Woodhouse Roland Image 1 Preston North End 1921

Description

Inside right Roland Woodhouse was born in Leyland, Lancashire in 1897 and after the First World War he joined First Division club Preston North End in 1919, making his Football League debut that September at Bradford City, immediately establishing himself as a first team regular. He played for Preston for seven seasons including being on the losing side in the 1922 FA Cup Final, when Preston were beaten 1-0 by Huddersfield Town at Stamford Bridge.

In 1920-21 Woodhouse chipped in with 17 goals, including a hat-trick in a 4-2 win against local rivals Blackburn Rovers in December 1920, followed by 15 goals in the 1921-22 campaign, which included a hat-trick in a 3-3 draw at Burnley in November 1921. He was less prolific in his next three seasons at Deepdale, but after Preston were relegated in 1925, he stayed one further season in the Second Division but had fallen out of favour before moving to Everton in the 1926 close season after 61 goals in 225 appearances for The Lambs.

However he only played twice for Everton before the year end and a year later he left Goodison Park to join Third Division (North) club Wrexham. He missed only one match in his first season at The Racecourse, and scored a hat-trick against Nelson in October 1927. He played 124 matches for The Dragons scoring 24 goals before he joined Halifax Town in the summer of 1930 where he finished his career with 16 matches and 2 goals in the first half of 1930-31 before moving to play for non league club Chorley in 1931, his final club before his eventual retirement.