Cliff Holton
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| Cliff Holton | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Clifford Charles Holton | |
| Date of birth | April 29, 1929 | |
| Place of birth | Oxford, England | |
| Date of death | June 4, 1996 | |
| Playing position | Centre forward, utility man | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Oxford City | ||
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1947-1958 1958-1961 1961-1962 1962-1965 1965-1966 1966 1966-68 |
Arsenal Watford Northampton Town Crystal Palace Watford Charlton Athletic Leyton Orient |
198 (83) 120 (84) 62 (50) 101 (40) 24 (12) 18 (7) 47 (17) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Clifford Charles "Cliff" Holton (April 29, 1929 – June 4, 1996) was an English footballer.
Born in Oxford, Holton played as a full back for non-league Oxford City as a youth, before joining Arsenal in October 1947 at the age of 18. He spent three seasons in the Gunners' reserve team, eventually converting to a centre forward. He made his debut against Stoke City on December 26, 1950; initially a bit-part player, he became an established regular in the side in 1951-52 and remained there for three seasons.
With 22 goals (19 of them in the league) he helped Arsenal to a First Division title in 1952-53. However, he lost his place in the Arsenal side in 1954-55, before returning the following season (1955-56), having been converted into a utility man - playing in defence, midfield or up front. He continued to figure for Arsenal for another three seasons and on October 6, 1956, he scored four goals in a home match against Manchester City, becoming the first player since Jack Lambert to score more than three in a game at Highbury. In all he scored 88 goals in 217 matches for the Gunners. Although he was often tipped for an England place, he never won a cap for his country.
Holton was sold to Watford in October 1958 for £10,000, a somewhat surprising move, considering Watford were in the newly-formed Fourth Division at the time. Holton spent three seasons with the Hornets, mostly at centre forward, and scored a club record 48 goals in 1959-60, which also saw the club promoted to the Third Division. He was controversially sold to Northampton Town in 1961 where he scored a club record 36 goals in 1961-62, thus achieving the rare feat of holding the all-time goals in a season record at two different clubs.
He later played for Crystal Palace, Watford (for a second time), Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient. He finally retired in 1968, and left the game completely to take up a career in engineering. He died suddenly while on holiday in 1996, at the age of 67.
[edit] References
- Harris, Jeff & Hogg, Tony (ed.) (1995). Arsenal Who's Who. Independent UK Sports. ISBN 1-899429-03-4.
