Harry Wood (footballer)
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| Harry Wood | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Harry Wood | |
| Date of birth | June 26, 1868 | |
| Place of birth | Walsall, England | |
| Date of death | July 7, 1951 (aged 83) | |
| Place of death | Portsmouth, England | |
| Nickname | The Wolf | |
| Playing position | Inside Forward | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
1887-1888 1888-1891 1891 1891-1898 1898-1905 |
Walsall Swifts Wolverhampton Wanderers (pre-Football League) Wolverhampton Wanderers Walsall Wolverhampton Wanderers Southampton |
60 (35) 181 (74) 158 (62) |
| National team | ||
| 1890-1896 | England | 3 (1) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Harry Wood (born Walsall 26 June 1868, died Portsmouth 5 July 1951) was a professional footballer who played most of his career as an inside-forward for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton.
Contents |
[edit] Playing career
[edit] Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wood started his career with Walsall Swifts before moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers for the first time in 1887. In the following season, Wolves became one of the inaugural members of the Football League, finishing the season in third place. Wolves also reached the final of the FA Cup, losing to the league champions Preston North End.
Wood remained with Wolves for the following two seasons, before returning to Walsall in the summer of 1891. His sojourn with Walsall was brief, however, and in November he returned to Wolves.
He remained with Wolves for a further 7 seasons, during which he made two further appearances in FA Cup finals, being part of the winning team in 1893 (beating Everton 1-0), and losing 2-1 to Sheffield Wednesday in 1896. Whilst with Wolves, he made 3 appearances for England scoring once.
[edit] Southampton
In the summer of 1898, Southampton's trainer, Billy Dawson, was on a short holiday in Stoke when he read in a local paper that Wood had not yet renewed the terms of his contract with Wolves. Dawson tracked Wood down to a Walsall pub and eventually persuaded Wood to sign for the Saints, who had just claimed the Southern League championship for the second consecutive year.
According to Holley & Chalk's The Alphabet of the Saints, "Harry Wood stands out as probably the most popular footballer to wear the Saints' colours during the Southern League era."[1].
In his first season at The Dell Wood was an ever-present making 24 appearances and scoring 16 goals as Saints took the Southern League championship for the third time. The following season, Saints only managed third place in the league, but reached the FA cup final for the first time in their history. Unfortunately, the Cup Final was a great disappointment as Saints were swept aside 4-0 by Bury.
In the following season, 1900-01, Saints once again took the Southern League title, with Wood scoring 10 goals and Edgar Chadwick top-scorer with 14 goals. The 1901-02 season followed a similar pattern to 1899-1900 with Saints finishing in third place and reaching their second FA Cup final, losing to Sheffield United after a replay.
In 1902-03, Saints won their sixth (and last) Southern League title with Wood only missing two games, scoring 12 goals. By now he was sharing the goal-scoring with John Fraser (15 goals), Fred Harrison (17 goals in only 13 games) and Joe Turner (14 goals).
Wood's cunning passing earned him the nickname "the wolf" and for seven years he captained the Saints during their most successful era. In all, he made 180 appearances for the Saints, scoring 65 goals.
[edit] After Southampton
Wood eventually left the Saints in May 1905 (aged 37), becoming a trainer with Portsmouth. After 7 years at Fratton Park, he retired from football and became the licensee at the local Milton Arms public house.
His son Arthur Wood played for Southampton as a goalkeeper from 1914-1921.
[edit] Honours
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Southampton
- FA Cup finalist: 1900 and 1902
- Southern League championship: 1898-99, 1900-01, 1902-03 and 1903-04
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing, p.373. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
[edit] References
- Gary Chalk & Duncan Holley (1987). Saints - A complete record. Breedon Books. ISBN 0-907969-22-4.
- Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
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