Frank Moss (footballer)

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Frank Moss (November 5, 1909 – February 7, 1970) was an English football player and manager.

A goalkeeper, Moss was born in Leyland, Lancashire, and first played for Preston North End, and then Oldham Athletic (as an understudy to England No. 1 Jack Hacking), before signing for Arsenal in November 1931 for £3,000.

Moss immediately took the first-team keeper's jersey from Charlie Preedy, and was a near ever-present for the Gunners for the next five seasons; he won a hat-trick of First Division titles (1933, 1934 and 1935) and played in the 1932 FA Cup final (which Arsenal lost to Newcastle United). He also played four times for England, including the "Battle of Highbury" match against World Champions Italy in 1934, in which seven Arsenal players started the match; England won 3-2.

On March 16, 1935, in a First Division match against Everton, Moss dislocated his left shoulder; with no substitutes allowed in those days, Moss was forced to play the rest of the game on the left wing – incredibly, he scored Arsenal's first goal in a 2-0 win. However, he found it hard to recover from the injury - he only played five more matches for Arsenal before deciding to retire in the summer of 1937, at only 27 years old. He played 161 matches for Arsenal in total.

After retiring as a player, Moss was appointed manager of Hearts, but with the outbreak of World War II he resigned in 1940 to return home, and left football altogether. He died in 1970 at the age of 60.