Nobby Lawton

Who was Nobby Lawton?

Norbert "Nobby" Lawton was an English footballer who played as an inside forward or wing half for various English clubs in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Born in Newton Heath, Manchester, Lawton began his football career with Manchester United, joining the club as an amateur in 1956. He was also involved in the club's 1957 FA Youth Cup title. Following the Munich air disaster in 1958, Lawton gave up his job with a local coal merchant to sign professional forms with Manchester United. However, while playing for the club's reserve team, Lawton succumbed to a heavy bout of the flu, leading to double pneumonia and the temporary loss of the use of his legs.

He was out of action for several months but eventually made his debut for the first team on 9 April 1960, playing at inside left in a 3–2 win over Luton Town at Kenilworth Road. Over the next couple of seasons, Lawton forged a partnership with Bobby Charlton on the left side of the United forward line, even scoring a hat-trick against Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day 1961, but by the 1962–63 season he was increasingly deployed as a wing half. The emergence of Pat Crerand, however, meant that Lawton's first team opportunities became increasingly limited and he was sold to Preston North End in March 1963.