Ken Armstrong (footballer, born 1959)

Kenneth Charles Armstrong (31 January 1959 – 10 July 2022) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre half.

Ken Armstrong
Personal information
Full name Kenneth Charles Armstrong[1]
Date of birth (1959-01-31)31 January 1959[1]
Place of birth Bridgnorth, England
Date of death 10 July 2022(2022-07-10) (aged 63)
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s) Centre half
Youth career
Beith Juniors
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Beith Juniors
1977–1983 Kilmarnock 88 (3)
1983–1984 Southampton 26 (0)
1984 → Notts County (loan) 10 (0)
1984–1986 Birmingham City[lower-alpha 1] 58 (2)
1986 Walsall 0 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Of Scottish parentage, Armstrong was born in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, while his father was working in the area.[3] Spotted while playing for Beith Juniors, he made 88 appearances and scored three goals in the Scottish Football League playing for Kilmarnock,[4] and made 94 appearances, scoring twice, in the English Football League playing for Southampton, Notts County and Birmingham City.[1][2] He was part of the Southampton squad that finished second to Liverpool in the 1983–84 season.[5] He signed for Walsall in February 1986 for a fee of £10,000, broke his ankle in his first training session, and nine months later, still only 27 years of age, retired from football because of the injury without ever playing for the club.[3]

Later life

After football, Armstrong became a social worker[3] and held managerial position in the NHS. He was a business manager with Monklands and Bellshill Hospital NHS Trust from 1993 before moving in 1996 to The Freeman Group of Hospitals NHS Trust which became the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust in 1998 where he worked as a general manager, until 1999 when he moved to NHS Tayside as director of operations.[6][7]

Armstrong died in the early hours of 10 July 2022, at the age of 63.[5]

Honours

Southampton

Notes
  1. Older sources list the second goal in Birmingham's match against Middlesbrough on 8 December 1984 as an own goal, while Barry Hugman's website and the English National Football Archive give it to Armstrong.[1][2]

References
  1. "Ken Armstrong". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  2. "Player search: Armstrong, KC (Ken)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  3. Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  4. "Kimarnock: Player details: Armstrong, Ken". Fitbastats. Bobby Sinnet & Thomas Jamieson. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  5. "Club mourns passing of Ken Armstrong". Southampton FC. 13 July 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  6. Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Southampton: Hagiology Publishing. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-9926-8640-6.
  7. "Ninewells Hospital staff furious over NHS Tayside probe into missing cash". The Courier. Dundee. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
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