ARTHUR ROWLEY AND JACK

On 19 December 2002, striker Arthur Rowley died at the age of 76. His career total of 434 goals remains an English league record from 619 games. George Arthur Rowley was the third son of Mark Rowley, a well known goalkeeper, playing semi-professionally in the Birmingham League. Born in Wolverhampton, he started his career originally as a centre-half, before moving up front where his prowess in the forward line won him an early selection into the school's first team. He went on to win local honours with Wolverhampton and County honours with both Birmingham and Staffordshire. He was selected for England schoolboys but the outbreak of the war robbed him of the opportunity.He was the younger brother of Manchester United footballer, Jack Rowley (left). 

He was shortlisted for inclusion into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2008. Born in Wolverhampton on April 27th 1926, on leaving school in 1940, Rowley went to work for a sheet metal firm doing war work before joining his older brother Jack in Manchester. Thus Rowley began his career at Manchester United, signing as an Amateur just four days after his 15th birthday. The following day, 26 April 1941, at 15 years and 5 days old, he became the youngest ever player to feature in the Manchester United first team when he lined up alongside Jack in a war-time league match against Liverpool at Anfield.Rowley went on to play seven times for the United first team before being released in May 1944. Rowley began his professional career in 1944 with West Brom. He failed to settle at the Hawthorns, however, and moved to Fulham in 1948. There, his 19 goals helped the Cottagers win the Second Division, but his scoring touch left him in the top flight and Fulham sold him on to Leicester City in 1950. Known as The Gunner, he had an "explosive" left foot.

He flourished at Leicester, knocking in 28 goals in his first season there. In his second season, he increased his tally to 38, then raised it again the next year to 41. In all, he scored a total of 265 goals in 321 appearances for the Foxes, making him their second all-time leading scorer, behind Arthur Chandler (273 in 419 appearances). His best season was 1956-57, when his total of 44 set a club record for a single season.

In the summer of 1958, Leicester manager Dave Halliday sold Rowley to Shrewsbury as player-manager (an unpopular move among Leicester fans and one that contributed to Halliday's sacking later that year). Rowley continued to score in waves, netting 38 times in his first season there and setting another club record for single season. By the time he retired from playing in 1965, he was the club's all-time leading scorer with 152 league goals.
He remained with Shrewsbury as manager for another three years and later took charge of Sheffield United (1968-69), Southend United (1970-76), and Knighton Town (1976) before retiring for good.

Youth career
1941–1944	Manchester United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1946–1948	West Bromwich Albion	24	(4)
1948–1950	Fulham	56	(27)
1950–1958	Leicester City	303	(251)
1958–1965	Shrewsbury Town	236	(152)
Total		619	(434)
Managerial career
1958–1968	Shrewsbury Town
1968–1969	Sheffield United
1970–1976	Southend United
c.1976	Knighton Town

He holds the club record for the most goals in a single season at both Leicester City and Shrewsbury Town, scoring 44 goals in 42 league matches at Leicester in 1956-7 and 38 goals in 43 games for Shrewsbury in 1958-9. He is also Shrewsbury's record league goalscorer with 152 league goals. He is Leicester's second all-time top goalscorer, netting 265 times for the Foxes, 8 goals short of Arthur Chandler's record. Below, individual career totals for England Football League:

1	Arthur Rowley	434	619	0.70	1946–1965	West Bromwich Albion (4), Fulham (27), Leicester City (251), Shrewsbury Town (152)
2	Dixie Dean †	379	438	0.87	1923–1939	Tranmere Rovers (27), Everton (349), Notts County (3)
3	Jimmy Greaves †	357	516	0.69	1957–1971	Chelsea (124), Tottenham Hotspur (220), West Ham United (13)
4	Steve Bloomer †	352	599	0.59	1892–1914	Derby County (293), Middlesbrough (59)
5	George Camsell	345	439	0.78	1924–1939	Durham City (20), Middlesbrough (325)
6	John Aldridge	329	620	0.53	1979–1998	Newport County (69), Oxford United (72), Liverpool (50), Tranmere Rovers (138)
7	Joe Smith	315	519	0.61	1908–1929	Bolton Wanderers (254), Stockport County (61)
8	John Atyeo	314	597	0.53	1950–1966	Portsmouth (0), Bristol City (314)
9	Vic Watson	312	498	0.63	1920–1936	West Ham United (298), Southampton (14)
10	Harry Bedford	308	488	0.63	1919–1934	Nottingham Forest (8), Blackpool (112), Derby County (142), Newcastle United (17), Sunderland (2), Bradford Park Avenue (15), Chesterfield (12)