John Mitchell (footballer, born 1800s)

For other people named John Mitchell, see John Mitchell (disambiguation).
John Mitchell
Personal information
Date of birth unknown
Date of death unknown
Playing position Full-back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1879–1885 Doncaster Rovers 0 (0)
1885–1888 Newton Heath LYR 0 (0)
1888 Bolton Wanderers 2 (0)
1888–1891 Newton Heath LYR 50 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (goals)

John Mitchell was a footballer who played as a full-back with Doncaster Rovers, Newton Heath LYR and Bolton Wanderers in the late 19th century. He played in Doncaster's first match in 1879, and for Bolton on the first day of the inaugural season of The Football League in 1888.

Career

Mitchell played at left-back in the first match Doncaster Rovers played under that name, at Rawmarsh on 3 October 1879.[1] He scored a hat-trick in the first game of the 1881–82 season at Frodingham and Scunthorpe Town, and at least one other goal in a 12−a−side meeting at Bentley Trinity in 1880.[1] While Mitchell was with Doncaster, their matches were all friendlies, mainly against teams in the south of Yorkshire or very north of the Midlands, and at least half of the goal scorers were unrecorded.[1]

At the beginning of the 1883–84 season, he was made team captain, replacing the club's founder, Albert Jenkins, and was present in the side until Doncaster played Newton Heath LYR in a 2–2 draw on 7 February 1985.[1]

Newton Heath signed him soon after that game.[2] As football was predominantly amateur in those days, they also found him a job in the railway carriage shops of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, from where the club had originated.[1]

In July 1888, he briefly moved to Bolton Wanderers,[2][3] for whom he played on the opening day of the Football League's inaugural season in a 3–6 home defeat at Pike's Lane against Derby County.[4][5] However, he only made one more appearance for the club, another home defeat in their second League game this time against Burnley.[5][6][7]

He returned to Newton Heath in October 1888,[2] making his return debut in a friendly against a Canadian XI on 6 October.[8] He played for Newton Heath until 1891, appearing in a total of 204 games (including friendly matches). He was also on the winning side in four out of the six Manchester Cup finals in which he appeared for Newton Heath, in 1886, 1888, 1889 and 1890.[4][8] He scored three goals in his six years with the club, all in friendlies; the first came on his debut in a 6–0 win over Gorton on 21 February 1885, the second in a 4–2 win over Blackburn Olympic on 6 November 1886, and the final effort was scored from the half-way line in a 2–1 win over Witton on 14 September 1889.[4]

Most of Mitchell's appearances were played at left-back, although in his last two seasons with Newton Heath, he found a more settled role at right-back. He also played very infrequently as a left- or centre-half, or even on the forward line as an outside or centre-forward.[8]

Honours

Club

Newton Heath LYR

References

{{cite book|last=Bluff|first=Tony|title=Donny:Doncaster Rovers F.C. The Complete History (1879–2010)|year=2011|publisher=Yore Publications|isbn=978-0-9569848-3-8}}</ref>

[3] [6] [4] [8] [7] [2] [5]; -webkit-column-width: list [1] [3] [6] [4] [8] [7] [2] [5]; column-width: list [1] [3] [6] [4] [8] [7] [2] [5]; list-style-type: decimal;">

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bluff, Tony (2011). Donny:Doncaster Rovers F.C. The Complete History (1879–2010). Yore Publications. ISBN 978-0-9569848-3-8.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "United all time transfer list". Red11.org. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "J. Mitchell Manchester United stats and player profile". MUFCinfo.com. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Boujaoude, Charbel (2010). The Story of the Green & Gold: Newton Heath 1878–1902. Empire Publications Ltd. ISBN 978-1-901746-57-0.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Simon Marland (2011). Bolton Wanderers: the complete record. DB Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85983-972-0.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Overall Appearances/Goals Record – M". BWFC Stats. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888–1939. Tony Brown. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Shury, Alan; Landamore, Brian (2002). The Definitive Newton Heath F.C. Tony Brown. ISBN 978-1-899468-16-4.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, December 16, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.