Arthur Rowley
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George Arthur Rowley, (April 21, 1926 – December 19, 2002), was an English football player, he holds the record for the greatest number of career goals in the Football League, 434 from 619 games.
Rowley, the younger brother of Manchester United legend Jack, began his career at West Bromwich Albion. However, he struggled at The Hawthorns to both score goals and gain a regular place in the first team. Albion sold Rowley early in the 1948/49 season to Fulham, where he immediately found his goal-scoring touch, scoring 19 goals in 22 appearance as he helped the side to the Second Division title.
Rowley failed to recapture his form in the First Division as he scored only 8 goals. At the end of his first season in the top flight he was sold to Leicester City. He spent the next eight years at the club, during which time he scored 202 league goals, including 44 goals in 42 games as he led Leicester to the Second Division title in 1957.
In the summer of 1958 Rowley left Leicester, who were playing in the First Division, to become the player-manager of Shrewsbury Town of the newly-created Fourth Division. In his first season at the Gay Meadow Rowley led Shrewsbury to promotion with a haul of 38 goals in 43 games. He spent the next six years as a player with the club, during which time he scored 104 league goals.
After retiring as a player Rowley went on to have spells as the manager of both Sheffield United and Southend United before leaving football.
External links
- Obituary in The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,863948,00.html)