|
Raich
Carter |
Sunderland AFC,
Derby County FC, Hull City FC
13 appearances, 7 goals
P 13 W 9 D 1 L 3 F 40:
A 14
73% successful
1934-48
captain: none
minutes played: 1170 |
 |
Profile |
Full name |
Horatio Stratton Carter |
Born |
21 December 1913 in
Hendon, Sunderland, county
Durham
[registered in Sunderland, March 1914]. Attended
Hendon Elementary School |
Baptised |
14 January 1914 in
St. Barnabas, Hendon, Sunderland.
Son of Robert and Clara Carter. |
Census Notes |
According to the 1939 register, Horatio S., a
professional footballer, is married to Gertrude (records blocked) and are
living at 4 Wooler Square in Sunderland. |
Married
|
twice, firstly
to Gertrude Rose Marsh, on 26 April 1937, at Spondon Lodge Lane Methodist Chapel in Spondon
[registered in Shardlow, Derbyshire, June 1937].
"The captain and
inside-right of Sunderland, the F.A. Cup finalists, Horatio Carter, was
married at the Methodist Church, Spondon near Derby, yesterday. Attending
him as best man was
Bobby Gurney,
the Sunderland centre forward. The bride was Miss Rose Gertrude Marsh, of
Field Lane, Chaddesden, a neighbouring village to Spondon. She had as
bridesmaids Miss Cora Evans and little Joan Eden, who on leaving the
church handed her a huge silver horseshoe. With her parents, the bride
moved about 18 months ago from Sunderland, where she and Mr. Carter had
been friends from childhood. Two hours after the service, which was
conducted by the Rev. J. Pilkington, Mr. Carter left for Bushey, Herts.,
where the Sunderland players are finishing their training in preparation
for the match at Wembley on Saturday. Mrs. Carter will see the game, and
later she and her husband will go on a honeymoon tour of Scotland."
- Tuesday, 27
April 1937, The Yorkshire Post.
secondly, to Eileen Patricia Dixon
[registered in Hull, March 1955]. |
Died |
9 October 1994 in
Willerby, aged
80 years 292 days
[registered in Beverley, October 1994] |
Height/Weight |
5'
6½", 10st.
8lbs [1937], 5'
8", 10st.
6lbs [1938]. |
Source |
Douglas Lammings' An
English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990] & FindMyPast.com |
Biographies |
Footballer's
Progress: Raich Carter (Sporting Handbooks Ltd, 1950) Raich Carter:
The Story of One of England's Greatest Footballers - Frank Garrick (Sportsbooks,
2003) |
Club Career |
Club(s) |
Played
schoolboy football in Sunderland and was soon playing for Whitburn St.
Mary's FC and Esh Winning FC, as well as Sunderland Forge FC. Sunderland
AFC signed him on amateur forms in November 1930, following an
unsuccessful trial for Leicester City FC reserves aganist Watford FC
reserves, from which he earned a professional contract on 12 November
1931.
After 245 league appearances and 118 goals, he was allowed to leave for Derby County FC
on 21 December 1945 for an £8000
transfer fee. He had already worn a Rams shirt as a guest during the war.
Made 63 league appearances and scored 34 goals. Despite an attempt to
take him to Leeds United FC, on 31 March 1948, Hull City AFC paid £6000,
also beating Nottingham Forest FC and Notts County FC, to
make them their player/assistant manager, becoming manager four weeks later. Carter
resigned as manager on 12 September 1951. Berwick Rangers FC and
Distillery FC then attempted to sign him, as did Midland League side,
Scarborough FC, but he continued to play for the
Tigers until 28 April 1952, making another 136 appearances in the league
and adding another 57 goals to his tally. He made his final appearance
in a friendly match against Sunderland AFC. He turned up again eight months later at
Cork Athletic FC from 30 January until May 1953, flying to each match every
week; |
Club honours |
Football
League Champions (captain) 1935-36; FA Cup winners
1936-37, 1945-46; Football League Division Three North
winners 1948-49; FAI Cup winners 1952-53; |
Individual honours |
Football
League (four appearances); League of Ireland
(one appearance, 1953, against the Football League).
