John William Holliday (19 December 1908 – 1987) 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 as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

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

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. In 2013, Holliday was voted by the Brentford supporters as the club's fourth-greatest ever player and he holds the club record for most goals in a season. He was posthumously inducted into the Brentford

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

in 2015.

Playing career

Middlesbrough

, Holliday joined hometown club

in March 1930. Behind

George Camsell George Henry Camsell (27 November 1902 – 7 March 1966) was an English footballer who scored a club record 325 league goals in 419 games for Middlesbrough, and 18 goals in nine appearances for England. His 59 goals in one season (1926–27) fo ...

in the pecking order, he spent most of his time in the club's

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 ...

. He won 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 ...

title in the 1930–31 and 1931–32 seasons and scored 78 goals during the latter season. Despite these exploits, Holliday rarely featured at first team level, but managed to score four goals in six First Division appearances. He departed

Ayresome Park Ayresome Park was a football stadium in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Middlesbrough F.C. from its construction in time for the 1903–04 season, until the Riverside Stadium opened in 1995. It was demolished in 1997 and r ...

in May 1932.

Brentford

Holliday and Middlesbrough teammates Billy Scott and Bert Watson moved to join

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

club

in May 1932. He flourished under Harry Curtis' management and scored 39 goals in 35 games to send the Bees to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

as 1932–33 Third Division South champions. With 38 league goals, he set the club record for most league goals scored in a season and most league

hat-tricks A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a season (five), records which have not been surpassed as of . He was also the first player to score five goals in a single game for Brentford, which he achieved in a 5–5 draw with

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

on 1 February 1933. The Bees narrowly missed out on a second successive promotion during the 1933–34 season and finished fourth in the Second Division, with Halliday scoring 27 goals from 41 appearances. His 25 goals during the 1934–35 season helped Brentford to the Second Division championship and to promotion to the top tier of English football for the first time in the club's history. Holliday's goalscoring form in the First Division failed to meet the heights of previous seasons, but he still managed 13 goals from 38 appearances during the 1935–36 season, which culminated in Brentford's highest-ever league placing of fifth. Holliday was eventually converted into a

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water polo. The ...

by manager Curtis and he stayed with the Bees throughout the remainder of the 1930s. He played his last professional game for the club on the final day of the 1938–39 season, a 2–0 defeat to

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 ...

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 ...

. The breakout of the

Second World War 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 September 1939 saw professional football suspended, but Holliday remained with the club through the war years and made his final appearance against

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on the final day of the 1943–44 season. In seven years of competitive football with Brentford, Holliday scored 119 goals in 223 appearances and only

Jim Towers Edwin James Towers (15 April 1933 – 16 September 2010) was an English professional footballer, best remembered for his time as a centre forward in the Football League with Brentford. He is the club's all-time leading goalscorer and in 2013 wa ...

and George Francis have surpassed Holliday's goalscoring record for the club. His 9 hat-tricks in league matches is a club record and he scored 50 goals in all competitions faster than any player in club history.

International career

Holliday's form during the 1934–35 season saw him called up to represent an England XI in a friendly versus an Anglo-Scots team at

on 8 May 1935. His England team suffered a 1–0 defeat.

Coaching career

After his retirement from football in 1944, Holliday remained with Brentford and served as a trainer to the senior and

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

teams until May 1961.

Personal life

Holliday's father James was an amateur footballer and was killed during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Holliday was a member of the

West Ealing West Ealing is a district in the London Borough of Ealing, in West London. The district is about west of Ealing Broadway. Although there is a long history of settlement in the area, West Ealing in its present form is less than one hundred years ...

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

club between 1950 and 1980. He represented

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

at the sport and won the West Ealing Championship 10 times. He died in 1987.

Career statistics

Honours

Middlesbrough Reserves *

: 1930–31, 1931–32 Brentford *

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 ti ...

: 1934–35 *

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

: 1932–33 Individual * Brentford Hall of Fame

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holliday, Jack 1908 births 1987 deaths English men's footballers Brentford F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players English Football League players Brentford F.C. non-playing staff People from Cockfield, County Durham Footballers from County Durham Men's association football inside forwards Cockfield F.C. players Men's association football wing halves