George Tweedy

George Tweedy

Personal information
Full name	George Jacob Tweedy
Date of birth	(1913-01-08)8 January 1913
Place of birth	Willington, County Durham,England
Date of death	23 April 1987(1987-04-23)(aged 74)
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
	Willington
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1932–1953	Grimsby Town	347	(0)
International career
1936	England	1	(0)
Managerial career
1950–1951	Grimsby Town(caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

George Jacob Tweedy(8 January 1913 – 23 April 1987) was an Englishfootballerwho played as agoalkeeper.He was aone club playerforGrimsby Townand earned onecapforEngland.

He played 347 league games in aWorld War IIinterrupted career spanning 20 years. He is considered to be Grimsby's "best ever goalkeeper".

Club career

Born in the rural mining town ofWillington,County Durham,Tweedy first played for Durham Schools and then his hometown club Willington F. C. He made his debut for Grimsby againstBradford Cityon 19 November 1932 upon replacement ofRead,the regular goalkeeper, who had a broken finger. At the time of his debut, Grimsby had just been relegated from theFirst Division,they rejoined the top division in Tweedy'ssecond seasonwith the club by winning theSecond Divisionchampionship. This led to six consecutive seasons in the top division, twoFA Cupsemi finals, the club's highest ever league ranking as fifth and Tweedy winning his only England cap.He went on to miss the second FA Cup semi-final to an injury and was replaced byMoulson,who also injured himself during that semi-final match.

World War hiatus

During theSecond World War,players played in teams close to where they were stationed and this gave Tweedy the chance to play with Grimsby Town until 1942. However, most of the team including keeper Tweedy were eventually sent off to battle and this left the remaining team with a mixture of untried young players and guests. Tweedy's replacement in goal was, once again,George Moulsonwho left for Lincoln County upon Tweedy's return in 1946. Tweedy played as a guest for bothArsenalandHibernianin the intervening years.After World War 2, Grimsby managed only two more seasons in the First Division and have never regained such a status since. Keeper Tweedy is also the second of three Grimsby players to be capped by England whilst playing for the club.

He retired as a player in 1950 to becomeassistant managerwith Grimsby, and from July 1950 to January 1951,stayed with the team as caretaker manager. He returned as a player for a small time period in late 1951, before finally retiring on 3 April 1953.

International career

George played his only game for England on 2 December 1936 atHighburyagainstHungary.England won 6–2 in front of a crowd of around 36,000 people.He was prevented from acquiring more caps by being in competition with fellow goalkeepersWoodley(19 caps) ofChelseaandHibbs(25 caps) ofBirmingham.

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Grimsby Town	1932–33	Second Division	9	0	1	0	10	0
	1933–34		12	0	1	0	13	0
	1934–35	First Division	42	0	1	0	43	0
	1935–36		41	0	6	0	47	0
	1936–37		42	0	4	0	46	0
	1937–38		40	0	2	0	42	0
	1938–39		38	0	6	0	44	0
	1939–40		3	0	0	0	3	0
	World War II
	1946–47	First Division	39	0	3	0	42	0
	1947–48		36	0	1	0	37	0
	1948–49	Second Division	15	0	0	0	15	0
	1949–50		1	0	0	0	1	0
	Retired
	1951–52	Third Division (North)	24	0	0	0	24	0
	1952–53		8	0	0	0	8	0
Career total			347	0	25	0	372	0

Honours

Grimsby Town

• Second Division:1934
• Third Division Northrunners-up: 1952

External links

• George Tweedyat Englandstats
• George Tweedyat EnglandFanzine.co.uk