durham before moving to nearby

Craghead Craghead is a former mining village in County Durham, England. It is located at the bottom of the valley to the south of Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horro ...

where his father had taken up a job as a miner.

Club career

While playing for his school, Foggon was spotted by Newcastle United who invited him to train twice a week with the club's youth side before signing as an apprentice in 1967 under manager

Joe Harvey Joseph Harvey (11 June 1918 – 24 February 1989) was an English football player and later manager. He spent much of his career at Newcastle United; he was the club's longest serving captain, manager, and, as of 2022, the last to win a major ...

. Having graduated from the junior and reserve sides at the club, he made his first-team debut just days before his 18th birthday, in a 0–0 draw at Arsenal. A schoolboy sprint champion, Foggon's moment of glory came in the second leg of the 1969 Fairs Cup Final in Budapest when shortly after coming on as a substitute his shot was pushed onto the crossbar by the Ujpest 'keeper, but the United man followed up to lash the ball into the net and make it 3–2 on the night, 6–2 on aggregate. He moved on to Cardiff City in August 1971 after falling out of favour following the signing of

Malcolm Macdonald Malcolm Ian Macdonald (born 7 January 1950) is an English former professional footballer, manager and media figure. Nicknamed 'Supermac', Macdonald was a quick, powerfully built prolific goalscorer. He played for Fulham, Luton Town, Newcastle ...

. However, after struggling to establish himself in the first-team and growing disillusioned with the standard of football in the reserve leagues at the club, he began to feel homesick and was unfit. The club received an offer for Foggon from

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 ...

and Cardiff manager

Jimmy Scoular James Scoular (11 January 1925 – 19 March 1998) was a Scottish football player and manager. Known as a tough, combative player with precise passing skills, Scoular made over 600 appearances in the Football League with Portsmouth, Newcastle ...

gave him the option of accepting the offer which Foggon did. The fee for the transfer was £10,000 and the deal also saw

Johnny Vincent John Vincent Imbragulio (October 3, 1927 – February 4, 2000), known as Johnny Vincent, was an American record producer for Art Rupe at Specialty Records. He founded Ace Records in 1955 in Jackson, Mississippi, 165 miles away from New Orlea ...

move to Cardiff. Foggon became a favourite of the Ayresome Park crowd and helped the Teessiders to promotion from Division Two in 1974. After brief stints with Rochester Lancers and Hartford Bicentennials in the United States, Foggon moved to Manchester United in 1976. That proved to be something of a disaster though and after just three league outings at Old Trafford he switched to Sunderland. Later moves took him to

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 ...

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

(loan), Consett. and

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around e ...

. He finished his career as one of only a few players who have played for all three of the North East's big three clubs.

Life after football

Remaining on South Tyneside, Foggon worked in the security business and the pub trade, in Spennymoor and South Shields.

References

External links

MUFCInfo.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foggon, Alan 1950 births Living people People from Pelton, County Durham Footballers from County Durham English men's footballers Newcastle United F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Connecticut Bicentennials players Rochester Lancers (1967–1980) players Manchester United F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players English Football League players Consett A.F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Whitley Bay F.C. players Men's association football forwards English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers