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Post by hatter_in_macc on Nov 17, 2018 13:52:30 GMT
'Mr Stockport County' is this afternoon's programme-subject - with my grateful thanks to archie for the anecdote included under '3.':
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HATTERS’ GAFFERS: TREVOR PORTEUS
Hatter in Macc gives thanks and praise to the man with the ultimate County-tribute monicker.
Given that we welcome the ‘Saints’ of Brackley here today, the time has come for this series to recognise a Hatters’ Gaffer who attained, through unstinting and dedicated service to the club cause (a religion in itself, as some might say), his specially exalted place in (County) Heaven and the right to veneration.
Trevor, as a name, may not feature in the list of saints who have been through the process of canonization. But Trevor Porteus went one better than that. For he… or, dare I say, He was known as ‘Mr Stockport County’.
This designation was all the more remarkable for a man hailing from Hull, who began playing as an inside-forward for his home-city club’s boys’ team, before converting into a wing-half and signing as a professional at Boothferry Park on his 17th birthday in 1950. But after six years - two of which had been interrupted by National Service - Porteus left Hull City to join County for £1,500. And so began an only-occasionally-broken spell between 1956 and 1990 that saw him turn out for the Hatters as a player or player-manager, and subsequently work at Edgeley Park in at least half a dozen different capacities - despite suffering a couple of sackings along the way!
Time, then, to take a closer look at County’s Stock-Porteous years…
1. Trevor, and the records that may stand forever.
In July 1963, Porteus, on holiday in his native Hull, was about to become only the fifth player in County’s history to reach 300 appearances (after, chronologically, Albert Waterall, Bill Bocking, Billy McCulloch and fellow 1950s/60s half-back Bob Murray). But family time on Humberside was interrupted by a telephone call from the club and an invitation, in the wake of manager Reg Flewin’s departure for Bournemouth, to look after team affairs on a caretaker basis. A couple of months later, Porteus was confirmed in post as player-boss - and would take to the field over 70 more times during the two years that followed.
County’s record in the seven seasons that Porteus played (in three instances as an ever-present) prior to assuming the managerial reins oscillated between third-tier modesty and, following relegation from the newly-created national Third Division in 1958/59, basement-level obscurity. And, with neither money nor backroom staff in abundance, his two full Division Four campaigns as player-manager continued the trend - with 17th place for 1963/64, followed by a finish in bottom position the next year.
But, for all this, he could claim an involvement in several club records that have stood the test of time. The period he spent purely as a player included seasons in which County scored most League goals away from home (40, during 1956/57) and conceded fewest at EP (10, for 1959/60 - matched only in the Third Division North title-winning campaign of 1921/22). As a Hatters’ Gaffer, Porteus presided, on 30 January 1965, over the remarkable FA Cup Fourth-round draw with Liverpool at Anfield that yielded the highest attendance (51,851) ever to watch County in a competitive match. And, having finally hung up his boots later the same year, he was in charge of the side that achieved the club’s best League away-victory - thumping Bradford City 7-1.
2. Trevor, and the ties that County would (temporarily) sever.
Less than a month had followed that record-breaking triumph at Valley Parade on 18 September1965 when, in the middle of October, Porteus was sacked, after a disagreement with flamboyant new Chairman Vic Bernard. He was to spend the rest of the 1965/66 season as assistant manager to Ernie Tagg at Crewe, before being invited back, less than a year after his dismissal, to serve in the same capacity for the Hatters under Jimmy Meadows.
As County’s assistant boss, Porteus was to form part of the management team that helped achieve promotion, as champions, from the Fourth Division in 1966/67. And it was fitting that heshould do so, given that he had been responsible for bringing a number of the championship-season’s squad players - including goalkeeper Ken Mulhearn, defenders Billy Haydock and David Shawcross, and wingers Len Allchurch and Johnny Price - to EP in the first place. A couple of successful Division Three campaigns came on the back of the title-win - but early on in a third that would lead to relegation, Porteus was given his cards for a second time.
3. Now, Trevor was never…
… Club Secretary, as his early-20th-Century managerial predecessors, working in a dual capacity, tended to be. But, following another invitation back to EP in 1970, just a few months after his dismissal as assistant manager, Porteus, at some stage, ended up undertaking pretty much every other available County appointment of the day! He ran the pioneering ‘County Club’ social facility for three years (1970-73), spent seven more - alongside almost the same number of managers - as physiotherapist (1975-82), worked two days a week to help out with scouting, pitch maintenance and any other duties that might support then-boss Eric Webster (1982-85), and was re-engaged in another full-time role under Asa Hartford as youth development officer (1987-90). No job for ‘Mr Stockport County’ was too small, it seemed, provided that it kept the club going. This was perfectly illustrated in the tale told to me by a Hatter of long standing, who once arrived at EP for a game during Porteus’ stint as player-manager to find the ground cloaked in fog, all the turnstiles closed and little sign of life:
“I managed to find an information window - closed, but with a light on - so I knocked. The man who opened the window, confirmed that the match was postponed and gave me a match programme was, of course, Trevor. Hard to see Jose doing that at Old Trafford!” Well, quite.
4. But he remained a Hatter, whatever.
Even after major heart bypass surgery led to his retirement in 1990, Porteus remained a frequent visitor in SK3 as a fan - be it to watch the first eleven, the reserves or the youth team - until his untimely passing seven years later, just over a fortnight following confirmation of his beloved club’s promotion to what is now the Championship. In 2002, his significant contributions to County’s history were honoured posthumously when he became one of the original entrants - and, at that time, the only former Hatters’ Gaffer - to be inducted into the Stockport County Hall of Fame.
5. Trevor Porteus (b. 9 October 1933, d. 15 May 1997) - County management record in the Football League, 1963-65:
P W D L F A 102 28 20 54 108 170
Win %: 27.45. Goals per game ratio: 1.06.
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Dec 8, 2018 13:25:29 GMT
A more recent managerial subject for today's programme - who went from the sublime at Chester to the oh-gor-blimey in SK3...
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HATTERS’ GAFFERS: NEIL YOUNG
‘Are You Ready for the Count(r)y?’ Hatter in Macc rocks out with the legendary Canadian alt-folk singer/songwriter… oh, hang on…
Ok - so, what’s in a name? When it was announced in mid-May 2015 that Neil Young would be taking over as Manager at Edgeley Park, a brief flurry of musical-crossover punnery on social media declared the new incumbent to be the club’s ‘Transformer Man’ - and that the Hatters should now be ‘Expecting to Fly’. (Spoiler alert: ultimately, he wasn’t - and, alas, we didn’t.)
