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Famous Like Me > Footballer > A > James Ashcroft

Profile of James Ashcroft on Famous Like Me

 
Name: James Ashcroft  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 9th April 1878
   
Place of Birth: Liverpool
   
Profession: Footballer
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

James Ashcroft (September 12, 1878 – April 9, 1943) was an English football goalkeeper.

Born in Liverpool, Ashcroft began his career with several local sides, briefly signing as an amateur with Everton, before moving south and joining Southern League side Gravesend United in 1899. He was quickly spotted by nearby Woolwich Arsenal of the Football League, and signed as a professional for the Gunners in June 1900.

Ashcroft immediately made his debut against Burton Swifts on September 15, 1900; although Arsenal lost 1-0, Ashcroft kept his place and remained an ever-present for that season, and the following one. In 1901-02, Ashcroft kept 17 clean sheets in 34 League matches for Woolwich Arsenal, including six clean sheets in a row (a club record, that has only been equalled once since, by Alex Manninger in 1998); Arsenal finished fourth in the Second Division that season, and third the season after that.

Ashcroft kept 20 clean sheets in 1903-04, a club record, as Arsenal gained promotion to the First Division, and in 1904-05 set a then record of 154 consecutive matches for the club (since only bettered by Tom Parker). Arsenal reached the 1906 and 1907 FA Cup semi-finals twice with Ashcroft in goal, and he also won three caps for England, playing in all three of England's British Home Championship matches of 1906 (England won twice and lost once, sharing the 1905-06 championship with Scotland). Ashcroft thus was Arsenal's first England international.

In all, Ashcroft played 303 first-class games in eight seasons for Arsenal. He was sold to Blackburn Rovers in the summer of 1908. For Rovers, he played over 120 times and reached another FA Cup semi-final in 1911, and won the First Division title in 1912. He left Blackburn in 1913 for Tranmere Rovers, where he played for one more season before World War One intervened and all first-class football was halted.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article James Ashcroft