Frank Costello (footballer)

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Frank Costello
Personal information
Full name Frederick G. Costello
Date of birth 1884
Place of birth Birmingham, England
Date of death (aged 29)
Place of death France
Position(s)
Forward
Youth career
Soho Villa
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1904–1905 West Bromwich Albion 0 (0)
1905–1907 Halesowen Town 60 (35)
1907–1909 Southampton 41 (10)
1909 West Ham United 12 (3)
1909–1910 Bolton Wanderers 0 (0)
1910–???? Nelson
Merthyr Town
Salisbury City
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Frederick "Frank" G. Costello (1884 – 19 December 1914) was an English professional

First World War
.

Playing career

Costello was born in Birmingham and, after playing his youth football with Soho Villa, joined West Bromwich Albion in September 1904. Failing to make the grade, he moved to Halesowen Town at the beginning of the 1905-06 season. He made his debut on 2 September 1905, scoring the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Oldbury. He went on to make 60 recorded league appearances and helped Halesowen gain promotion back into the Birmingham & District League.

After two seasons with Halesowen, he moved to the south coast to join

John Lewis or George Smith in the centre. Described as "a trifle slow, he was clever with the ball and had a habit of disconcerting the opposition by making for goal when he was expected to make a pass".[1]
In the 1907–08 season he scored nine goals from 28 league appearances.

He also played in all six

semi-final with goals from former Southampton players Wally Radford and George Hedley.[4]

Injury kept him out of the team for the early part of the 1908–09 season; he had a run of five matches at inside left in November before being switched to

centre forward as replacement for Arthur Hughes who had suffered a bad leg injury. Although Costello scored in his first match in his new role (in a 4–2 victory over Plymouth Argyle on 12 December 1908), he was not a success and in March 1909 he was transferred to West Ham United, with Jack Foster moving in the opposite direction.[5]

He made twelve Southern League appearances for West Ham (scoring three goals) before moving on to Bolton Wanderers. He failed to make the first team at Bolton and after spells with Nelson and Merthyr Town he returned to Southampton, where he turned out occasionally for Salisbury City.

After football

During the

Hainaut, Belgium.[8]

References

  1. .
  2. .
  3. .
  4. .
  5. ^ The Alphabet of the Saints. p. 127.
  6. ^ "Frederick Costello | Service Record | Football and the First World War". Football and the First World War. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  7. ^ Kahn, Nigel. "Remembrance day: Frank Costello". theyflysohigh.co.uk. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  8. ^ "Costello, Frank". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 11 September 2014.

External links