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Roy Vernon

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Roy Vernon
Personal information
Full name Thomas Royston Vernon[1]
Date of birth (1937-04-14)14 April 1937[1]
Place of birth Ffynnongroew, Wales[1]
Date of death 4 December 1993(1993-12-04) (aged 56)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1955–1960 Blackburn Rovers 131 (49)
1960–1965 Everton 176 (101)
1965–1970 Stoke City 84 (22)
1967 → Cleveland Stokers (guest) 11 (2)
1970 → Halifax Town (loan) 4 (0)
1970 Cape Town City
1970–1972 Great Harwood
1972 Hellenic
Total 406 (174)
International career‡
1957–1968 Wales 32 (8)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:15, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12:00, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Thomas Royston "Roy" Vernon (14 April 1937 – 4 December 1993) was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a forward for Blackburn Rovers, Everton and Stoke City.[1] Vernon won 32 caps for Wales, scoring eight goals in total, and representing his country in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden.[2]

Club career

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Vernon was born in Ffynnongroew, Flintshire.[2] He made his debut for Blackburn Rovers at the age of 18. He soon became a regular under Johnny Carey and Ewood Park and scored 15 goals in 44 games in 1957–58 as Rovers won promotion to the First Division. He took to the top flight with ease scoring 17 goals in 1958–59 as Blackburn finished in 10th position.

After an argument with Blackburn manager Dally Duncan, Vernon signed for Everton in 1960 for £27,000 plus winger Eddie Thomas.[2] He became a prolific goalscorer for the "Toffees" after scoring nine goals in his first 12 matches in 1959–60 he then scored 22 in 1960–61, a career best of 28 in 1961–62 and was the top scorer with 24 goals and captain when Everton won the First Division title in the 1962–63 season.[2] His striking partner who scored 22 goals in that title winning year was 'the golden vision' Alex Young.

Vernon was a lean player with an aquiline nose, a powerful left foot shot, great skill and a coolness when taking his chances. Brian Labone said of him: "Taffy Vernon was about 10 stone. Wet through he looked about as athletic as Pinocchio." Apart from his success in open play, Roy Vernon was probably the finest and most successful penalty-taker ever to play for Everton.[2] He made 200 appearances for Everton scoring 111 goals.[2]

After Everton manager Harry Catterick became 'fed up' with Vernon's off field antics he sold Vernon to Stoke City for £40,000.[2] He made a good start to his career under Tony Waddington scoring five goals in his first ten matches for the "Potters" at the end of the 1964–65 season. He scored 11 in 36 appearances in 1965–66 but a string of injuries reduced his effectiveness and after spending a short time out on loan at Halifax Town he moved to South Africa to play for Cape Town City and later Hellenic.[2]

Vernon was a heavy smoker, often smoking in the tunnel before the game and immediately after, and was reputed to bet on the horses and the greyhounds in his spare time. He died in 1993 from cancer.[2]

International career

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Vernon represented Wales at senior and amateur level.[3]

Career statistics

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Club

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[4]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Blackburn Rovers 1955–56 Second Division 12 1 1 0 — 0 0 13 1
1956–57 Second Division 31 11 1 0 — 0 0 32 11
1957–58 Second Division 37 15 6 0 — 0 0 44 15
1958–59 First Division 36 16 2 1 — 0 0 38 17
1959–60 First Division 15 6 3 2 — 0 0 18 8
Total 131 49 13 3 — 0 0 144 52
Everton 1959–60 First Division 12 9 0 0 — 0 0 12 9
1960–61 First Division 39 21 1 0 4 1 0 0 44 22
1961–62 First Division 37 26 3 2 0 0 0 0 40 28
1962–63 First Division 41 24 3 3 0 0 3 0 47 27
1963–64 First Division 31 18 5 2 3 1 0 0 49 21
1964–65 First Division 16 3 0 0 4 1 0 0 20 4
Total 176 101 12 7 11 3 3 0 202 111
Stoke City 1964–65 First Division 10 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 5
1965–66 First Division 31 10 1 0 4 1 0 0 36 11
1966–67 First Division 20 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 21 4
1967–68 First Division 19 2 2 1 0 2 0 0 23 3
1968–69 First Division 8 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 10 1
Total 88 22 4 1 8 1 0 0 100 24
Cleveland Stokers (loan) 1967 United Soccer Association 11 2 — — — 11 2
Halifax Town (loan) 1969–70 Third Division 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
Career total 410 174 29 11 19 4 3 0 461 189

International

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Appearances and goals by national team and year[5]
National team Year Apps Goals
Wales 1957 7 1
1958 2 0
1960 4 1
1962 7 0
1963 2 0
1965 7 6
1966 1 0
1967 2 0
Total 32 8

Honours

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Blackburn Rovers

Everton

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ponting, Ivan (7 December 1993). "Obituary: Roy Vernon". The Independent. London. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  3. ^ "PENMON FAMILY HISTORY AND RELATED TOPICS - WELSH AMATEUR INTERNATIONALS". www.penmon.org. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  4. ^ Roy Vernon at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  5. ^ Vernon, Roy at National-Football-Teams.com
  6. ^ "1963/64 Charity Shield". footballsite.co.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
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