Horace Glover

Horace Glover
Personal information
Full nameHorace Victor Glover
Date of birth1883
Place of birthAshford, Kent, England
Date of death28 January 1967 (aged 84)
Place of deathWinchester, England
Playing positionFull-back
Youth career
Ashford United
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
19??–1906Hastings & St Leonards
1906–1911Southampton160(4)
1911–1913West Ham United29(0)
1913–1914Boscombe
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Horace Victor Glover (1883 – 28 January 1967) was an English professional footballer who played at left-back for Southampton and West Ham United in the decade prior to World War I.

Football career

Glover was born in Ashford, Kent and trained as an architect's assistant,[1] playing football on an amateur basis for Hastings & St Leonards. Jimmy Yates, the former Sheffield United and Southampton player was in his second spell at Hastings and recommended Glover to Southampton.

Glover moved along the south coast to join Southampton in the Southern League in May 1906, to replace Arthur Hartshorne who had left in the summer. Glover made his debut at left-back in the opening match of the 1906–07 season, a 1–0 defeat at Swindon Town. He soon established a reputation for "strong, decisive tackling and excellent distribution"[1] and became a permanent fixture at the left of the defence, rarely missing a match over the next two seasons.[2] In 1907, he scored twice in the opening five matches and his form in defence brought him to the attention of Football League clubs, who made "tempting offers"[1] in an attempt to persuade the "Saints" to sell him. In the Cup, he helped Southampton reach the FA Cup Semi Finals in March 1908, where they went out to Wolverhampton Wanderers, having beaten First Division Everton en route.[3]

A series of injuries resulted in him missing large parts of the 1908–09 season, when John Robertson generally stood in for him, but by the start of the following season he was restored to fitness and, now the team's captain,[1] he again became the automatic first-choice at left-back.

In September 1911, he was persuaded to move to London, to join Southern League rivals, West Ham United, where he was re-united with his former Southampton team-mate Fred Harrison, who had moved to Upton Park in the spring. Glover made his debut for the "Hammers" in a 5–0 victory over Reading on 23 September, but only spent one season in West Ham's first-team making 29 Southern League and five FA Cup appearances.[4] In the FA Cup, Glover was part of the West Ham team that defeated Middlesbrough of the First Division in the Second Round in February 1912.[5]

After a blank season, when Harry Forster, who had spent six years in the First Division with Sunderland, took over at left-back, Glover joined Boscombe for a season before retiring.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 143. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
  2. Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan (1987). Saints – A complete record. Breedon Books. pp. 40–43. ISBN 0-907969-22-4.
  3. Saints – A complete record. p. 42.
  4. "Victor Glover – West Ham United career details". westhamstats.info. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
  5. "West Ham United 2–1 Middlesbrough". The Giant Killers. Retrieved 10 July 2009.