Ken Willingham

Infobox Football biography
playername = Ken Willingham
fullname = Charles Kenneth Willingham


dateofbirth = birth date|1912|12|1|df=y
cityofbirth = Sheffield
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath = May 1975
cityofdeath = Dewsbury
countryofdeath = England
height = height|ft=5|in=7
weight = 66Kgs
position = Defender (Right Half)
youthyears =
youthclubs = Ecclesfield
years = 1928–1930
1930–1945
1945–1947
1947–1948
clubs = Worksop Town
Huddersfield Town
Sunderland
Leeds United
caps(goals) = 000 (0)
247 (4)
014 (0)
035 (0)
nationalyears = 1937–1939
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) = 012 (1)

Charles Kenneth (Ken) Willingham was a professional footballer, born in Sheffield on 1 December 1912. As a school boy he captained the Yorkshire Schools' team and won the half-mile county running championship.

Football career

After playing for Ecclesfield, he joined Worksop Town in 1928 at the age of 16. He became a member of Huddersfield's ground staff at Leeds Road in 1930,cite book | author=Graham Betts| title=England: Player by player | publisher=Green Umbrella Publishing | year=2006|pages=p.260| isbn=1-905009-63-1] before signing professionally for Huddersfield Town in 1930, where he spent most of his playing career. Whilst there he played in the 1938 FA Cup Final (which was the first FA Cup Final to be transmitted live on British television) in which Huddersfield Town lost 1–0 to Preston North End.

He holds the record for the fastest ever goal scored by a Huddersfield Town player, against Sunderland on 14 December 1935, putting the ball in the back of the net after just ten seconds, with his fourth touch of the ball. [cite web|url=http://www.examiner.co.uk/huddersfield-town-fc/huddersfield-town-news/2008/02/11/jevon-s-goal-not-quickest-86081-20460903/ |title= Jevon's goal not quickest|publisher=www.examiner.co.uk|date=11 February 2008 | accessdate=5 October|accessyear = 2008] He is also in the top 100 Huddersfield Town players as voted for by the fans as their favourite players.

He was capped twelve times for England, scoring on his debut against Finland in a 8–0 win. He also made six appearances for England during the war, as well as representing the Football League on another six occasions.

After World War II, in which he worked in the steel industry in Sheffield, he signed for Sunderland where he made fourteen appearances. He later signed for Leeds United as a player-coach in 1947 before retiring a year later to become the landlord of the Hopewell Inn in Hunslet. He briefly returned to the game in 1952, where he became coach at Halifax Town.

International career details

Honours

;Huddersfield Town
*FA Cup finalist - 1938

References

External links

* [http://www.englandstats.com/playerreport.php?pid=1062 Profile on www.englandstats.com]
* [http://www.thefa.com/england/seniorteam/archive/?i=1221&pf=p&searchname=Willingham&
]
* [http://www.thestatcat.co.uk/Mplayers/MPG872.asp Sunderland career details]
* [http://www.leedsfans.org.uk/leeds/players/429.html Leeds United career details]