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Joseph Nash (footballer)

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Joseph Henry Nash
Personal information
Date of birth 1869
Place of birth Uxbridge, England
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1]
Position(s) Wing half
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Uxbridge
1890–1893 Burnley 5 (0)
1893–1894 Nelson
1894–1895 Manchester City 17 (1)
1895–1896 Nelson
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Joseph Nash (1869 – after 1922) was an English professional footballer who played as a wing half or centre half in the Football League for Burnley and Manchester City. He began his career with his home-town club, Uxbridge, and spent two spells with Lancashire League club Nelson.

Personal life

Nash was born in Uxbridge, Middlesex, in 1869.[2] The 1891 Census finds him living in lodgings in Burnley, described as a "painter & paperhanger, also professional football player".[3] Later that year, he married his landlady's daughter, Kate Davison; the couple honeymooned in Blackpool.[4] By the time of the 1911 Census, they had five children ranging in age from 18 down to 2, Nash was still hanging wallpaper in Burnley and his wife and two eldest daughters were working in the cotton mills.[5]

Despite being in his mid-forties when the First World War began, Nash joined up, served as a sergeant in the 3rd Middlesex Regiment on the Western Front,[6] and later served in India,[7] before returning to his former trade.[8]

Football career

Nash played at centre forward for Uxbridge,[9][10] and played representative football for West Middlesex Association.[11] A team-mate, Tom White, signed for Football League club Burnley at the end of the 1888–89 season,[12] and Nash soon followed.[13]

White was a regular in the Burnley side in his first season,[14] but Nash was not. He established himself in their reserve team, at an unaccustomed centre-half position,[8] but did not make his first-team debut until 8 November 1890,[2] standing in at right half for the injured Bill McFettridge away at Aston Villa.[15] The match was drawn, 4–4, and according to the Athletic News, "Nash had none the worst of his repeated encounters with [England international winger] Dennis Hodgetts".[16] He had a run of games at centre half in January and February 1891, but spent the next two-and-a-half seasons with the reserves. He made one last appearance for the first team in December 1892,[2] and was not offered a new contract at the end of that season.[17] A feature some 30 years later in the Burnley Express remembers him "rendering good service" to Burnley over several years as "one of the most athletic players of the period".[8]

Nash spent the 1893–94 season with Nelson of the Lancashire League, where he played not only as a half-back but also "distinguished himself" at full back.[18] However, he was keen to return to League football. A proposed move to Woolwich Arsenal came to nothing because that club were reluctant to pay a fee, and in June 1894, he signed for Football League Second Division club Manchester City.[18] He was named captain for the opening match of the new season,[19] and played regularly until losing his place following the arrival of Jim McBride from Liverpool.[20] He was reported to have been one of several players with Manchester City connections who had signed up for the exodus to the Baltimore Orioles of the nascent but short-lived American League of Professional Football, but he did not go.[21][22] Those who did were suspended on their return.[21] He numbered among his 17 matches the first Manchester derby played in the Football League,[23] an 8–0 loss away to Burton Wanderers that remains City's joint-widest losing margin in league matches, and an 11–3 win at home to Lincoln City, in which he scored his only league goal, that remains City's record league win.[24][25][26]

Rumours in October 1895 of Nash's imminent return to Uxbridge were denied by the player himself, who told the Buckinghamshire Advertiser reporter that he was negotiating with Burnley,[27] but the fee required by Manchester City proved too steep,[28] and he rejoined Nelson instead.[29] He went straight into the team for a win against Halliwell Rovers that took Nelson to the top of the table,[30] but was released at his own request four months later because he was "anxious to take part in more engagements than he has been permitted to with the Nelson team".[31] According to a letter published in the Burnley newspapers in March 1897, Nash was spotted watching Burnley's reserves playing at Turf Moor, and asked why he was no longer playing. He is reported to have replied that he had offered his services to Burnley, informed them that Manchester City had promised him a free transfer if he found himself another Football League Club, and expressed a willingness to play on trial at no cost, but the committee had "given him no decided answer".[32]

References

  1. ^ "Answers to correspondents. Football". Athletic News. Lancashire. 8 October 1894. p. 4.
  2. ^ a b c "Player search: Nash, JH (Joseph)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  3. ^ "1891 England Census for Joseph Henry Nash". RG12/3361, Folio: 33, Page: 38 – via Ancestry.co.uk.
  4. ^ "Marriage of a footballer". Burnley Express. 11 July 1891. p. 5.
  5. ^ "1911 England Census for Joseph Nash". RG14/24780, RD: 472, ED – via Ancestry.co.uk.
  6. ^ "Former footballer at the front". Burnley Express. 23 June 1915. p. 5.
  7. ^ Sportsman (29 January 1916). "Notes on sport. Football". Burnley Express. p. 10.
  8. ^ a b c Sportsman (5 May 1923). "Peeps into the past". Burnley Express. p. 11.
  9. ^ "Charity football match. Uxbridge v. E. H. Parry's 'Varsity XI". Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Uxbridge & Watford Journal. Uxbridge. 29 December 1888. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Henesey Football Challenge Cup". Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Uxbridge & Watford Journal. Uxbridge. 2 March 1889. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "West Middlesex Association v. Berks and Bucks Junior Association". Sporting Life. London. 2 March 1889. p. 3.
  12. ^ "The Uxbridge Football Club. The annual dinner". Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Uxbridge & Watford Journal. Uxbridge. 20 April 1889. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Burnley Athletic Festival". Burnley Gazette. 21 August 1889. p. 4.
  14. ^ "Player search: White, ET (Tom)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  15. ^ "Football. What they say". Burnley Express. 8 November 1890. p. 6.
  16. ^ Brum (10 November 1890). "Burnley at Perry Barr". Athletic News. Lancashire. p. 6.
  17. ^ "The Burnley club and their players". Burnley Express. 29 March 1893. p. 4.
  18. ^ a b "Migration of players". Burnley Gazette. 6 June 1894. p. 4.
  19. ^ "League. Second Division. Bury v. Manchester City". Manchester Courier. 3 September 1894. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Matthews, Tony (2013). Manchester City Player by Player. Stroud: Amberley. p. 242. ISBN 978-1-4456-1737-4.
  21. ^ a b Brown, Paul (1 September 2016). "Football Hustlers. The doomed attempts to establish a football league in the USA in the 19th century". The Blizzard. No. 22. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019.
  22. ^ Holroyd, Steve (4 September 2000). "The first professional soccer league in the United States: The American League of Professional Football (1894)". USA Soccer History Archives. Dave Litterer. Archived from the original on 2 March 2009.
  23. ^ Clayton, David (2012). Manchester United vs Manchester City. Haynes. pp. 5–6. ISBN 978-0-85733-177-9.
  24. ^ "Players: Joseph Nash". statcity.co.uk. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  25. ^ "Club records". Bluemoon-MCFC. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  26. ^ "Manchester City History: Club records". Manchester City F.C. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  27. ^ Discipulus (19 October 1895). "Local football gossip". Middlesex and Buckinghamshire Advertiser. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ "Notes on sport". Burnley Express. 12 October 1895. p. 6.
  29. ^ "Notes on sport". Burnley Express. 19 October 1895. p. 6.
  30. ^ "Nelson head the league. A brilliant victory". Nelson Chronicle. 1 November 1895. p. 8.
  31. ^ "Athletic and sporting gossip". Blackburn Standard. 15 February 1896. p. 7.
  32. ^ An Anxious Spectator (3 March 1897). "Correspondence. Burnley and the test matches". Burnley Gazette. p. 4.
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