Dai Astley


David John Astley was a Welsh international footballer who played as an inside forward in The Football League in the 1920s and 1930s.

Club career

-born Astley played for Merthyr Town, Charlton, Aston Villa, Derby County, Blackpool and Metz. He scored 92 goals for Aston Villa in 165 matches.
Astley made his league debut on 19 November 1927 against Bournemouth. When Albert Lindon was appointed player-manager at Charlton Athletic in January 1928, he signed Astley for £100. Astley made his debut for Blackpool, then under the managership of Joe Smith, two-thirds of the way through the 1938–39 campaign, in a 1–1 draw with Sunderland at Bloomfield Road on 25 January 1939. He went on to make a further sixteen League appearances before the season's end, scoring six goals. In 1939–40, he appeared in the three League games that occurred prior to the competition being abandoned as a result of the outbreak of World War II.
After the war, he joined FC Metz, where he spent a year.

International career

He was capped 13 times for the Wales national football team, scoring on 12 occasions. He scored two goals in Wales' final match of the 1933 British Home Championship, a 4–1 victory over Ireland which gave Wales the title.

Management

Astley managed Djurgårdens IF and Sandvikens IF in Sweden from 1950 to 1954 and from 1955 to 1957, as well as Inter Milan during 1948 and Genoa C.F.C. 1949.