George Catleugh

Who is George Catleugh?

George Charles Catleugh was an English footballer who played at right half.

Born in Horden, County Durham, Catleugh started his career as an amateur, playing for King's Lynn, Nuneaton Borough and Bury. He was Nuneaton's only amateur player when they defeated Watford in the FA Cup in 1953; the match finished 3–0 to Nuneaton. At the end of the 1953–54 season, Watford manager Len Goulden signed Catleugh as a professional footballer. He played around half of Watford's games in the first two seasons; 20 in 1954–55 and 24 in 1955–56, and started to play more frequently under new manager Neil McBain, missing only one league match in the following three campaigns.

The 1959–60 season marked Watford's first promotion since joining the Football League in 1920, taking them from the Fourth Division to the Third Division. Although Watford's success was largely attributed to the partnership of Cliff Holton and Dennis Uphill, who between them scored 72 league goals, Catleugh was later to remark upon the strong team spirit that season, stating that he felt like part of "one, big, happy family".