Jackie Bestall

Jackie Bestall
Personal information
Full name	John Gilbert Bestall
Date of birth	24 June 1900
Place of birth	Beighton, Sheffield, England
Date of death	11 April 1985 (aged 84)
Place of death	Doncaster, England
Height	5 ft 2+1⁄2 in (1.59 m)
Position(s)	Inside forward
Youth career
	Beighton Miners Welfare
Senior career*
Years	Team
1925	Rotherham County
1925–1926	Rotherham United
1926–1938	Grimsby Town
International career
1935	England
Managerial career
1946–1949	Doncaster Rovers
1949–1953	Blackburn Rovers
1953–1954	Nelson
1959–1960	Doncaster Rovers
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

John Gilbert Bestall (24 June 1900 – 11 April 1985) was an English international footballer, he also played top-division football and captained Grimsby Town, and later managed Doncaster Rovers and Blackburn Rovers.

Rotherham County and Rotherham United

Bestall made his debut for Rotherham County towards the end of the 1924–25 season, playing the last two games. County finished bottom of Division Three (North) that season and merged with Rotherham Town to form the new club, Rotherham United, that took the place of County in Division Three (North) for 1925–26.

Jackie was an ever-present in the 1925–26 season and in scoring 12 goals he was instrumental in producing much better fortunes. He playing in the first 17 games of the 1926–27 season before being sold shortly before an FA Cup tie at Lincoln City to Grimsby Town due to financial difficulties.

Grimsby Town

Bestall is regarded as "perhaps the greatest name on Town's roll-call – a diminutive craftsman full of guile and possessed of outstanding constructive qualities".^[2] He had a lounge at Blundell Park and the smallest road in Grimsby and Cleethorpes named after him.^[3]

Bestall captained Grimsby to the 1933–34 Second Division title and back into the First Division after two seasons in the Second. This helped Bestall to earn his only England cap aged 34 years, 226 days against Northern Ireland on 6 February 1935.^[4] He is the sixth oldest player to make his England debut and was the first Grimsby player to be capped by England.

He played in Grimsby's first FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, but was injured early in the game, which Arsenal won 1–0. Grimsby Town fans believed that Bestall was targeted by the Arsenal defenders in the hope of deliberately injuring him.^[5]

Bestall played 427 league games for Town, only ever beaten by Keith Jobling and latterly John McDermott.

After retirement

When Bestall retired he had numerous jobs in football, coaching at Birmingham City and chief scout, chief scout at Doncaster Rovers, managing Blackburn Rovers and two spells as manager of Doncaster.

In tribute to his career at Grimsby Town, the town named a street after him.

Honours

Grimsby Town

Second Division Champions: 1934

**All-Time Club Performance**
Club	Division	Years	League		Cup		Total
Club	Division	Years	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Rotherham County	Third Division (North)	1924–25	2	0	0	0	2	0
Rotherham United		1925–26	42	12	3	0	45	12
Rotherham United		1926–27	17	4	0	0	17	4
Club Totals			61	16	3	0	64	16
Grimsby Town	Second Division	1926–27	23	7	2	1	25	8
		1927–28	41	10	1	0	42	10
		1928–29	39	11	2	0	41	11
	First Division	1929–30	39	10	2	0	41	10
		1930–31	42	10	3	2	45	12
		1931–32	37	2	3	2	40	4
	Second Division	1932–33	40	5	2	0	42	5
	Second Division	1933–34	42	11	2	0	44	11
	First Division	1934–35	41	5	1	0	42	5
		1935–36	41	2	6	2	47	4
		1936–37	31	3	4	0	35	3
		1937–38	11	0	2	0	13	0
Club Totals			427	76	30	7	457	83
Career totals			488	92	33	7	521	99

References

^ "No new faces in Grimsby's first team". Sunday Dispatch Football Guide. London. 23 August 1936. p. iv – via Newspapers.com.
^ Lamming, Douglas (1985). A Who's Who of Grimsby Town AFC 1890–1985. Hutton Press. ISBN 0-907033-34-2.
^ electronicfishcake.com Archived 2 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine – Player Profile
^ englandstats.com – England Cap
^ Football Poets Archived 20 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine – Another Reason for Hating Arsenal

External links

Jackie Bestall at Englandstats.com
Jackie Bestall management career statistics at Soccerbase
Feature on Blackburn Rovers website

[1] "No new faces in Grimsby's first team". Sunday Dispatch Football Guide. London. 23 August 1936. p. iv – via Newspapers.com.

[ww-2] Lamming, Douglas (1985). A Who's Who of Grimsby Town AFC 1890–1985. Hutton Press. ISBN 0-907033-34-2.

[3] tronicfishcake.com Archived 2 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine – Player Profile

[4] stats.com – England Cap

[5] Football Poets Archived 20 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine – Another Reason for Hating Arsenal

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