As reactions reverted to the footballing sphere, there were also one or two that wondered, on hearing the name, if County had appointed the late, former Manchester City forward (who had sadly passed away four years earlier) or an Australian goalkeeper who trialled at EP during 2008.
The newly-arrived boss turned out, of course, not to be a rocker. And, in fact, his history as an ex-footballer was limited, given that injury had forced him to give up playing at 24. But what he did possess - as today’s visitors will testify - was a managerial pedigree of note, and with particular reference to the (then) Conference North, which he had won with Chester FC at a canter in 2013.
That title win secured for Young a hat-trick of championships for the phoenix club established from May 2010 to play in the wake of Chester City’s winding-up. And ahead of his arrival at the Deva Stadium, the Liverpudlian - who took up his very first management roles on the Wirral with local clubs Queen’s Park and Poulton Victoria - established his credentials as a gaffer by winning promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Division for Cammell Laird (in 2008) and for Colwyn Bay (2010). Earlier, as Assistant Manager to John Hulse, Young had worked at Rhyl during a three-year spell that saw the club lift the Welsh Cup (2007) and qualify for the UEFA Cup thrice.
But let us first stop just short of the Principality, and ask his singing namesake for a fitting intro…
1. ’Revolution Blues’
The ‘Blues’ of Chester FC were certainly in need of a revolution, as the re-formed outfit began life in the Evo-Stik NPL Division One - three levels below that of the Conference Premier where Chester City had ended their days prior to expulsion during February 2010. But, within three seasons and with Young at the helm, the new club was in non-league’s top tier - having won the NPL’s Premier and First Divisions and Conference North (swapping places, in 2013, with the Hatters who dropped in the opposite direction) without a pause.
The last of the trilogy of title-winning campaigns was the most sensational. Guiseley finished second that term with a points-total of 91 that would have bagged top spot in more than half of the eight seasons completed since the Conference North’s introduction for 2004/05. But the runners-up finished a whopping 16 points adrift of Chester’s haul - and the 107 gained by the champions constituted one of half a dozen new divisional records that they set, together with most wins (34), fewest defeats (3), most goals scored (103), best goal difference (+71) and longest unbeaten run (30 games). Their collection of trophies was further augmented between 2010 and 2013, following victories in the Cheshire Senior Cup, the NPL (Swales) Shield and the invitational Supporters Direct Cup for fan-owned clubs. And, following promotion to the Conference Premier, Young became the first Chester boss in over 30 years to oversee a cross-border-derby League victory at Wrexham. Not for nothing, then, was he inducted into the club’s ‘City Fans United’ Hall of Fame among other Chester legends, and awarded an honorary degree by the city’s university.
2. ‘Like a Hurricane’
Young’s arrival in SK3, as the Hatters prepared for their third season in the freshly-rebranded National League North, was little short of explosive. An almost-complete clear-out of the playing squad saw only ‘keeper Danny Hurst retained to play at EP, and the previous season’s leading goal-scorer Kristian Dennis sent out on a season-long loan to Macclesfield. But Young sounded a declaration of intent by signing several players - such as Lewis Montrose, Kay Odejayi, Sean O’Hanlon, Gareth Roberts and Andy Robinson - with Football League experience, as well as bringing in talented teenagers, Calum Dyson and Jordan Thorniley, on loan from Everton. And when the rebuilt Hatters won their first three matches, these appeared changes for the better.
That, however, was pretty much as good as it got. The half-season or so that followed under Young saw only three more wins achieved, an unprecedented 36 players used, and an astonishing plethora of red cards issued - with seven players (three of them substitutes) getting early baths between August Bank Holiday Monday and early November - together with County’s earliest-ever FA Cup exit, at Fylde on 26 September, and a home defeat to Nantwich Town, from one tier below, in the Trophy. Following a run of just one victory in a dozen League matches, and less than a fortnight into 2016 with the Hatters way off the promotion pace, Young tendered his resignation.
3. ‘Angry World’
Young returned to football management in the NLN four months after his departure from EP, and took up the reins in the 2016 close season under 10 miles along the road at relegated Altrincham. But after just half a dozen matches of the campaign-proper, and in the wake of poor displays on the pitch and criticism from supporters off it, he resigned before August was out - declaring that, for the good of his job outside of football and his family, he would not become a Manager again.
4. ‘Don’t Let it Bring You Down’
More than a year later, early in the 2017/18 season, Young did make a low-key comeback in the game - as Head of Scouting for Halifax Town. And following five months at The Shay - which included a 20-day spell in temporary charge as Caretaker Manager - he resumed his association with Chester, albeit on a short-term basis to advise then-gaffer Marcus Bignot. Since this September, he has been well and truly back in the managerial saddle, and on his native Merseyside, at NPL outfit Marine.
5. Neil Young (b. 16 June 1975) - County management record in the National League North, 2015-16:
P W D L F A 25 7 9 9 28 32
Win %: 28. Goals per game ratio: 1.12.
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Dec 26, 2018 13:21:59 GMT
Happy Boxing Day, fellow Heaveners! Here is my article in today's programme:
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HATTERS’ GAFFERS: MATT WOODS
Hatter in Macc pays tribute to the last County captain to lift a championship trophy - who later managed both the Hatters and today’s visitors.
As coincidence would have it, the most recent subject of this series, Neil Young (who featured in the Chester programme), was also a gaffer at both Edgeley Park and Moss Lane. Matt Woods, who had skippered County to the 1966/67 Fourth Division title, survived slightly longer in charge of each club than Young did - without, it has to be said, over-achieving with either.
As a former Hatter who became County’s manager, Woods was not to be alone in struggling to make the same impact in the EP hot-seat as he had done on the pitch. During the 30 years that followed his 20-month stint as boss from April 1970 to December 1971, talented old-boy wingers Jimmy McGuigan (1979-82) and Andy Kilner (1999-2001) were also to enjoy relatively little success after returning to the club and taking to the dugout.
But Woods’ playing career had been illustrious, both before and after joining County. And there is reason to speculate that the leadership qualities he displayed on the field of play might have come to the fore better off it, had he been appointed at a time other than the back-end of the 1969/70 season which remains one of County’s worst in living memory.
Time, then, to find out more about his life and times - as well as his real name!
