Jimmy Warner

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For other people with the same name, see James Warner.

Jimmy Warner
Personal information
Full name James Warner
Date of birth (1865-04-15)15 April 1865
Place of birth Lozells, Birmingham, England
Date of death 7 November 1943(1943-11-07) (aged 78)
Place of death Pittsburgh, United States
Position(s)
Goalkeeper
Youth career
Milton
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1886–1892 Aston Villa 75 (0)
1892–1893 Newton Heath 22 (0)
1893–1894 Walsall Town Swifts 12 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

James Warner (15 April 1865 – 7 November 1943) (one source states Warner was born on 25 August 1863) was an English

1887
.

Career

Aston Villa

Born in

Kennington Oval on 2 April 1887, Albion were the favourites having been (defeated) finalists the previous year, and also having defeated Preston North End in the semi-final. In the first twenty minutes of the final, the Villa defence was put under heavy pressure, but "Warner played a brave game in goal, repeatedly foiling Albion's attempts to charge him, ball in hand, over his own goal-line."[1] Warner successfully prevented the Albion forwards from scoring, and in the second half Villa score twice with goals by Archie Hunter and Dennis Hodgetts
, to win the cup for the first time.

Season 1888-89

On 8 September 1888, Villa made their first appearance in

1888–89. In the match against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Warner was in goal when defender Gershom Cox "had the misfortune of kicking the ball through his own goalposts".The final score was 1-1.[2] Thus Cox scored and Warner conceded what was thought, until 2013,[3] to be the first goal in the Football League.[4]

Warner played 21 of the 22 League games Aston Villa played in season 1888–89. As a goalkeeper he played in a defence that achieved one League clean-sheet and kept the opposition to one-League-goal-in-a-match on no less than on eight occasions. In the first three league seasons, Warner was virtually ever-present, missing only two matches, with Villa gaining the runners-up spot in

1890–91 was similar, with Villa finishing ninth and again having to suffer "the indignation of the re-election process".[5][6][7]

In

Jack Reynolds.[8]

Suspicions were immediately raised over Warner's performance in the Cup Final. In the weeks preceding the Final, Warner skipped training sessions with the rest of the Villa side,[9] and was also seen in earnest conversation with a mysterious man in a sharp suit and hat. He fumbled Geddes long-range shot and allowed the ball into the back of the net for West Brom's first goal, while he fumbled a straightforward save twenty minutes later, allowing Nicholls to score. Then finally in the second half Reynolds long-range shot flew into the net past a hopelessly out-of-position Warner. Rumours began to circulate that Warner had lost a substantial amount of money on a bet and had agreed to throw the Cup Final to recoup his losses[10]

Villa finished the 1891–92 in fourth place in the league, but Warner's Villa career was over and, in July 1892, he was transferred to Newton Heath in Manchester.

Newton Heath

He became Newton Heath's first choice goalkeeper straight away in their first season in

the Football League and made 20 consecutive appearances at the start of the season.[11] However, he failed to show up for an away match against Stoke City on 7 January 1893, resulting in centre-half Willie Stewart having to play as a makeshift goalkeeper; the team lost 7–1. Warner explained to the club directors that he had missed his train to Stoke, but they were unconvinced and suspended him for a month.[12] After his suspension was up, Warner made just three more appearances for Newton Heath (two in the league and one in the Manchester Senior Cup), and was sold to Walsall Town Swifts
at the end of the season.

Walsall Town Swifts

His career at Walsall was short-lived too, and he retired in 1894.[13]

Warner died in Pittsburgh, United States, on 7 July 1943.[14]

One source described Warner as supple and shrewd, agile enough to reach (punch) the most difficult of shots (or headers).[15]

Honours

Aston Villa

  • 1887

Statistics

Source:[16]

Club Season Division League FA Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Aston Villa 1888–89
The Football League
 21 0 3 0 24 0
Aston Villa 1889–90 Football League 21 0 2 0 23 0
Aston Villa 1890–91
Football League
 22 0 2 0 24 0
Aston Villa 1891–92 Football League 11 0 5 0 16 0
Newton Heath 1892–93 First Division 22 0 - - 22 0
Walsall Town Swifts
 1893–94 Second Division 12 0 2 0 14 0

References

  1. ^ "FA Cup Final 1887". www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2008.
  2. ISBN 1-84426-035-6
    .
  3. ^ "Solving the mystery of the first goal in league football". BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
  4. ^ "Football: Come in number 500,000 (Article on "landmark" goals)". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 April 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2008.
  5. ^ Gibbons, p.139.
  6. ISBN 978-1-4456-1881-4
    .
  7. ^ "English National Football Archive". Retrieved 31 March 2018. (registration & fee required)
  8. ^ "FA Cup Final 1892". www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2008.
  9. ^ Ward, Andrew, "Football's Strangest Matches: Extraordinary But True Stories from Over a Century of Football", Robson Publishing, 2005
  10. ^ Motson, John, "Motson's FA Cup Odyssey: The World's Greatest Knockout Competition", Robson Publishing, 2005
  11. ISBN 1-899468-16-1
    .
  12. ISBN 978-0-7528-9192-7
    .
  13. ISBN 0-233-99964-7
    .
  14. ^ "Warner, James (Jimmy)". Aston Villa Player Database. Retrieved 7 September 2008.
  15. ISBN 1-84018-821-9
    .
  16. ^ Jimmy Warner at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_Warner&oldid=1164082077"