George Beel

George Beel
Personal information
Full name	George William Beel
Date of birth	26 February 1900
Place of birth	Bracebridge Heath, England
Date of death	30 December 1980 (aged 80)
Playing position(s)	Centre forward
Senior career*
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

George Beel (26 February 1900 – 30 December 1980) was a professional footballer who played as a centre forward. He is regarded as the best centre forward in Burnley's history and holds their records for the highest number of goals in a season and the highest number of league goals ever.

He started playing football during World War I playing for Blackpool – as he was stationed in Blackpool – in the Wartime Leagues, where he impressed enough to earn himself a trial with Manchester United in 1919. However, he did not do enough to get a contract and went to his hometown team Lincoln City in October 1919. He went on to play in the lower reaches of the Football League for Merthyr Town and Chesterfield. After scoring 23 goals in 35 games for the Spirites, many Division One teams were interested in Beel. Burnley were the quickest to make a move and signed him in the summer of 1923. He spent nine years at Turf Moor, where he scored 188 goals in 337 games in all competitions for the Clarets,[1] being their top goal-scorer in six of those seasons and runner-up in another two.

His days at Burnley were numbered when they were relegated to Division Two after Beel had a mediocre year in front of goal. He ended up returning to Lincoln City in 1932 staying for just a year before finishing his career with a season at Rochdale. He then went on to become player-manager at non-league Tunbridge Wells Rangers and later manager of Maidstone United. He decided to stay in Maidstone for the rest of his life and was helping out with junior football throughout the 1970s until his death in December 1980.

Career statistics (incomplete)

Club performance			League		Cup		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
England			League		FA Cup		Total
1919–20	Lincoln City	Second Division	23	6
Career total			23	6
1920–21	Merthyr Town	Third Division	55	22
Career total			55	22
1921–22	Chesterfield	Third Division
1922–23	Chesterfield	Third Division
Career total			35	23
1922–23	Burnley[2]	First Division	1	—	—	—	—	—
1923–24			34	19	7	2	41	21
1924–25			35	10	1	—	36	10
1925–26			33	14	2	2	35	16
1926–27			36	24	3	3	39	27
1927–28			39	35	1	—	40	35
1928–29			41	30	3	2	44	32
1929–30			33	10	1	—	34	10
1930–31		Second Division	41	25	2	—	43	25
1931–32		Second Division	23	12	1	—	24	12
Career total			316	179	21	9	337	188
1932–33	Lincoln City	Second Division	9	6
Career total			9	6
1932–33	Rochdale	Third Division North	20	8
Career total			20	8
Career total			458	243

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gollark: You can't look at a piece of art and somehow infer from it "ah yes, this is an objectively good piece of art".

gollark: Those are, you know, observable verifiable facts.

gollark: So what you're saying is that when something stops being subjective is subjective?

gollark: "Agreed upon" doesn't mean "objective".

References

Specific

Simpson (2007), p. 492
LTD, Digital Sports Group. "George Beel - Clarets Mad". Claretsmad.co.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2018.

General

Simpson, Ray (2007). The Clarets Chronicles: The Definitive History of Burnley Football Club 1882-2007. Burnley Football Club. ISBN 978-0955746802.

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[1] Simpson (2007), p. 492

[2] LTD, Digital Sports Group. "George Beel - Clarets Mad". Claretsmad.co.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2018.