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Fred Laidman

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Fred Laidman
Personal information
Full name Frederick Laidman[1][2]
Date of birth (1913-06-20)20 June 1913[2]
Place of birth Durham, England
Date of death 20 June 1987(1987-06-20) (aged 74)
Place of death Durham, England
Position(s) Inside forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
19??–1934 Crook Town
1934–1935 Burnley 0 (0)
193?–1936 Wigan Athletic
1936–1938 Everton 0 (0)
1938–1942 Bristol City 10 (1)
1942–1945 Sunderland 0 (0)
1945–1949 Stockton
1949–1950 Darlington 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Frederick Laidman (20 June 1913 – 20 June 1987) was an English footballer who played as an inside forward in the Football League for Bristol City and Darlington.[2] He was on the books of Burnley and Everton without representing them in the League, was registered with Sunderland during the Second World War, and played non-league football for Crook Town, Wigan Athletic and Stockton.

Life and career

[edit]

Laidman was born in Durham in 1913.[2] He played football in the North-Eastern League for Crook Town, then, after a two-match trial, turned professional with Burnley, then a Second Division club, in December 1934. He played for the club's 'A' team,[3] and for the reserves in the Central League,[4] but was released on a free transfer at the end of the season without having appeared in the first team.[5] He played for Cheshire League club Wigan Athletic, and signed for Everton of the First Division in December 1936 for a £500 fee.[6] Laidman was retained for the 1937–38 season,[7] but by December, he was available for transfer. Amid interest from Stockport County and Chester, Everton's secretary was instructed to accept offers of £500 or better,[8] but none were forthcoming. At the end of the season, he was transfer-listed at £350.[9] He submitted a written request to be allowed a free transfer,[10] but in June 1938, joined Third Division South club Bristol City for a £250 fee.[11] He never played first-team football for Everton.

Laidman made his debut in the Football League on the opening day of the 1938–39 season in a 2–2 draw away to Watford. The Western Daily Press reported that he "showed up well towards the end".[12] By mid-September, we read that his "passing lacked precision and accuracy",[13] and an unnamed Bristolian in the Cheltenham Chronicle expressed his disappointment with the lack of understanding between the left-wing pairing of Laidman and George Willshaw, suggesting that Laidman needed to play higher up the field and nearer to his partner.[14] He scored in a 2–2 draw at Northampton Town,[15] but lost his place, finished the season with ten League appearances and that one goal,[2] and was listed as available for transfer.[16]

During the Second World War, Laidman served in the Durham Light Infantry. He played for their football team alongside such players as England internationals Walter Boyes and Bill Nicholson.[17] By October 1942, he had been promoted from private to corporal, was playing at right half rather than inside forward,[18] and had signed professional forms with Sunderland.[19] In December, the Sunderland Echo's "Argus" wrote "what a grand little right half he is – full of grit and enthusiasm, capable of running for the proverbial week, and capable of using the ball to the advantage of those in front of him",[20] but sometimes his enthusiasm was to get the better of him. A year of so into his Sunderland career, the same correspondent described him as "sometimes in a hurry to use the ball before he had it under control",[21] and feeding Johnny Spuhler with passes that were well-conceived but so overhit that "some of them Spuhler could not reach if he had a flying start on a Spitfire".[22]

Laidman scored 16 goals from 67 games in three seasons of wartime football for Sunderland,[23] and made one guest appearance for Queens Park Rangers in November 1944,[24] before signing professionally for North Eastern League club Stockton in 1945. He also played as a guest for Leeds United in the Football League North in 1945–46,[25] but the Football Association's ruling that clubs could only field their own registered players in the first postwar FA Cup made him ineligible to guest for Sunderland in that competition.[26] Laidman was a member of the Stockton team that reached the second round proper of the 1947–48 FA Cup, losing only after a replay to Notts County, who fielded Tommy Lawton in both matches.[27] He continued with Stockton until the summer of 1948, when he made a brief return to League football with Darlington.[25] He played just twice in the Third Division North before retiring from the game.[28]

Laidman went on to work on the railways, and died in Durham in 1987, on his 74th birthday.[25]

References

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  1. ^ Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData (Tony Brown). p. 150. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  2. ^ a b c d e Hugman, Barry J., ed. (1998). The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–1998. Queen Anne Press. p. 312. ISBN 978-1-85291-585-8.
  3. ^ Sportsman (22 December 1934). "Wing experiment justified". Burnley Express. p. 16 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ "Tomorrow's football prospects". Lancashire Daily Post. 8 February 1935. p. 11 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ Sportsman (4 May 1935). "Leaving Burnley?". Burnley Express. p. 19 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ "Sports Items". The Daily Mail. Hull. 8 December 1936. p. 9 – via British Newspaper Archive.
    "Minutes of meeting held Saty. December 5, 1936". Minute Book No. 18. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1935–1937. p. 207.
  7. ^ "Annual General Meeting of Shareholders Thursday, 3rd June, 1937". Minute Book No. 18. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1935–1937. p. 253.
  8. ^ "Meeting of Directors Tuesday, 14th Decr., 1937". Minute Book No. 19. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1937–1943. p. 48.
    "Meeting Tuesday, 28th December, 1937". Minute Book No. 18. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1937–1943. p. 55.
  9. ^ "Meeting Tuesday, 5th April, 1938". Minute Book No. 18. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1937–1943. p. 98.
  10. ^ "Meeting of the Company 20th June, 1938". Minute Book No. 18. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1937–1943. pp. 113–14.
  11. ^ "Soccer Moves". The Evening News. Portsmouth. 3 June 1938. p. 10 – via British Newspaper Archive.
    "Meeting Tuesday, 4th October, 1938". Minute Book No. 18. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1937–1943. p. 149.
  12. ^ "City save point with last kick of match". Western Daily Press. Bristol. 29 August 1938. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ^ "Early goal seals City's fate at Swindon". Western Daily Press. Bristol. 12 September 1938. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ^ Corinthian (17 September 1938). "Sports gossip". Cheltenham Chronicle. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ^ "Unlucky not to have won". Western Daily Press. Bristol. 10 October 1938. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. ^ "Rovers retain 13 players". Western Daily Press. Bristol. 18 April 1939. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. ^ Argus (22 May 1941). "Under the searchlight". The Sunderland Echo. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  18. ^ Argus (5 October 1942). "Billy Robinson puts punch in attack". The Sunderland Echo. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  19. ^ Argus (19 October 1942). "Sunderland sign forward and half-back". The Sunderland Echo. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  20. ^ Argus (28 December 1942). "Sunderland much too good for Gateshead". The Sunderland Echo. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  21. ^ Argus (13 September 1943). "Sunderland too good for Hartlepools". The Sunderland Echo. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  22. ^ Argus (13 September 1943). "Wear–Tyne duel attracts biggest war-time crowd". The Sunderland Echo. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  23. ^ Rollin, Jack (2005). Soccer at War 1939–45. London: Headline. pp. 420–21. ISBN 978-0-7553-1431-7.
  24. ^ Westerberg, Kenneth. "1944/45" (XLS). QPRNet. Ron Norris. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  25. ^ a b c "Laidman: Frederick (Fred)". Leeds United F.C. History. Tony Hill. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  26. ^ Argus (6 August 1945). "In world of sport". The Sunderland Echo. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  27. ^ "Teams for to-morrow". Nottingham Evening Post. 12 December 1947. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
    "Notts. two up in quick time". Nottingham Evening Post. 20 December 1947. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  28. ^ "Darlington: 1946/47–1988/89 & 1990/91–2009/10". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Players Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
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