Alfred McMinn, was an English manager for

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...

from August 1896 to May 1897. In the spring of 1895, McMinn (then a club committee member) accompanied Charles Robson on a trip to

the Potteries The Staffordshire Potteries is the industrial area encompassing the six towns Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Stoke and Tunstall, which is now the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. North Staffordshire became a centre of cera ...

to recruit players. McMinn was a native of Staffordshire and was "''most persuasive on his home turf''". On this trip, Robson and McMinn signed six players:

Jack Farrell John A. "Jack" Farrell (July 5, 1857 – February 9, 1914), also known as "Moose", was an American Major League Baseball player who played mainly second base in his 11 seasons. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Farrell made his major league debut ...

Samuel Meston Samuel Meston (16 January 1872 – 14 August 1948) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a half-back for Stoke and Southampton. Whilst with Southampton, he appeared in two FA Cup Finals and won six Southern League championship ...

and

Willie Naughton William A. Naughton (16 July 1870 – 23 April 1906) was a Scottish professional footballer, who played as an outside-forward for various clubs in Scotland and England in the 1880s and 1890s, including Celtic, Stoke and Southampton. Throughou ...

from

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

Watty Keay Walter "Watty" Keay (16 January 1871 – 16 January 1943) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as an inside forward for various clubs, including Partick Thistle in Scotland and Derby County and Southampton in England. His main cla ...

from

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

, Joe Turner from Dresden United and Alf Wood from

Burslem Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

, as well as recruiting Stoke's long-serving trainer, Bill Dawson. The Saints committee were anxious to secure their services and signed them before the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

season was over. Port Vale and Stoke lodged a complaint with

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

about "''poaching''", and an emergency FA meeting was held at

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, resulting in the Saints being severely censured for negligence. St Mary's were ordered to pay their own costs, plus £4 6s 3d to Stoke and £1 13s to Port Vale. McMinn was suspended for a year and Dawson for a month. Wood's registration with St Mary's was cancelled (shortly afterwards he moved to Stoke). During the summer of 1896, Robson resigned his position as secretary in order to concentrate on his cricket career, being replaced by McMinn (having served his twelve months' suspension), with Mr. E. Arnfield as his assistant. McMinn led the side to their best season since their foundation, winning the Southern League title at the third attempt and into the Second Round of the FA Cup. After one season in charge of the Saints, McMinn stepped down from day-to-day involvement with the team, with Arnfield replacing him. In July 1897, McMinn became the Hon. Secretary of the newly formed Southampton Football & Athletic Company Limited. He remained on the board of the limited company until he resigned in the summer of 1900.

Honours

Southampton * Southern League champions: 1896–97

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McMinn, Alfred Southampton F.C. managers Year of death missing Year of birth missing Sportspeople from Staffordshire Southern Football League managers English football managers