Jackie Milburn

Jackie Milburn

Milburn as Linfield player-manager, 1957
Personal information
Full name	John Edward Thompson Milburn
Date of birth	(1924-05-11)11 May 1924
Place of birth	Ashington, Northumberland, England
Date of death	9 October 1988(1988-10-09) (aged 64)
Place of death	Ashington, Northumberland, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Centre forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1943–1957	Newcastle United	353	(177)
1957–1960	Linfield	54	(68)
1960–1962	Yiewsley
National team
1948–1955	England	13	(10)
Teams managed
1957–1960	Linfield
1960–1962	Yiewsley
1963–1964	Ipswich Town
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

John Edward Thompson "Jackie" Milburn (11 May 1924 – 9 October 1988) was a football player principally associated with Newcastle United and England, though he also spent four seasons at Linfield. He was also known as Wor Jackie (particularly in North East England, a Geordie dialectal version of 'Our Jackie') and as the First World Wor (in reference to his global fame).

Cousin to the mother of Bobby and Jack Charlton, Milburn played two trial matches at St James' Park as a 19-year-old in 1943. In the second of these, he scored six second half goals. Milburn made his competitive debut in the FA Cup in the 1945–46 season and was initially deployed on the left wing as a supplier to Charlie Wayman. However, Wayman was dropped before a 4-0 defeat to eventual winners Charlton Athletic in a 1947 FA Cup semi-final and when he afterwards vowed not to play for United again, manager George Martin made the decision to switch Milburn to centre forward. In his next match, on 18 October 1947, Milburn wore the number nine shirt for the first time and scored a hat-trick.

Milburn's subsequent achievements, particularly his two goals which won the 1951 FA Cup Final and his 45-second opener in the 1955 FA Cup Final which was the fastest ever Wembley FA Cup Final goal until it was beaten by Roberto Di Matteo in 1997, brought him national recognition and afforded him iconic status on Tyneside. In total, Milburn played in three FA Cup winning finals for United; 1951, 1952 and 1955. Despite his achievements, Milburn was reportedly a very shy and self-deprecating individual, whose modesty further endeared him to Newcastle United supporters, though according to Tom Finney, this stemmed from an "innate inferiority complex".