[4][5] His mother was Mary (maiden surname of Lees), and his parents were married on 31 December 1860 in Tarbolton, Scotland.

[5][8] When he was young John Goodall would play in bare feet with a rubber ball along with his other friends.

He later commented that this helped to develop his ball control skills from an early age, which benefitted him when he became a footballer.

[8] John's father died when he was young, and by the time that the 1871 census was taken on 2 April, he was living in Kilmarnock in Ayrshire, Scotland.

[16] In December 1881 he scored three goals for Ayrshire against Renfrewshire at Paisley, and his performance was reviewed very positively in the Athletic News.

[18] On 18 February 1882, Kilmarnock Athletic played in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup against Queen's Park F.C.

[15] On 17 March 1883 his team played a replayed semi-final of the 1882–83 Scottish Cup, but lost 2–0 at home against Vale of Leven.

[21][22] Having played for Kilmarnock Athletic, he later joined the Scotch Professor exodus south and ended up at Great Lever.

Along with Lucas, and Walkinshaw of Kilmarnock Athletic, John Goodall decided he did not want to return with his team back to Scotland and decided to stay in Lancashire joining the Great Lever Team because he could earn better wages in England.

[32] He struck four goals against Walsall Swifts on 31 January 1885 in a 7–0 win at the Great Lever ground in Bolton.

[34] It was only by the sheer determination of representatives from Preston North End, that John Goodall agreed to play for them.

[35] He claimed a goal in the first game of that season at Preston on 22 August 1885 in a 7–0 win over Wednesbury Old Athletic.

[36] On 17 August 1887, he scored nine goals in North End's 16–2 win in a friendly match away against Dundee Strathmore.

His debut League goal was scored on 15 September 1888 at Dudley Road, the then home of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

[40][41] At Preston, Goodall had assumed the responsibility of organising the attack and carried the side's development a stage further by instigating many ploys that would never have otherwise become part of the team's repertoire.

[42][43] Goodall left Preston North End for Derby County in 1889 at the height of his fame.

It was at Derby County where the older Goodall became a mentor to Stephen Bloomer, the best goal scorer of that generation, from the start of the 1892–93 season.

[45] It was commented in the Derby Daily Telegraph that he could not keep pace with such fast men in the Liverpool team as Alex Raisbeck and others.

[46] Goodall did not feature in the 1899 FA Cup Final as he was by now fading as a first-time fixture at the Baseball Ground.

In October 1899 he was taken on by New Brighton Tower, a club based in the Wirral, that pursued an expensive policy of buying ex-internationals in order to strengthen their League status.

[47] He made his debut playing outside left for the team in a match at home against Burslem Port Vale, on Saturday 8 February 1901.

[48] John Goodall moved with his wife to Hertfordshire in 1903 where he took up a position as the first player/manager of Watford of the Southern League.

The moment we got away from the subject of Watford you could hear the rumbling of curling stones, the swish of cricket balls, the rippling of waters "willow-wooed," and the swipes of drivers in the royal and ancient game of "gowf".

With reference to the game of golf, Goodall knows all about long drives and good approaches, bunkers, and other hazards; the secret of keeping your eye on the ball is his, and the language thereof!

In the new manager, Watford have a man who can be relied upon at all times to give a good account of himself in any position, but more particularly in the van.

During the 1904–1905 season John Goodall was top scorer for Watford, getting 18 goals from the 42 games that he played for them.

[51] John Goodall qualified to play for England even though both of his parents were born in Scotland, and he was brought up there from a young age.

In the 1895 season he made his debut in a match against Yorkshire in June when he scored a healthy 32 in his second innings to help Derbyshire to victory.

[64] He recovered and in November 1928 gave an interview to the Athletic News, giving some details about his life and playing career and opinions on training methods in football.

The Lancashire Evening Post detailed his qualities as a footballer in an obituary: He can be described, I think, as the finest centre forward in history, although he played in a number of his international matches as inside right, and his qualities as a schemer, a subtle finisher, and a scrupulously gentlemanly player are universally acknowledged.