Derek Wilkinson (soccer player)

Derek Wilkinson
Personnel
birthday	June 4, 1935
place of birth	Stalybridge ,  England
date of death	13th September 2017
Place of death	Tameside ,  England
position	Storm
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1951-1952	Stalybridge Celtic
1952-1953	Dukinfield Town
1953-1965	Sheffield Wednesday	212 (53)
1 Only league games are given.

Derek Wilkinson (born June 4, 1935 in Stalybridge , † September 13, 2017 in Tameside ) was an English football player . The offensive player played a total of 233 competitive games (57 goals) for Sheffield Wednesday between 1954 and 1964 .

Career

Wilkinson played in the Greater Manchester area for Stalybridge Celtic and Dukinfield Town before being signed to first division club Sheffield Wednesday in 1953 after a successful practice session for £ 100 . Wilkinson was initially an amateur at Sheffield: he continued to work as a shellac polisher , trained twice a week with his former team Stalybridge and only came to Sheffield for games . After he became a full-time professional in November 1953, he was part of the reserve team almost continuously between January 1954 and September 1957. Inserts for the first team in the Football League were at first sporadically, in his debut season in 1954/55 (first used on November 13, 1954 Right Wing against Cardiff City ) he stood in two league games on the court when the team in the Second Division relegation . He also had only a small share in the direct resurgence, but in his three season appearances he scored his first competitive goal for the first team at least in a 3-1 home win against Middlesbrough FC .

For the first time, Wilkinson was part of the squad on the right wing in the 1957/58 season , but despite nine goals this season in 27 appearances - which made him the third top scorer of his team behind Roy Shiner (14 goals) and Albert Quixall (11) - the team rose again into the second class. As the second division champions in the 1958/59 season , the club managed to regain direct promotion, Wilkinson had a significant share in this with 12 goals in 39 appearances, and Sheffield Wednesday also sat one league higher with the storm series Wilkinson - Bobby Craig - Keith Ellis - John Fantham - Alan Finney was subsequently in the upper third of the table. Meanwhile, the achievements of the fast and straight-forward playing winger also resulted in nominations for selection teams of the Football League ; in October 1958 he participated in a selection game against the Scottish Football League (1: 1) with, in March 1959 against the League of Ireland (0: 0).

In the FA Cup 1959/60 he failed with his team only in the semi-finals at Blackburn Rovers (1: 2), in the quarter-finals he scored both goals for a 2-0 success against city rivals Sheffield United . A year later he took second place in the championship behind Tottenham Hotspur with Sheffield Wednesday . In the Messestädte-Pokal 1961/62 Wilkinson had five appearances and reached the quarter-finals with the team, after victories over Olympique Lyon and AS Roma he was also involved in the 3-2 home win against CF Barcelona ; in the 2-0 defeat in the second leg, he was not in the squad.

From the 1960/61 season , Wilkinson was only used in about half of the season's games due to increasing injury problems. He was also increasingly called up in the other forward positions, initially as a left winger, later as a center and half-forward . His last competitive appearance was on November 7th in a 1-0 defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford . After a total of 233 competitive appearances and 57 goals, Wilkinson had to end his career due to a persistent groin injury in May 1965 at the age of 29. About a year later, over 10,000 spectators attended his farewell game between Sheffield Wednesday and an all-star team (with Gordon Banks , Cec Coldwell , Graham Shaw , George Herd , Joe Shaw , Johnny Giles , Derek Dougan , George Eastham and George Mulhall ) .

Wilkinson returned to Manchester after the end of his career and practiced his learned profession as a shellac polisher again until 1978. Until his retirement in 2000, he earned his living as a forklift driver for a cardboard packaging manufacturer in Stockport . His house was badly damaged in a storm in February 2014 and fans raised more than £ 5,000 through a crowdfunding campaign to cover repairs. A little later, Wilkinson was the guest of honor at a home game of Sheffield Wednesday again at Hillsborough Stadium . Wilkinson passed away in September 2017 at the age of 82 after a long illness.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Derek Wilkinson in the barryhugmansfootballers.com database. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
2. ^ ^{A b c d} Jason Dickinson, John Brodie: The Wednesday Boys: A Definitive Who's Who of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club 1880–2005 . Pickard Communication, Sheffield 2005, ISBN 978-0-9547264-9-2 , pp. 198 .
3. ↑ manchestereveningnews.co.uk: Residents picking up the pieces after being hit by 70mph winds across Greater Manchester (Feb. 13, 2014) , accessed October 3, 2017
4. ↑ justgiving.com: Entry on justgiving , accessed October 3, 2017
5. ↑ thestar.co.uk: Former Sheffield Wednesday winger dies after battle with illness (Sep. 13, 2017) , accessed October 3, 2017