Frank Matthews
Encyclopedia
Frank Matthews was an English footballer who played at inside-forward for various clubs in the 1920s.

Football career

Matthews was born at Wallsend
Wallsend
Wallsend is an area in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. Wallsend derives its name as the location of the end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 42,842.-Romans:...

 and as a teenager played for various colliery teams in his native north east
North East England
North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...

 before starting his professional career with Blackpool
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...

 of the Football League Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...

 in May 1922. With Matt Barrass well established at inside-left, Matthews was unable to break into the first team and moved on to Second Division rivals, Barnsley
Barnsley F.C.
Barnsley Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Nicknamed the Tykes, they were founded in 1887 under the name Barnsley St. Peter's...

, in the summer of 1923.

At Barnsley, Matthews replaced Russell Wainscoat
Russell Wainscoat
William Russell Wainscoat was an English footballer who played at inside left for several clubs in the 1920s and 1930s, spending the best part of his career at Leeds United. He also made one appearance for England in 1929....

 at inside-left after Wainscoat left to join Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...

 in December 1923. After two seasons at Oakwell, during which he made a total of 35 appearances, Matthews moved to the south coast to join another Second Division club, Southampton
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...

 in May 1925.

Matthews initially played in the reserves but made his Southampton debut away to Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...

 on 12 December 1925, when he replaced the out of favour Cliff Price
Cliff Price
Ernest Clifford "Cliff" Price was an English footballer who played at inside left for various clubs in the 1920s.-Football career:...

 at inside-left. Matthews scored on his home debut a week later, in a 2–1 defeat to Stoke City
Stoke City F.C.
Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...

. For the remainder of the 1925–26 season he made the inside-left berth his own, linking up well with Jimmy Carr
Jimmy Carr (footballer)
James Edward Charles "Jimmy" Carr was a Scottish footballer who played at outside left for Reading and Southampton in the 1920s.-Football career:...

 on the wing.

For the following season, manager Arthur Chadwick
Arthur Chadwick
Arthur Chadwick was a professional footballer whose playing career included spells at Portsmouth and Southampton, before going on to be manager at Exeter City, Reading and Southampton...

 embarked on a massive team rebuilding and signed several new players, including Dick Rowley
Dick Rowley
Richard William Morris "Dick" Rowley was an Irish football Inside right who played for Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and Preston North End, as well as representing the Irish national team.- Biography :...

, Alf Bishop
Alf Bishop (footballer born 1906)
Alfred "Alf" Bishop was an English footballer who played as an inside-forward in the 1920s and 1930s.Bishop joined the RAF as a 16 year old cadet in 1919...

 and Sammy Taylor all of whom could play in either of the inside-forward positions. After trying first Rowley and then Bishop at inside-left, Chadwick recalled Matthews for three games in September, before moving Taylor over from the right, with Rowley returning at inside-right. Taylor retained his place for the rest of the season, at the end of which Matthews was transfer listed for a fee of £50.

In the summer of 1927, Matthews was recruited by the former Southampton team captain Alec Campbell
Alec Campbell (footballer)
Alistair Kenyon Campbell was a professional footballer who played nearly 200 games for Southampton in the first quarter of the twentieth century, before briefly becoming manager at Chesterfield....

 as one of his first signings following his appointment as manager of Chesterfield
Chesterfield F.C.
Chesterfield Football Club is an English football club based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. The club currently plays in Football League One, the third tier of English football. Despite being the fourth oldest Football League club in England, they have spent most of their existence in the lower...

 of the Third Division North. After making only two appearances for Chesterfield, Matthews returned to the north east, dropping back into non-league football
Non-league football
Non-League football is football in England played at a level below that of the Premier League and The Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top football clubs in England all belonged to The Football League; all clubs who were not a part of The Football...

.
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