1. So, he was christened Matthew? Easy one. Next question, please…
Er, no. His birth-name was actually Maurice. But, having left school at 14 in 1945 and successfully trialled at Everton a year later, while working in a shoe factory, to sign apprenticeship forms as a wing-half with the ‘Toffees’, Woods was to cause confusion among the Goodison Park coaching staff, who had another young Maurice on their books and playing in the same position.
In this day and age, a solution based on nicknames would probably have seen them through. And, after all, the potential for mix-ups was not as great as it would be for England boss Bobby Robson in the mid-1980s, when the two Gary Stevens briefly represented their country alongside each other! But at Everton, in the immediate post-war years, the two Maurices were asked by their coaches to toss a coin with a view to keeping or changing names. Woods lost - and was forever after to be known as Matt.
2. A seven-year wait for a debut to forget.
Woods’ progression through the ranks at Goodison Park was a test of great patience, if nothing else. From signing there as an amateur in 1946/47, and then agreeing professional terms three seasons later, he graduated from the B Team to become a regular in the Reserves - only to suffer an interruption for his requisite spell of National Service. Even after being demobbed in early 1951, he had to wait for more than a couple of further years - making it nearly seven since his arrival at the club - before debuting in the First Team, as a centre-half, at home to Fulham.
The stuff that schoolboy dreams are made of, right? Well, not exactly for Woods, alas. The proceedings on 25 March 1953 began for him and the nation in sombre mode, as silent tribute was paid to the memory of Queen Mary who had passed away the previous day. And once the game was in play, Woods found himself led a merry dance by the splendidly-named forward, and future England international, Bedford Jezzard, as well as deflecting the ball into his own net in the course of a 3-3 draw. He was to endure a wait of another two years before making his second first-team appearance, and found himself limited to only half a dozen more before moving on.
3. A halcyon decade with the Rovers and two lots of Hatters.
Woods dropped down a division to join Blackburn Rovers for the start of the 1957/58 campaign, but by that season’s end was celebrating his and, after a decade’s absence, the club’s return to the top flight. Five more successful years at Ewood Park - including an FA Cup Final appearance in 1960 - followed, before Woods tried his hand at combining playing and coaching in Australia for Sydney Hakoah between 1963 and 1965. Following his return to these shores, he spent a season plying his trade in the Fourth Division for Luton Town. And in July 1966, while continuing to play at the same level, the 35-year-old switched from the southern Hatters to the northern ones - coming in as captain at EP, and forming a central defensive partnership with Eddie Stuart, as County secured promotion from Division Four with five matches to spare and the title two games later.
4. Woods branches into management.
A serious knee injury ended Woods’ playing days with County, and he was released, along with vice-captain Stuart, at the end of the 1967/68 campaign. The following season saw him fly west at weekends over a four-month period to play for League of Ireland outfit Drumcondra, before he finally hung up his boots. And late in February 1969, he first tried his hand at management with Altrincham - ironically replacing future County Chairman Freddie Pye, who, after six successful years as the ‘Alty’ gaffer, had taken up a position on the Moss Lane Board.
Woods lasted just under six months managing the ‘Robins’, who, during that time, finished in mid-table at the end of the Northern Premier League’s inaugural season. But the team, subjected to frequent changes, found it difficult to gel - and in the third week of August 1969, Alty and Woods parted company. He returned to EP two months later as Chief Coach, with a brief to develop young talent - but within another six, and following the dismissal of Walter Galbraith with the Hatters practically doomed to Third Division relegation, the former club captain was made Caretaker Manager. With Woods fully at the helm for 1970/71, the Hatters followed up their demotion with a solid, if unspectacular, 11th-place finish in Division Four. But a haul of only five League wins by December of the following campaign, coupled with an FA Cup exit at Blyth Spartans - then of the Northern League - brought to an end his employment by County… if not his association with Stockport, where he ran a small road-haulage business after leaving football.
5. Maurice ‘Matt’ Woods (b. 1 November 1931, d. 26 September 2014) - County management record in the Football League, 1970-71:
P W D L F A 65 21 17 27 78 105
Win %: 32.31. Goals per game ratio: 1.2.
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Dec 29, 2018 13:37:33 GMT
Back to very much more recent times for the piece in this afternoon's programme - and one of our shorter-lived managers...
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HATTERS’ GAFFERS: IAN BOGIE
Hatter in Macc picks at the career, as player and manager, of the Geordie who, for one season, turned out for this afternoon’s visitors.
The affable, Newcastle-born Bogie will be remembered by Hatters as the gaffer who ultimately presided over the relegation, more than five years ago, to the level at which we now find ourselves. And for ‘Kiddy’ fans above the voting age, there will be nostalgic recollections of 2000/01 - their club’s first of five seasons in the Football League - when the one-time midfielder played on 28 occasions for the Harriers.
It was elsewhere that Bogie hit higher heights, both as a player and a manager - although it is also fair to say that, had circumstances been different, he could well have achieved more in each capacity. A case of being in the right place at the wrong time, one might say. And in Bogie’s instance, those wrong times were at either end of nearly three decades in the professional game - albeit with some good times scattered in between…
1. Right place, wrong time - Part One.
Bogie was a product of the Wallsend Boys Club - the Tyneside youth set-up responsible for producing many players who went on to shine as professionals, often, but by no means, exclusively, in the North-East. Alan Shearer and Peter Beardsley are among the club’s alumni - together, interestingly, with a few ex-Hatters in Tony Dinning, Fraser Forster and Micky Wardrobe.
He joined Newcastle as an apprentice in 1984, and within 18 months had signed professional forms - after featuring for the young ‘Toon’ side that lifted the 1985 FA Youth Cup. As a skilful playmaker drawing comparisons with a certain Paul Gascoigne, the future should have looked extremely bright for Bogie… or, at least, it would have, were it not for ‘Gazza’ being a ‘Class of ’85’ contemporary and, moreover, retained as a pro at the same club! Three seasons of limited opportunity ensued, in which Bogie’s first-team appearances for Newcastle only just hit double figures - and even after Gascoigne was sold to Tottenham in 1988, the moment appeared to have passed for the club-mate he left behind. During the season that followed, Bogie more than doubled his appearance-total at St James’ Park - but before it was out, he had dropped to the third tier and been transferred to Preston in exchange for North End striker Gary Brazil.
