Grimsby Town
Bestall is regarded as "perhaps the greatest name on Town's roll-call - a diminutive craftsman full of guile and possessed of outstanding constructive qualities". He had a lounge at Blundell Park and the smallest road in Grimsby and Cleethorpes named after him.
Bestall captained Grimsby to the 1933-34 Second Division title and back in to the First Division after two seasons in the Second. This helped Bestall to earn his only England cap aged 34 years, 226 days against Northern Ireland on 6 February 1935. He is the sixth oldest player to make his England debut and was the first Grimsby player to be capped by England.
He played in Grimsby's first FA Cup semi final against Arsenal, but was injured early in the game, which Arsenal won 1-0. Grimsby Town fans believed that Bestall was targeted by the Arsenal defenders in the hope of deliberately injuring him.
Bestall played 427 league games for Town, only ever beaten by Keith Jobling and latterly John McDermott.
Read more about this topic: Jackie Bestall
Famous quotes containing the word town:
“The mountain held the town as in a shadow.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)