Ashall George Image 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1937

Description

Killamarsh, Derbyshire born winger George Ashall became a coal miner upon leaving school but showed an interest in football, playing for the Brodsworth Main (1931), Upton (1933) and Frickley (1934) Colliery football teams and having also had a spell on the books at Huddersfield Town during 1932-33 without making their first eleven. He joined First Division Wolverhampton Wanderers from Frickley Colliery to become a professional footballer in August 1935, and made his Football League debut on 4th March 1936, scoring the winner in a 1-0 win over Grimsby Town.

He was a first choice player over his two full seasons at Molineux, making 94 appearances in total and scoring 19 goals. His form won him a place in a Football League XI that faced the Scottish League in Glasgow in September 1937, losing by the only goal of the game. He was also in the England squad for their December 1937 5-4 victory over Czechoslovakia at White Hart Lane but he never won a full England cap.

He was a mainstay in the Wolves team that finished League runners up in 1937-38 before he moved to Coventry City in July 1938, remaining on their books for almost a decade, but with the suspension of League football due to the Second World War limiting his appearances to 68, playing both sides of the War and scoring 11 times. He also guested for Northampton Town during the War before returning to Highfield Road when football resumed. In September 1947, he suffered a career-ending injury against West Bromwich Albion and was forced to retire.

NB in the photograph he trains with Wolves team-mates Jack Taylor and Joe Gardiner.