Bill Fraser (English footballer)

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Bill Fraser
Personal information
Full name William Fraser
Date of birth 1903
Place of birth Cowpen, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s) Inside forward
Youth career
Blyth Spartans
New Delaval Temperance
Cowpen Celtic
Royal Tank Corps
East Stirlingshire
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1926–1929 Northampton Town 17 (4)
1929 Aldershot 0 (0)
1929–1932 Southampton 56 (11)
1932–1933 Fulham 0 (0)
1933–1934 Northampton Town 3 (1)
1934 Hartlepools United 0 (0)
1934–???? Salisbury City
Managerial career
1956 Walton & Hersham
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

William Fraser (born 1903, date of death unknown) [1] was an English professional footballer who played at inside forward for Northampton Town and Southampton in the 1920s and 1930s.

Contents

Football career

Early career

Fraser was born in Cowpen, near Blyth, Northumberland and played for Blyth Spartans as a junior. He then had a spell in the Army, with the Royal Tank Corps before starting his professional career with Northampton Town in November 1926.

He spent two seasons with Northampton Town in the Third Division South, making 17 league appearances generally on the right wing, scoring four goals as well as providing scoring chances for centre forwards Ernie Cockle and Harry Loasby.

He signed for Aldershot, then in the Southern League, in May 1929 but before he made any first team appearances he was transferred to Second Division Southampton in June for a fee of £200. [2]

Southampton

He made his "Saints" debut on 14 December 1929, replacing Oswald Littler at inside right in a 1–1 draw at Reading. Fraser made nine appearances in the No. 8 shirt, before being replaced by Jerry Mackie in March. [3]

In the 1930–31 season, Fraser took over at centre forward from the injured Willie Haines after the first match of the season and during a run of thirteen games up front scored six goals before Johnny McIlwaine took over. Fraser then reverted to inside right before being replaced by Laurie Cumming for a few matches before Mackie returned in January, although Fraser played the last five games of the season. [4]

By the start of the following season Mackie had retired, and Fraser played at inside forward until Christmas before injury forced him to miss most of the rest of the season. During his absence, manager George Kay tried eight players at No. 8, of which only Frank Osborne played more than four games. [5]

According to Holley & Chalk, Fraser "had considerable ability, (but) suffered acutely from nerves in front of crowds". [2] In July 1932, he was sold to Fulham for a fee of £500 [2] (together with fellow forwards Arthur Haddleton and Bert Jepson) as the Saints were in serious financial difficulties and needed to raise funds.

Later career

He joined Fulham in July 1932, but was unable to break into the first team with long-serving Jim Hammond hardly missing a match for seven years.

In June 1933, Fraser returned to Northampton Town for one last season, before returning to southern England where he joined Salisbury City in 1934, becoming a player-coach in 1935. In 1956, he joined Walton & Hersham as manager. [1]

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The 1920–21 season was the 26th season of competitive football by Southampton, and the club's first in the Football League. At the end of the previous season, Southampton were one of a host of Southern League clubs elected to make up the new Third Division, finishing second in the inaugural season behind champions Crystal Palace. The Saints began the season strongly, winning seven of their first ten games to begin a lengthy run at the top of the league table until the end of the year. The club began to lose against several teams lower in the table in December, dropping a position as Palace continued to win the majority of their games. Southampton finished the season in second place with 19 wins, 16 draws and seven losses, four points behind the champions and one point ahead of third-placed Queens Park Rangers.

The 1921–22 season was the 27th season of competitive football by Southampton, and the club's second in the Football League. After finishing second in the league the previous season, Southampton achieved promotion to the Second Division as champions of the newly regionalised Third Division South. Following a false start to the campaign, the Saints quickly asserted their dominance in the league when they went on a club record 19-game unbeaten run until the end of 1921. The club also remained unbeaten at The Dell for the entirety of the league season, as well as conceding a Football League record low 21 goals in 42 games, which remained in place until the 1978–79 season. Southampton finished atop the league table with 23 wins, 15 draws and four losses, ahead of runners-up Plymouth Argyle only on goal average.

