Albert Nightingale (10 November 1923 – 26 February 2006) was a professional footballer who played as an inside forward. He played in the Football League for Sheffield United, Huddersfield Town, Blackburn Rovers and Leeds United, making 346 league appearances in total. He won promotion to the First Division with Leeds United in the 1955–56 season, but retired from injury after playing once during the following season through injury.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Albert Nightingale[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 10 November 1923 | ||
| Place of birth | Thrybergh, England | ||
| Date of death | 26 February 2006 (aged 82) | ||
| Place of death | Liverpool, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[2] | ||
| Position | Inside forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1941–1948 | Sheffield United | 62 | (15) |
| 1948–1951 | Huddersfield Town | 119 | (20) |
| 1951–1952 | Blackburn Rovers | 35 | (5) |
| 1952–1956 | Leeds United | 130 | (48) |
| Total | 346 | (88) | |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Life and career
editEarly life
editNightingale was born in Thrybergh, South Yorkshire, England on 10 November 1923,[1] as one of fourteen siblings.[3] He is the uncle of fellow footballer Lol Morgan, who he played alongside at Huddersfield Town.[4] He played wartime football with Sheffield United, Rotherham United,[3] and Chesterfield.[5] Following the end of wartime football, he made 62 league appearances for Sheffield United, in which he scored 15 goals.[1]
Huddersfield Town
editIn March 1948, Nightingale joined Huddersfield Town in a swap deal with Graham Bailey and George Hutchinson,[6] with Nightingale having been transfer listed by Sheffield United at his request.[7] He was a popular player amongst the fans during his three-and-a-half years with Huddersfield, across which he made 119 appearances and scored 20 goals for the club.[1][6]
Blackburn Rovers
editHe transferred to Second Division club Blackburn Rovers on 29 September 1951 for a fee of £12,000, and made his debut for the club later that day, at home to Notts County.[2] He was one of many signings made by a relegation-threatened Blackburn after a poor start to the 1951–52 season, and the club would eventually finish 14th.[8] He continued to live in Huddersfield following his transfer to Blackburn, and handed in a transfer request in September 1953 season, having struggled to settle in at the club.[2] He scored five times in 35 league matches during his spell with the club.[1][9]
Leeds United
editNightingale signed for Leeds United in October 1952, for a fee of £10,000.[10] The fee made him the club's most expensive transfer at the time of his signing.[11] He made his debut for the club on 11 October, scoring Leeds' goal in a 2–1 away defeat to Sheffield United on 11 October,[12] and went on to score 8 goals in 27 matches across the 1952–53 season.[10] He scored 17 in 39 league matches in the 1953–54 season, and 13 in 38 league matches in the 1954–55 season.[10] He was part of the Leeds team who won promotion to the First Division in the 1955–56 season, scoring 10 goals in 26 Second Division matches as Leeds finished second on 52 points.[13][14]
He played Leeds' opening match of the 1956–57 season, but suffered a knee injury which he was hospitalised for, and did not play again.[15][13] He declined a knee operation which "only had a faint chance of prolonging his career, and announced his retirement from football in December 1956.[16]
After football
editStyle of play
editNightingale played as an inside forward.[10][6] He was noted as a hard-working player[17][6][3] and liked to make direct forward runs.[10][6] He had a reputation for diving to win penalties,[6][17][13] with Richard Ulyatt of the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer writing in 1952 that "if penalties had been given every time he had been tackled just outside the penalty area and had fallen just inside it, opponents would be inclined to let him alone".[17] Nightingale told the Yorkshire Evening Post in 1994 that he was "always known for diving" and that "I got a few penalties in my time, and to be right some of them should not have been".[13]
References
edit- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Albert Nightingale". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Archived from the original on 8 June 2024. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- 1 2 3 Jackman, Mike (1994). Blackburn Rovers : the official encyclopaedia. Derby: Breedon. pp. 170–171. ISBN 978-1-873626-70-2.
- 1 2 3 4 "Obituary: Albert Nightingale". Huddersfield Examiner. 28 February 2006. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011.
- ↑ "A nephew of 'our Albert'". Star Green 'un. 13 January 1962. p. 2. Retrieved 17 April 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "Nightingale: Albert". ozwhitelufc.net.au. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Welton, Blake (23 October 2016). "Albert Nightingale - Huddersfield Town's bright and sunny footballer with the film star looks". Yorkshire Live. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
- ↑ "Exchange wanted at Brammall Lane". Yorkshire Evening Post. 9 March 1948. p. 8. Retrieved 17 April 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ Jackman, Mike (2006). Blackburn Rovers : an illustrated history. Derby: Breedon. ISBN 978-1-85983-475-6.
- ↑ "Five Blackburn men are for transfer". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 12 September 1952. p. 3. Retrieved 17 April 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Jarred, Martin; MacDonald, Malcolm (1986). Leeds United: a complete record 1919–1986. Derby: Breedon Books Sport. p. 340. ISBN 0-907969-17-8.
- ↑ "Nightingale signs for Leeds". Daily News (London). 10 October 1952. p. 6. Retrieved 17 April 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "Boys stop the rot". Daily Mirror. 13 October 1952. p. 14. Retrieved 17 April 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- 1 2 3 4 Drake, John (7 December 1994). "When Albert boxed clever". Yorkshire Evening Post. p. 25. Retrieved 17 April 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "Season 1955-56". rsssf.org. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
- ↑ "It's a riotous start". Sunday Mirror. 19 August 1956. p. 22. Retrieved 17 April 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "Jimmy: 'Ta Santa, I'll stay now'". Sunday Mirror. 23 December 1956. p. 22. Retrieved 17 April 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- 1 2 3 Ulyatt, Richard (11 October 1952). "Player in the picture: Albert Nightingale (Leeds United)". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. p. 6. Retrieved 17 April 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.