GORDON STANIFORTH

Born: 23 March 1957

Came from: Carlisle United   Went to: Newport County

First game: 26 March 1983   Last game: 11 May 1985

Appearances: 114 (109/5)   Goals: 25

Born in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, Staniforth was a young striker, who began his career as an apprentice with Hull City, winning two England Schoolboys caps in 1972, ahead of signing a professional contract with the club in April 1974.

He made his Tigers' debut later that month and across the next 18 months, received only occasional first team exposure. In December 1976, he joined York City on a one-month loan, which was converted into a permanent deal in January 1977. He left Boothferry Park having played 12 times and scored twice for his home town club.

The fee to take him to Bootham Crescent was £7,500 and it was money well spent, he scored 33 times in 128 games between 1976 and 1979. He also became the Minstermen's Player of the Season, in consecutive seasons, in 1977-78 and 1978-79, the first player to ever do so.

In October 1979, he then moved to Carlisle United, for a fee of £120,000. The then Carlisle manager was Bobby Moncur, who had money at his disposal, ironically after the sale of David Kemp to Argyle. At Carlisle, Staniforth was to end up with a near symmetrical record to his one at York as he scored 33 times in 126 games between 1979 and 1983. At Brunton Park he teamed up with future star Peter Beardsley who would later be best-man at Staniforth's wedding. Carlisle finished runners-up in Division Three in 1981-82 and a 3-1 home win over Argyle in October 1981, saw Staniforth net a hat-trick against his future employers.

His next move was to the south-west as he joined Argyle in March 1983, teaming up again with Bobby Moncur who was now in the Home Park hot-seat. The transfer enabled via a player-exchange for Mike McCartney plus £5,000. 'Stanni' was to have relatively short but impactful spell and was Tommy Tynan's strike-partner in the run to the 1983-84 FA Cup Semi-Final. He is often remembered for a defining moment in the club's history - forgotten by no-one who was there - when he hit both posts (with be ball bouncing across the line, in between) with a searing effort in the FA Quarter Final 0-0 draw, with Derby County, at a packed Home Park, in front of 34,365.

Always popular with Argyle fans due to his endless energy and running, along with his Kevin Keegan-esque curls coupled with his trademark droopy moustache, he was voted Argyle's Player of the Season in 1983-84. However, when his contract expired at the end of the following season, he rejected the club's offer and was sold to Newport County, in another player-exchange deal, this time for Steve Cooper plus £15,000. In total he had played 114 times in green, scoring 25 goals.

At Newport he played 87 times and scored 13 goals between 1987 and 1989. After those two years he then returned to York City on a free transfer, signing on a non-contract basis, whilst also setting himself up as a publican in the city. He managed to add a further 19 appearances and one last goal in the 1987-88 season to finish his professional career, before playing for North Ferriby United in the 1988-89 season, near his native Hull. Staniforth had finished his professional career with a highly respectable total of 463 games and 101 goals.

After his playing career completed, he worked as a Community Officer at York City from 1989 to 1996, when he became a North Regional Coach for the PFA (Professional Footballers' Association). He then left the PFA role and was appointed Youth Coach at Premiership side Leeds United in October 1997. However he was rather brutally sacked by a frustrated and seemingly impatient George Graham, in May 1998 after just seven months of a three-year contract.

Staniforth's son, Tom meanwhile, was a professional with Sheffield Wednesday. He never played a competitive first team game but was substitute on six occasions. He tragically died in York in August 2001, aged 20, having collapsed in the street after complaining of headaches, following the consumption of the drug, ecstasy. Since his son's death, Gordon has been involved in anti-drug campaigning.

His daughter, Lucy Staniforth, also played in the FA WSL (Women's Super League) for Aston Villa and for numerous clubs, and is an England international who featured in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. Lucy wears number 37, Tom's old Wednesday squad number.

Following his departure from Leeds, he worked, from 1999, as co-ordinator of York College's Sports Development Centre which was awarded FA Charter status in 2005. He would work for the College for over 16 years on their football development programme and also oversaw the North Yorkshire Girls’ Centre of Excellence.

In November 2013 Staniforth was also announced as FA WSL club Doncaster Rovers Belles' new Head Coach. He had a good win-rate of almost 70% and the Belles lost only one league match all season but finished behind Sunderland. In October 2014, he resigned, disgruntled at scything cuts to the club's playing budget, as the club started to financially struggle.

He left his long-standing York College role in 2016 to join the FA as a FA County Coach Developer remaining until 2020, whereupon he returned to York City as Academy Coach to the u-12s, a role he still held in 2026. This was held in parallel to on-going work as a FA Talent Reporter for the Youth Development Phase (YDP) while also working as a Freelance Football Coach. He is also a frequent hospitality match-day guest at York City's new LNER Community Stadium on match days.