Frank Soo

Frank Soo
Personal information
Full name Frank Soo
Date of birth 12 March 1914(1914-03-12)
Place of birth Buxton, England
Date of death 25 January 1991(1991-01-25) (aged 76)
Place of death Cheadle, England
Playing position Inside forward
Youth career
Prescot Cables
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1933–1945 Stoke City 173 (5)
→ Everton (war guest)
→ Chelsea (war guest)
→ Millwall (war guest)
→ Brentford (war guest)
→ Reading (war guest)[1] 3
1945–1946 Leicester City 0 (0)
1946–1949 Luton Town 71 (4)
1949–1952 Chelmsford City 82 (10)
Total 326 (19)
National team
1942–1945 England war team 9 (0)
Teams managed
1951–1952 Padova Calcio
1952 Norway
1953 IFK Eskilstuna
1953–1954 Örebro SK
1954–1955 Djurgårdens IF
1956–1957 IK Oddevold
1958 AIK
1959–1960 Scunthorpe United
1960–196? St Albans City
1962 Köpings IS
1963 IFK Stockholm
1964 Fredrikstad
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Frank Soo (12 March 1914 – 25 January 1991) was an English professional football player and manager of mixed Chinese and English parentage. Soo played as an inside forward.[2]

Contents

Personal life

Soo was born in Buxton, Derbyshire,[3][nb 1] and brought up in Liverpool. His parents, Liverpool-based Chinese sailor father Our Quong Soo (can also be transliterated as Ah Kwong Soo) and English mother Beatrice Whittam,[4] had married in Chorlton, Manchester in 1908.[5] Frank had a number of siblings; an elder brother Norman (born 1909 in Chorlton), and younger siblings: Phyllis, Ronald, Jack, Harold and finally Kenneth in 1931. By 1920 the family had settled in West Derby, Liverpool. His brother, Ronald, was killed on 14 January 1944 while serving as an air gunner in No. 166 Squadron. He is buried at Hanover Cemetery, Germany.[6]

Soo was one of the first ethnic minority footballers to play in the Football League.[1]

Having later lived in several countries, his address at the time of his death was given as New Cheadle Hospital, Cheadle, Staffordshire.[7]

Playing career

Soo began his career with Prescot Cables, moving to Stoke City in January 1933. By the time of the Second World War, Soo had established himself as a crowd favourite at Stoke, playing alongside such celebrated players as Stanley Matthews and Freddie Steele. During the war, he guested for Everton, Chelsea, Reading, Millwall and Brentford and played nine times for the England national football team between 1942 and 1945 (in Wartime and Victory internationals), the first non-white person ever to play for the national team (albeit in semi-official matches only) and the only person of East Asian descent to date. He also played for several FA representative teams not officially described as "England".

In September 1945, after playing 173 league games for Stoke, Soo moved to Leicester City for a fee of £4,600, rejoining the manager who had signed him for Stoke, Tom Mather. He moved to Luton Town in July 1946 for a fee of £5,000, playing a further 71 league games before joining non-league Chelmsford City directly from Luton for a reported fee of £2,500 in the 1948-1949 season for whom he made 82 first team appearances and scored 10 goals,mostly directly from free kicks.[8]

Managerial career

In April 1950 he was appointed as manager of Padova, a post he held until July 1952.

In October 1950 he gave a talk at Littleport Town FC in Littleport, Cambridgeshire,[9] when he was an FA Coach.

He was subsequently coach of Padova for the end of the 1950–51 season and the start of the 1951/52 season.[1]

Later in 1952 he became coach of the Norway national football team[10] and then Swedish side IFK Eskilstuna, taking over at Örebro SK in 1953, Djurgårdens IF in 1954, IK Oddevold in 1956 and AIK in 1958[1][11]

In June 1959 he was appointed as manager of Scunthorpe United, but left in May 1960 after his one season in charge had seen Scunthorpe finish a respectable 15th in Division Two. Afterwards he had a spell as manager of St Albans City.[12] He subsequently returned to Scandinavia, taking over as coach of IS Köping in 1962, IFK Stockholm in 1963, Fredrikstad in 1964[13] and AB Copenhagen in 1965. He later coached a number of teams in Copenhagen and Malmö before taking over as coach of Höganäs BK in 1972.

He also had a spell as manager of the Israel national team.

International games played

9 May 1942: Wales 1 - England 0 (Ninian Park, Cardiff, attendance 30,000)
25 September 1943: England 8 - Wales 3 (Wembley Stadium, London, attendance 80,000)
22 April 1944: Scotland 2 - England 3 (Hampden Park, Glasgow, attendance 133,000)
30 September 1944: France XI 0 - FA Services XI 5 (Parc des Princes, Paris, attendance 30,000)
1 October 1944: Belgium 0 - FA Services XI 3 (Stade du Daring Club, Brussels, attendance 28,000)
14 October 1944: England 6 - Scotland 2 (Wembley Stadium, London, attendance 90,000)
3 February 1945: England 3 - Scotland 2 (Villa Park, Birmingham, attendance 65,780)
14 April 1945: Scotland 1 - England 6 (Hampden Park, Glasgow, attendance 133,000)
26 May 1945: England 2 - France 2 (Wembley Stadium, London, attendance 65,000) ("Victory International")
21 July 1945: Switzerland 3 - England 1 (Neufeld Stadion, Bern, attendance 35,000) (Unofficial international - Swiss FA 50th anniversary)
15 September 1945: Ireland 0 - England 1 (Windsor Park, Belfast, attendance 45,061)
20 October 1945: England 0 - Wales 1 (The Hawthorns, Birmingham, attendance 54,611)

