Newbould Harry Image 1 Derby County Manager 1904

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Everton, Liverpool born Harry Newbould began his football career playing as an outside right, with Derby St. Luke and Sheffield Wednesday were among his clubs before the foundation of the Football League.

Previously assistant secretary of Derby County, he became their manager in August 1896, taking them to three FA Cup semi finals and 3 finals, all lost, in 1898, 1899 and 1903. In 1906, financial pressures led Derby’s directors to sell England international Steve Bloomer to Middlesbrough. Newbould disagreed with the decision, and left the club at the end of the season to take up the managerial position at Manchester City in July 1906.

Newbould joined Manchester City with the club in turmoil. A scandal concerning illegal payments to players had resulted in the suspension of seventeen players, leaving a squad of only eleven players. Newbould was tasked with both rebuilding the team and proving the club’s accounts were being run in a lawful manner. Newbould’s first match was an encounter with Woolwich Arsenal at Hyde Road. The makeshift side struggled on a hot day, losing three players to sunstroke by half-time. By the end of the match City were down to just six players, the final score was 4-1 to Arsenal. His second match saw an even heavier defeat, 9-1 to Everton, a scoreline which remains a club record defeat more than a century later.

Over the course of the season Newbould’s City gradually recovered, winning the first top-flight Manchester derby 3-0, but only finished two places above the relegation zone. The following season, he guided Manchester City to a third-place finish, but performances were inconsistent, and in the 1908-09 season the club were relegated. Newbould remained manager after relegation and led City to the Second Division Championship at the first attempt in 1910. After two consecutive bottom half Division One finishes, Newbould left the club in July 1912.

After leaving City he had a brief spell as a coach at Copenhagen’s Akademisk Boldklub before becoming secretary of The Players’ Union in 1913, a position he held until his death in 1928.