Ronald Clayton (5 August 1934 – 29 October 2010) 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 made nearly 600 appearances in

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 ...

playing for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

35 times for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

between 1955 and 1960. Clayton, a

right half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, began his career with

(where his elder brother

Ken Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer * ''Ken'' (film), a 1965 Japanese film * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine * Ken Masters, a main character in th ...

was also a squad member). He made his first-team debut as a 16-year-old in the 1950–51 season, and between then and 1969 made 581 appearances for his only

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 ...

club. He then became

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

, and also appeared for

Great Harwood Great Harwood is a town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England, located north east of Blackburn and adjacent to the Ribble Valley. Great Harwood is part of the "Three Towns" conurbation along with the towns of Clayton-le-Moors and Ris ...

before retiring. At international level, Clayton was

six times for England under-23, once for England B, and 35 times at full international level, including five as captain. He made his international debut against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

in November 1955, and won his last cap against

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

in May 1960. He was part of England's team at the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the 6th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first and only FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Br ...

. In 1960 his autobiography 'A Slave – To Soccer' was published. On 2 December 1970 Blackburn Rovers recognised his services to the club with them hosting the Ronnie Clayton Testimonial Match with a Manchester City / Liverpool XI playing an International XI.Manchester Evening News 3 December 1970 (British Newspaper Archive). Clayton died in October 2010. On 13 August 2011, as a sign of respect to Clayton, it was announced at half-time during the first game of the 2011–12 Premier League season, that The Blackburn End was to be renamed The Ronnie Clayton End at

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a Association football, football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the English Football League, Football League and Premier League, who have played there since ...

. In February 2019 he was one of the first seven players to be inducted into the club's Hall of Fame.Rovers legends inducted into Hall of Fame
www.rovers.co.uk, 17 July 2019

Honours

Blackburn Rovers *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

runner-up: 1959–60

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clayton, Ronnie 1934 births 2010 deaths Footballers from Preston, Lancashire English men's footballers England men's international footballers England men's B international footballers England men's under-23 international footballers Men's association football midfielders Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players English Football League players 1958 FIFA World Cup players English football managers Morecambe F.C. managers Great Harwood F.C. players English Football League representative players 20th-century English sportsmen

Honours

See also

References

External links