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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1919-07-17)17 July 1919 | ||
| Place of birth | Wallsend, England | ||
| Date of death | 28 December 2002(2002-12-28) (aged 83) | ||
| Position(s) | Centre forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Whitley & Monkseaton | |||
| Sunderland | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1937–1946 | Newcastle United | 27 | (5) |
| 1946–1953 | Liverpool | 159 | (75) |
| 1953–1954 | Ashington | ||
| Total | 186 | (80) | |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Albert Stubbins (17 July 1919 – 28 December 2002) was an Englishfootballer who played as acentre forward. His career was limited by the onset ofWorld War II. While playing forLiverpool, he won theLeague Championship in 1947. He was later included on the front cover ofThe Beatles'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
Born inWallsend, Tyne and Wear, England, he spent his early years in the United States, returning to Wallsend, where he attended Carville School, in 1929. Stubbins first played forNewcastle United in 1937, appearing in official games 30 times and scoring six goals for the team. In wartime games (classified as friendlies) he scored 231 goals in just 188 appearances.
In 1946 he was signed byLiverpool for a then club record of £12,500. Stubbins had also been approached by Liverpool's closest rivals,Everton, and he settled the decision with a toss of the coin. He made an immediate impact at the club: making his debut on 14 September 1946 in a league match atBurnden Park he scored an 82nd-minute goal as the Reds left it late to claim a 3–1 victory overBolton Wanderers.
Following his move to Liverpool, Stubbins scored 28 goals (24 league goals) in the 1946–47 season (making him joint top scorer withJack Balmer) helping Liverpool to win theLeague Championship, their first in 24 years. Stubbins also scored 24 goals the following season. Although a contractual dispute in the 1948–49 season limited his appearances for the Merseyside club, he then helped Liverpool reach the1950 FA Cup Final, the first time Liverpool had appeared atWembley. However, they lost toArsenal by two goals to nil.
On 18 October 1950, atBlackpool'sBloomfield Road, Stubbins netted five goals inthe Football League's 6–3 victory over theIrish League in an exhibition match.[1]
Injuries forced him to retire in 1953, having scored 83 goals in 178 appearances, or 1 every 2.1 games. Despite his club success, he played for theEngland only once, in an unofficial international againstWales in 1945, a game England lost 1–0.
Following his retirement, Stubbins entered a full-time career in sports journalism, although he briefly coached an American semi-professional side, theNew York Americans in 1960.
Stubbins later appeared on the front cover ofThe Beatles'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, the only footballer to be depicted. He also has a Liverpool FC fan club named in his honour. He also featured as a minor character in Stephen Baxter's time-travelling novelThe Time Ships. He died in 2002, aged 83, after a short illness.
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Others | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Liverpool | 1952–53 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 1951–52 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 12 | 5 | |||
| 1950–51 | 23 | 6 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 24 | 6 | |||
| 1949–50 | 28 | 10 | 7 | 1 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 35 | 11 | |||
| 1948–49 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 1 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 18 | 7 | |||
| 1947–48 | 40 | 24 | 2 | 2 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 42 | 26 | |||
| 1946–47 | 36 | 24 | 6 | 4 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 42 | 28 | |||
| Newcastle United | 1946-47 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | ||
| 1945-46 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |||
| 1938-39 | 23 | 4 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 24 | 4 | |||
| 1937-38 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
| Total | 186 | 80 | 22 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 208 | 89 | |