Herbert Birchenough (21 September 1874 – 28 February 1942) was an English
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 ...
who played as 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 ...
. He played 167 league games in the
Football League for
Burslem Port Vale,
Glossop, and
Manchester United between 1898 and 1903. His son,
Frank
Frank or Franks may refer to:
People
* Frank (given name)
* Frank (surname)
* Franks (surname)
* Franks, a medieval Germanic people
* Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang
Curr ...
, was also a professional footballer who played in goal.
Career
Birchenough was born in
Haslington
Haslington is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies about 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the much larger railway town of Crewe and approximately 4 miles (6. ...
,
Cheshire, and played for
non-League
Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...
sides Haslington, Crewe Hornets,
Nantwich
Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...
, Sandbach St.Mary's, and Audley, before joining
Burslem Port Vale in October 1897.
He kept a
clean sheet on his debut, on 6 November 1897 in a 4–0 home win over
Ilkeston Town.
He quickly established himself as the number 1 keeper and helped the team win the
Staffordshire Senior Cup
The Staffordshire Senior Challenge Cup is a football cup tournament based in the county of Staffordshire in England first competed for in 1877–78. Organised by the Staffordshire Football Association, it is competed for by a mix of clubs from St ...
in 1898.
Vale moved from the
Midland Football League
The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid.
History
T ...
into the
Football League Second Division
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 t ...
in
1898–99, and Birchenough's goalkeeping heroics in the
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 ...
win over
Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
were a major part of the club's success in regaining their Football League status. He was a virtual ever-present at the
Athletic Ground.
After 24 league and cup appearances in
1899–1900 he was sold to
Glossop in January 1900 for £250 to ease Vale's financial difficulties. The "Hillmen" finished bottom of the
First Division in 1900, and finished fifth and eighth in the Second Division in the
1900–01 and
1901–02 seasons respectively. He then moved on to
Manchester United, and kept goal in 25 league and five FA Cup games in the
1902–03 campaign, after making his debut in a 1–0 win over
Arsenal on 25 October. He later played for
Crewe Alexandra
Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...
in the
Birmingham & District League.
Family
His son,
Frank Birchenough, followed in his footsteps as a goalkeeper and represented
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
and
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
.
Career statistics
Source:
Honours
Burslem Port Vale
*
Staffordshire Senior Cup
The Staffordshire Senior Challenge Cup is a football cup tournament based in the county of Staffordshire in England first competed for in 1877–78. Organised by the Staffordshire Football Association, it is competed for by a mix of clubs from St ...
: 1898
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birchenough, Herbert
1874 births
1942 deaths
People from Haslington
Footballers from Cheshire
English men's footballers
Men's association football goalkeepers
English Football League players
Nantwich Town F.C. players
Port Vale F.C. players
Glossop North End A.F.C. players
Manchester United F.C. players
Crewe Alexandra F.C. players
English Football League representative players