Henry Thickitt (or Thickett) (1872 – 15 November 1920) was a 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 ...

and

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. Born in

Hexthorpe Hexthorpe is a suburb of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the area's shape resembles a rhombus, with borders with Balby and Doncaster town centre, separated by railway lines and the river se ...

, Doncaster he played as a defender primarily for Sheffield United with whom he won the First Division once, the FA Cup twice and gained two caps for England. He then went on to achieve relative success as the manager of

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

Playing career

Club career

Thickitt started his career as a youngster with Doncaster amateur side Hexthorpe Wanderers before being offered an extended trial as a guest player with Sheffield United in 1891 at the age of seventeen. United opted not to sign him after he appeared in five games that season. Following an injury to their captain Ramsey Grey on 21 March 1891, Thickitt was brought in by Doncaster Rovers for the remainder of that season in the Midland Alliance League. After this, he was offered professional terms at nearby Rotherham Town where he became a regular in the first team and appeared in The Football League.

By 1893 Sheffield United had become one of the top sides in the country but had not forgotten about Thickitt and signed him from Rotherham Town for £30 in November of that year, two seasons after his initial trial. Thickitt was immediately installed as first choice right back for the

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramal ...

club, a position he retained for almost ten years. Although described at the time as a big, sturdy man he had a surprising turn of speed and this, in conjunction with his tackling and willingness to work hard endeared him to the fans and the club alike. Both he and United enjoyed a spectacularly successful spell during his time there, winning the First Division title in 1898 and finishing runners up on two more occasions, whilst he also gained two FA Cup winners medals in 1899 and 1902 with a runners-up medal sandwiched in between in 1901. In his later years at the club he began to suffer from injuries but was renowned for playing when he shouldn't have, resulting in a story circulated at the time that he had played in the

1899 FA Cup Final The 1899 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Derby County and Sheffield United on Saturday, 15 April 1899 at the Crystal Palace stadium in south London. It was the final match of the 1898–99 FA Cup, the 28th edition of the ...

swathed in forty yards of bandages and fortified with copious amounts of whiskey! Although the Manchester doctor who had given the story to the press later admitted to have made it up Thickitt's reputation made it easy for supporters to believe. He was also a very moral man, offering to take a pay cut in 1895 because he believed he had missed too many first team games after contracting Typhoid fever. With his career seemingly coming to an end Thickitt eventually transferred to

in May 1904 where he played on for another season before being appointed manager in 1905.

International career

Thickitt was called up for England in 1899 and made two appearances in the

Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

, against Wales on 20 March and Scotland on 8 April of that year. England v Wales 1899

Managerial career

Thickitt played for

in the 1904–05 season when the club was managed by

Sam Hollis Sam Hollis (1866 – 17 April 1942) was an English football trainer and manager. Born in Nottingham as Samuel Woodroffe Moore, he had comparatively little football experience, having previously worked in the local registry and as a landlord i ...

. He took over as manager in March 1905 after Hollis departed and steered the club to English football's top flight at the first attempt. The most crucial decision he made was probably the re-signing of Billy Wedlock, who had left the club in 1901. In securing promotion from the English Second Division as champions in 1906, Bristol City won 14 league matches in a row (equalling a record set by

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 ...

the previous year and only matched since by

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 ...

and

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 ...

). Bristol City continued to progress under Thickitt's direction; the club ended the 1906–07 season as runners-up in the first division and Thickitt led them to their one and only FA Cup Final appearance against Manchester United in 1909 (a game won 1–0 by United.) City then started to slide and Thickitt's tenure as manager came to an end following a 1–0 defeat away to Notts County in October 1910. Thickitt's last game in charge was halted temporarily by the appearance of an aeroplane which caused much excitement amongst the fans. Reverend J W Marsh, the referee, was so distracted by the appearance of the plane (flown by pioneer aviator Paul de Lesseps) that he held-up play for a while and then ended up recalling the players to the field of play (after he had blown the final whistle) because he had forgotten to add the four minutes or so lost because of the hold-up. Relegated at the end of the 1910–11 season, City didn't play top-flight football again until 1976.

Honours

As a player

Sheffield United *

Football League Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

champions: 1897–98 **Runners-up: 1896–97 and 1899–1900 * FA Cup winners:

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a c ...

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's f ...

**Finalists:

1901 Events January * January 1 – The Crown colony, British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and Western Australia Federation of Australia, federate as the Australia, ...

As a manager

Bristol City *

Football League Division Two The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

champions:

1905–06 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

runners-up:

1906–07 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

* FA Cup finalists:

1909 FA Cup Final The 1909 FA Cup Final was the final match of the 1908–09 FA Cup, the 38th season of England's premier club football cup competition. The match was played on 24 April 1909 at Crystal Palace, and was contested by Manchester United and Bristol C ...

Personal life

After leaving

1910, Thickitt retired from football and became a licensee in Trowbridge until his death in 1920, aged 47.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thickitt, Harry 1872 births 1920 deaths Footballers from Doncaster English footballers England international footballers Association football defenders English Football League players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Rotherham Town F.C. (1878) players Bristol City F.C. players Bristol City F.C. managers Midland Football League players English Football League representative players English football managers FA Cup Final players