James Vance (1877 – ''unknown'') was a Scottish

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 could play in any of the

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 ...

positions, preferring the inside left role.Dykes (1994), p. 382. Born in

Stevenston Stevenston ( sco, Steenstoun, gd, Baile Steaphain) is a town and parish in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Along with Ardrossan and Saltcoats it is one of the "Three Towns", all of similar size, on the Firth of Clyde coast; the easternmost parts of ...

, he played for

Annbank Annbank is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is around five miles east of Ayr. Originally a mining settlement, it once had a rail link to Ayr via the Auchincruive Waggonway. The village has a village hall, bakery, shop, bowling green, j ...

Newton Heath Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883. Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial Re ...

and Fairfield. Vance was part of the Annbank side that won the Scottish Qualifying Cup in 1895, beating

East Stirlingshire East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1881 and competes in the , in the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. The club's origins ca ...

in the final. He was one of several Annbank players signed by Newton Heath in the 1890s, moving to Manchester in January 1896 as cover for the injured Joe Cassidy. He made his debut for the club in a league game at home to Leicester Fosse on 3 February 1896, starting at inside left in a 2–0 win. Despite scoring Newton Heath's only goal in their next game – a 4–1 defeat away to

Burton Swifts Burton Swifts Football Club was a football club based in Burton upon Trent, England. Established in 1871, the club joined the Football League in 1892, remaining members until merging with Burton Wanderers to form Burton United in 1901. History ...

on 8 February – he then missed both matches of the FA Cup second round tie against Derby County, as well as a 2–1 league defeat at home to

Burton Wanderers Burton Wanderers Football Club was a football club based in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The club were members of the Football League for three seasons in the mid 1890s. In 1901 they merged with Burton Swifts to form Burton Unite ...

, before returning to the side for the final eight games of the 1895–96 season. Cassidy's return from injury and the signings of Rimmer Brown and

Matthew Gillespie Matthew Gillespie (24 December 1869 – 1947) was a Scottish footballer whose regular position was as a forward. Born in Bridgeton, Glasgow, he played for Thistle, Blackburn Rovers, Accrington, Leith Athletic, Lincoln City and Newton Heath. H ...

meant Vance only made one more appearance for Newton Heath – a 3–0 win over Burton Wanderers on 24 October 1896 – and he was allowed to move to Lancashire League side Fairfield in December 1896, where he joined up with fellow former Annbank players

Tommy Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...

and David Fitzsimmons. However, he spent just three months there before returning to Annbank.

References

;General * * ;Specific

External links

Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Vance, James 1877 births Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Manchester United F.C. players Fairfield Athletic F.C. players Year of death missing Annbank F.C. players Footballers from North Ayrshire People from Stevenston English Football League players