2. He who would Valiant be…
A two-year spell with Preston was followed by a couple more of the same in London, at Millwall and, subsequently, Leyton Orient. But in 1995, Bogie returned north, joined Port Vale and set about enjoying what were to be his halcyon days as a player. The second campaign he spent there was to see the ‘Valiants’ achieve their highest post-war placing of eighth in the second tier. That came hot on the heels of a memorable first season, when Vale did in the Fourth Round of the 1995/96 FA Cup what County had narrowly failed to manage in the Third, and knock out holders Everton. Like the Hatters, Vale earned a 2-2 draw at Goodison Park - but then went one better by winning the home-replay by the odd goal in three, as opposed to being edged out by the odd one in five. Bogie netted in each of the ties - with his shot from outside the area to open the scoring in The Potteries on Valentines Day still recalled as an all-time classic by Vale supporters. They also grew rather fond of Bogie, on account of his uncanny penchant for bagging winning goals against Stoke - including one after only six seconds that remains the quickest ever scored by a Valiant.
3. A manager a-Heed of the rest…
In 2001, following the five years at Vale that Bogie later described as ‘the best time of my career’, and his season with Kidderminster, a back injury led to the mutually-agreed termination of his Harriers contract, and he left the Football League - returning to his native North-East, and plying his trade at Northern League outfit Bedlington Terriers, who, during Bogie’s three seasons as a player-coach, won the Northumberland Senior Cup twice. After hanging up his boots for good, Bogie took charge of Walker Central, in the Northern Football Alliance Premier League, for two years, before moving three steps up the Non-league Pyramid for 2006/07 to become Assistant Manager at Gateshead - then of the Northern Premier League. Before his first season with the ‘Heed’ was out, he was made boss, initially on a caretaker basis, after Tony Lee’s dismissal. And what followed under Bogie’s auspices were four glorious campaigns in which Gateshead gained promotions from the NPL (2007/08) and the Conference North (2008/09) - in each case, through the play-offs - and reached the FA Trophy Semi-finals (2010/11), as well as consolidating a respectable presence in non-league’s top tier. Notably, too, between December 2011 and August 2012, he went from Bogie to ‘bogey’, so far as the Hatters were concerned - presiding over three Blue Square Bet (Conference) Premier matches against County and winning the lot. Yet, within a year of that first victory, he was to be sacked by Gateshead - and on the market.
4. Right place, wrong time - Part Two.
Bogie’s departure from the International Stadium came in the month before the termination of Jim Gannon’s second spell at Edgeley Park. Gateshead’s former gaffer was then interviewed for the County post, but lost out to Darije Kalezić - and turned down an offer to work as the Swiss-born Bosnian’s assistant. Twelve games and eight weeks later, Kalezić had left the Hatters by mutual consent and two points above the BSP Premier drop-zone - and Bogie was this time offered the job for which he had originally been considered, albeit with only seven, rather than 19, matches remaining of the 2012/13 season. In the event, he secured eight points from those - but that total ultimately fell four short of safety. And, as if anyone needs reminding, relegation to regional non-league football was confirmed on the final day on an ignominious afternoon at Aggborough - Bogie’s old stomping ground from an era of better times for both the Harriers and the Hatters.
Bogie stayed at the helm to launch County’s first campaign in the Conference North (as was) - but, following a pre-season schedule that suggested promise, a meagre haul of one point from the five opening August fixtures culminated in his resignation immediately following defeat at Harrogate on the final day of the month. He has since returned to his roots, both personally and professionally, as a part-time Academy Coach at Newcastle.
5. Ian Bogie (b. 6 December 1967) - County management record in the Conference Premier and North, 20 March - 31 August 2013:
P W D L F A 12 2 3 7 10 23
Win %: 16.67. Goals per game ratio: 1.2.
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Jan 5, 2019 13:58:30 GMT
FFS! Fantastic Fred Stewart, the first of our managers, features in today's programme-piece:
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HATTERS’ GAFFERS: FRED STEWART
Time to go way, way back and see who was in charge at County when today’s visitors came into being. Hatter in Macc discovers how, for two clubs, Mr Stewart was ‘Frederick the Great’.
History, at times, becomes a tad hazy when it comes to County Managers - although Oldham-born Fred Stewart, who took the helm following the Hatters’ election to the Football League in 1900, is generally recognised as the first of them.
He set the bar high in terms of longevity, too, having worked for County on the administrative side for the seven preceding years, and then remaining in the hot-seat over the 11 that followed - including 1907, the year in which Bradford (Park Avenue) began plying their trade.
And, on leaving Edgeley Park in 1911, Stewart was to outdo himself by clocking up precisely double his length of County service at Cardiff City, where he stayed until his retirement from football management at the end of the 1932/33 season - with his place in the respective histories of both clubs assured.
But what happened in those 33 years? And why do we Hatters owe him a debt of gratitude?
1. The Permanent Secretary
The short answer to the latter question is that County, as a new League club with precious little money, could very quickly have disappeared into oblivion in much the way that new Second Division contemporaries, such as Burton Swifts and New Brighton Tower, did very soon thereafter. The Hatters were reliant during their early League days on Stewart’s shrewdness in buying and selling players. And they survived, ultimately to enjoy 100 years of FL membership - interrupted only the once in 1904/05, when, following failure to gain re-election, County dropped into the Lancashire Combination, but won it at a canter to bounce straight back into Division Two.
Stewart would have rarely, if at all, been called the ‘Manager’ in his day. Officially, he acted as the Club Secretary, with responsibility for the processes whereby players were brought in and contracts signed. Indeed, he was continuing in some respects a role of ‘Committee Secretary’ that he had held at Green Lane (County’s then-home) since 1896 - and that his brother previously occupied, while the pre-FL club played in The Combination, during 1893/94. But Fred’s relative permanence appeared to serve the Hatters well in the longer term. After needing to seek re-election in each of their first four League campaigns between 1900 and 1904, they returned from their title-winning Lancashire Combination campaign all the stronger - and, for the remaining five years of Stewart’s reign, they never again finished in a position that would require them to call in favours from other clubs at the League’s end-of-season Annual General Meeting.
2. The Leader of the House
Stewart should forever be remembered for taking not one club but two into the Football League. Having done so with the Hatters around the advent of the 20th Century - and, save for a 12-month blip, kept them there - he successfully responded in 1911 to an Athletic News advertisement for the Manager’s post at recently-formed Southern League outfit Cardiff City. After getting the gig at Ninian Park, he took two years, ahead of the Great War, to get the ‘Bluebirds’ promoted to the SL’s top tier. And in 1920, they were admitted under him to the Second Division.
As inaugural FL campaigns went, Cardiff’s was a belter - resulting in a second-place finish and promotion, while his former charges at EP finished bottom and had to content themselves with founding membership (but as well as, lest we forget, becoming Champions!) of the newly-formed Division Three North for 1921/22.
