Len Ashurst

Len Ashurst
Personal information
Date of birth (1939-03-10) 10 March 1939
Place of birth Fazakerley, Liverpool, England
Playing position Defender
Youth career
1954–1957 Liverpool
1957 Wolverhampton Wanderers
1957 Prescot Cables
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1957–1970 Sunderland 409 (4)
1970–1973 Hartlepool 46 (2)
Total 455 (6)
National team
1956–1957 England Youth 7 (0)
1961 England U23 1 (0)
Teams managed
1971–1974 Hartlepool
1974–1975 Gillingham
1975–1977 Sheffield Wednesday
1978–1982 Newport County
1982–1984 Cardiff City
1984–1985 Sunderland
1988–1989 Al-Wakrah
1989–1991 Cardiff City
1991–1992 Pahang
1992–1993 Weymouth

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Leonard "Len" Ashurst (born 10 March 1939) is an English former footballer, manager and football administrator.

Playing career

Early career

Leonard Ashurst was born on 10 March 1939 in Fazakerley, Liverpool to parents Elsie and Joseph.[1] Initially a centre-half, he was moved to left-back by Liverpool Schoolboys as the team were short on naturally left-footed players, and helped the side to win the English Schools Trophy with an 8–1 aggregate win over Southampton Schoolboys.[2] He was signed to the ground staff at Liverpool in 1954.[2] He also worked as an apprentice compositor in the printing trade.[3] He won seven caps for the England youth team in the 1956–57 season.[3] Despite this international recognition he was not offered a professional contract by Liverpool manager Phil Taylor, and instead joined Wolverhampton Wanderers on amateur terms.[4] Whilst playing third team football for Wolves, Ashurst was approached by Sunderland coach George Curtis, who promised him a professional contract at the club. In order to gain release from Wolves, Ashurst told manager Stan Cullis he wanted to leave professional football to continue his printing apprenticeship and to play for local Lancashire Combination team Prescot Cables; Cullis agreed, and Ashurst subsequently moved from Prescot Cables to Sunderland.[5]

Sunderland

Ashurst signed professional forms at Sunderland on 27 December 1957, and made his debut for the reserve team the following day.[6] Manager Alan Brown handed him his first team debut on 20 September 1958, in a 2–0 defeat to Ipswich Town at Roker Park; Jim McNab and Cecil Irwin also made their senior debuts in the match.[7] Brown was in the process of dismantling the team that had been relegated the previous season, and Ashurst went on to feature in a total of 33 Second Division matches across the 1958–59 campaign.[8] He was called up to the England under-23 team on 15 March 1961, in a 4–1 victory over Germany at White Hart Lane.[9]

Following the abolition of the maximum wage in January 1961, Ashurst signed a new contract at £40-per-week the following summer.[10] He went on to make 458 appearances for the club; putting him second in the all time appearances list in Sunderland's history, and one of only two outfield players to top 400 appearances. He scored four Sunderland goals during his time at the club. In the late sixties, alongside Jimmy Montgomery, Cecil Irwin, Martin Harvey, Charlie Hurley and Jim McNab, Ashurst formed one of the most notable and most settled back fives in Sunderland's history.

Hartlepool

After receiving a testimonial match against Newcastle United, Len was given a free-transfer to Hartlepool where he became a player-coach.

Managerial career

Ashurst managed Gillingham, Sheffield Wednesday, Newport County and Cardiff City before returning to Sunderland as manager in March 1984.

Ashurst was appointed manager of Newport County in 1978 following the departure of Colin Addison to West Bromwich Albion. Ashurst was manager from 1978 to 1982, the most successful period in the club's history. Newport were promoted to the Third Division in the 1979–80 season and won the Welsh Cup, entitling them to play in the 1980–81 season European Cup Winners' Cup, reaching the quarter finals. Ashurst was sacked by Newport County in February 1982 and Addison returned as team manager. The team, largely assembled by Ashurst, attained Newport County's highest post-war finish in the 1982–83 season, 4th in the Third Division, narrowly missing out on promotion.

His time as Sunderland manager was not successful, despite taking them to their first ever League Cup final.[11] Performance in the league was poor and Sunderland were relegated from the first division. Ashurst was sacked in May 1985.

After the Sunderland job, Ashurst went on to become a coach with Kuwait national football team and later the Qatar national football team. He was manager of Qatari club Al-Wakrah and also coached in Malaysia.[12]

After returning to England, he was assistant manager of Blackpool, and then in September 1989 he returned for a second spell as manager of Cardiff City following the departure of Frank Burrows. He spent two years in Ninian Park before resigning in 1991 as the team struggled both on and off the pitch.[13] His last managerial role was a one-year stay at Weymouth.[14]

Football administration career

From the mid-1990s, Ashurst became heavily involved in an administrator's role at the Football Association specifically with regards to the Academy system.[15] In 2002, he became a Premier League match delegate, and was tasked with assessing match officials.[16]

Personal life

Ashurst married Valerie in her home village of East Rainton in May 1961.[9]

Statistics

Club statistics

Club Season Division League FA Cup League Cup Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Sunderland 1958–59Second Division3301000340
1959–60Second Division3202000340
1960–61Second Division4015010461
1961–62Second Division4204050510
1962–63Second Division4004070510
1963–64Second Division4216010491
1964–65First Division3922030442
1965–66First Division3701020400
1966–67First Division2800020300
1967–68First Division2400010250
1968–69First Division2000000200
1969–70First Division3201010340
Total 40942602304584
Hartlepool 1970–71Fourth Division1300000130
1971–72Fourth Division2622020302
1972–73Fourth Division703000100
Total 4625020532
Career total 45563102505116

Managerial statistics

Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record
PWDLWin %
Hartlepool United 1 March 1971 1 June 1974 164 50 41 73 30.5
Gillingham 1 June 1974 15 October 1975 60 21 20 19 35.0
Sheffield Wednesday 15 October 1975 5 October 1977 104 38 28 38 36.5
Newport County[17] 1 June 1978 8 February 1982 194 80 48 66 41.2
Cardiff City 3 March 1982 1 March 1984 102 46 19 37 45.1
Sunderland 4 March 1984 23 May 1985 66 21 16 29 31.8
Cardiff City 31 August 1989 1 May 1991 98 30 32 36 30.6
Total 788 286 204 298 36.3

Honours

Sunderland[18]
Newport County[18]
Cardiff City[18]

References

General

Specific

  1. ↑ Ashurst 2009, p. 38
  2. 1 2 Ashurst 2009, p. 47
  3. 1 2 Ashurst 2009, p. 51
  4. ↑ Ashurst 2009, p. 52
  5. ↑ Ashurst 2009, p. 55
  6. ↑ Ashurst 2009, p. 59
  7. ↑ Ashurst 2009, p. 60
  8. ↑ Ashurst 2009, p. 61
  9. 1 2 Ashurst 2009, p. 63
  10. ↑ Ashurst 2009, p. 67
  11. ↑ "Cats the way to honour our Len". Hartlepool Mail. 26 September 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
  12. ↑ "Winning Airs from Ashurst". New Strait Times. 16 January 1992. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  13. ↑ "The seventies to the noughties". cardiffcityfc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  14. ↑ Metcalf, Rupert (18 December 1992). "Ashurst brings breath of life". London: The Independent. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
  15. ↑ "Just put your shirt on Ashurst". Western Mail. 17 May 2004. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
  16. ↑ Ashurst 2009, p. 18
  17. ↑ Len Ashurst management career statistics at Soccerbase
  18. 1 2 3 Ashurst 2009, p. 252
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