Stay Signed In
Do you want to access your site more quickly on this computer? Check this box, and your username and password will be remembered for two weeks. Click logout to turn this off.
Stay Safe
Do not check this box if you are using a public computer. You don't want anyone seeing your personal info or messing with your site.
Name: Norman H. Lockhart
Born: 4 March 1924, Belfast
Died: 19 August 1993, Belfast
Height: 5.06½ ft
Weight: 10.04 st
Position: Outside-Left
Representative Honours: Ireland: 8 Full Caps / 3 Goals (1946-1956); Irish FA Representative (Canada, 1953).
Club Honours: (with Linfield) Northern Regional League Champion 1944/45, 1945/46; Irish Cup Winner 1944/45, 1945/46, Runner-Up 1943/44
Club Career:
Clubs........ --Seasons-- League FACup Europe
Windsor Star
Distillery...
Linfield..... 44/45-46/47
Swansea Town. 46/47-47/48 .46/13 .2/ 0
Coventry City 47/48-52/53 182/41 .7/ 3
Aston Villa.. 52/53-56/57 .74/10 11/ 2
Bury......... 56/57-57/58 .41/ 6 .2/ 0
Ards......... 58/59...... ...... .... .1/ 0
Totals................... 343/70 22/ 5 1/ 0
Biography:
Although Norman Lockhart scored twice on his Irish debut in 1946, he found himself dropped in favour of Southern-born players, Tommy Eglington and Jack O’Driscoll (who also took Lockhart’s place in the Swansea team). Consequently, he had to wait three and a half years for a second cap.
Belfast born, Lockhart began his football career as a youth with Windsor Star, then played briefly with Distillery, before finding success with Linfield, for whom he signed for £225 in April 1944, in the “War-Time” Northern Regional League. He played in three Irish Cup Finals, scoring in the 1945 4-2 victory over Glentoran. It was also while a Linfield player that Lockhart won the first of eight caps for Ireland, playing on the right-wing in the first proper post-war Home Nations match.
Transferred to Swansea Town in October 1946 for £2,500, Lockhart suffered the disappointment of relegation to Division Three (South) in his first season (the League’s first post-war), before moving back to Division Two with Coventry City in October 1947 for a fee of £7,000. Despite a broken ankle, he really shone in a five year spell at Highfield Road, regaining his place in an Ireland team now forced to do without their Southern players.
Although Coventry were relegated from Division Two themselves in 1952, Lockhart had done enough to impress First Division Aston Villa who splashed £15,500 on his signature in September 1952. A fast raiding winger, capable of strong crossing on the run, at Villa Park Lockhart linked up again with former Linfield colleague, Dave Walsh, a player who was regularly on the end of the outside-left’s centres. As his pace started to fade in the mid-1950s, Lockhart lost his place on the left for both club and country to Peter McParland, though he found a new role at Villa, filling in on the opposite flank.
Allowed to leave Villa Park in November 1956, Bury paid in the region of £2,000 for the aging Lockhart. A regular in the left-wing for almost two seasons, and also a reliable goal scorer, Lockhart could do little to prevent Bury’s relegation to Division Three (North) in 1957, and come the end of the following campaign, now aged 34, he was released. He returned to Northern Ireland, and replaced the transferred Billy Humphries for the away leg of Ards’ European Cup clash with Stade de Reims in Paris – the French side triumphing 6-2 to make the aggregate score 10-3.
Ireland Cap Details:
28-09-1946 England. H L 2-7 BC.... 2 Goals
08-03-1950 Wales... A D 0-0 WCQ/BC
07-03-1951 Wales... H L 1-2 BC
19-03-1952 Wales... A L 0-3 BC
03-10-1953 Scotland H L 1-3 WCQ/BC 1 Goal
11-11-1953 England. A L 1-3 WCQ/BC
20-04-1955 Wales... H L 2-3 BC
11-04-1956 Wales... A D 1-1 BC
