Herbert James "John" Leavey (5 November 1886 – 1954) 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 le ...

who made 65 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. He also played in 75 Southern League and Western League games for

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

. Leavey usually played in the

outside 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 ...

positions. After leaving

Boscombe Boscombe is a suburb of Bournemouth, England. Historically in Hampshire, but today in Dorset, it is located to the east of Bournemouth town centre and west of Southbourne. Originally a sparsely inhabited area of heathland, from around 1865 B ...

in 1922, he worked for

as a scout, before moving to the Netherlands to manage

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

between 1922 and 1926. After his appointment as manager, PSV played in the 1e Klasse Zuid (the highest league for teams in South Netherlands) for three seasons. After finishing tenth in 1923 and sixth in 1924, PSV were relegated in Leavy's third season after finishing last. The 1925–26 season in the 2e Klasse B was won, which meant that PSV were promoted back to the 1e Klasse Zuid after one year. Leavy left PSV in 1926 after being four seasons in charge. He subsequently became manager of HRC of

Den Helder Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. From here the Royal TESO fe ...

, although he also started managing SV Gouda on a part-time basis later in the year.Mr Leavey (1888–1954) van PSV naar HRC
Tijdschriften Regionaal Archief AlkmaarHistory
SV Gouda He moved to Gouda on a part-time basis in 1927 and led the club to the second tier title in 1931–32. He returned to HRC in 1935, remaining at the club until 1952.

Personal life

Herbert was born in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

. He was married to May Pearson and had a son, James Herbert.

References

1886 births 1954 deaths Sportspeople from Guildford English footballers Association football forwards Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Llanelli Town A.F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Portsmouth F.C. non-playing staff Southern Football League players Western Football League players English Football League players English football managers English expatriate football managers PSV Eindhoven managers Footballers from Surrey {{England-footy-forward-1880s-stub