3. The Father of the House
Stewart’s 22 seasons at Cardiff came to an end after the Bluebirds had finished 19th in the Third Division South - and, judging discretion to be the better part of valour, he decided to step down and concentrate on a number of small businesses that included the trading of corn and seed, from which he had made money before first taking up appointment with County around four decades earlier.
But, by staying in post from 1911 to 1933, Stewart remains to this day Cardiff’s longest-serving manager - as well as the 23rd-longest at any Football League club, ever. And, until April of last year when our current boss surpassed it, his 10-year, eight-month and 10-day spell in charge of County was, for over a century, the Hatters Gaffers’ record in terms of continuity, too.
4. The Prince of Wales
For all his long-term history-making, Stewart’s most memorable and famous achievement was a one-off. For in 1927, he became the first - and, to date, only - manager to take the FA Cup out of England.
Cup glory had been beckoning Cardiff and Stewart since the beginning of the 1920s. In the Bluebirds’ first campaign as a League club, they had supplemented their promotion to the top flight by reaching the Semi-Finals. And two Quarter-Final appearances in the three seasons that followed had been topped, in 1924/25, by a place in the Final - which saw them edged out by a single goal at the hands of Sheffield United. Two years later, they were back at Wembley’s Empire Stadium to experience another 1-0 scoreline - albeit this time in their favour, as Stewart went head-to-head with Arsenal’s Manager-supreme Herbert Chapman, and saw his team prevail, courtesy of Hughie Ferguson’s second-half goal.
The achievement made its mark in another important, lasting respect. Never again would the world’s oldest national football competition be referenced in the press as the ‘English Cup’.
5. Fred Stewart (b. 30 November 1872, d. 11 February 1954) - County management record in the Football League, 1900-04 and 1905-11, and in the Lancashire Combination, 1904-05:
P W D L F A 398 130 81 187 505 687
Win %: 32.66. Goals per game ratio: 1.27.
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Post by gazz on Jan 5, 2019 15:06:19 GMT
I've just caught up with all the articles on this page (from Trevor to Fred Stewart), Maccy and I've really enjoyed reading them - absolutely BRILLIANT work, mate!
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Jan 5, 2019 23:55:49 GMT
Cheers, Gazz-man - glad you're enjoying them!
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Post by dudleyhatter on Jan 6, 2019 13:38:54 GMT
Snap Gazzman! Macc truly brilliant researching. A fantastic read.
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Jan 6, 2019 20:42:51 GMT
Aw - thanks, Duds!
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Jan 19, 2019 13:45:31 GMT
Today's programme subject - once of York, as well as County, and, by all accounts, a quack-ing guy...
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HATTERS’ GAFFERS: DICK DUCKWORTH
More reliable than Jack or Vera, and popular on both sides u’t Pennines! Hatter in Macc discovers how Dick Duckworth fitted the bill…
When this series first came into being, Dick Duckworth was one of a small handful of former Hatters’ Gaffers with links to more than one other current National League North club, either as a ex-player or manager or both - requiring a choice to be made over the programme issue in which to feature them.
In Duckworth’s case, the decision was an easy one. For while he played at both Chester and Southport and managed Darlington, he not only did both for York - but also with some memorable success in each capacity.
He also left the Bootham Crescent managerial hot-seat for that of Edgeley Park in what would today be regarded as rather unusual circumstances (more of which anon). And, in his quartet of seasons at EP, he proved himself, if nothing else, to be a remarkable model of consistency by achieving for County four Third Division North finishes separated by the same number of places.
Time to find out more about him - and the counties, other than our footballing one, that shaped his life and career:
1. Lancashire
Duckworths the world over, be they real-life or fictional ones, should be able to trace their origins to the Red Rose county - and, more specifically, to Duckworth Fold in the Borough of Bury. Our man could no doubt have done so fairly easily - being born around nine miles south of the Fold, in Harpurhey. Football - and, notably, County - would be in young Richard Duckworth’s blood, too: his uncle, Dick Crawshaw, turned out as an inside-forward in the Football League for Manchester City, Halifax and Nelson, after first learning the ropes as a youth player at Edgeley Park.
Crawshaw’s nephew, by contrast, was initially a full-back with Castleton Juniors, who was to develop into a defensive half-back as he worked his way through the professional ranks. But initial spells during the mid-1920s in his local area with Rochdale and Oldham Athletic led to nothing for Dick Duckworth - as was the case in between at Manchester United, where, a decade or two earlier, his Collyhurst-born namesake made 225 appearances as a right-half before the Great War.
2. Yorkshire (Part One)
Four fallow footballing years in the ‘20s were followed by better times for Duckworth during the ‘30s, as he made a name for himself exclusively in Division Three North. Having joined Chesterfield for 1929/30, and won the title with the ‘Spireites’ in his second season, he proceeded to ply his trade reliably around the third tier over the next quinquennium at Southport, Chester (where he bagged himself a 1933 Welsh Cup winners’ medal) and Rotherham United.
But, like a fine wine, Duckworth was to get better with age. Having moved to Yorkshire with Rotherham in 1934, he stayed within ‘God’s Own Country’ to join York as a 30-year-old two seasons later - and, as things turned out, he enjoyed his best playing days at Bootham Crescent. Most notably, in his second campaign there, he skippered the ‘Minstermen’ to a place in the FA Cup Quarter-finals - beating two top-flight outfits, West Bromwich Albion and Middlesbrough, along the way, only to bow out narrowly after a replay to eventual beaten finalists, Huddersfield.
3. Yorkshire (Part Two)
The onset of World War Two more or less coincided with an end to Duckworth’s career on the pitch, which he saw out in 1939 during a brief spell as player-manager at Newark Town. But after hostilities ceased, he was back in the game as coach at one of his former clubs, Chesterfield, before taking first steps in management with another of them - today’s visitors - in March 1950.
Duckworth had spent around two years with York on the playing staff - and did likewise as the Minstermen’s gaffer. He was certainly to leave them in better shape than he found them, on becoming manager, too - transforming York from the side in Division Three North’s basement position to promotion challengers, occupying fourth place, during the early stages of the 1952/53 campaign. At this point, divisional companions County, who were experiencing a more middling start to the season, moved in to tempt Duckworth back across the Pennines. His services were secured by agreement on 15 October 1952, with a view to him taking up office at EP after one more game in charge of York. Bizarrely, that match, three days later, was at home to the Hatters - who, at least, could be reassured that they had made a wise appointment, as Duckworth signed off with the club he was leaving by beating his new employers 3-0!
