Kenneth Charles Armstrong (31 January 1959 – 10 July 2022) 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 lea ...

who played as a

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Playing career

Of Scottish parentage, Armstrong was born in

Bridgnorth Bridgnorth is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the United Kingd ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, while his father was working in the area. Spotted while playing for Beith Juniors, he made 88 appearances and scored three goals in the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

playing for

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

, and made 94 appearances, scoring twice, in the English

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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

playing for

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

and

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

. He was part of the Southampton squad that finished second to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in the 1983–84 season. He signed for

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

in February 1986 for a fee of £10,000, broke his ankle in his first training session, and nine months later, still only 27 years of age, retired from football because of the injury without ever playing for the club.

Later life

After football, Armstrong held managerial positions in the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

. He was a business manager with Monklands and Bell-shill Hospital NHS Trust from 1993 before moving in 1996 to The Freeman Group of Hospitals NHS Trust which became the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust in 1998 where he worked as a general manager, until 1999 when he moved to

NHS Tayside NHS Tayside is an NHS board which forms one of the fourteen regions of NHS Scotland. It provides healthcare services in Angus, Scotland, Angus, the Dundee City council area and Perth and Kinross. NHS Tayside is headquartered at Ninewells Hospit ...

as director of operations. Armstrong died in the early hours of 10 July 2022, at the age of 63.

Honours

Southampton *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

runners-up: 1983–84

Notes

References

External links

Birmingham City F.C. match programme article
reproduced on Beith Juniors F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Ken 1959 births 2022 deaths Sportspeople from Bridgnorth English men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Beith Juniors F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players English Football League players English people of Scottish descent Footballers from Shropshire