Arthur Turner (footballer, born 1909)
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Arthur Owen Turner | ||
Date of birth | 1 April 1909 | ||
Place of birth | Chesterton, Staffordshire, England | ||
Date of death | 12 January 1994 | (aged 84)||
Place of death | Sheffield, England | ||
Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1] | ||
Position(s) | Centre-half | ||
Youth career | |||
Downing Tileries | |||
Woolstanton PSA | |||
1929–1930 | West Bromwich Albion | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1930–1939 | Stoke City | 290 | (17) |
1939–1948 | Birmingham City | 39 | (0) |
1948 | Southport | 28 | (0) |
Total | 357 | (17) | |
Managerial career | |||
1948 | Southport (player-manager) | ||
1948–1951 | Crewe Alexandra | ||
1951–1953 | Stoke City (assistant manager) | ||
1954–1958 | Birmingham City | ||
1959–1969 | Headington United / Oxford United | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Arthur Owen Turner (1 April 1909 – 12 January 1994) was an English professional association football player and
Playing career
Arthur Turner was born in Chesterton, Staffordshire. Following a spell as an amateur with West Bromwich Albion, he signed professional forms for local club Stoke City of the Second Division in 1930. He was a strong defensive half-back, good in the air and on the ground, reliable and influential.[2] He won a Second Division championship medal with Stoke in the 1932–33 season; the club history described him as one of "the real bedrocks" of the promotion side.[3] He was appointed captain of Stoke, in a side that included Stanley Matthews, and in all competitions played over 300 games for the club. In 1939 he was sold to Birmingham for a fee of £6,000.
His contribution in his first few months at Birmingham was not enough to prevent their relegation from the First Division, and the suspension of league football later that year for the duration of the Second World War seriously disrupted his career. He was 30 when war was declared. During the war Turner played nearly 200 games for Birmingham, captaining them to the championship of the wartime Football League South and to the semifinal of the first post-war FA Cup.[4]
Managerial career
In 1948 Turner joined
Birmingham City
In November 1954 Turner replaced
Birmingham City's official history rated
His record in the transfer market was sound. He brought in
In January 1958, Pat Beasley joined the club; Beasley had believed he was coming as Turner's assistant, but chairman Harry Morris announced to the press that he was to be appointed joint manager. Turner, who found about this arrangement not from the club but from the press, threatened to resign; he was persuaded to stay "for the time being", but finally left in September 1958.[12]
Oxford United
Oxford United's club website pinpoints the appointment of Turner as manager of the then Southern League side Headington United as a turning point in the club's history.[13] He joined on New Year's Day 1959. Not long afterwards, First Division club Leeds United approached him to take over as their manager; though favourite to take the job,[14] the Headington directors matched Leeds' salary offer, and Turner chose to stay.[15]
There was no automatic promotion into the Football League in those days; clubs had to be elected, and the likelihood of election depended largely on how the chairmen of other league clubs perceived them. That year, Turner persuaded the directors to change the name of the club to Oxford United, to increase public awareness of the club and to broaden its appeal.[13][15] He employed more professional players, and brought in young players from top clubs. The likes of Graham Atkinson, Cyril Beavon and Maurice Kyle all joined from junior teams of bigger clubs and each went on to play over 300 games for Oxford United. Turner's key signing, the 20-year-old Ron Atkinson, joined from Aston Villa, was soon appointed captain, and went on to play 560 first team games for the club.[16] The combination of Turner's management and Atkinson's captaincy brought two Southern League titles in two years, and when Accrington Stanley went bankrupt in 1962, Oxford United took their place in the Fourth Division of the Football League.[15]
Two years later Turner's team eliminated Blackburn Rovers, who at the time lay second in the First Division, in the fifth round of the FA Cup.[17] They thus became the first Fourth Division side to reach the sixth round.[13] In 1964–65, he led them to promotion from the Fourth Division, and three years later to the championship of the Third. By this time the young players who had been the mainstay of Oxford's rise through the divisions were ageing or retired. Turner had no money to strengthen the side for its Second Division campaign, and struggled with what he had. In April 1969, he became General Manager of the club, leaving the running of the team to Ron Saunders, and in February 1972 he was dismissed[18] when the club admitted they were unable to afford to keep him in post.[19]
Turner remained active in football into the 1980s. He was employed as a scout for Rotherham United[20] and Sheffield Wednesday.[18] He died in Sheffield on 12 January 1994 at the age of 84.