4. Cheshire
In the event, Duckworth’s four campaigns as a Hatters’ Gaffer were to achieve little of sparkling note - other than two Cheshire Bowl victories (in 1953 and 1956), as well as, League-wise, the most marginal of year-on-year improvements in the third tier, with finishes of 11th, 10th, 9th and, finally, by way of a highest post-war placing at the time, 7th. Using simple extrapolation, the Hatters might have anticipated promotion under Duckworth by the early 1960s - and, indeed, his fourth term had shown promise, as Willie Moir combined with Jack Connor to form a prolific attack that, in total, netted 90 times during 1955/56 - but before the next season had begun, Duckworth became Chief Scout for Sheffield United, while Moir replaced him at EP as County’s first player-boss.
The lure of management was not entirely over for Duckworth, who, after a year at Bramall Lane, enjoyed further spells in the respective hot-seats of Darlington (1957-60) and Scunthorpe United (1960-64) - where he will still be fondly remembered by both sets of supporters. He oversaw, in 1957/58, the best-ever FA Cup run by the ‘Quakers’, who thrashed Chelsea 4-1 en route to the Fifth Round. And a fourth-place finish in Division Two for 1961/62 remains an all-time high for the ‘Iron’. He lived in Sheffield after fully retiring from football, and passed away there a couple of months short of his 77th birthday.
5. Richard ‘Dick’ Duckworth (b. 6 June 1906, d. 9 April 1983) - County management record in the Football League, 1952-56:
P W D L F A 169 70 40 59 303 240
Win %: 41.42. Goals per game ratio: 1.79.
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Feb 16, 2019 13:45:58 GMT
It has been quite a while since I have had chance to pen one of these, but here is today's programme-piece:
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HATTERS’ GAFFERS: SAMMY McILROY
‘Busby Babes’ who went on to become respected managers were remarkably rare things, but we had one at Edgeley Park. Hatter in Macc revisits the era of ‘Sammy Mac’.
As it happens, the timing of McIlroy’s spell as a Hatters’ Gaffer also coincided with a birth-landmark for today’s visitors, whose club in its ‘AFC’ guise was formed during May 2004, in the immediate wake of the original Telford United’s liquidation, to take up a place in Division One of the Northern Premier League, five levels below that of (then) Second Division County.
While that was going on down Shropshire way, McIlroy had completed seven months of the three-year deal that secured his services in SK3 - and, moreover, had succeeded against the odds in keeping County up for another season of third-tier Football League fare. But just over half a year following that, in November 2004, he and the club had parted ways - and by the end of the 2004/05 campaign, there were but three steps between it and the newly-established ‘Bucks’.
Either side of his year or so with the Hatters, the Belfast-born McIlroy - who spent the vast majority of time as both a player and a manager in the North West - enjoyed more tangible achievements, and began his career by earning himself a little place in history up the road…
1. The last-ever Busby Babe
When McIlroy, in 1969 and at the age of 15, was brought across from Northern Ireland by long-serving Manchester United supremo Matt Busby to sign amateur forms at Old Trafford, he not only followed a path that had been taken eight years earlier by another 15-year-old Belfast boy, George Best, but also became the final young player to be recruited for United before Busby retired following 24 years in the managerial hot-seat.
The teenage midfielder made his first-team debut two years later - and, despite being only 17, was seemingly undaunted by the occasion, which, for added spice, took the form of a Manchester Derby at Maine Road! McIlroy, on that day, scored United’s opener and provided two assists in the course of a 3-3 draw - and, following the club’s relegation from the top flight in 1974, he was an ever-present (forming an excellent central midfield partnership with Gerry Daly, who later played for, and managed, the pre-‘AFC’ Telford United) throughout the following campaign that saw the ‘Red Devils’ bounce back as champions at the first attempt. An FA Cup winners’ medal was added to his collection in 1977, when United edged out Liverpool 2-1.
2. Further playing adventures at home and abroad
McIlroy moved on from Old Trafford to Stoke City in 1982, and helped to keep the struggling ‘Potters’ in Division One for two seasons before a case of ‘third time unlucky’ saw them drop out with a then-record-low 17 points in 1985. Following relegation, he spent a year at Manchester City - and emulated for the ‘Sky Blues’ a feat he had achieved at both United and Stoke, when scoring on his first appearance. While with those three clubs, he made the bulk of his 88 international appearances - and today is the seventh-most-capped player for Northern Ireland.
The twilight of his playing career saw him ease down the divisions but remain in this region - at Bury, Preston North End and, finally, Northwich Victoria, where, in 1992, a severe knee injury forced him to hang up his boots - although he had also briefly turned out further afield in Sweden for Örgryte, and in Austria for Admira/Wacker, during 1986 and 1988 respectively.
3. Sammy Mac becomes Sammy Macc
McIlroy had warmed up for management as a player-coach at Preston in 1991 - and, subsequently, as the Northwich player-boss during his final season on the pitch. What followed were half a dozen campaigns featuring, without fail, either promotion or knockout-trophy success for the North West clubs he managed - starting with Ashton United, whom he guided up and out of the North West Counties League in 1993, before taking up appointment at Macclesfield Town. The ‘Silkmen’, to this day, have the Moss Rose hospitality venue - the ‘McIlroy Suite’ - named after their former boss. And small wonder, really - given that he delivered to them: the Conference League Cup (Bob Lord Challenge Trophy) and the Staffordshire Senior Cup in 1993/94; the Conference title in 19994/95 (albeit without promotion to the Football League, as Macclesfield’s ground allegedly failed to meet safety requirements - which felt more than a tad dubious, after Chester had played home FL matches there three years earlier!); the Championship Shield and FA trophy in 1995/96; another Conference title - plus, on this occasion, a FL place to go with it - in 1996/97; and, on the club’s League debut in 1997/98, promotion, as runners-up, to the third tier.
4. From SK11 to SK3 (via BT12)
McIlroy’s managerial pedigree was further enhanced at the beginning of 2000, when he was appointed to lead Northern Ireland in succession to Lawrie McMenemy - although he resigned on 15 October 2003, after his international charges finished bottom of their Euro ’94 qualifying group, and without having scored a goal in over 20 hours of match action.
