William Slade (1898 – 1968) was an
English football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
manager who took charge at
Coventry City and
Walsall.
Biography
Slade played amateur football for a number of minor teams, before he was appointed a director at
Coventry City in 1922, aged just 24.
In 1931 he was made
caretaker manager
In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...
of the
Third Division South club, after the sacking of
Jimmy McIntyre.
In February 1932, he became manager of
Walsall.
He forged a strong link between Coventry and Walsall, and took
Bill Coward,
Chris Ball
Christopher Farley Ball (born May 7, 1963) is an American football coach and former player. He assumed the position as the head football coach at Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football, Northern Arizona University in December 2018.
Head coaching ...
,
Bill Sheppard and
Freddie Lee from
Highfield Road to
Fellows Park
Fellows Park was a football stadium in Walsall, England. It was the home ground of Walsall F.C. from 1896 until 1990, when the team moved to the Bescot Stadium.
Fellows Park was situated about a quarter of a mile away from the club's present gro ...
.
The club's kit was also changed to a blue and white strip for an historic match against an all-conquering
First Division Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
in the
FA Cup in January 1933; the "Saddlers" achieved a famous 2–0 victory, and Slade's entire front line that day had previously played for Coventry.
It was reported that the Arsenal paid more for their player's boots than Slade did for his entire team. The match is described by the Walsall F.C. website as "one of the most significant days in our history".
The club finished fifth in the
Third Division North in
1932–33, and fourth in
1933–34, however Slade was sacked after a poor start to
1934–35.
He died sometime in 1968.
References
External links
Match reporton the famous victory over Arsenal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slade, Bill
1898 births
1968 deaths
Sportspeople from Walsall
English football managers
Coventry City F.C. managers
Walsall F.C. managers
English Football League managers