Frederick Stephen Turnbull (1888–1959) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played at

inside-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in the 1910s.

Football career

Turnbull was born in

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...

and joined

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 ...

in 1909. After two years playing

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

football for Newcastle, he joined

of the Southern League in the summer of 1911. On 13 January 1912, Turnbull scored the opening goal in a 2–0

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

victory at

(with the other from Harry Parkes), although Coventry went out in the next round, losing 5–1 to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. In the summer of 1912, Coventry City's trainer,

Jimmy McIntyre James Alfred McIntyre (31 October 1881 – 1954) was an English footballer who became manager at Southampton, Coventry City and Fulham. Playing career McIntyre was born in Wednesbury, Staffordshire. He was a journeyman player of some repute, ...

, moved to Southern League rivals, Southampton as trainer under secretary

Ernest Arnfield Ernest Arnfield (25 December 1853 – 8 August 1945) was an English football manager who was secretary/manager of Southampton F.C. from 1897 to 1911, and again from 1912 to 1919. Arnfield was born in Mellor, Derbyshire. He died in Southampton, a ...

. In October, with the "Saints" only winning one of their first eight matches, McIntyre returned to Coventry to sign Turnbull in an effort to improve the team's goal-scoring. Turnbull made his debut on 19 October, replacing Fred Taylor at home to Brighton & Hove Albion; although he scored on his debut, the match ended 5–2 in favour of Brighton. Despite scoring only one further league goal, Turnbull retained his place in the team for the remainder of the season, other than a spell out injured in January/February when he was replaced by Archie Small. He was released in the summer of 1913 and returned to his native

north east The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

where he played out his career with North Shields Athletic in the

North Eastern League The North Eastern League was an association football league for teams in the North East of England. The league was founded in 1906 and was initially successful, with teams defecting from the rival Northern Football Alliance to play. Although som ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turnbull, Fred 1888 births 1959 deaths Footballers from Wallsend English men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Southampton F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players North Shields F.C. players Southern Football League players Newcastle United F.C. players