Ray Charnley

Ray Charnley
Personal information
Full name Raymond Ogden Charnley
Date of birth (1935-05-29)29 May 1935
Place of birth Lancaster, England
Date of death 15 November 2009(2009-11-15) (aged 74)
Place of death Rossall, England
Position(s) Centre forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1954–1957 Morecambe ? (?)
1957–1967 Blackpool 363 (193)
1967–1968 Preston North End 23 (4)
1968–1969 Wrexham 20 (5)
1969–1970 Bradford Park Avenue 59 (15)
1970–1972 Morecambe ? (?)
Total 605 (293)
International career
1962 England 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Raymond Ogden Charnley (29 May 1935 – 15 November 2009) was an English professional footballer. He was a centre forward and was one of the most prolific scorers for Blackpool, with whom he spent ten years, including all but one season in the top flight of English football.

With 193 goals in 363 league games, Charnley is the third-highest scorer in Blackpool's history, behind Jimmy Hampson and Stan Mortensen.

In a playing career spanning eighteen years, Charnley also played for Morecambe (with whom he began and ended his career), Preston North End, Wrexham and Bradford Park Avenue. He scored a total of 293 career league goals in 605 games.

He won one England cap, in 1962.

There have been Blackpool footballers who have played more games for the club than Ray Charnley; and there have been men who have contributed more league goals to the Bloomfield Road cause than the tall, rangy Lancastrian centre-forward. But on both counts, from faithful fans of the Seasiders whose memories stretch back half a century and beyond, there would have to come the heartfelt and grateful rider: not many

From Ray Charnley's obituary in The Independent