Matthew Armstrong (English footballer)

Matthew Armstrong

Personal information
Full name	Matthew Armstrong[1]
Date of birth	1918/1919
Place of birth	High Spen,[1] England
Date of death	12 July 1941 (aged 22)
Playing position	Wing half
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1936–1939	Darlington	38	(2)
1939–19??	Aston Villa	0	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Matthew Armstrong (1918 or 1919 – 12 July 1941) was an English footballer who made 38 appearances in the Football League playing as a wing half for Darlington in the 1930s.^[1] He joined Aston Villa in 1939 – a preview in the Daily Express highlighted him as one of "two young defenders who look as if they have that certain Soccer something"^[2] – but he never played for Villa's first team before the league was abandoned for the duration of the Second World War.^[1][3]

Armstrong died on active service as a private with 149 Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, on 12 July 1941, aged 22. He is commemorated on the Brookwood Memorial.^[4]

References

1. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
2. Halsey, Stanley (17 August 1939). "Villa, Fulham put faith in young players". Daily Express. p. 14.
3. "Armstrong, Matthew". Aston Villa Player Database. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
4. "Casualty details: Armstrong, Matthew". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 9 May 2014.