Arthur Gale

Arthur Reuben Gale (16 November 1904 – 13 July 1976) was an English footballer who played as a forward in the Football League for Bury, West Bromwich Albion, Chester and Accrington Stanley.[1]

Arthur Gale
Personal information
Full name Arthur Reuben Gale[1]
Date of birth (1904-11-16)16 November 1904[1]
Place of birth Salford, England
Date of death 13 May 1976(1976-05-13) (aged 71)[2]
Place of death Trafford, England
Position(s) Centre forward
Youth career
South Salford Lads' Club
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Sedgley Park (Prestwich)
1925–1930 Bury 39 (5)
1930–1931 Chester 39 (73)
1931–1936 West Bromwich Albion 23 (18)
1936–1938 Chester 35 (16)
1938–1939 Macclesfield Town 29 (12)
1939 Accrington Stanley 0 (0)
1939–194? Altrincham
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Life and career

Gale was born in 1904 in Salford.[3] He played football for South Salford Lads' Club and Sedgley Park, from where he signed for First Division club Bury. He made his debut in 1926, but played infrequently for the first team – 39 appearances spread over five seasons of which two-thirds were in 1928–29 – and spent the 1930–31 season at Chester. In that season Gale scored more than 100 goals, of which no fewer than 73 goals came in Cheshire League matches.[3][4] Chester were elected to the Football League for the 1931–32 season, and were willing to pay Bury the £400 fee, but he was sold instead to First Division club West Bromwich Albion, who as part of the deal allowed their player Frank Cresswell to rejoin Chester.[5][6]

He remained a fringe player at West Bromwich Albion, and the club encouraged him to continue in his chosen profession, as a schoolteacher in the Manchester area.[7] He did however play a major role in their progress to the 1935 FA Cup Final.[3] He came into the team in place of the injured Tommy Glidden, and scored in each round from third to sixth, but was dropped in favour of Glidden for the final, which Albion lost to Sheffield Wednesday.[8][9] After five-and-a-half seasons during which he made 23 league appearances and scored 18 league goals, he returned to Chester.[1][10]

Less prolific and less of a regular in the side than before, Gale still produced 16 goals from 35 matches in the Third Division North – 11 from 16 in the 1937–38 season – before moving back to the Cheshire League with Macclesfield in October 1938. He finished as their top scorer for 1938–39,[10] and earned himself a return to the Football League with Accrington Stanley,[3] but did not play a league game before competitive football was abandoned for the duration of the war.[1] He played and scored in the wartime competitions for Altrincham, and went on to act as the club's reserve team manager, first-team coach, assistant first-team manager and scout.[3]

Gale became head of Lower Kersal Council School in Salford, where one of his pupils was the mountaineer Don Whillans.[3][11] He died in 1976 in Trafford at the age of 71.[2]

References
  1. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  2. "Index entry". FreeBMD. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
    "Wills and Probate 1858–1996: Gale 1976". UK Probate Service. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  3. Rowley, Terry. "Alty Legends section 28". Altrincham F.C. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  4. Sumner, Chas. "A century of football". chester-city.co.uk. Steve Mansley. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  5. "Chester signings". Lancashire Evening Post. 10 June 1931. p. 9. Chester have decided to pay the necessary fee for Arthur Gale, who is on Bury's transfer list for £400.
  6. "Albion–Chester change". Birmingham Daily Gazette. 22 June 1931. p. 9.
  7. "Arthur Gale". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 2 April 1932. p. 1.
  8. "Stars in stripes: 1934/35". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 7 December 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  9. "Sympathy for Gale". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 27 April 1935. p. 1.
  10. "Manager and player profiles: G". The Silkmen Archives. Geoffrey Knights and Macclesfield Town FC. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  11. Perrin, Jim (2006). The Villain: The Life of Don Whillans. London: Arrow Books. p. 24. ISBN 978-0099416722.
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