John Surtees (1 July 1911 – 16 July 1992) 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 ...

whose career lasted from 1931 until 1939. He played for

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 ...

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 ...

, Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic,

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. Surtees was an

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 ...

who made 156 League appearances plus 15 in the F.A. Cup, scoring 36 goals.

Playing career

Early days

Surtees was born in

Willington Quay Willington Quay is an area in the borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear in northern England. It is on the north bank of the River Tyne, facing Jarrow, and between Wallsend and North Shields. It is served by the Howdon Metro station in Howdon. ...

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 ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

and played football for Percy Main Amateurs in the

Northern Football Alliance The Northern Football Alliance is a football league based in the North East, England. It has four divisions headed by the Premier Division, which sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System. The top club in the Premier Division ...

before as a 20-year-old he was signed by

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 ...

side

. He only made one appearance in the 1931–32 season before he moved to

for the following season. Once again Surtees only made one appearance for the south coast club before moving to Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic of the

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 ...

in an exchange deal involving Surtees and John Friar going to Bournemouth and Len Williams moving in the opposite direction. He established himself in a struggling Bournemouth team playing 21 times in the 1933–34 season, at the end of which the club had to apply for re-election. Surtees changed teams once again for the 1934–35 season, joining

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

in May 1934 but he had an unhappy time at the County Ground failing to make a first team appearance. So discontented was Surtees with his football career at this point that he agreed a release from his contract with Northampton and arranged to emigrate to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. However his brother Albert, who had played at

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in 1924 with

boss Billy Walker managed to arrange a months trial for Surtees at Hillsborough.

Sheffield Wednesday

Surtees arrived at Hillsborough in November 1934 and contrary to his earlier career, his fine form was an eye-opener, so much so that he was given a first team chance on Christmas Day 1934 in a 2–0 home victory against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

when

Ronnie Starling Ronald William Starling (11 October 1909 – 17 December 1991) was an English footballer whose career lasted from 1926 to 1946. Starling was an inside forward who made 413 appearances in all competitions, never a high scoring inside forward he w ...

was rested. Surtees retained his place, even though Starling returned to the side with

Harry Burgess Harry Burgess may refer to: * Harry Burgess (footballer) (1904–1957), footballer for England, Stockport County, Sheffield Wednesday and Chelsea *Harry Burgess (governor) {{Infobox officeholder , image=Harry Burgess.jpg , caption= Burgess as a W ...

losing his position in the team after a fall out with the manager. Surtees played all but one of the remaining 28 matches that season, including six

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 ...

ties as Wednesday won the trophy at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. Surtees lost his place in the Wednesday side in early 1936 with the emergence of a young

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...

and was transferred to

in October 1936 for a fee of £2,500.Since 1888.
Gives career statistics.
Gives statistics of Sheffield Wednesday career.

Later career

Surtees stayed with Forest until the outbreak of

World War II 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 ...

playing regularly in a side which were struggling at the wrong end of 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 ...

playing 96 games in all competitions. During the war he played occasionally for Forest and also as a guest for

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

until he was appointed manager of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

in May 1942 for a brief period. In November 1948 he returned to Sheffield Wednesday in a

scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

capacity, a position he held until 1960. Jack Surtees died on 16 July 1992, aged 81.''"The Wednesday Boys"'', Jason Dickinson & John Brodie, Page 291 Gives biographical information.''"The Men Who Made Sheffield Wednesday Football Club"'', Tony Matthews, Gives details of Sheffield Wednesday career and biographical information.

Managerial statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Surtees, Jack 1911 births People from Willington Quay Footballers from Tyne and Wear 1992 deaths English footballers Association football forwards Percy Main Amateurs F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players English football managers Darlington F.C. managers Northampton Town F.C. players FA Cup Final players