[3] After spurning interest from Aston Villa and declining a trial with Manchester United,[3] Gaskell joined First Division club Brentford on 30 October 1937 for a £500 fee.
[3][5][6] Third-choice behind James Mathieson and Joe Crozier, Gaskell's hopes of a quick first team debut were delayed due to being forced to undergo an operation to correct an injury suffered in a London Combination match for the reserves in 1938.
[5] He remained with the club for a short time during the early part of the war and suffered the ignominy of conceding seven goals in the last 25 minutes of a West London derby with Queens Park Rangers in December 1939.
[3] First-choice goalkeeper Joe Crozier departed Griffin Park in May 1949 and Gaskell took over the position and played the first 14 games of the 1949–50 season,[7] before suffering a kidney injury in a 1–0 defeat to Leeds United on 22 October 1949.
[8] At the time of his death in February 2009, Gaskell was Brentford's last-surviving pre-war player and he was posthumously inducted into the club's Hall of Fame in 2019.
[5] He also took up an offer from former Brentford teammate George Smith to train and coach the England team at Bisham Abbey before international matches.
[3] Gaskell served as PT Instructor at Aldershot Barracks during the Second World War and was friends with Frank Swift and Matt Busby while there.