Turner Arthur Image 1 Charlton Athletic 1946

Description

Not to be confused with Charlton Athletic team mate Bert Turner, Poplar, London born amateur centre forward Arthur Turner was serving as an officer in the RAF during the Second World War when he became associated with Charlton Athletic and played for them part time.

When the FA Cup returned to peacetime football for the 1945-46 season,  Turner made his senior debut for Charlton in their Third Round win over Fulham in January 1946, playing in 9 of their 10 ties that culminated in the Final at Wembley when they were beaten 4-1 by Derby County after extra time, the Score being 1-1 at full time as Bert Turner scored at both ends in the final 10 minutes (the first time a player had done so in an FA Cup Final).
in the two legged rounds leading up to the semi finals, Turner had scored three times in each of their victories over Preston North End and Brentford.

However the following season, the first post-war League season, Turner didn’t make an appearance for Charlton Athletic before being signed by Colchester United manager Ted Fenton who was endeavouring to build a side capable of obtaining election from the Southern League into The Football League. In so doing Turner became the only player to ever play in an FA Cup Final for a club without ever making a Football League appearance for them since the League’s inception.

With Colchester, Turner was a runner up in the Southern League Cup in 1948 and 1949, and a winner in 1950 when he was also part of the team that finished League runners up in 1949-50.

It was not until 1950 that Colchester (then managed by Jimmy Allen) finally achieved their dream, when they were one of two clubs elected to join an expanded Football League Third Division (South).

Turner made his Football League debut that August at Gillingham and scored Colchester’s first Football League goal at Layer Road, when he struck five minutes into a 4-1 win over Swindon Town on 31st August 1950. Turner made 36 appearances in Colchester’s inaugural Football League season, scoring twelve goals, but injury restricted him to only nine further appearances, and he retired from football in the summer of 1951, although he did subsequently return to the Southern League with Headington United having scored 90 goals in 136 matches for Colchester United.