Alan Frederick Graham Skirton (23 January 1939 – 12 May 2019) was an English professional footballer, who played as a winger, spending the majority of his career at Arsenal.

[4] After the signing of Johnny MacLeod in the summer of 1962, Skirton was switched to the left wing, where he played for the next four seasons, albeit irregularly, as Arsenal manager Billy Wright preferred to field only one out-and-out winger.

Nevertheless, Skirton still averaged twenty appearances a season, and made history by becoming the first Arsenal player to score a goal in a European match at Highbury, against Danish club, Stævnet on 22 October 1963.

[2] Skirton scored on his debut for Blackpool five days later in the 1966–67 season, ironically at Highbury in a 1–1 draw, although he limped off injured later in the game.

In the 1967–68 season, Blackpool narrowly missed out on promotion back to the top flight, finishing third on goal average behind Ipswich Town and Queens Park Rangers.

After 17 games at the start of the 1968–69 season, Blackpool manager Stan Mortensen saw the emergence of Ronnie Brown on the right wing, and he allowed Skirton to return to the West Country where he joined Bristol City for £15,000 on 20 November 1968.