Slade Donald Image 1 Ayr United 1922

Description

Southampton born centre forward Donald Slade began his football career with Shirley Warren and played for Southampton Ramblers from 1907, from where, after an unsuccessful trial with Blackpool, he was signed by hometown Southern League club Southampton in 1910 and soon became a prolific scorer in the reserves, equally at home in the three inside forward positions. He eventually made his first team debut in a 2-1 defeat at Norwich City on 1st April 1911, when he played at inside left in place of Harry Brown. His next appearance, this time at inside right, came in a 4-0 defeat at Millwall in the last match of the season, followed by an appearance at centre forward (replacing Henry Hamilton) at home to Leyton in the following October, when he was finally on the winning side.

Slade spent the remainder of the 1911-12 season in the reserves, scoring 23 goals. Frustrated at the lack of first team opportunities, Slade requested a transfer but this was denied by the Southampton directors. After an appeal to the Football Association the transfer request was granted and Slade moved on a free transfer to Second Division club Lincoln City in August 1912, where he made his Football League debut in a 1-0 win at Glossop in October that year. Recalled to the first team a month later, he scored three successive braces through November, with 9 goals in 15 matches in his first season at Sincil Bank. By October 1913, Second Division club Woolwich Arsenal paid £1,000 for his services after 11 goals in 25 appearances for The Imps, but after 4 goals in 12 appearances for The Gunners before the season end, Arsenal sold him on to Fulham in May 1914.

The onset of the First World War forced the suspension of peacetime football in May 1915 after Slade had scored 5 goals in 17 appearances for The Cottagers, and during the War Slade made frequent guest appearances for Southampton while working for Harland & Wolff. Slade first went to play football north of the border when he joined Dumbarton in 1918, but he soon moved on to Dundee, where he scored 14 goals in 37 appearances for The Dark Blues during 1919-20, and through to September 1920, when after 6 matches of the new season he was transferred to Ayr United. He stayed two years at Somerset Park before returning to Dundee where he signed for Dundee United in 1922, his final club before his eventual retirement, already aged 35.