Football Writers' Association
Footballer of the Year runner-up 1948-49; |
Distinctions |
After
researching their family tree, it seems a relative of Raich discovered
that he was related to captain James Cook. captain James Cook turned out
to be Raich's great, great, great uncle. The family connection story was
covered by the Sunderland Echo. Also played first class cricket with
Durham and Derbyshire. |
Source |
Douglas Lammings' An English
Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990] & WearsideOnline |
Managerial Career |
Club(s) |
Took over as
player-secretary-manager of Hull City
AFC on 28 April 1948 until he resigned on 12 September 1951. Immediately
after, he was courted by Berwick Rangers FC. Midland League club,
Scarborough FC made an attempt to appoint Carter in November,
however, he remained a player in Hull. Then after leaving
Ireland, he became the manager at Leeds United on 5 May 1953, effective 1
June, until 31 May 1958. Leeds had announced on 9 May that they would not
renew Carter's contract, effectively sacking him. He was thereafter linked
with the vacant managerial positions at Notts County FC in September 1958,
and then at Aston Villa FC in December 1958. He eventually returned to
management when he was appointed at Mansfield Town FC from 15 February 1960
ahead of 36 other applicants. In December 1962, Norwich City FC offered
him £3500 a year to join them, but it was Middlesbrough
FC who took him away from Field Mill to Ayresome Park on 11 January 1963,
effective 21 January, until he was sacked on 12 February 1966. |
Club honours |
Football League Division Three North winners
1948-49; |
Source |
Douglas Lammings' An English
Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990] |
England Career |
Player number |
One of two who became the 594th
players (595) to appear for England. |
Position(s) |
Inside-right |
First match |
No. 191,
14 April 1934, England 3
Scotland
0, a British
Championship match at
Empire
Stadium, Wembley, London, aged 20 years 114 days. |
Last match |
No. 233, 18 May 1947,
Switzerland 1 England 0,
an end-of-season tour match at Hardturm
Stadion, Zürich, aged 33 years 148 days. |
Major tournaments |
British
Championships 1933-34, 1936-37, 1946-47; |
Team honours |
British
Championships winners 1946-47; |
Individual honours |
England
schoolboy (two appearances 1927). England wartime
(eight appearances) |
Distinctions |
None |
England Tragedy |
"FOOLISH
ACTION BY CYCLIST
"An incedent in which a motor-car driven by
Horatio Carter, the Sunderland footballer, and a bicycle driven by a
14-year-old Herrington youth near the Board Inn, East Herrington, on May 9
were involved, had a sequel at Houghton-le-Spring Juvenile court to-day,
when the boy was accused of interrupting the free passage of the highway.
The youth pleade not guilty, and the case was dismissed with a caution.
The boy's father was ordered to pay 4s costs. Carter said he was driving
to Sunderland, and the boy was standing with his bicycle on the left-hand
side of the road. 'There were two cars about ten yards in front of me,'
added Carter, 'and after they had passed the boy and when I was about five
yards from him he commenced to ride across the road. I blew my horn and
swerved my car across to the right, expecting him to turn back, but he did
not. I pulled up immediately, but just caught him. He gave no indication
that he was going to cross the road.' Mrs E. R. Challoner (presiding)
remarked: 'I think you were rather foolish to mount your cycle just to
cross the road. It would have been easier to walk across with the cycle."
- Thursday, 18 June 1936,
The Sunderland Echo & Shipping Gazette |
Beyond England |
After being sacked as Middlesbrough manager, Carter
returned to Hull where he worked in the sports department of a store.
Appointed to the Pools Panel in 1969, and
then ran a business before retiring, and suffering a stroke in 1993. Has
a sports centre named in his honour in his hometown of Hendon, opened by
Sir Trevor Brooking, as well as a road in Hull. -
An English Football Internationalists' Who's Who.
