Jeff Astle
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jeffrey Astle | ||
| Date of birth | 13 May 1942 | ||
| Place of birth | Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England | ||
| Date of death | 19 January 2002 (aged 59) | ||
| Place of death | Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1959–1964 | Notts County | 103 | (31) |
| 1964–1974 | West Bromwich Albion | 292 | (137) |
| 1974 | Hellenic FC | ? | (?) |
| 1974–1975 | Dunstable Town | ? | (25) |
| 1975–1976 | Weymouth | ? | (20) |
| 1976–1977 | Atherstone Town | ? | (?) |
| 1977 | → Hillingdon Borough (loan) | ? | (?) |
| Total | 395 | (168) | |
| National team | |||
| 1969–1970 | England | 5 | (0) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
Jeffrey "Jeff" Astle (13 May 1942 – 19 January 2002) was an English footballer. Nicknamed "the King" by fans, he played 361 games for West Bromwich Albion and scored 174 goals. He also won five caps for England, but without scoring.
Born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire (in the same street, he claimed, as D. H. Lawrence), Astle turned professional with Notts County when he was 17. His style was that of a classic centre forward; he was a protégé of Tommy Lawton. In 1964 he signed for West Brom for a fee of £25,000. He scored 174 goals in 361 games for the Baggies, including the only goal in the 1968 FA Cup Final, with which he completed the feat of becoming the first player to score in every round of the competition.
Two years later, Astle scored in Albion's 2–1 defeat by Manchester City in the League Cup final, becoming the first player to score in the finals of both of the major English cup competitions at Wembley. He had already scored in the first leg of the 1966 League Cup Final four years previously, but that was at West Ham United's Upton Park.
At the height of Astle's Albion career, the words "ASTLE IS THE KING" appeared in large white letters on the brickwork of Primrose Bridge, which carries Cradley Road over a canal in Netherton, in the heart of the Black Country. The bridge quickly became known locally as "the Astle Bridge". When the council removed the letters, they re-appeared a few days later. Following Astle's death in 2002, a campaign was launched to have the bridge officially named in his honour, but this has so far been rejected over fears of vandal attacks by supporters of rival teams, as the area also has a high percentage of Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers fans.
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