Glover Horace Image 1 Southampton 1907

Description

Left back Horace Glover was born in Ashford, Kent and trained as an architect’s assistant, playing local football on an amateur basis for Hastings & St Leonards United. Jimmy Yates, the former Sheffield United and Southampton player was in his second spell at Hastings and recommended Glover to Southern League club Southampton.

Glover moved along the south coast to join Southampton in May 1906 to replace Arthur Hartshorne who had left in the summer. Glover made his debut at left back in the opening match of the 1906-07 season, a 1-0 defeat at Swindon Town. He soon established a reputation for “strong, decisive tackling and excellent distribution” and became a permanent fixture at the left of the defence, rarely missing a match over the next two seasons. In 1907, he scored twice in the opening five matches and his form in defence brought him to the attention of Football League clubs, who made “tempting offers” in an attempt to persuade The Saints to sell him. In the Cup, he helped Southampton reach the FA Cup Semi Finals in March 1908, where they went out to eventual winners Wolverhampton Wanderers losing 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, having beaten among others First Division club Everton en route.

A series of injuries resulted in him missing large parts of the 1908-09 season, when John Robertson generally stood in for him, but by the start of the following season he was restored to fitness and, now the club’s captain, he once again became the automatic first choice at left back.

In September 1911, after 4 goals in 160 appearances, he was persuaded to move to London, to join Southern League rivals West Ham United, where he was re-united with his former Southampton team mate Fred Harrison, who had moved to Upton Park in the spring. Glover made his debut for The Hammers in a 5-0 victory over Reading on 23rd September, but only spent one season in West Ham’s first team making 29 Southern League and five FA Cup appearances. In the FA Cup, Glover was part of the West Ham team that defeated Middlesbrough of the First Division in a major cup shock in the Second Round in February 1912.

After a blank season, when Harry Forster, who had spent six years in the First Division with Sunderland, took over at left back, Glover joined Boscombe (now AFC Bournemouth) for a season in 1913 before retiring in 1914.