George Eastham

:"For George Eastham Jr.'s father, see George Eastham, Sr."Infobox Football biography
playername = George Eastham


fullname = George Edward Eastham
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1936|9|23|df=y
cityofbirth = Blackpool, Lancashire
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
height =
position = Inside forward, Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1953-1956 1956-1960 1960-1966 1966-1973
clubs = Ards Newcastle United Arsenal Stoke City
caps(goals) = 124 (29) 207 (41) 194 0(4)
nationalyears = 1963-1966
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) = 019 0(2)
manageryears = 1977-1978
managerclubs = Stoke City

George Edward Eastham, OBE (born September 23, 1936 in Blackpool, Lancashire) is an English former footballer. He is known for playing for Newcastle United, Arsenal and Stoke City, as well as a non-playing member of England's 1966 World Cup-winning squad. However, he is also notable for his involvement in a 1963 court case which proved a landmark in improving players' freedom to move between clubs.

Playing career

Newcastle United

Eastham was part of a footballing family — his father George Eastham, Sr., was an England international who played for Bolton Wanderers and Blackpool, while his uncle Harry Eastham played for Liverpool and Accrington Stanley.

Eastham junior first played for Northern Irish club Ards, where his father was player-manager, and the two played together on the pitch. A skilful midfielder/inside forward, he was signed by Newcastle United in 1956, and made his debut against Luton Town on October 6 1956, in a match which finished 2-2. He spent four seasons with the Magpies and during his time there he won caps for the Football League and the England U23 side. He played 125 games for Newcastle, scoring 34 goals, [cite web | url=http://www.khscott.org.uk/nufc/template_player.php?thisPage=3&totalRows=125&pid=222 | title=George Eastham | work=Newcastle United - a statistical journey | accessdate=2007-12-24 ] their best finish during this time being eighth in 1959-60.

However, during his time at Newcastle United Eastham fell out with the club, with Eastham disputing whether the house the club had supplied him was habitable, the unsatisfactory secondary job that the club had arranged (as maximum wage rules at the time forbade clubs from paying the market rate) and their attempts to stop him playing for the England U23 team. [cite book
author=Spurling, Jon
title=Rebels For The Cause: The Alternative History of Arsenal Football Club
publisher=Mainstream
year=2004
id=ISBN 0-575400-15-3
page=p.83] With his contract due to expire soon, in 1959, Eastham refused to sign a new one and requested a transfer. However, Newcastle refused to let Eastham go. At the time, clubs operated a system known as retain-and-transfer, which meant that teams could keep a player's registration (thus preventing them from moving) while refusing to pay them if they had requested a transfer.cite journal

author=McArdle, David
title=One Hundred Years of Servitude: Contractual Conflict in English Professional Football before Bosman
url=http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/2000/issue2/mcardle2.html#Heading8
journal=Current Legal Issues
date=2000 ] As Eastham later recounted: [Quoted in cite book | author=Spurling | title=Rebels for the Cause | year=2004 | page=p.81 ]

Unable to leave, Eastham went on strike at the end of the 1959-60 season, moving south to work for an old family friend, Ernie Clay (who later became chairman of Fulham), selling cork in Guildford, Surrey. Finally in October 1960 Newcastle relented and sold Eastham to Arsenal for £47,500. However, Eastham considered the point fighting for, and backed by the Professional Footballers Association (who provided £15,000 to pay for Eastham's legal fees), he took the club to the High Court in 1963.

In the case, "Eastham v. Newcastle United", Eastham argued that it was an unfair restraint of trade, and that Newcastle owed him £400 in unpaid wages and £650 in unpaid bonuses. The judge, Mr Justice Wilberforce, ruled partly in Eastham's favour, stating that the retain-and-transfer system was unreasonable, although he ruled that as Eastham had refused to play for Newcastle, that any payment of wages for the disputed period was at Newcastle's discretion. [cite book | author=Spurling | title=Rebels for the Cause | year=2004 | page=p.87-88 ] As a result, although Eastham did not gain personally, he succeeded in reforming the British transfer market. The "retain" element of retain-and-transfer was greatly reduced, providing fairer terms for players looking to re-sign for their clubs, and setting up a transfer tribunal for disputes.

Arsenal

Eastham made his Arsenal debut against Bolton Wanderers on December 10 1960, and scored twice as Arsenal won 5-1.cite book
author=Harris, Jeff & Hogg, Tony (ed.)
title=Arsenal Who's Who
publisher=Independent UK Sports
year=1995
id=ISBN 1-899429-03-4 | page=pp.162-163 ] Later on that same season, he scored the equaliser against his former club Newcastle United at St James' Park, in a 3-3 draw, during which he was called "Judas" and pelted with apples. [cite book | author=Spurling | title=Rebels for the Cause | year=2004 | page=p.85 ] Throughout his six seasons at Arsenal, he was a regular for the side; though not a prolific goalscorer, Eastham was one of the most talented players of what was an average Arsenal side at the time; under George Swindin and Billy Wright, Arsenal never finished higher than 7th during his time there.

