Skip to main content

Top 26 leading goal scorers in First Division English football : 22- 17




The next set of players in the list contains two of whom have played in the Premier League. Here is the next set of players. 

21. Wayne Rooney - 208 goals


White Pele


Arguably the most recognisable names on this list, Wayne Rooney burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old. The Merseyside born lad made his league debut in 2002 for boyhood club Everton and scored an impressive 15 goals in two seasons before completing, then world-record fee for a teenager, a move to Manchester United.
At the Theatre of Dreams, Rooney formed an impressive partnership with a certain Cristiano Ronaldo as the Red Devils dominated the late 2000s. Rooney took on the goalscoring responsibilities once his Portuguese counterpart left for Real Madrid in 2009. The forward went onto spent eight more seasons at the Theatre of Dreams as he became the Red Devils all-time leading scorer.
Wayne Rooney ended his stay Manchester in 2017 to return back to his boyhood club Everton after winning five Premier League titles with the record English champions. On his return, the striker scored ten goals before moving to MLS side DC United the following season.
The only active player in this list, Wayne Rooney currently plays with Championship side Derby County after moving back to his homeland at the start of the year.
Wayne Rooney has currently 208 goals in 491 appearances - the second-highest goalscorer in the Premier League - and the highest goalscorer for the England national side and Manchester United.

21. Ronnie Alan - 208 goals


One of West Brom's greatest ever


One of the greatest ever players to play for the Baggies, Ronnie Alan joined the West Midlands side 1950 for a club-record fee of £20,000 from then non-league side Port Vale. Alan, who started his career as a wide player, standing at 5ft 8inch tall revolutionised the concept of target man as he formed a deadly partnership with Johnny Nicholls. 
Alan stayed at the Hawthorns for ten seasons and was their top scorer on five occasions before being sold to Third Division side Crystal Palace in 1961. The striker would never again play top division football after his move despite playing for four more years with the Eagles. 
In his ten seasons in the top division, Ronnie Alan scored 208 goals in 415 first division appearances. The forward sadly passed away in 2001 at the age of 72. 

20. Sir Geoff Hurst - 210 goals

The man who brought the World Cup back home


The hero for England during the 1966 World Cup Final, Geoff Hurst was arguably one of the most prolific scorers in the history of English football. The striker started his professional career in 1959 with boyhood club West Ham United.
After struggling to get into the starting lineup in his first two seasons, Hurst became a regular in the first-team. With Ron Greenwood at the helm and stern backbone of Hurst, Moore and Peters, the Hammers enjoyed one of their most successful periods.
Geoff Hurst spent 13 seasons with the Hammers scoring an impressive 180 goals in 411 league appearances before moving to Stoker City in 1972. At Stoke, the striker spent four seasons scoring 30 league goals in 108 appearances before moving West Brom. A season with the Baggies was followed by moves to Cork City and Seattle Sounders before calling it a day in 1976.
The England and West Ham legend spent sixteen seasons in the First Division scoring 210 goals in 519 appearances.

19. Dave Halliday - 211 goals


A goalscoring machine


A prolific goalscorer throughout his career, Dave Halliday started his career in Scotland in 1920 with Queen Park before moving to St Mirren. A move to Dundee increased his stature in the Scottish league as he dominated the defenders for four seasons.
Halliday made the move down south to join First Division side, Sunderland, in 1925. The striker continued from where he left off in Scotland as he scored a whopping 100 goals in 101 league appearances. He further added 56 more league goals in 65 appearances before moving to Arsenal in 1929. At London, Halliday found himself more on the reserve side as he made just 15 appearances for the Gunners despite scoring eight times.
The striker made the move to Manchester City the next season after struggling for first-team action at Highbury. The Scott added 47 more league goals to his tally in 76 appearances before leaving the Cityzens to join Clapton Orient (now called Leyton Orient) in 1935. Halliday ended his career two years later with non-league side Yeovil and Petters United (now called Yeovil Town).
During his 8 seasons in the First Division, Halliday scored an incredible 211 goals in 257 appearances.

17. Tony Cottee - 214 goals


Cottee played in all four tiers of English football

The first player in this list to have played in both the Premier League and the First Division. Cottee started his career in East London with West Ham United in 1982 in the First Division. The striker spent six seasons at Upton Park scoring 92 goals in 212 top-flight appearances before moving to Everton.
It was in Everton that Cottee was part of both the Premier League and the First Division. He spent four seasons in the First Division and two seasons in the Premier League before making his return to West Ham in 1994. The striker spent three more seasons at Upton Park on his return before moving to Malaysia.
Cottee once again made his move back to Premier League this time joining Leicester City in 1997. He spent three more seasons in the Premier League with the Foxes scoring 27 goals in 85 matches before moving to Norwich. In his last year, Cottee made an appearance in all four division of the English League (Leicester City - Premier League, Norwich City - First Division, Milwall - Second Division, Barnet - Third Division) before retiring in 2001.
Tony Cottee made 514 league appearances across eighteen season and scored 214 goals.

