Frank Moss (5 November 1909 – 7 February 1970) 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 ...

player and manager. A

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, Moss was born in Leyland,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, and first played for

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

, joining them in 1928. After a year and 24 games for Preston, he joined

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

(as an understudy to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

No. 1

Jack Hacking John Hacking (22 December 1897 – 31 May 1955) was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Blackburn, he played for Blackpool, Fleetwood Town, Oldham Athletic, Manchester United and Accrington Stanley. Domestic career Bla ...

). He played 29 league games in one-and-a-half seasons, before signing for

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 November 1931 for £3,000. Moss immediately took the first-team keeper's jersey from

Charlie Preedy Charles James Fane Preedy (11 January 1900 – February 1978) was an English football goalkeeper. One of six children, Preedy was born in Neemuch, British India, where his father was serving with the Royal Artillery. The family returned to El ...

, and was a near ever-present for the Gunners for the next four seasons; he won a hat-trick of First Division titles ( 1932-33, 1933-34 and 1934-35) and played in the

1932 FA Cup Final The 1932 FA Cup Final was contested by Newcastle United F.C., Newcastle United and Arsenal F.C., Arsenal at Wembley Stadium (1923), Wembley Stadium in what became known as the "Over The Line" final. Newcastle won 2–1, both of their goals scored ...

, which Arsenal lost to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

after a controversial equaliser from Jack Allen, where the ball went behind the goal-line and out of play before being crossed back in for Allen to score. He also won the

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

and

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

. Moss also played five times for England, making his debut on 14 April 1934 against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, keeping a clean sheet as England won 3–0. His final match for England was the "

Battle of Highbury The Battle of Highbury was a football match between England and Italy that took place on 14 November 1934 at Arsenal Stadium, Highbury, London. England won 3–2 in a hotly contested and frequently violent match. Background This was Italy's firs ...

" match against

World Champions A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

on 14 November 1935 at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

, in which seven Arsenal players started the match; England won 3–2. Moss is also the only Arsenal goalkeeper to score in a first-class match. On 16 March 1935, in a First Division match against Everton, Moss dislocated his left

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder mak ...

; with no substitutes allowed in those days, Moss was forced to play the rest of the game on the left wing, and he scored Arsenal's first goal in a 2–0 win. That match also proved to be Moss's downfall, however. He found it hard to recover from the injury - he played five more matches in 1935-36 but the injury quickly recurred. He was finally advised to retire in the summer of 1937 at age 27. He played 161 matches for Arsenal in total. After retiring as a player, Moss was appointed manager of Hearts, where he became both the club's youngest manager and the first to enjoy complete autonomy in matters of team selection. He led his side to a second-place league finish in his first season in charge, however with the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1940 he resigned to return home, and left football altogether. He died in 1970 at the age of 60.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moss, Frank 1909 births 1970 deaths People from Leyland, Lancashire Sportspeople from Lancashire English footballers England international footballers Association football goalkeepers Preston North End F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players English football managers Heart of Midlothian F.C. managers Scottish Football League managers English Football League players English Football League representative players FA Cup Final players

See also

References