The same day, his appointment at County, to replace the sacked Carlton Palmer, was announced. But McIlroy assumed office at a difficult time - with the Hatters having made a poor start to the season, and the club - following its purchase during the summer by Brian Kennedy from Brendan Elwood - ground-sharing with Sale Sharks and under the ownership of a new ‘Cheshire Sport’ company. A First-round FA Cup exit at non-league Stevenage within a month of McIlroy’s arrival did not help matters, but, with relegation to the fourth tier looking probable, his side rallied towards the end of the campaign to go 11 matches unbeaten - securing safety with a tense goal-less draw in the 11th of them, at Bournemouth, on the penultimate weekend. In the light of this late-season revival, and with players such as Luke Beckett, Warren Feeney, Rickie Lambert and Andy Welsh from whom to choose, hopes were higher as 2004/05 began - but by late November, with only 10 points earned, and both Beckett and Welsh sold, McIlroy stepped down.
It was a position from which the Hatters failed to recover that season - finishing bottom, and 25 points adrift of safety. But McIlroy’s managerial career did - at least for the next half a dozen years, when (together with his assistant, and ex-Hatter, Mark Lillis, who had also worked alongside him for Northern Ireland and at both the Moss Rose and Edgeley Park) he oversaw the promotion of another Conference outfit, Morecambe, into the Football League, where the ‘Shrimps’ have remained since 2007.
5. Sammy McIlroy (b. 02/08/1954) - County management record in the Football League, 2003-04:
P W D L F A 51 11 19 21 64 86
Win %: 21.57. Goals per game ratio: 1.25.
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Feb 21, 2019 18:10:27 GMT
My latest piece, which featured in Tuesday night's programme:
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HATTERS’ GAFFERS: JIMMY MEADOWS
As a manager who delivered championships for two ‘Ports, Jimmy Meadows could (and should) have been considered a man in fields of his own! Hatter in Macc pays tribute to County’s last title-winning boss.
During the current season, this column has identified a few managers who had spells in the respective hot-seats of both County and other current National League North clubs - albeit with rather varying degrees of success for each. But Jimmy Meadows went one better - being equally revered in the collective memories held by Hatters and Sandgrounders of a certain age, after he spent four years, over two stints, in SK3 and three at Haig Avenue that saw both ‘Ports, in their Football League days, become Fourth Division champions.
Born in Bolton, he was to confine to the North West a playing career that was ended early by injury, together with most of his time in management excepting two short-lived jaunts to work overseas - and even then Meadows could not keep himself entirely away from, erm, pastures old!
Time to find out more about him, with a promise that any further meadowy puns are ready for cutting…:
1. Port-rait of the boy and man as a player
The teenage Meadows began working the right flank for hometown team Bolton YMCA, before signing amateur forms at Southport as a 17-year-old and then turning professional for the Third Division North outfit 12 months later in 1949. After another two years, featuring 60 appearances and six goals for Meadows, Manchester City came a-calling to Haig Avenue on transfer-deadline day with £5,000 - and he was bound for the top flight, to which City had just been promoted.
Meadows adjusted well to life two tiers higher over the next four seasons at Maine Road. But the fourth, in 1954/55, was to prove life-changing, as it turned from joy to agony within a month. During April 1955, he was selected to play for England against Scotland, and played his part in a 7-2 victory at Wembley - before returning to the national stadium in May with his club for the FA Cup Final. His involvement in the occasion lasted 17 minutes, at which point an attempted tackle near his own corner flag caused him to rupture knee ligaments so severely that he could take no further part in the match. In an era before substitutes had been introduced, City, reduced to 10 men for the remaining 70 minutes or so, lost 3-1 to Newcastle. But the longer-term consequences for Meadows were worse. He never played again - and eventually retired in 1957, aged only 26.
2. The im-Port-ance of 1966(/67) and all that
In spite of having to hang up his boots, Meadows remained at City during a decade after the injury - initially as part of the Maine Road training staff, and, for five years from 1960, as Head Coach. His playing connections also came in handy when the chance of a change of scene arrived in December 1965. By that time, former City goalkeeper and team-mate Bert Trautmann held office at Edgeley Park as Administrative Manager, and was looking for a Trainer. Meadows’ experience fitted the bill, and he was offered the job of working eight miles down the road with recently-appointed Hatters’ Gaffer Eddie Quigley.
Within another 10 months, Quigley left County to become Assistant Manager at Blackburn Rovers. Meadows was appointed as his replacement, and what followed was a best spell for the Hatters in 30 years as they won the 1966/67 Fourth Division title - pipping today’s second-placed visitors by five points - before proceeding to establish a solid presence in Division Three over the next two seasons. All of this was achieved without much money for Meadows to spend - although when he did make signings, such as those of deadly strike partners Bill Atkins and Jim Fryatt, they were astonishingly effective ones. And his shrewd player-management skills did the rest.
But despite heading for a top-10 finish in 1968/69, County relieved Meadows of his duties a month before the campaign was over. Ambitions of reaching the Second Division were cited by the club as the reason for the sacking. As it happened, the Hatters were to get out of the Third a year later - but in the wrong direction, as they finished bottom, and were relegated, on 23 points.
3. Further management op-Port-unities knock
Meadows remained in the game, and around the North West, following his departure from EP - with Assistant Manager appointments at Bury and Blackpool followed by a forlorn attempt, over 81 days during 1970/71, to prevent Bolton Wanderers from dropping into the third tier for the first time in their history.
But a return to better managerial fortune was around the corner, as Meadows’ two years in charge at Haig Avenue culminated in the award to Southport of the Division Four title for 1972/73 - an achievement that legendary Liverpool boss Bill Shankly described as tougher and more meritorious than his simultaneous winning of the Football League championship with Liverpool.
4. Brief spells as an ex-Port
A return to EP as Manager for 1974/75 did not repeat Meadows’ past glories in SK3, although a final-day draw under him at Scunthorpe United saw the Hatters avoid the four re-election places in the fourth tier - an achievement in itself, given both the paucity of their playing squad, and that they had finished bottom of the pile 12 months earlier.
After his second dismissal from office at County, Meadows broadened his geographical horizons during 1976 with a stint at Swedish outfit GIF Sundsvall. And, following an unsuccessful return to caretaker management at Blackpool in 1978 that led to the Bloomfield Road club’s inaugural relegation to Division Three, his next - as well as final - move took him even further afield, as boss of Al-Sadd Sports Club in the Qatar Stars League. But it would appear that he never forgot his managerial roots, as he returned to SK-land with Al-Sadd during August 1982 to play friendlies at Cheadle Town - by way of an official opening event for Park Road that Meadows’ team, including five Qatari internationals, won 4-1 - and at EP, where Trevor Phillips’ hat-trick and a Micky Quinn strike saw the Hatters prevail against their former boss by the same scoreline.
