Graham Shaw (footballer, born 1967)

Graham Paul Shaw (born 7 June 1967) is an English former footballer who made nearly 300 appearances in the Football League playing for Stoke City, Preston North End, Plymouth Argyle and Rochdale between 1985 and 1996.^[1][3]

Graham Shaw

Personal information
Full name	Graham Paul Jack Shaw[1]
Date of birth	(1967-06-07) 7 June 1967 (age 57)[1]
Place of birth	Newcastle-under-Lyme, England[1]
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[2]
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1983–1985	Stoke City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1985–1989	Stoke City	99	(18)
1989–1992	Preston North End	121	(29)
1992–1995	Stoke City	36	(5)
1994	→ Plymouth Argyle (loan)	6	(0)
1995–1996	Rochdale	22	(0)
Total		284	(52)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Stoke City

Shaw was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme and signed on professional terms for local side Stoke City in June 1985 after progressing through the youth ranks at the Victoria Ground.^[1] He had a decent debut season for Stoke in 1985–86 scoring five goals in 22 appearances.^[1] He played in 20 matches in 1986–87 scoring twice, and was the top-scorer in 1987–88 with ten goals.^[1] During that season, Stoke played Liverpool in the FA Cup and Shaw had the chance to win the match for Stoke after he was put through one on one with 'keeper Mike Hooper but Shaw hesitated thinking he was offside, and the chance had gone.^[4] Stoke went on to lose the replay 1–0. Shaw scored six goals in 33 games in the 1988–89 season before being surprisingly sold by Mick Mills to Third Division Preston North End for £70,000.^[1]

Preston North End

Shaw's time at Deepdale was a mixed affair however with him brilliant one game and then extremely disappointing the next. Much of this can however, be put down to injuries and the fact that he never really had a regular or good enough strike partner. His first season with the club though started like a house on fire with him scoring six goals in his first four games including a League cup hat-trick against Tranmere Rovers. The rest of the season was a disappointment, though, with Shaw picking up an injury a few games later against Bristol Rovers and adding only five more goals to his early season burst.

His next two seasons with the club were more consistent, with Shaw missing only a few games and scoring 15 goals in 1990–91 and 17 in 1991–92. Surprisingly, Shaw was offered the chance to return to Stoke on the eve of the 1992–93 season. With North End boss Les Chapman given funds to strengthen his squad after 2 disappointing seasons in which the club only just avoided relegation Shaw was sold back to Stoke as part payment for bringing Tony Ellis back to Preston. In all Shaw played 136(8) games for Preston scoring 42 goals.

Return to Stoke City

Shaw's second spell at Stoke started well with Shaw scoring six goals in 38 appearances in 1992–93 helping Stoke win the Second Division title.^[1] However, a persistent back injury limited his appearances and had a spell on loan at Plymouth Argyle at the beginning of the 1994–95 season also proved fruitless with Shaw failing to register a goal in six games.^[5]

Rochdale

In March 1995, Rochdale signed Shaw on a free transfer. In little over a season, Shaw played 28 games for the club, scoring just two goals and was released in May 1996.

After football

Shaw considered coaching ^{[citation needed]} but after much deliberation decided to go to Staffordshire University and study criminal law. With the help of the PFA's education fund passed his final exams to become a fully qualified criminal lawyer. After working for a firm in Stoke-on-Trent for five years he now practices in Newcastle-Under-Lyme as a commercial sports solicitor.^[6] In August 2010 prospective Port Vale investor Mike Newton revealed his plans to install Shaw as Chief Executive of the club.^[7]

Career statistics

Source:^[8]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Stoke City	1985–86	Second Division	20	5	1	0	0	0	1[a]	0	22	5
	1986–87	Second Division	18	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	20	2
	1987–88	Second Division	33	6	2	0	4	2	3[a]	2	42	10
	1988–89	Second Division	28	5	3	1	1	0	1[a]	0	33	6
	Total		99	18	6	1	7	2	5	2	117	23
Preston North End	1989–90	Third Division	31	5	1	0	2	4	3[b]	2	37	11
	1990–91	Third Division	44	10	1	0	1	1	7[b]	4	53	15
	1991–92	Third Division	46	14	3	1	2	1	3[b]	0	54	16
	Total		121	29	5	1	5	6	13	6	144	42
Stoke City	1992–93	Second Division	29	5	2	0	3	1	4[b]	0	38	6
	1993–94	First Division	4	0	1	0	0	0	1[c]	0	6	0
	1994–95	First Division	3	0	0	0	0	0	1[c]	0	4	0
	Total		36	5	3	0	3	1	6	0	48	6
Plymouth Argyle (loan)	1994–95	Second Division	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
Rochdale	1994–95	Third Division	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
	1995–96	Third Division	18	0	3	0	1	1	2[b]	0	24	1
	Total		22	0	3	0	1	1	2	0	28	1
Career total			284	52	17	2	16	10	26	8	343	72

1. Appearances in Full Members' Cup
2. Appearances in Football League Trophy
3. Appearances in Anglo-Italian Cup

Honours

Stoke City

• Football League Second Division champions: 1992–93

References

1. Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
2. Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 348. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
3. "Graham Shaw". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
4. "Stoke City: One-way traffic? Not a bit of it..." The Sentinel. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
5. Graham Shaw Greens on Screen. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
6. Clarkson, Ian (1 January 2007). "Without the PFA's help I would never have made it as a lawyer, says Graham Shaw". Givemefootball. Professional Footballers' Association. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
7. "Port Vale: Newton lines up ex-Stoke striker for role at Vale". The Sentinel. 9 August 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
8. Graham Shaw at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)

External links

• SoccerBase Database