Arfon Griffiths
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Arfon Trevor Griffiths | ||
| Date of birth | 23 August 1941 | ||
| Place of birth | Wrexham, Wales | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1957–1959 | Wrexham | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1959–1961 | Wrexham | 41 | (8) |
| 1961–1962 | Arsenal | 15 | (2) |
| 1962–1979 | Wrexham | 550 | (112) |
| 1975 | → Seattle Sounders (loan) | 15 | (1) |
| Total | 621 | (123) | |
| National team | |||
| 1971–1976 | Wales | 17 | (6) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1977–1981 | Wrexham | ||
| 1981–1982 | Crewe Alexandra | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Arfon Trevor Griffiths MBE (born 23 August 1941) is a Welsh former football player and manager. During his playing career which lasted from 1959 to 1979, Griffiths played at both professional and international levels, before becoming a football manager.
Born in Wrexham, Griffiths was originally spotted in local junior football by former Wrexham player Frank Blew, who then alerted the club's manager Cliff Lloyd. He initially signed Griffiths on amateur forms in May 1957, as the youngster turned down offers of trials from both Liverpool and Sheffield Wednesday. This started a 22-year-long association between with Wrexham as both player and manager.
He made his first team in a 2–1 home win over Reading in November 1959, having been a member of the previous season’s successful Welsh Youth Cup winning side. He kept his place in the side for the rest of the season, collecting a Welsh Cup winners' medal from a 1–0 win over Cardiff City.
He became an established member of the side during the 1960-61 season, and it was not long before the bigger clubs began to take an interest. In February 1961 Arsenal paid £15,500 to sign him, and he made his debut in a 5–1 defeat at the hands of Wolverhampton Wanderers on 22 April 1961. He played intermittently in the 1961-62 season for Arsenal, making 14 league appearances as an attacking midfielder and scoring twice.
He gained international recognition as a member of the Wales under-23 side. Unable to maintain a first-team place at Arsenal, Griffiths returned to Wrexham who paid a record fee of about £12,000 to re-sign him.
Affectionately known to Wrexham fans as the 'Prince of Wales', he played a major part to some of the most successful years in Wrexham Football Club's history. These include guiding the club to promotion in both 1962–63 and 1969–70; winning the Welsh Cup four times; playing in three European campaigns, which included reaching the quarter-final stages of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1976, before losing out to the eventual winners RSC Anderlecht, 2–1, on aggregate. He was awarded a testimonial match in 1972 against Bill Shankly's Liverpool, which netted him £3,000 for his testimonial fund. In total he made a club record 591 Football League appearances and scoring the second highest total number of goals in the club's history, 120.
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