Stuart Mason

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Personal information
Stuart Mason
Full name	Stuart James Mason
Date of birth	2 June 1948
Place of birth	Whitchurch, Shropshire, England
Date of death	5 February 2006 (aged 57)
Playing position	Full-back
Youth clubs
?–1964 1964–1966	Whitchurch Alport Wrexham
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1966 1966–1968 1967 1968–1973 1973–1977 1976 1977 1977–1979 c.1979–1980 c.1981–1985	Wrexham Liverpool → Doncaster Rovers (loan) Wrexham Chester → Rochdale (loan) →Crewe Alexandra (loan) Bangor City Rhyl Oswestry Town	28 0 0(0) 0 000(0) 1 000(0) 157 0 (3) 137 0 (7) 2 0 0 (0) 4 0 0 (1)
National team
1966	England Youth	3 0 0 (0)
Teams managed
1978–1979 1984–1985 ?	Bangor City Barnton Coedpoeth
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Stuart Mason (born 2 June 1948, Whitchurch; died 5 February 2006) was an English professional footballer who made appearances in The Football League for five clubs. The vast majority of his time was spent with Chester and Wrexham, mainly from full-back.

1 Playing Career
2 Honours
3 External Links
4 References

[edit] Playing Career

Mason began his playing days as a youngster with Shropshire based non-league side Whitchurch Alport, which led to him joining Wrexham as a 16-year old in November 1964 ^[1]. He made his first-team debut in January 1966 and was selected for England Youth three times in the following months ^[2]. In October 1966 he completed a memorable year when he moved to Liverpool.

Mason was unable to break into the first-team squad at Anfield and after a brief loan spell at Doncaster Rovers he rejoined Wrexham in June 1968. He was largely a regular over the next five years, playing in the Division Four promotion winning side in 1969–70 and appearing in European Cup Winners Cup action after Wrexham lifted the Welsh Cup in 1972.

In 1973 Mason made the short journey across the border to Chester for £2,000 ^[3], where he was again initially a regular player. His most memorable contributions came in the club’s glorious 1974–75 season, when they defied all expectations to face Aston Villa in the Football League Cup semi-finals. Trailing 4-2 on aggregate in the second leg, Mason scored a stunning goal ^[4] to give Chester hope in a tie they eventually lost 5-4. Later in the season he scored the winner on the final day of the season at Crewe Alexandra that ultimately secured promotion from Division Four for Chester and ensured he would forever hold hero status with supporters^[5]. Two years later Mason scored in Chester’s 4–1 second leg win over Port Vale to help the club win the Debenhams Cup, its first national English trophy.

Mason played his last game for Chester in a 1–1 draw with Plymouth Argyle on 8 October 1977. The same month saw him play his final Football League matches out on loan at Crewe Alexandra (having spent time with Rochdale the previous year). In December 1977 Mason moved to Bangor City, where he was to have a spell as manager ^[6]. Mason was later at Rhyl, Oswestry Town and Coedpoeth and continued to play for veterans teams ^[7].

A former captain of Shropshire County Cricket Club ^[8], Mason ran his own sports shop in Wrexham and had a spell back with the Welsh side as assistant commercial manager ^[9]. In later years he was involved in coaching Chester’s youngsters ^[10].