davieG Posted 31 July 2019 Posted 31 July 2019 https://www.lcfc.com/news/1297464/the-transfer-record-arthur-rowley In July 1950, Leicester City paid a club record transfer fee of £14,000 to Fulham in order to bring Arthur Rowley to Filbert Street. It proved to be an amazingly successful signing. Between 1950 and 1958 Rowley scored 265 league and cup goals in 321 games for the club, averaging 33 goals per season. This total included 16 hat tricks and 41 penalties. Although he fell eight short of Chandler’s club record, Rowley achieved his total in 98 fewer games. In his career, he scored more Football League goals (434) than any other player in history. The fantastic strength of his left foot shot earned him the nickname 'The Gunner'. Rowley was born in 1926 in Wolverhampton. His elder brother Jack played for Manchester United and England. After military service, Arthur signed for West Bromwich Albion in 1944 but between 1946 and 1948 he scored only four goals in 24 appearances. In December 1948, he moved to Fulham. There was an immediate transformation. He promptly scored 19 goals in 22 games for Fulham who became Second Division Champions. West Bromwich Albion were runners-up. However, Fulham struggled in the First Division, with Rowley only scoring eight goals in the 1949/50 season. In June 1950, Second Division Leicester bought him for £14,000. Many years later, Arthur recalled: “I had come in for Jack Lee (Leicester City’s FA Cup Final forward) as a cheaper replacement. I had wanted to get away from London and Leicester wasn’t too far from my hometown of Wolverhampton. I had just got married, didn’t want to live in London and Leicester was the ideal solution. Filbert Street wasn’t the greatest ground I had ever seen or played at but we always had a good crowd.” Rowley soon justified his fee. In his first four years at Leicester, he scored 145 league and cup goals. His first 100 goals came in only 122 games. He was the league’s top goal scorer in 1953 and 1957. His seasonal league totals in his first four years were 28, 38 (breaking Arthur Chandler’s club record), 39, and 30. In his fourth season (1953/54) Leicester City became Second Division Champions. Everton were runners-up. In the top division, although the team was relegated after just one season, Arthur scored a very creditable 23 goals in 36 games. In the first season back in Division Two, he netted another 29 goals. He was also on target for the England B team against Switzerland. In the following season (1956/57) he broke the Club’s goalscoring record for a third time, netting an incredible 44 league goals in 42 games. These goals were a major factor in Leicester City winning the Second Division title again, seven points ahead of Nottingham Forest. In the top division, in what turned out to be Arthur’s last season at Leicester City, he scored 20 goals in 25 games. Rather surprisingly, Rowley was then put on the transfer list and he left to become player-manager at Shrewsbury Town, who were just about to enter the newly formed Fourth Division. His transfer fee was £7,000.
ThaiFox Posted 1 August 2019 Posted 1 August 2019 I, for one, really enjoy your posts about our former players and managers. They bring back some great memories (and some not so good ones when you feature managers like Pleat, Megson, McLintock, Taylor etc!!) As for the great Arthur Rowley. I never saw him play, but I was lucky enough to meet him when he was manager of Southend United. My parents had moved to Southend for a while when I was in my early-mid teens. I was wearing a Leicester City shirt playing football with some mates in a public park. He was training the Southend United squad in the same park (those were the days....no flashy training centres then!). Rowley spotted my LCFC shirt and the great man came over and spent about 30 minutes talking with me about Leicester City leaving his Southend United players to run around the field by themselves! It was obvious he really loved the club and seemed to enjoy talking to me about the club as much as I did talking to him. I'm 63 now but I'll never forget how nice he was to me. He was a real gentleman.