17. Billy Walker - 214 goals


One of the greatest player to ever don the famous jersey of the Clarets and Blues


Arguably the greatest player in the history of Aston Villa, Billy Walker played all his career for the famous Claret and Blues.  The striker joined the Villains in 1914 but didn't see much action due to the onset of the First World War.
Billy Walker made his professional debut in 1919 and quickly became an integral part of the first team. The striker spent the rest of his playing days at Villa Park till he hung up his boots in 1933. During his 14-year long career, Walker scored 214 league goals in 478 appearances. He still remains Aston Villa's all-time leading goalscorer. He is also the only player to have scored a hat-trick of penalties in a single match.
The striker passed away sadly in 1964 at the age of 67.


Also Read: Top 26 leading goal scorers in First Division football: 26-23

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Top 26 leading goal scorers in First Divison English Football: 1-5

The next five have each carved an individual path with their goalscoring prowess. Be it the Newcastle legend Shearer who continues to be Premier League all-time leading goal scorer or Everton legend Dixie Dean, who is the only person ever to score 60 league goals in England. Alan Shearer - 283 goals All-time leading Premier League goalscorer The all-time leading goalscorer in the Premier League, Alan  Shearer incidentally played five seasons in the First Division before prior to the Premier League. Shearer started his career in 1988 with Southampton after coming through its youth system. The striker made the move to Blackburn Rovers in 1992 for a British record fee after rejecting offers from Manchester United. At Blackburn, Shearer formed a formidable partnership with Chris Sutton as Blackburn became only the second team to win the Premier League. After four seasons with the Riversiders, Shearer was the subject of a world-record transfer fee to his hometown club Newc...

India announce 22-man squad to face China in their first ever international friendly

India has announced a strong 22-man squad to face China on the 13th in their first ever International Friendly meeting on Saturday India and China have faced off against each other 17 times and the Chinese have been victorious on 12 occasions with the rest ending as draws. The last time both the teams met was in 1997 at Kochi in the Nehru Cup and ended with the Red Dragons winning 2-1 The only major omission from the Indian squad is that of striker Balwant Singh who was denied Chinese visa after finding that his passport will expire in 6 months. Indian Squad Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Karanjit Singh Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Sarthak Golui, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Salam Ranjan Singh, Subashish Bose, Narayan Das Midfielders: Udanta Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Pronoy Halder, Rowlin Borges, Anirudh Thapa, Vinit Rai, Halicharan Narzary, Ashique Kuruniyan Forwards: Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sumeet Passi, Farukh Choudhary 

Inter Milan v Barcelona: Match Preview, Team News, Probable Line-up | UEFA Champions League

Barcelona will travel to Milan as they face Italian Italian giants for the second time without their talisman Lionel Messi. A point for the Blaugrana will mean that they will qualify to the knockout stages of the Championship with 2 matches remaining while 3 points guarantee them first place in the group. (Source: EyeWitness Football) Inter Milan, on the other hand, knows nothing less than a point will mean the match against Tottenham will be more likely to have a knockout match manner at the Wembley if Tottenham wins both of their next matches. Inter Milan v Barcelona: Kickoff Information Date:  6th November 2018 Time: 21:00 (local time), 01:30 (IST) Venue: San Siro, Milan Live Stream: Sony liv Inter Milan v Barcelona: Team News Inter Milan will be without defender Dalbert, midfielders Robert Gilardino and Joao Mario. Barcelona is expected to be without Lionel Messi who despite returning to training early and being named on the travelling squad is still yet...

France squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures

The World Cup winners have announced their squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations Cup against Germany and the Netherlands. France will be looking to continue with their positive start to the inaugural UEFA Nations Cup (source: Newsclick) Anthony Martial is the only big name missing from the French squad. Goalkeepers:  Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Alphonse Areola (Paris Saint-Germain) Defenders:  Djibril Sidibe (AS Monaco), Benjamin Pavard (VfB Stuttgart), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid), Presnel Kimpembe (Paris Saint-Germain), Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid), Lucas Digne (Everton), Kurt Zouma (Everton), Mamadou Sakho (Crystal Palace) Midfielders:  Paul Pogba (Manchester United), N'Golo Kante (Chelsea), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), Steven N'Zonzi (Roma), Tanguy Ndombele (Lyon) Attackers:  Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Ousmane Dembele (FC Barcelona...

UEFA Europa League groups announced

The 2018/19 UEFA Europa League has been announced with former champion Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt, Chelsea, RSC Anderlecht and Sevilla along with heavyweights Lazio, Arsenal and Marseille all vying for the trophy and a spot in the next season's Champions League. Source: GaLaTaMan HD Football Group A Bayer Leverkusen Ludogorets Razgrad FC Zurich AEK Larnaca Group B FC Red Bull Salzburg Celtic Red Bull Leipzig Rosenberg Group C Zenith Saint Petersburg FC Copenhagen FC Girondins de Bordeaux Slavia Prague Group D RSC Anderlecht Fenerbahce SK Dinamo Zagreb Spartak Trnava Group E Arsenal Sporting Lisbon Qarabag Vorskla Poltava Group F Olympiakos FC AC Milan Real Betis F91 Dudelange Group G Villarreal CF SK Rapid Wein Spartak Moscow Rangers Group H SS Lazio Olympique de Marseille Eintracht Frankfurt Apollon Limassol Group I Besiktas JK KRC Genk Malmo FF Sarpsborg 08 FF Group J Sevilla FC FC Krasnodar Standard Liege Akhisar ...