Gordon Clayton (born 3 November 1936 – 29 September 1991) 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 ...

. His regular position was as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

. He was born at

Wednesbury Wednesbury ( ) is a market town in the Sandwell district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England; it was historically in Staffordshire. It is located near the source of the River Tame, West Midlands, River Tame and ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

(now in the West Midlands). He made one appearance for the

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

first team in the 1956-57 season, having graduated from the youth team at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

and signing as an apprentice around the same time as

Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...

born

Duncan Edwards Duncan Edwards (1 October 1936 – 21 February 1958) was an English footballer who played as a left-half for Manchester United and the England national team. He was one of the Busby Babes, the young United team formed under manager Matt Busby ...

in the early 1950s. He represented the club at the funerals of Edwards and the seven other United players who died as a result of the

Munich air disaster The Munich air disaster occurred on 6 February 1958, when British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. The aircraft was carrying the Manchester United F.C., Manche ...

in February 1958. Clayton was sold to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

for £4,000 in 1959, but played just a few times for the Wirral club before dropping out of league football. He later played for Sankeys of Wellington,

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

and

Radcliffe Borough Radcliffe Football Club (formerly Radcliffe Borough) is an English football club based in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, where they play their home games at Stainton Park. The club was formed on 24 May 1949 and currently plays in the National L ...

before retiring due to arthritis. He later returned to Old Trafford as a scout under the management of

Wilf McGuinness Wilfred McGuinness (born 25 October 1937) is an English former football player and manager, who played for Manchester United and twice for England in his short playing career. McGuinness succeeded Sir Matt Busby as manager of Manchester United ...

(who had also played for United at the same time as Clayton) and later worked in a variety of managerial, coaching and scouting for a succession of other clubs. His last role in football was as assistant manager of

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

in the

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

. He was appointed to this role in August 1991, but died suddenly from a heart attack only a few weeks later, at the age of 54.

References

External links

MUFCInfo profile
1936 births 1991 deaths Footballers from Wednesbury Men's association football goalkeepers English men's footballers Manchester United F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players GKN Sankey F.C. players English Football League players Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff Derby County F.C. non-playing staff Burnley F.C. non-playing staff 20th-century English sportsmen {{England-footy-goalkeeper-1930s-stub