Terry Wharton

Terry Wharton

Personal information
Full name	Terence Jackson Alain Wharton
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Winger/Midfielder/Playmaker
Youth career
1952–1957	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1957–1968	Wolverhampton Wanderers	242	(83)
1968–1972	Bolton Wanderers	115	(49)
1972–1973	Crystal Palace	20	(5)
1973–1974	Walsall	1	(0)
1974–1975	Darlington	5	(3)
1975–1976	Ossett Town	11	(0)
1976–1977	Garforth Town	7	(2)
Total		401	(142)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Terence Jackson Alain "Terry" Wharton (born 1 July 1942 in Bolton, England), is a former professional footballer who enjoyed a successful career as a winger with a number of clubs, namely Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he is considered to be amongst the club's numerous cult heroes. Wharton converted 43 penalty kicks out of the 44 that he took during his career, a success rate that has been bettered only by Graham Alexander of Burnley, who as of 10 March 2010 has converted 54 penalties out of a possible 54. Wharton was also renowned for his extremely powerful shot and his work-rate as well as his ability to conjure up very accurate crosses despite having little room to do so whilst often facing heavy defencive pressure from his opponents.

Biography

Bolton-born Terry followed his father in becoming an old-style winger in the Football League. His father had played in more than 250 league games for Plymouth Argyle, Preston North End, Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers and Newport County AFC. Terry joined Wolves on his 15th birthday in 1957 and he turned professional at Molineux in October 1959, 2 years later scoring on his debut in a 2-0 home win over Ipswich Town on 11th November 1961 when he replaced Mark Lazarus. He then went on to crack in two more goals when making his debut in the FA Cup, versus Carlisle United in January 1962. He was Wolves first-choice right-winger for the next five and a half seasons, he netted his first hat-trick for the club in March 1963 as West Bromwich Albion were beaten 7-0. He was in the Wolves side that lost their First Division status in 1964-65 but two seasons later he helped them win promotion back to the First Division, netting another hat-trick in a 7-1 home win over Cardiff City. He scored 83 goals in 242 games for Wolves when he joined his hometown club, Bolton Wanderers, for £70,000, the Lancashire club's record buy at the time. Wharton replaced Francis Lee, who had just been sold to Manchester City, and became Bolton's penalty-taker. Sadly, injuries did not allow him to perform consistently, though in 1969-70 he missed only four games. Early the following season he hit his first hat-trick for the club in a 4-2 win over Luton Town. After failing to live up to his early promise at Bolton, where he scored 49 goals in 115 games, he left and joined Crystal Palace. He made 20 league appearances for Palace, scoring 5 times, and in December 1973 joined Walsall, playing 23 minutes against Leyton Orient after coming on as a second-half substitute. This turned out to be his only appearance for Walsall, and he joined lowly Darlington soon after, netting 3 goals in 5 games. After leaving Darlington, Wharton drifted into non-league football ended his career with spells at Ossett Town and Garforth Town, scoring just twice in a combined 18 appearances for both clubs. Wharton finally retired in 1977 having scored a credible 142 goals in 401 career appearances and now resides with his wife Emily in Anglesey, Staffordshire. Terry and Emily have four children and seven grandchildren.