Douglas Lamming (1990). Hatton Press, p.59/60. |
Raich Carter - Career Statistics |
Parties |
Apps |
comp. apps |
Mins. |
Goals |
goals ave.min |
comp. goals |
Capt. |
Disc. |
15 |
13 |
6 |
1170 |
7 |
167
min |
2 |
none |
none |
minutes are an approximation, due to the fact that many matches rarely stick to exactly ninety minutes long, allowing time for injuries and errors. |
Raich Carter
- Match Record - All Matches |
Type |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS
|
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts
% |
W/L |
Home |
8 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
30 |
6 |
+24 |
0 |
4 |
3.75 |
0.75 |
93.8 |
+7 |
Away |
5 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
10 |
8 |
+2 |
1 |
1 |
2.00 |
1.60 |
40.0 |
-1 |
All |
13 |
9 |
1 |
3 |
40 |
14 |
+26 |
1 |
5 |
3.077 |
1.077 |
72.1 |
+6 |
Raich Carter - Match Record - By Colour of Shirt |
Type |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS
|
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts
% |
W/L |
White |
12 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
37 |
14 |
+23 |
1 |
4 |
3.083 |
1.167 |
70.8 |
+5 |
Blue |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
+3 |
0 |
1 |
3.00 |
0.00 |
100.0 |
+1 |
All |
13 |
9 |
1 |
3 |
40 |
14 |
+26 |
1 |
5 |
3.077 |
1.077 |
72.1 |
+6 |
Raich Carter
- Match Record - By Type of Match |
Type |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS |
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts% |
W/L |
British Championship |
6 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
18 |
7 |
+11 |
0 |
2 |
3.00 |
1.167 |
75.0 |
+3 |
Friendly |
7 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
22 |
7 |
+15 |
1 |
3 |
3.143 |
1.00 |
71.4 |
+3 |
All |
13 |
9 |
1 |
3 |
40 |
14 |
+26 |
1 |
5 |
3.077 |
1.077 |
72.1 |
+6 |
Raich Carter
- Match Record - Tournament Matches |
British Championship Competition |
Type |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS |
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts% |
W/L |
BC 1933-34 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
+3 |
0 |
1 |
3.00 |
0.00 |
100.0 |
+1 |
BC 1935-36 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
=0 |
0 |
0 |
2.00 |
2.00 |
50.0 |
=0 |
BC 1946-47 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
11 |
3 |
+8 |
0 |
1 |
3.667 |
1.00 |
83.3 |
+2 |
BC
All |
6 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
18 |
7 |
+11 |
0 |
2 |
3.00 |
1.167 |
75.0 |
+3 |
All Competition |
Type |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS |
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts% |
W/L |
BC |
6 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
18 |
7 |
+11 |
0 |
2 |
3.00 |
1.167 |
75.0 |
+3 |
All |
6 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
18 |
7 |
+11 |
0 |
2 |
3.00 |
1.167 |
75.0 |
+3 |
Raich Carter
- Match History
Club:
Sunderland A.F.C. - six full
appearances (540 min), 2 goals |
F.A. International Select Committee - six full appearances (540 min),
2 goalsx
|
Club:
Derby County F.C. - seven full
appearances (630 min), four goals |
manager: Walter
Winterbottom - seven appearances (630 min),
four goalsx
|
Club:
Hull City F.C. - no full
appearances |
|
Notes
RAICH CARTER, 'The Great Horatio', was by
common consent the finest English inside-forward of his generation. But
for the Second World War which sliced his footballing career in two, he
would have won many more than his 13 full international appearances, though
that relatively meagre total - relative, that is, to his immense talent
- might have had a bit to do with an impatient, abrasive side to his
character.
Carter was that rare being, a magnificent maker and taker
of goals, and were he playing today his transfer valuation would surely be
astronomical. During his peak years and beyond, when his black hair had turned
prematurely to a distinguished silver, he cut an imperious figure, radiating
self-confidence as he strutted around the pitch, invariably dictating the course
of a game. Some would (and did) call him arrogant, but there was no denying the
Carter class. He shot thunderously with either foot, especially his left; his
ball control was impeccable and his body-swerve little short of sublime; and,
crucially, he possessed the intelligence to put these natural gifts to maximum
use.
