A promising career at Newcastle United that was sadly cut short | OneFootball

I met up with one of my older mates that I know through our North Shields and Newcastle United connection.

Peter King reads The Mag and he started telling me about a local footballer who signed his first professional contract at Newcastle United in 1958.

In Peter’s own words he was; “A bloody smashing player.”

So when I got hyem I decided to do some homework.

George Dalton was born in Dilston in Northumberland. Along with the likes of David Craig, he developed in the successful United youth set-up at the time. He was a left-back or left half and described as a “calm, thoughtful footballer” when he eventually started to break into the first team.

Joe Harvey was building a team for promotion from the old Second Division and George was soon being touted for a call up to the England Under 23 squad.

On the 30th of March in his 40th appearance of the 1963/64 season, George Dalton suffered a horrific leg fracture against Leeds United, after a challenge by the notorious Johnny Giles.

He was out of the game for two and a half years and only appeared in the first team on one more occasion. Reports from the time indicated that George’s career “had dimmed.”

He was given a free transfer in 1967, after 85 League appearances in which he scored 2 goals.

But the George Dalton story doesn’t end there.

He joined Brighton and Hove Albion and after playing 28 games, broke the same leg again. This proved to be finally enough and he decided to hang up his boots.

He stayed on at Brighton coaching the juniors and began studying physiotherapy. When Brighton manager Freddie Goodwin left for Birmingham City in 1970, he took George along with him to become first team trainer.

He stayed with the Blues until 1976, before taking up the physiotherapist’s position at Coventry City.

George spent two decades with the Sky Blues in various capacities and was their physio when they won the FA Cup in 1987.

That is not a bad resumè considering how unlucky he’d been as a younger man.

George Dalton is now 83 years old and resides in Northumberland.