George Turner (1887–1958) 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 lea ...

who played for

Stoke Stoke may refer to: Places Canada * Stoke, Quebec New Zealand * Stoke, New Zealand United Kingdom Berkshire * Stoke Row Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stoke Gifford * Bradley Stoke * Little Stoke * Harry Stoke * Stoke Lodge Bucking ...

from 1908 to 1915. He was born in

Stoke-upon-Trent Stoke-upon-Trent, also known as Stoke, is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Burslem, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton and Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall form the city of Stoke-o ...

Career

Turner joined Stoke at a time when it seemed that football in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

was coming to an end with both professional clubs,

and

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

both suffering financial meltdown and resignation from

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

. Stoke's problem had been a disaster waiting to happen after a number of years of financial mismanagement and in 1907–08 season the club had lost the backing from their supporters who boycotted attending matches at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. Histor ...

. Chairman William Cowlishaw tried in vain to rally support and after admitting to failure he pulled Stoke out of the league and into

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

. It was then the local interest returned to just two months later in June 1908 the club had been saved and a new board of directors had been appointed with Alfred Barker being made manager. After failing to gain a belated entrance in the Football League, Stoke had to start again in the Birmingham & District League. Stoke re-branded themselves at Stoke F.C. (1908) in an attempt of re-ignite the local interest of football. Turner symbolised the rekindling of the interest of football in the city having had ambitions to become a gymnast at Halmer End Athletic Club Turner decided to play football instead, and joined Stoke, his decision was reported in the local newspaper, ''The Sentinel'' and his story was used as a marketing tool to get supporters back through the gates. He became a vital member of the club's revival as more player's joined the club and local interest in Stoke grew. For the club's first home match of the 1908–09 season against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

Reserves around 12,000 fans turned up and thus Stoke were able to continue with the safe knowledge that they still had the local support. Turner became a firm fan favourite and club captain and he want of to amass 176 league appearances for the club and helping them to re-claim their league status in 1915. Despite being a defender Turner was the regular penalty taker and scored 17 goals most from the spot. He was widely expected to retain the captaincy for Stoke's return to the league in 1919 but during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he suffered a bad wound on his leg which had to be amputated after infection set in.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, George English men's footballers Stoke City F.C. players 1887 births 1958 deaths Men's association football defenders British military personnel of World War I English amputees English disabled sportspeople Association football players with limb difference Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent Military personnel from Stoke-on-Trent