Crowe Frank Image 1 Merthyr Town 1921

Description

Dudley, Worcestershire born left half Frank Crowe began his football career in local football with Tamworth Castle in 1912, Cannock Town in 1913 and Apollo Works in 1914, and prior to the First World War he had a spell on the books of Birmingham, without making their first eleven.

On the resumption of peacetime football he joined newly elected Second Division club Coventry City in August 1919, making his Football League debut at Leicester at the end of September. However he only played once more in the first team, also against Leicester City in the return fixture a week later, before joining Merthyr Town in November 1919, at that stage still a Southern League club. The next season however, they were a founding member of the new Third Division (South) and Crowe played in their inaugural League match against Crystal Palace in August 1921 as well as all but three of their other games that season.

He scored 7 goals in 78 appearances for Merthyr over two seasons at Penydarren Park before a transfer to Chesterfield in May 1922, where he stayed only a single season scoring once in 21 appearances for The Spireites. The following June he moved to Rochdale where he often appeared at inside left, scoring 5 goals in 20 matches for ‘Dale, helping them to finish runners up in the Third Division (North) that season, narrowly missing out on promotion, before returning to Wales, first with Merthyr Town in 1924, where he didn’t make any further first team appearances, and then playing non league football for Penrhiwceiber in 1925, his final known club before his eventual retirement.

Frank Crowe’s son, Vic Crowe, was a stalwart club captain for Aston Villa during the 1950’s and 1960’s playing more than 350 matches, and was capped 16 times by Wales. He later played for Peterborough United and was Aston Villa’s manager between 1970 and 1974, leading them out of the Third Division, and he later managed Portland Timbers in the NASL.