Wadsworth Harold Image 3 Nottingham Forest 1927

Description

Bootle, Lancashire born outside left Harold Wadsworth started his football career prior to the First World War playing with Bootle St Matthew’s in 1913 from where he joined Tranmere Rovers in 1914. He first played for Liverpool as a wartime guest joining them in January 1918 and making his debut in their 1917-18 wartime league season, playing a further 35 games, scoring 12 goals, during 1918-19 before joining Liverpool’s post War playing staff in 1919, making his Football League debut at Newcastle United that October.

His opportunities were limited to 8 appearances that debut season although the following season he featured with far more regularity scoring 3 times in 25 appearances and was applauded for his “splendid turn of speed” as Liverpool finished 4th both seasons, but his fault was still said to be “a desire to delay crossing the ball which allows a defence to take up position again.”. During Liverpool’s League Championship winning years of 1922 and 1923, unlike his brother Walter who was a virtual ever present, Wadsworth featured in just one match and 3 further matches respectively, and after 17 more appearances in 1923-24 to bring up his half century of games for Liverpool, he joined Leicester City in the close season of 1924 after 3 goals in 54 appearances for The Reds.

Wadsworth was an ever-present in Leicester’s team that won the Second Division Championship in 1924-25 and played two further seasons for The Foxes in the First Division. After 106 games and seven goals for Leicester, he signed for Second Division club Nottingham Forest in April 1927. Wadsworth played 35 matches, scoring 10 goals before joining recently promoted Millwall in the close season of 1928, helping t0 establish them in the Second Division during the following three years, with Wadsworth scoring 11 goals in 78 appearances before he moved to non league Oswestry Town in 1932. He played for Canterbury Waverley in 1932 and finally Cray Wanderers in 1934, his last recorded club before his eventual retirement.

The younger brother of Walter Wadsworth who was a stalwart for Liverpool as well as playing for Bristol City later in his career.