Born: Fairfield, Derbyshire, 1876

Signed: 1905 (Everton)

Position: Goalkeeper

Appearances: 205

Goals: 6

Left: 1911 (Southampton)

 

 

 

 

 

George Kitchen was an outstanding sportsman. He became a professional golfer at the age of 14. He also played cricketer and for a time worked as a coach at Dulwich College. Kitchen eventually decided to concentrate on football and played for Stockport County before joining Everton. An outstanding goalkeeper, he was considered to be one of the best in England. Syd King persuaded Kitchen to join West Ham in 1905. He joined a defence that included Tommy Allison, Frank Piercy, David Gardner, Len Jarvis and Bill Wildman. During the 1906-07 season the team only conceded 41 goals in 38 games. Kitchen is probably the only goalkeeper to score a goal on his debut. This was against Swindon Town on 2nd September, 1905. Kitchen was the team's penalty taker and he added four more that season. Kitchen was a regular member of the team for six seasons: 31 (1904-05), 39 (1905-06), 25 (1906-07), 41 (1907-08), 41 (1908-09) and 28 (1909-10). Kitchen was transferred to Southampton in 1912 and after making 39 appearances he decided to retire from football to become a golf professional.