davieG Posted 1 August 2019 Author Posted 1 August 2019 1 hour ago, ThaiFox said: I, for one, really enjoy your posts about our former players and managers. They bring back some great memories (and some not so good ones when you feature managers like Pleat, Megson, McLintock, Taylor etc!!) As for the great Arthur Rowley. I never saw him play, but I was lucky enough to meet him when he was manager of Southend United. My parents had moved to Southend for a while when I was in my early-mid teens. I was wearing a Leicester City shirt playing football with some mates in a public park. He was training the Southend United squad in the same park (those were the days....no flashy training centres then!). Rowley spotted my LCFC shirt and the great man came over and spent about 30 minutes talking with me about Leicester City leaving his Southend United players to run around the field by themselves! It was obvious he really loved the club and seemed to enjoy talking to me about the club as much as I did talking to him. I'm 63 now but I'll never forget how nice he was to me. He was a real gentleman. Thanks but they're just taken from the Official Site There's some I've missed The Transfer Record: Len Barry The Transfer Record: Jack Bowers
davieG Posted 1 August 2019 Author Posted 1 August 2019 4 minutes ago, UpTheLeagueFox said: Can't wait for the Mark Blake one. Here you are.... Blake started out as a trainee at Aston Villa, where he played a total of 31 games, scoring two goals. He had a brief loan spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers during early 1991, before leaving Villa for Portsmouth in August 1993 for £400,000. He played just 15 games for Portsmouth before he returned to the Midlands less than eight months later when Leicester City paid £360,000 for him in March 1994 on transfer deadline day, two months before they won promotion to the Premier League.[1] He made 47 appearances for Leicester in two years before he dropped through the leagues to join Walsall. He spent two seasons at Walsall before his contract expired and he signed for Mansfield Townin August 1999. After two seasons and 83 league games he made his final move to Kidderminster Harriers. From Wiki.
UpTheLeagueFox Posted 1 August 2019 Posted 1 August 2019 5 minutes ago, davieG said: Here you are.... Blake started out as a trainee at Aston Villa, where he played a total of 31 games, scoring two goals. He had a brief loan spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers during early 1991, before leaving Villa for Portsmouth in August 1993 for £400,000. He played just 15 games for Portsmouth before he returned to the Midlands less than eight months later when Leicester City paid £360,000 for him in March 1994 on transfer deadline day, two months before they won promotion to the Premier League.[1] He made 47 appearances for Leicester in two years before he dropped through the leagues to join Walsall. He spent two seasons at Walsall before his contract expired and he signed for Mansfield Townin August 1999. After two seasons and 83 league games he made his final move to Kidderminster Harriers. From Wiki. Well played boss Well played
waylander Posted 1 August 2019 Posted 1 August 2019 13 minutes ago, davieG said: Here you are.... Blake started out as a trainee at Aston Villa, where he played a total of 31 games, scoring two goals. He had a brief loan spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers during early 1991, before leaving Villa for Portsmouth in August 1993 for £400,000. He played just 15 games for Portsmouth before he returned to the Midlands less than eight months later when Leicester City paid £360,000 for him in March 1994 on transfer deadline day, two months before they won promotion to the Premier League.[1] He made 47 appearances for Leicester in two years before he dropped through the leagues to join Walsall. He spent two seasons at Walsall before his contract expired and he signed for Mansfield Townin August 1999. After two seasons and 83 league games he made his final move to Kidderminster Harriers. From Wiki. Scandalous humour ??????
waylander Posted 1 August 2019 Posted 1 August 2019 3 hours ago, ThaiFox said: I, for one, really enjoy your posts about our former players and managers. They bring back some great memories (and some not so good ones when you feature managers like Pleat, Megson, McLintock, Taylor etc!!) As for the great Arthur Rowley. I never saw him play, but I was lucky enough to meet him when he was manager of Southend United. My parents had moved to Southend for a while when I was in my early-mid teens. I was wearing a Leicester City shirt playing football with some mates in a public park. He was training the Southend United squad in the same park (those were the days....no flashy training centres then!). Rowley spotted my LCFC shirt and the great man came over and spent about 30 minutes talking with me about Leicester City leaving his Southend United players to run around the field by themselves! It was obvious he really loved the club and seemed to enjoy talking to me about the club as much as I did talking to him. I'm 63 now but I'll never forget how nice he was to me. He was a real gentleman. Nice memories ??
Corky Posted 5 August 2019 Posted 5 August 2019 Always interesting to read about former greats and milestones. For those around in those days, how much of the budget would £14,000 be? And was there a notable reaction to a record signing compared to others? Obviously the media coverage was a different world away but did the record signing come with more expectation at the ground?
Vacamion Posted 5 August 2019 Posted 5 August 2019 Imagine scoring 44 goals in a season for us. That's immense. Jamie Vardy, you know what to do this season...
Fox992 Posted 5 August 2019 Posted 5 August 2019 Just think how many more he could of scored with, Albrighton, Maddison & Tielemans putting him through.
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