He could roll immaculate passes through the tiniest of
gaps, sometimes seeming to shred defences at will, and much of his work
alongside Stanley Matthews, when the two formed a right-wing pair for England,
was breathtaking. Indeed, few men appreciated the footballing needs of 'The
Wizard of Dribble' as Carter did, and, certainly from this distance, the
reluctance of the selection committee (this was well before the days of the
all-powerful team boss) to use them in tandem more regularly appears
incomprehensible.
The Wearsider Raich, the son of a professional footballer,
exuded all-round sporting ability from an early age, his magnificent athleticism
making light of a lack of physical stature. By 1927 he was playing for England
Schoolboys and in 1930 he joined Leicester City on trial, only to be released
because he was 'too small'.
His home town club, Sunderland, had no such qualms, and
earlier thoughts of an engineering career were jettisoned as he progressed
rapidly to first-team status. Thereafter Carter's rise became positively
meteoric. In 1934 he made his full England debut, against Scotland at Wembley;
two years on he inspired an essentially ordinary Sunderland team to the League
championship, becoming the youngest title-winning skipper in the process; in
1937 he was the star turn as the Rokerites beat Preston North End to lift the FA
Cup. Thus, at 23, Raich Carter had won every honour then available to a
footballer.
Nevertheless, his international appearances were spasmodic
and it was not until 1943, when that other splendid inside-forward Wilf Mannion
was drafted into the army, that Carter was recalled to the England side on
anything like a regular basis.
Having joined the RAF and been stationed at a pilot
rehabilitation centre at Loughborough, it was convenient for Carter to guest for
nearby Derby County while the conflict continued, and when peace resumed the
Rams had seen enough of him to make the arrangement permanent. Accordingly they
paid some pounds 8,000 for his services, a transaction of which Carter, not a
man renowned for false modesty, remarked later: 'Sunderland were silly to sell
me and Derby were lucky to get me.'
At the Baseball Ground, he linked up with the brilliant
Irishman Peter Doherty, and together they helped Derby win the first post-war FA
Cup Final. That same year, 1946, Carter furnished further proof of his all-round
prowess by appearing in three first-class cricket matches for Derbyshire and
might have flourished in the summer game but for his football commitments.
As it was, having won his last cap in 1947 at the age of
33, he moved to comparatively humble Hull City for a pounds 6,000 fee in 1948,
initially as player/assistant boss but within a month as fully fledged
player/manager. A year later, while still taking an active part on the pitch -
'I am determined to play on as long as I can raise a gallop,' he said - he led
his charges to the Third Division (North) championship, and what seemed likely
to be a successful management career was underway.
Carter upset some followers when he declared: 'My aim is to
play high-class football and let the result take care of itself.' But his
acquisition of high-quality performers such as Neil Franklin and Don Revie
signalled that he would not be content to linger idealistically in the Second
Division. However, having not achieved the promotion he had expected, Carter
ever the perfectionist, resigned in September 1951. He returned for the second
half of the season as a player only, showing much of his old flair, and when he
made his final Football League appearance that spring he had scored 216 goals in
451 outings. Those creative feet were still itchy, however, and in 1953, his
40th year, he spent half a season with Cork Athletic, helping them to win the
Irish equivalent of the FA Cup.
Clearly Carter had more to contribute and later that year
he took over the reins of Leeds United, guiding them to promotion to the top
flight in 1956. Nevertheless, his intolerance of lesser talents rustled plenty
of feathers at Elland Road and after his best player, John Charles, had departed
for Italy, results declined and he was dismissed.
Come 1960 Carter was back in circulation as manager of
Mansfield Town, whom he led out of the Fourth Division in 1963, after he which
he moved up to Middlesbrough. Sadly, at Ayresome Park he experienced the leanest
time of his life in soccer and with the club on the brink of relegation to the
Third Division, he was sacked in 1966.
Thereafter Carter worked in the sports department of a Hull
store and then ran a business in the town before retiring to nearby Willerby,
suffering a severe stroke last year. During his latter years he was disdainful
of modern trends in the game, but once, looking back, he admitted there could be
no finer life than a footballer's. He could have added, with truth, that there
had been few finer footballers than he. - The
Independent Obituary
____________________
CG
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