Eyres Jack Image 1 Stoke City 1924

Description

Lostock Gralam, near Northwich, Cheshire born inside left Jack Eyres began his football career with Cheshire County League club Nantwich after the First World War and played for Witton Albion in 1921 before joining First Division Stoke for £250 in June 1922, making his Football League debut at West Bromwich Albion that September. He scored his first goal on his fourth and final appearance of his debut season in a 3-2 defeat at Burnley in April 1923, but it was not enough to help save them from relegation at the season end. In seven seasons at The Victoria Ground he was generally a fringe player, his largest total of appearances in a single season being 19 in 1923-24.

When Stoke, having been relegated again in 1926, won the Third Division (North) Championship in 1926-27, Eyres returned 12 goals in only 18 outings during the season including a hat-trick in a 6-2 win at Wrexham in February 1927. However he only made 7 further Second Division appearances over the two seasons after their promotion before joining Walsall “for a modest fee” in May 1929 after 23 goals in 65 appearances for The Potters.

An ever present in his first season at Fellows Park, and a regular in his second, missing only 3 matches, he was Walsall’s second top goalscorer in 1929-30 with 19 goals, including a hat-trick in a 7-0 win over Torquay United in April 1930, and was their joint leading goalscorer in 1930-31 with 18 strikes with trebles in a 6-0 win over Thames Association in January 1931 and in a 3-3 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion at the end of April. On the strength of that performance he was signed by Brighton the next month after 37 goals in 89 appearances for The Saddlers, but he found opportunities limited at The Goldstone and didn’t make his debut for the club until February 1932, scoring 3 times in 11 appearances during the 1931-32 run in before moving on to Bristol Rovers in July 1932.

He was a regular performer during his two seasons at Eastville, scoring 14 goals in 71 appearances, before a final season of League football with York City in 1934-35, when he scored 13 goals in 43 appearances for The Minstermen, when he was the club’s second top goalscorer during the campaign. He joined Midland League club Gainsborough Trinity in 1935 before his eventual retirement.