Alan Woan


Alan Woan is an English retired professional footballer who played as an inside forward. He made a total of 289 Football League appearances for Norwich City, Northampton Town, Crystal Palace and Aldershot scoring 140 goals. He also played non-league football for New Brighton and Chertsey Town. He is the father of Ian Woan who also played professional football, most notably for Nottingham Forest and Alan Junior, who played for Stalybridge Celtic.

Playing career

Woan was born in Liverpool, England and began his career, in non-league football with New Brighton, before signing for Norwich City in 1953. Over the next three seasons, Woan made 21 League appearances for Norwich and in 1956, moved on to Northampton Town. His time at Northampton was more successful; scoring 68 goals in 118 appearances. However, in October 1959, he was signed by Crystal Palace in exchange for Mike Deakin. He made his Palace debut on 31 October in an away 2–0 win against Gateshead, and between then and February 1961, made 41 appearances scoring 21 goals. He then moved again, to Aldershot where he made 108 appearances over the next three years, scoring 44 goals, before moving into non-league football with Chertsey Town.

Later career

After retirement, Woan worked with youth players at Tranmere Rovers and subsequently in Local Government on The Wirrall.