5. Jimmy Meadows (b. 21 July 1931, d. 3 January 1994) - County management record in the Football League, 1966-69 and 1974-75:
P W D L F A 163 63 46 54 227 234
Win %: 38.65. Goals per game ratio: 1.39.
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Post by gazz on Feb 21, 2019 19:32:24 GMT
I really enjoyed that Jimmy Meadows article, Maccy - excellent work, matey!
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Feb 21, 2019 21:19:47 GMT
Cheers, Gazz-man!
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Mar 2, 2019 13:14:09 GMT
An interesting character, by way of my subject for today's programme...
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HATTERS’ GAFFERS: ANDY BEATTIE
The Hatters once had a boss who went on to become Scotland’s first manager, and to have the legendary Bill Shankly as his assistant. Surely, he must have been ‘andy? And it turns out he was! Hatter in Macc finds out more…
Andy Beattie was one of four Scots to take up the managerial reins at Edgeley Park between the early 1930s and late ‘60s. He spent the first of those decades as a player - initially for local Aberdeenshire club Inverurie Loco Works, where he was employed as a quarryman, before Preston North End shelled out the princely sum of £135 to tempt the promising full-back south of the border in 1935.
But Beattie’s playing career was to be hampered by World War Two - such that he made only 125 Football League appearances and, ahead of WW2’s outbreak in 1939, gained just seven caps for Scotland. His participation in wartime football saw him capped on five more occasions, albeit unofficially, as well as playing a part in Preston’s little-remembered 1940/41 ‘double’ of the North Regional League Championship and Wartime League Cup - but, on hanging up his boots for good in 1947, Beattie was largely left to rue what might have been.
The time was ripe, then, for him to try and make his mark on the game in a post-playing capacity instead…
1. The last of the County Secretary-Managers
Beattie arrived at EP in March 1949, two years after starting off in management with Barrow, and transforming the fortunes of the Holker Street outfit from perennial Third Division North re-election seekers to genuine promotion contenders that could, on occasion, attract five-figure crowds to one of the League’s then-renowned outposts.
He followed the lead of many a pre-war Hatters’ Gaffer by taking up appointment as County’s Secretary-Manager - in which capacity he had also worked for Barrow - with a view to signing players. And while Beattie turned out to be the final holder of this dual role, he proved himself quite adept in it - as illustrated most memorably by bringing to Stockport on 19 October 1951 the experienced striker Jack Connor, who was to become the club’s greatest-ever goal-scorer. Connor, plying his trade at the time for Bradford City, was enticed across the Pennines whilst at the cinema with his wife - and after a message on screen had asked him to to go to the foyer, where Beattie and County Chairman Ernest Barlow were waiting. Connor duly signed for the Hatters on the spot, and made his debut against Oldham Athletic the following afternoon!
Connor’s goal at York City three Saturdays later - one of 140 he scored for County in all competitions - saw the Hatters establish a record run of seven consecutive away victories, and set them up nicely for a tilt at promotion from Division Three North, following two 10th-position finishes in Beattie’s previous full seasons. But a poor run of form in April 1952 consigned the club to third place, and by the middle of that month its boss had left to take over at Huddersfield Town.
2. Taking the lead at Leeds Road
Beattie’s move occurred too late to save the top-flight Yorkshire club from an inaugural relegation to Division Two. But under his guidance during 1952/53 - and assisted by two close-season signings from County in full-back Ron Staniforth and utility player Tommy Cavanagh - Town bounced straight back as runners-up, before achieving two top-10 First Division placings in 1954 and 1955. Former Preston team-mate Shankly was then appointed to assist Beattie, but in their first - and, as it turned out, only - campaign at the helm together, Huddersfield were relegated, prompting Beattie to resign and become a sub-postmaster in Penwortham, while Shankly took sole charge at Leeds Road, before departing for legendary things with Liverpool from 1959.
3. Talking of resignations…
Beattie tended to go in for them rather a lot - whether or not they actually stuck! His first, at Barrow and before the start of the 1948/49 season, had been provoked after a dispute with the Chairman of the ‘Bluebirds’ - although, in a turn of events that few could imagine today, the Board refused to accept the resignation, and Beattie continued (at least for another seven months, before departing for County) while his Chairman stepped down instead!
Even more remarkable, though, was the self-destruction of Beattie’s tenure as the first Scotland manager. Appointed in 1954 (whilst in post with Huddersfield) to lead the Scots on their World Cup Finals debut, Beattie fell out with the Scottish FA, following preparations for the event that might most kindly be described as shambolic. Scotland took only 13 players - two of whom were goalkeepers - to Switzerland, when 18-man squads were permitted, and their heavy boots and kits were from the bygone ‘30s, as opposed to the lighter modern kit worn by South American and other European teams. One of the latter, Austria, enjoyed a single-goal victory over the Scots in their first match - whereupon Beattie quit. And, with Scotland’s physio then in temporary charge, one of the former, Uruguay, inflicted a 7-0 defeat that remains the heaviest margin by which the country has lost at the Finals stage. Incredibly, Beattie was offered a second chance to manage Scotland in the spring of 1959, having ditched Post Office work to take charge at Carlisle United a year earlier, and undertook the two roles in tandem for 21 months before returning to top-flight management with Nottingham Forest.
4. As many clubs as Tommy Docherty!
Much-travelled gaffer Docherty (who, as it happened, also once managed Scotland) famously quipped that, as a manager, he had had ‘more clubs than Jack Nicklaus’. But Beattie equalled The Doc’s haul of a round dozen when assistant, advisory and scouting roles were added to his managerial ones. As well as Barrow, County, Huddersfield, Carlisle and Forest, Plymouth Argyle and Wolverhampton Wanderers engaged Beattie’s services - ahead of his final resignation, in 1965, after Wolves had been thumped 9-3 at Southampton. He later assisted the work of managers at Sheffield United and Notts County, and was a scout for Brentford, Walsall and, finally, Liverpool where, by then, his friend, fellow Scot and former colleague on and off the pitch, Shankly, reigned supreme.
5. Andy Beattie (b. 11 August 1913, d. 20 September 1983) - County management record in the Football League, 1949-52:
P W D L F A 136 63 28 45 197 157
Win %: 46.32. Goals per game ratio: 1.45.
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