Eastham's time at Arsenal was often turbulent; as well as the court case against Newcastle United, he fell out with Arsenal after asking for a pay rise following the maximum wage's abolishment in 1961 (but eventually Arsenal relented and met his demands), [cite book | author=Spurling | title=Rebels for the Cause | year=2004 | page=p.86 ] and he asked for a transfer after being replaced by Joe Baker up front at the start of the 1962-63 season. [cite book | author=Spurling | title=Rebels for the Cause | year=2004 | page=p.87 ] However, Billy Wright sought a compromise and eventually restored Eastham to the side, behind Baker; Eastham's form returned, he came off the transfer list and in both 1963-64 and 1964-65 he scored ten goals, the most per season during his Arsenal career, which included two in a 4-4 draw in a memorable North London derby match against Tottenham Hotspur at Highbury in October 1963.

It was at Arsenal that Eastham's international career flourished; he joined the England squad for the 1962 FIFA World Cup as an uncapped player, but did not play in the tournament; his England debut finally came on May 8 1963, against Brazil. His final game for England came in a warmup game for the 1966 FIFA World Cup, against Denmark in Copenhagen on July 3 1966, scoring in a 2-0 win. [cite web

url=http://www.thefa.com/England/SeniorTeam/Archive/default.htm?i=6418&pf=p&searchname=Eastham%20jnr&

title=George Eastham jnr : Playing career
work=TheFA.com
accessdate=2007-12-23

] Eastham was also part of the squad for that tournament, but did not play a single minute of England's win in the tournament. He did not receive a medal at the time, though in 2007 FIFA ruled that medals would be awarded retrospectively for non-playing squad members. [cite news

url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7112824.stm
title=England squad set for 1966 medals
work=BBC Sport
date=2007-11-26
accessdate=2007-12-23

]

Eastham continued to be a regular and served as Arsenal captain between 1963 and 1966, but Arsenal's declining form — finishing 14th in 1965-66 — led to Wright's dismissal in the summer of 1966. By now Eastham was nearly 30, and the new Arsenal management sought to dismantle Wright's side in favour of younger players. He joined Stoke City in August 1966, having scored 41 goals in 223 matches for the Gunners.

toke City

Eastham was purchased by Stoke City manager, Tony Waddington, for a fee of £35,000, prior to the start of the 1966–67 season. Eastham spent the next eight seasons at Stoke City, during which the club maintained their status in the First Division. He played in a side which combined home grown talent — such as the likes of Denis Smith, Eric Skeels and Mike Pejic — alongside the experience of the likes of Peter Dobing and himself. Eastham won the League Cup in 1971-72, scoring the winning goal in the final against Chelsea, which finished 2–1. At the age of 35 years 161 days, he became the oldest player to receive a winner's medal. [cite web|url=http://www.stokecityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/HallOfFame/0,,10310~401797,00.html|title=George Eastham, OBE|accessdate=2007-12-28|date=2007-07-10|work=Stoke City F.C.] He was also a beaten FA Cup semi-finalist in successive seasons (1970-71 and 1971-72) — both times in replays and both times by his former club Arsenal. Eastham also represented Stoke at European level, playing in the 1972–73 UEFA Cup; the first time the club had competed at European level in its history. In the first round, Stoke played Kaiserslautern of Germany but lost 5–3 on aggregate over two legs and were knocked out of the competition in the process. [cite book |last=Matthews |first=Tony |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=A-Z of Stoke City |year=1997 |publisher=The Breedon Books Publishing Company Limited |location= |isbn=1 85983 100 1 | pages =234|chapter=UEFA Cup ]

In February 1971, at the age of 34, Eastham took a break from playing in order to develop his coaching ability, with the view of going into management. He embarked on a trip to South Africa, playing on loan with Cape Town City before having a spell as player-manager of Hellenic, who had previously been managed by his father. [cite web|url=http://www.11v11.co.uk/index.php?pageID=484&init=E|title=EASTHAM George Richard|work=11v11.co.uk|accessdate=2007-12-28] Eastham returned to Stoke in October 1971, to continue his playing career.cite book |last=Matthews |first=Tony |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=A-Z of Stoke City |year=|publisher=|location= |isbn=| pages =78-79|chapter=Eastham, George Edward, OBE ]

He made 194 league appearances for Stoke City in total, ten of them as a substitute, scoring four goals. Eastham retired from playing in 1974, having been awarded the OBE for services to football the previous year.

Managerial career

After retiring as a player, Eastham became Tony Waddington's assistant at Stoke, and succeeded Waddington as Stoke manager after the latter resigned in March 1977, becoming only the club's fourth manager since 1935. He took over a side depleted of their best players (who had all been sold to alleviate financial problems) and in trouble, and their relegation from the First Division was confirmed while he was in charge, finishing 21st out of 22 in 1976-77 after a run of just one win in 13 games. [cite web|url=http://www.stokecityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/History/0,,10310~401596,00.html|title=1970-1980 Waddo Believe It (Part Two)|work=Stoke City F.C.|accessdate=2007-12-28|date=2007-08-09] Eastham lasted only ten months, leaving the club in January 1978, after failing a sustain a push for promotion from the Second Division. [cite web|url=http://www.stokecityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Managers/0,,10310,00.html|title=George Eastham OBE - Stoke City FC Managers|work=Stoke City F.C.|accessdate=2007-12-28|date=2007-11-29]

Retirement

After leaving the Stoke job, he quit professional football completely, and emigrated to South Africa in 1978. He set up his own sportswear business as well as being a football coach for local black children (being a noted opponent of Apartheid). He is also chairman of the South African Arsenal Supporters' Club.

Honours

;England
*World Cup: 1966;Stoke City
*Football League Cup: 1971-72

ee also

*Bosman ruling, a 1995 case heard at the European Court of Justice which further extended players' rights to move.

References