The 1922–23 season was the 28th season of competitive football by Southampton, and the club's first in the Second Division of the Football League. Having secured promotion from the Third Division South as champions the previous season, the largely unchanged Saints team avoided relegation comfortably and finished in the middle of the league table in their first season as a second-flight club. After a poor start to the campaign in which they picked up only one point from their first five matches, Southampton began to improve in form and move up from the Second Division relegation zone. The club picked up several wins over higher-placed opponents challenging for the division's two promotion places, allowing them to finish mid-table. Southampton finished in 11th place with 14 wins, 14 draws and 14 losses, and an even goal average.

The 1925–26 season was the 31st season of competitive football by Southampton, and the club's fourth in the Second Division of the Football League. After finishing in the top half of the league table in their first three seasons in the division, Southampton had their worst year to date in the second flight when they finished in 14th place, ending just six points above the first relegation position. The club suffered a string of losses at the beginning of the campaign, leaving them with points to make up in later months. Former player Arthur Chadwick was brought in as Southampton's new manager in October, and the club subsequently secured their position in the Second Division with a run of wins over the Christmas period, despite continuing to lose points. The club finished in 14th place with 15 wins, eight draws and 19 losses.

The 1927–28 season was the 33rd season of competitive football by Southampton, and the club's sixth in the Second Division of the Football League. The season was the club's worst in the division to date, as they finished in 17th place just two points above Fulham in the first relegation spot. After a poor start in which they lost their first four games of the campaign, the Saints continued to drop points against teams throughout the Second Division, remaining in the bottom six positions for most of the year. A number of wins in the second half of the season over fellow mid-table sides helped to offset notable losses against those aiming for promotion, ensuring that the club avoided returning down to the Third Division South. Southampton finished the season in 17th place with 14 wins, seven draws and 21 losses.

The 1929–30 season was the 35th season of competitive football by Southampton, and the club's eighth in the Second Division of the Football League. After finishing fourth in the Second Division the previous season – their highest position in the league to date – Southampton continued their efforts towards achieving promotion to the First Division, but finished three places lower in seventh. The club struggled at the beginning of the league campaign, remaining in the bottom half of the table due to a run of poor results. A period of form including six wins in eight games followed between September and November, enabling the Saints to move up as high as third place. The team remained in the top half of the Second Division table for most of the rest of the season, finishing in seventh place with 17 wins, 11 draws and 14 losses.

The 1932–33 season was the 38th season of competitive football by Southampton, and the club's 11th in the Second Division of the Football League. It was another disappointing campaign for the Saints, who finished mid-table and rarely competed for promotion to the First Division. After a slow start to the season, the club had established themselves in the top half of the table by October with a string of victories. By the end of the calendar year, Southampton had dropped as low as 14th in the Second Division table – the position in which they finished the previous season – after a period of poor form in December. Wins were hard to come by in the second half of the season, but a strong run of results in April meant that the side finished 12th with 18 wins, five draws and 19 losses, seven points above the first relegation place.

The 1933–34 season was the 39th season of competitive football by Southampton, and the club's 12th in the Second Division of the Football League. The season was another mediocre campaign for the Saints, who finished in the bottom half of the Second Division table for the fifth time since joining the league. The club equalled their Football League record of 15 home wins from 21 games, but failed to win a single away fixture all season, continuing a club record run of 33 games without an away which started late the last season and continued until December 1934. Despite starting the season strongly and spending months in the top half of the table, Southampton finished the 1933–34 season in 14th place with 15 wins, eight draws and 19 losses, just five points above Millwall in the first relegation spot.

References

  1. 1 2 Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan & Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Southampton: Hagiology Publishing. p. 71. ISBN   978-0-9926-8640-6.
  2. 1 2 3 Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 130. ISBN   0-9514862-3-3.
  3. ↑ Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan (1987). Saints – A complete record. Breedon Books. pp. 82–83. ISBN   0-907969-22-4.
  4. ↑ Saints – A complete record. pp. 84–85.
  5. ↑ Saints – A complete record. pp. 86–87.
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