Syd Puddefoot

Sydney Charles Puddefoot (born October 17 1894 in Bow, London, died October 2 1972 in Rochford, Essex) was a footballer who played as a forward for West Ham United. He was also a cricketer for Essex and later went into football management.

Puddefoot was a pupil at Park School in West Ham and played with Condor Athletic and Limehouse Town before being spotted by West Ham manager Syd King in a London Juniors match against Surrey Juniors. He quickly developed into a formidable force and scored 28 goals in 55 Southern League appearances for the club.

Syd made 126 appearances in the war-time London Combination and scored nearly 100 goals, including seven against Crystal Palace in November 1918 (a record for the competition).

After the end of World War I, Puddefoot played in the newly enlarged Football League Division Two for the 1919-20 season. He scored 21 goals, and was selected to play in England's Victory International games against Scotland and Wales. He then scored 29 in the 1920-21 season and 19 in 1921-22 before transferring to Falkirk for £5,000 in February 1922, with an agreement to transfer younger brother Len as part of the deal.

Puddefoot left Falkirk after three years to join Blackburn Rovers. He gained a further three international caps in 1926, with a game against Scotland at Old Trafford and two games against Northern Ireland. He won the FA Cup with Blackburn in 1928.

Ten years after leaving his boyhood club, Syd returned to East London to help with the ultimately doomed effort to avoid relegation in the 1931-32 season. After two years at West Ham, he left to coach Turkish club Fenerbahçe.

The following year, he moved to Galatasaray, but left after an incident in which he was manhandled while trying to calm down players during a game. He moved back to England in March 1937 and coached Northampton Town until the outbreak of World War II.

He later worked as a scout for Southend United.

References

• Hogg, Tony (2005). Who's Who of West Ham United. Profile Sports Media. p. 170. ISBN 1 903135 50 8.
• West Ham Player List, retrieved December 29 2006
• Syd Puddefoot at ESPNcricinfo