Carlton Football Club

 

The Carlton crest was kindly donated by Trevor 'Trev' Jackson who played for Carlton between 1955-57 before signing as an apprentice for Millwall. Trev also made a couple of appearances for St Albans City Reserves in April 1959.

One pathway used for catching the eye of the St Albans City selectors after World War Two through to the early 1970s was via a local youth club, Carlton Football Club. The Verulamium-based club, who had their headquarters at Bishop’s Store at 113 Hatfield Road, were formed in 1943 and went on to become a phenomenally successful outfit with teams at Under 16 and Under 18 levels.

Carlton Old BoysThey played in a kit of red shirts but, as can be seen from the photographs, it changed in style down the years. By 1960 they had settled on red shirts, white shorts and white socks. Former Carlton players Bill Hussey and Mick Pestle, both of whom went on to play for St Albans City, revealed that the players had to supply the shorts and socks themselves and take the shirt home to wash after each game as well.

In keeping with the fashion of the time the shirts were buttoned-up by the neck and had normal shirt styled collars.  By the start of the 1960s this had changed to ‘v’ neck shirts for the Under 16s and round necks for the Under 18s. The club crest was a simple shield with F.C. slipped inside a large C. 

Benevolent Cup Final 1945 46Run during the early years by Scotsman David McFarland, Carlton provided a succession of players that featured in the City Reserves with many going on to play in the First team at Clarence Park . Carlton players were already familiar with the Park due to the high number of cup finals in which they featured and were played at the home of the City.

Carlton’s first final came during the war years at the end of the 1943-44 season when they lost 2-1 to Townsend, after extra time, in the final of the Benevolent Cup. Their first success came in 1946 when they defeated holders Boreham Wood Swifts in the final, again at Clarence Park . In fact, the 1945-46 season was a highly successful one for the club as the Under 16s also lifted the Mid Herts Minor Cup and were champions of the Mid Herts League Group C. These were just the first of a succession of honours came the way of the club.

Since that success the U16s have enjoyed great success in the Hertfordshire Under 16 Youth Cup winning it 1945-46, 1946-47, 1951-52, 1953-54 and 1954-55.

The senior side also lifted the Hertfordshire Under 18 Youth Cup five times in 1947-48, 1949-50, 1953-54, 1963-64 and 1974-75.

In that 1963-64 final Carlton defeated Bennetts End Youth Club 6-1 at Clarence Park with future Saints Bob Murphy and Mick Pestle each scoring a hat trick.

One of the aims of devoting this section of the City History website to Carlton is to encourage anyone with information about the club to send in photos and, hopefully, add names and correct errors, to the team photos. There are large gaps in the collection of Carlton photos and the more that we get the greater our knowledge will become in ascertaining just how many of their players went on to play for St Albans City at First and Reserve team levels.

Listed below, in no particular order, are a number of individuals to have started their football career with Carlton before turning out for the City. The figures in brackets are the number games played and goals scored for St Albans.

Not all of the Carlton old boys joined St Albans as players, two became significant officials at Clarence Park . Dick East, a player and manager at Carlton, was the City Hon. Secretary between 1964-65 and 1972-73, prior to then he was our Hon. Assistant Secretary between 1959-60 and 1963-64. Going back even further Dick also had a season as Hon. Secretary to the City Reserve team. Syd Wells, a highly-rated midfielder (or half-back in those distant days), was City’s Match Secretary between 1980 and 1994.

Until being able to compile a more comprehensive list of Carlton players it is difficult to be certain as to who was the first player from that club to turn out for St Albans City. However, Jimmy ‘Ginger’ Norris may well be that person having made his City debut on 1^stMay 1947. Ginger became the first of just three players to score a hat-trick on his Isthmian League debut as City defeated Kingstonian 6-0 at Clarence Park on 1^st May 1947. Jimmy passed away on 30^th April 2020, just one day short of his 90^th birthday.

The influx of Carlton players into the ranks of St Albans City had become a trickle by the 1970s and the last Carlton old boy to score for us was, probably, Bob Murphy (v Hounslow in the 4^th replay of a London Senior Cup tie on 18^th November 1975). Being the only person to have sold programmes, been the City captain, manager and managing director, Bob now has another detail to add to his c.v.

Jimmy Norris (86a, 49g), John Christmas (4a, 1g), Dennis Gibbs (148a, 1g), Barry Cobb (7a), Brian Haggerty (32a, 2g), Mick Pestle (1a, 1g), Matt Hughes (191a, 15g), Ray Bloxham (107), Dave Clark (61a), Barry Bentley (8a, 1g), Bob Murphy (133a, 8g), Bill Hussey (2a), Tony Mardle (15a, 2g), Bob Humphrey (21a, 1g), Roger Grant (193a, 9g), Mick King (21a 1g), Mick Coyle (2a, 1g), Bill Southern (111a, 3g), Keith Rand (7a, 1g), Jim Whiting (39a, 8g), Steve Murphy (6a, 1g), Alan Easterbrook (43a, 16g), Peter Robinson (94a, 32g),  John Mitchell (47a, 25g), Eric Carvill (27a, 7g).

Carlton F.C. 1943-44

Carlton F.C. 1943-44

Carlton F.C. 1944-45

Carlton F.C. 1944-45

Carlton F.C. 1945-46

Carlton F.C. 1945-46

Carlton F.C. 1945-46

Herts Minor Cup Final 1945 46 Programme

Carlton F.C. 1946-47

Carlton F.C. 1947-48

Carlton F.C. 1947-48

Carlton F.C. 1947-48

Carlton F.C. 1947-48

Carlton F.C. 1949-50

Carlton F.C. 1949-50

Carlton 1949-50 Fixture Postcard

Carlton F.C. 1950-51

Carlton F.C. 1950-51

Carlton F.C. 1952-53

Carlton F.C. 1952-53

Carlton F.C. 1955-56

Carlton F.C. 1955-56

Carlton F.C. 1955-56

Carlton v Icknield 1956

Carlton F.C. 1956-57

 

Carlton F.C. 1957-58

Carlton F.C. 1957-58

 

Herts County U16 Final Carlton v St Georges Boys Club 1958

Cambridge City Youth v Carlton 23-09-1959

Cambridge City Youth v Carlton 23-09-1959

Carlton 1-3 Headington 27-09-1958

Carlton F.C. 1960-61

Carlton F.C. 1960-61

 

Carlton F.C. 1960-61

Carlton F.C. 1961-62

Carlton F.C. 1961-62

 Carlton F.C. 1962-63

Carlton F.C. 1962-63

Carlton F.C. 1962-63

Carlton 1962-63 Top Scorers

Carlton 1962-63 Top Scorers

Carlton F.C. 1962-63

Carlton F.C. 1962-63

Carlton F.C. 1963-64

Carlton F.C. 1963-64

Carlton F.C. 1963-64

Carlton U18's 1963-64 Statistics

St Albans City F.C. v Ex Carlton F.C. 12-03-1964

Carlton F.C. Management

Stevenage v Carlton 15 Nov 1969

Carlton letter January 1970 to Eric CarvillLetter to Eric Carvill confirming his selection for the game against Stevenage at Clarence Park on 17th January 1970.

Carlton v Park Street Youth

Carlton F.C. 1974-75