24 Facts About George Eastham

George Eastham is notable for his involvement in a 1963 court case which proved a landmark in improving players' freedom to move between clubs.

George Eastham became an inside forward for them but then demanded a move away which Newcastle rejected.

George Eastham went to court and won his case before moving to Arsenal.

George Eastham spent six seasons at Highbury, making 223 appearances scoring 41 goals before joining Stoke City in 1966.

George Eastham's experience helped Stoke enjoy a successful spell in the early 1970s and Eastham scored the winning goal in the 1972 League Cup Final.

George Eastham spent time coaching in South Africa, playing for Hellenic before returning to Stoke to become assistant manager to Tony Waddington.

George Eastham spent four seasons with the Magpies and during his time there he won caps for the Football League and the England U23 side.

However, during his time at Newcastle United George Eastham fell out with the club, with George Eastham disputing whether the house the club had supplied him was habitable, the unsatisfactory secondary job that the club had arranged and their attempts to stop him playing for the England U23 team.

However, George Eastham considered the point worth fighting for, and backed by the Professional Footballers' Association, he took the club to the High Court in 1963.

The judge, Mr Justice Wilberforce, ruled partly in George Eastham's favour, stating that the retain-and-transfer system was unreasonable, although he ruled that as George Eastham had refused to play for Newcastle, that any payment of wages for the disputed period was at Newcastle's discretion.

George Eastham joined Stoke City in August 1966, having scored 41 goals in 223 matches for the Gunners.

George Eastham spent the next eight seasons at Stoke City, during which the club maintained their status in the First Division.

In February 1971, at the age of 34, George Eastham took a break from playing to develop his coaching ability, with the view of going into management.

George Eastham embarked on a trip to South Africa, playing on loan with Cape Town City before having a spell as player-manager of Hellenic, who had previously been managed by his father.

George Eastham returned to Stoke in October 1971, to continue his playing career.

George Eastham made 194 league appearances for Stoke City in total, ten of them as a substitute, scoring four goals.

George Eastham retired from playing in 1974, having been appointed an OBE for services to football the previous year.

George Eastham joined the England squad for the 1962 FIFA World Cup as an uncapped player, but did not play in the tournament; his England debut finally came on 8 May 1963, against Brazil.

George Eastham was part of the squad for that tournament, but did not play a single minute of England's win in the tournament.

George Eastham became Tony Waddington's assistant at Stoke, and succeeded Waddington as Stoke manager after the latter resigned in March 1977, becoming only the club's fourth manager since 1935.

George Eastham lasted only ten months, leaving the club in January 1978, after failing to sustain a push for promotion from the Second Division.

George Eastham set up his own sportswear business as well as being a football coach for local black children.

George Eastham was chairman of the South African Arsenal Supporters' Club.

George Eastham died on 20 December 2024, at the age of 88.