Career statistics
Source:[21]
Club | Season | League | FA Cup | Total | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Stoke City[22] | 1930–31 | Second Division | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
1931–32 | Second Division | 35 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 40 | 0 | |
1932–33 | Second Division | 42 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 44 | 5 | |
1933–34 | First Division | 40 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 44 | 1 | |
1934–35 | First Division | 39 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 4 | |
1935–36 | First Division | 42 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 47 | 4 | |
1936–37 | First Division | 42 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 44 | 3 | |
1937–38 | First Division | 32 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 35 | 0 | |
1938–39 | First Division | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | |
Total | 290 | 17 | 22 | 0 | 312 | 17 | ||
Birmingham
|
1938–39[23]
|
First Division | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
Birmingham City | 1945–46[24] | War League | — | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |
1946–47[25] | Second Division | 27 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 31 | 0 | |
Total | 39 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 53 | 0 | ||
Southport[5] | 1947–48 | Third Division North | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
1948–49 | Third Division North | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | |
Total | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | ||
Career total | 357 | 17 | 36 | 0 | 393 | 17 |
Honours
As player
- with Stoke City
- Football League Second Division champions 1933.
- with Birmingham City
- Football League South champions 1946.
As manager
- with Birmingham City
- Football League Second Division champions 1955.
- 1956.
- Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-final 1958.
- with Headington United / Oxford United
- Southern League runners up 1960.
- Southern League champions 1961.
- Southern League champions and election to the Football League1962.
- FA Cup quarter-final (first Fourth Division club to reach this round) 1964.
- Fourth Division promotion 1965.
- Third Division champions 1968.
References
- ^ "Stoke City. Record-breaking staff re-engaged for this season". Sunday Dispatch Football Guide. London. 23 August 1936. p. vi – via Newspapers.com.
- ISBN 1-85983-010-2.
- ^ "History: 1930–1940 Stan's The Man". Stoke City F.C. 13 May 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
- ^ Matthews, Complete Record, pp. 20–23, 130.
- ^ a b "Football League Player List" (PDF). Southport FC Stats. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
- ^ Matthews, Complete Record, pp. 25–27.
- ^ "Records: Matches". Liverpool F.C. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
- ^ Matthews, Complete Record, p. 27.
- ^ "BCFC Club History". Birmingham City F.C. 29 May 2012. Archived from the original on 29 May 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
- ^ Ross, James M. (21 December 2010). "European Cups Archive". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Retrieved 23 April 2012.
- ^ Matthews, Complete Record, pp. 61–62.
- ^ Matthews, Complete Record, p. 62.
- ^ a b c Crabtree, David; Brunt, Heather Jan; Williams, Chris & Brodetsky, Martin (12 October 2011). "A history of Oxford United Football Club". Archived from the original on 7 February 2012.
- ^ "Managers: Jack Taylor (1959–61)". The Definitive History of Leeds United. The Mighty Mighty Whites. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
- ^ a b c Howland, Andy. "Brief look back: Southern League days: Towards Football League status". The Oxford Times. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
- ^ Howland, Andy. "Past Players: Ron Atkinson". The Oxford Times. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
- ^ Howland, Andy. "Famous Matches: Oxford United 3 – Blackburn Rovers 0". The Oxford Times. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
- ^ a b Howland, Andy. "Past Managers: Arthur Turner". The Oxford Times. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
- ISBN 0-9539288-0-2.
- ^ Matthews, Complete Record, p. 130.
- ^ Arthur Turner at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
- ISBN 1-85983-100-1.
- ^ Matthews, Complete Record, p. 181.
- ^ Matthews, Complete Record, p. 240.
- ^ Matthews, Complete Record, p. 182.