Ron Ashman

Ron Ashman

Personal information
Full name	Ronald George Ashman
Date of birth	(1926-05-19)19 May 1926
Place of birth	Whittlesey, England
Date of death	21 June 2004(2004-06-21) (aged 78)
Place of death	Scunthorpe, England
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1947–1963	Norwich City	592	(55)
1945–1946	→ Peterborough (loan)	19	(3)
Managerial career
1962–1966	Norwich City
1967–1973	Scunthorpe United
1973–1975	Grimsby Town
1976–1981	Scunthorpe United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ronald George Ashman (19 May 1926 – 21 June 2004) was an English professional footballer and football manager. Born in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, he spent his entire playing career with Norwich City and was later their manager. He went on to manage Scunthorpe United and Grimsby Town.

Playing career

Ashman played 662 games for Norwich City, scoring 56 goals. 592 of those games were league appearances – a club record. He made his debut at Carrow Road against Aldershot on 4 October 1947. Ashman was a centre-forward at that early stage of his career, but went on to play at full-back for many years. He was the captain of the Norwich team that reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1959 as a third division side, won promotion to the second division in 1960 and won the Football League Cup for the first time in 1962.

He was selected to play for the Third Division South team against the North in 1955-56.

Managerial career

When George Swindin resigned as manager in November 1962, Ashman was appointed acting manager and was eventually given the job on a permanent basis on Boxing Day 1963. By then, he had played his last game for the club on 19 October 1963. Ashman remained manager until the end of the 1965–66 season, when his departure ended twenty years of service to the club.

Ashman was manager of Scunthorpe United for six years from 1967 to 1973 and a further five years from 1976 to 1981. In between those two spells, he was Grimsby Town manager for two years.

In 2002, Ashman was made an inaugural member of the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame.

References

• Canary Citizens by Mark Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001), ISBN 0-7117-2020-7
• Ex-Scunthorpe boss dies, BBC News, 21 June 2004.
• Peterborough United profile, 13 November 2012.