Career statistics

Club Season League FA Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Stoke City 1933–34 14 1 2 2 16 3
1934–35 9 0 0 0 9 0
1935–36 35 0 5 0 40 0
1936–37 31 0 0 0 31 0
1937–38 42 2 3 2 45 5
1937–38 42 2 2 1 44 3
Total 173 5 12 5 185 10
Luton Town 1946–47
1947–48
1948–49
Total 71 4 71 4
Career Total 244 9 12 5 256 14

Notes

  1. ^ Frank Soo is a different person than Hong Y.Soo - Register of Births 1914 (1) Liverpool district Vol 8b p 159

References

  1. ^ a b c They played for Reading FC-The Ultimate Website
  2. ^ FRANK SOO - DERBYSHIRE'S FAMOUS CHINAMAN
  3. ^ Register of Births 1914 (2) Chapel-en-le-Frith district Vol 7b p 1732
  4. ^ Register of Marriages 1908 (4) Chorlton district Vol 8c p 1106
  5. ^ Register of Marriages 1908 (4) Chorlton district Vol 8c p 1106
  6. ^ SOO, RONALD, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, cwgc.org. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  7. ^ Probate Records, London WC1 (1991)
  8. ^ The Secretary Asks- "Do You Recall?" L.G.Menhinick , Chelmsford City Football News (Monday 24 August 1964)
  9. ^ Littleport and District Directory accessed 23 December 2007
  10. ^ http://www.fotballen.eu/artikler/landslaget/statistikk.html
  11. ^ http://lesrosbifs.net/?page_id=512
  12. ^ Why Delilah - Stoke City FC, The Potters
  13. ^ http://www.ffksupporter.net/artikler/historikk/1960-1969/den_siste_gullalder.php

External links

Calcio Padova – managers
  • Treves de'Bonfili (1910–11)
  • Festa, Pedrina, Appiani (1913–14)
  • Pedrina (1914–15)
  • Peyer (1919–22)
  • Burgess (1922–26)
  • Peyer (1926)
  • Fagiuoli (1926–27)
  • Bell (1927–28)
  • Burgess (1928–30)
  • L. Kovács (1930–32)
  • Vanicsek (1932–35)
  • Colombati (1932)
  • E. Kovács (1935–36)
  • Wilheim (1936–38)
  • Vereb (1938–39)
  • Tansini (1939)
  • Koeszeigy (1939–40)
  • Klein (1940–41)
  • Bánás (1941–42)
  • Zamberletti (1942–43)
  • Tansini (1943–44)
  • Dentelli (1945–46)
  • Tansini (1946)
  • Varglien (1946)
  • Monti (1946)
  • Serantoni (1946–47)
  • Wilheim (1947–48)
  • Serantoni (1948–49)
  • Guttmann (1949–50)
  • Serantoni (1950)
  • Blasevich (1950–51)
  • G. Ferrari (1951)
  • Soo (1951–52)
  • Prendato (1952)
  • Pasinati (1952)
  • Rava (1952–53)
  • Czeizler (1953)
  • Tansini (1953)
  • Rava (1953–54)
  • Rocco (1954–61)
  • Mari (1961–62)
  • Serantoni (1962)
  • Del Grosso (1962–63)
  • Maté (1963)
  • Montez (1963–64)
  • Maté (1964)
  • Montarini (1964–66)
  • Rosa (1966–69)
  • Maté (1969–72)
  • Bolognesi (1972)
  • Perazzolo (1972)
  • Bolognesi (1972)
  • Gatti (1972–73)
  • Bolognesi (1973–74)
  • Trapanelli (1974–75)
  • Cappello (1975)
  • Beraldo (1975–76)
  • Bergamasco (1976)
  • Pin (1976–77)
  • R. Mattè (1977)
  • Foscarini & Longhin (1977)
  • Pivatelli (1977–79)
  • E. Mattè (1979)
  • Mammi (1979–80)
  • Caciagli (1980–82)
  • Giorgi (1982–83)
  • Sereni (1983)
  • Agroppi (1983–84)
  • Rambone (1984)
  • Di Marzio (1984–85)
  • Perani (1985–86)
  • Mammi (1986)
  • Buffoni (1986–89)
  • E. Ferrari (1989)
  • Colautti (1989–91)
  • Mazzia (1991–92)
  • Sandreani (1992–96)
  • Materazzi (1996–97)
  • Fedele (1997)
  • Pillon (1997–98)
  • Fedele (1998–99)
  • Ottoni (1999)
  • Beruatto (1999–00)
  • Varrella (2000–01)
  • Frosio (2001–03)
  • Glerean (2003–04)
  • Ulivieri (2004–05)
  • Pellegrino (2005–06)
  • Mandorlini (2006–07)
  • Rossi (2007–08)
  • Sabatini (2008–09)
  • Tesser (2009)
  • Sabatini (2009–10)
  • Di Costanzo (2010)
  • Sabatini (2010)
  • Calori (2010–11)
  • Dal Canto (2011–)
Örebro SK – managers
AIK Fotboll – managers