Shackleton: Alan

1958-1959 (Player Details)

Centre Forward

Born: Padiham, Nr. Burnley: 03-02-1934

Debut v Manchester United (h): 01-11-1958

5’11” 11st 5lb (1959)

A local lad from Padiham, Shackleton started his career in the early nineteen-fifties on amateur forms in the Burnley Junior teams as an outside-left. It was interrupted due to compulsary National Service and during this time he played for a year on Bolton Wanderers books, in the 1953-54 season, as an amateur before being signed by Frank Hill, on professional forms, for Burnley in May 1954, now having turned twenty and converted to the centre-forward position. It was a hard road for him to travel, as Burnley were blessed with a fine goal poacher in Peter McKay and had several youngsters all vying for his spot and it was almost three years before he got his first-team opportunity. When McKay left the club to return to St Mirren in his native Scotland, the almost twenty-four-year-old Shackleton seemed to have the inside rail as he had been outscoring the teenage Ian Lawson in their Central League games. However, it was Lawson who was given his chance, and he took it. He scored eight goals in just four games. In the FA Cup, with a four goal haul against Chesterfield, on debut, and a hat-trick just days later against New Brighton, saw Shackleton still playing second fiddle. It was not until the Sixth Round F.A. Cup Replay on 6th March 1957 with Aston Villa at Villa Park that Shackleton displaced Lawson to make his debut in a game that Burnley lost 0-2. There remained a rivalry between the two for the rest of the season, as Shackleton was retained for the subsequent League game at home to Sunderland which this time saw Burnley win 2-0. He scored in the ensuing 2-0 win at Luton on 16th March, and went on to net five goals in nine League games that season. However, in the following season of 1957-58 it was Shackleton that prevailed and consigned the younger Lawson to the Reserves to learn his trade. Shackleton soon hit a rich vein of form and scored six goals in the first seven games of the new season. He was a regular scorer for Burnley, but "The Blond Bombshell", Ray Pointer, had emerged and was looking to take over Shackleton's shirt. Three defeats in a row, saw Shackleton make way for the new sensation. Pointer was given his chance but scored just two goals in six games and Shackleton was re-instated but, eventually, it would be Ray Pointer that was the Clarets’ first choice striker. But, in that season, Shackleton scored ten goals in nineteen games, while Pointer managed only eight from his twenty-two appearances, but there were healthy contributions from all the Burnley forwards. Nevertheless, Shackleton managed a commendable eighteen goals in thirty-two appearances at Turf Moor in four and a half years. Although he scored three goals in three games in the 1958-59 season, it was Pointer that had taken over the centre-forward position. His final game for Burnley was in a 1-2 defeat at St Andrew's by Birmingham City on 13th September 1958. He was spotted by Leeds playing for Burnley in a Lancashire Senior Cup-tie at Accrington Stanley and he joined United in October 1958 for £8,000. He maintained a good scoring rate in an underachieving Leeds team, including scoring on debut and adding a hat-trick in just his fourth game, in a 4-2 win at Ewood Park over Blackburn Rovers on 22nd November 1958 and another just before the end of the season in a 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest on 22nd April 1959. He was United’s leading scorer in a struggling side in the 1958-59 season with sixteen goals in just twenty-eight League games and another goal in the FA Cup in the only Cup game that season. He did not stay long, however, and after just eleven months, in September 1959 for £8,250, he moved to Everton. They were searching for a replacement for Dave Hickson, who had been surprisingly sold to Aston Villa. He made his Everton debut on 12th September 1959 at the City Ground Nottingham in a 1-1 draw with Forest. On 14th November 1959 in a vital relegation battle at Goodison Park with Birmingham City, he gave Everton the perfect start with a goal after five minutes and in just the tenth minute added a second. Ten minutes into the second half Jimmy Harris added a third and in the seventieth minute Shackleton completed his hat-trick to give Everton a fine 4-0 win. Despite maintaining his scoring ratio with ten goals in twenty-six League games and making one F.A. Cup appearance without scoring, at Goodison Park, his career then drifted, as the Toffees struggled. His last game for them was against Manchester United at Old Trafford, in a 0-5 drubbing on 30th April 1960. His next game was in Non-League football for Nelson. He joined the Lancashire Combination team in July 1960 and played a year at Seedhill before returning to League Football with Oldham Athletic, then in the Fourth Division, in August 1961. He played just ten games for them although he added another seven goals to his impressive tally, before leaving in May 1962. From there he played for Tonbridge, along with ex-Leeds United teammates Gerry Francis and John Kilford, in the Southern League First Division, where his career came to an end. His League career was just ninety-seven games in which he scored no fewer than fifty-one goals, but despite that he was never able to command a regular place in the first team at any of his four League clubs. He died on 26th April 2009 in Bromley, Kent, at the age of seventy-five after a short illness.