George Aitken (footballer, born 1928)


George Bruce Aitken was a Scottish professional football player and manager.

Playing career

Aitken started his career with Edinburgh Thistle, essentially a junior side for Hibernian, but in June 1946 was signed by David Jack for Middlesbrough.
The first person to score in a Wembley final and the first player to be sold for £10,000, Jack was already a legend by the time he took over as Middlesbrough manager in 1944. He made his debut against Fulham in the 1951-52 season, but struggled to establish himself at Ayresome Park and moved to Workington for a fee of £5,000 in July 1953.
He quickly established himself in the Workington defence, going on to make 262 league appearances before retiring in 1960.

Coaching and managerial career

On his retirement he became trainer at Workington, first under Joe Harvey and then under Ken Furphy. Furphy left to manager Watford in 1964 and Aitken followed him to Vicarage Road. He remained with Watford until 1971 when he left to become manager of Workington.
In his first season in charge, Workington finished sixth in Division Four, but the club was in general decline and a 13th position finish the following season was followed by two successive bottom four finishes. Aitken left after the second of these in May 1974.
He was assistant manager of Grimsby Town between 1975 and 1976 when he left to coach Brighton & Hove Albion. He stayed at Brighton for eight years, followed by spells scouting for Watford, Aston Villa and England.
He died in August 2006, aged 78.