James Marshall Seed (25 March 1895 – 16 July 1966) was an English
footballer and
football manager.
Despite being born in Blackhill, Seed was brought up in the village of
Whitburn on the coast just to the north of
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
, the family moving when Seed was two years old.
Playing career
On leaving school at fourteen, Seed worked at Whitburn colliery and when he reached sixteen played football in the
Wearside League for Whitburn, along with his brother
Angus
Angus may refer to:
Media
* ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film
* ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record''
Places Australia
* Angus, New South Wales
Canada
* Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario
* East Angus, Quebec
Scotland
* Angu ...
who would have a short professional career with
Leicester Fosse. After scoring over eighty goals for Whitburn, Seed had unsuccessful trials at
South Shields
South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...
and
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
.
However, Sunderland manager
Bob Kyle
Robert H. "Bob" Kyle (c. 1870 – after 1928) was an Irish football manager during the 1900s, 1910s and 1920s.
A native of Belfast, Kyle was club secretary (overseeing the whole club including coaching/training) at Distillery in the Irish Leagu ...
decided to give Seed a second chance, this time playing him at
inside right instead of
centre 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 ...
in a
North Eastern League match against
Wallsend. Seed scored a hat-trick in the match and was promptly signed by Sunderland as a professional in April 1914.
Sunderland and First World War
Seed spent the 1914–15 season playing in Sunderland reserves,
he scored plenty of goals as the team lifted the
Durham Senior Cup
The Durham County Challenge Cup (commonly known as the Durham Challenge Cup) is an annual football competition held between the clubs of the Durham County Football Association which was first played in 1884. It is the senior county cup for the ...
. Competitive league football was suspended at the end of that season because of the outbreak of
World War I. At the end of the season, the 20-year-old Seed joined the
Army Cyclist Corps.
In the summer of 1916, he was drafted to
France with the 8th battalion of the
West Yorkshire Regiment.
In July 1917 Seed was gassed when a German aeroplane dropped mustard gas bombs over
Nieuwpoort, Belgium.
Seed was with other soldiers sheltering in the basement of a bombed out building when the gas seeped in. Over fifty of his comrades died in the incident. He was sent to England to convalesce and returned to France in August 1918, until being evacuated after being gassed in
Valenciennes, France
Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France.
It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...
two months later.
With the
cessation of hostilities, Seed played a Victory League match for Sunderland against
Durham City in 1918, however his lungs were weak and he had a poor game.
On the strength of that performance the Sunderland directors decided that Seed's wartime experience had finished him as a footballer and let him go, although they did not put him on the transfer list as they thought his lungs were too damaged.
Seed never played an official first team game for Sunderland. He was
discharged from the
army in March 1919.
Mid Rhondda
Seed's football career was rescued by former
Wales international
Haydn Price
Ioan Haydn Price (1883 – 7 March 1964) was a Welsh footballer who played at wing half or centre forward for various clubs in the period prior to World War I, before brief spells as a manager with Walsall and Grimsby Town.
Playing career
Pric ...
, the manager of Welsh
non-League team
Mid Rhondda, who were based in the town of
Tonypandy. Price offered Seed a chance to play for the south Wales club, which Seed accepted, and he signed for them in July 1919. Seed joined former England international
Joseph Bache
Joseph William Bache (8 February 1880 – 10 November 1960), was an English footballer who played for Aston Villa.
Joe Bache was a prolific centre forward for Aston Villa between 1900 and 1919. He played for the England national team seven ti ...
and ex-teammate from Sunderland Frank Pattison in the Mid-Rhondda side and they had a successful time in the seven months that Seed was with them, winning both the
Southern League Division Two and
Welsh League titles. Seed's good form attracted the attention of
Tottenham Hotspur manager
Peter McWilliam and in January 1920 he signed for the
north London side for a fee of £250, a move which caused some antagonism amongst supporters in Tonypandy.
Tottenham Hotspur
After initially playing five games in the reserves Seed got his first team chance with Spurs, making his debut at inside right and forming an immediate understanding with the legendary, diminutive right winger
Fanny Walden. Seed played five games in the remainder of the 1919–20 season, scoring two goals as Spurs ran away with the
Second Division title. Seed was a virtual ever present for Spurs in the following seven seasons in the
First Division. The 1920–21 season saw Tottenham lift the
FA Cup, with Seed playing in all six matches in the cup run, scoring five goals, including a hat trick against
Bradford City in the second round. Just two months after getting his cup winners medal Seed was called up for the first of this five England caps on 21 May 1921 against
Belgium, he never got a long run in the international side, playing his final game in April 1925.
[www.thefa.com.](_blank)
Gives details of England career.
1921–22 saw Tottenham finish runners up to
Liverpool in the First Division, with Seed scoring ten goals in 36 appearances. In February 1927 Peter McWilliam resigned as Spurs manager, being replaced by
Billy Minter
William James Minter (16 April 1888 – 21 May 1940), was a player, trainer, manager and assistant secretary at Tottenham Hotspur. He scored 101 goals for Tottenham, and was for a time the top scorer for the club. He also managed the club for th ...
. Minter decided that the 32-year-old Seed was reaching the end of his career, and with a young
Taffy O'Callaghan
Eugene "Taffy" O'Callaghan (6 October 1906 – 4 July 1956) was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a forward for Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City, Fulham and Wales during the 1920s and 1930s.
Career
Club career
Taffy was born in ...
ready to take his place, he cut Seed's wages from £8 to £7 a week. Seed's reaction to this was to ask to be released by the club at the end of the 1926–27 season and after looking like taking the player/manager job at
Aldershot, he eventually signed for The Wednesday in a part exchange deal involving Darkie Lowdell and a cash adjustment paid by Spurs.
[''"The Jimmy Seed Story"'', Jimmy Seed, Gives biographical and career information.]
Sheffield Wednesday
Seed made his Wednesday debut on 27 August 1927, in the first match of the 1927–28 season against
Everton. During the first part of the season Seed was asked to play in numerous different positions by manager
Bob Brown as Wednesday struggled in the First Division. By March 1928 they had won only six matches out of 32, and were seven points adrift at the foot of the table. At that stage Seed was made team captain with existing skipper Fred Keen being dropped,
Ellis Rimmer was bought from
Tranmere Rovers and these changes triggered an amazing recovery. Wednesday picked up seventeen points from a possible twenty in the last ten matches and avoided relegation by a point. Ironically, Seed's former club Tottenham were relegated on the final day of the season.
By his own admission, Seed did not play his best football of his career at Wednesday, but his experience and know-how as captain was the catalyst that drove a young and talented Wednesday side to two successive First Division championships in the following two seasons (1928–29 and 1929–30), making this the most successful period in the club's history.
[SWFC Archive.](_blank)
Gives statistics for Sheffield Wednesday career. He played in Sheffield Wednesday's 2–1 defeat by Arsenal in the
Charity Shield at
Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to:
* Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England
** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066
* Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge
* Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...
in October 1930.
Seed spent four seasons at
Hillsborough
Hillsborough may refer to:
Australia
*Hillsborough, New South Wales, a suburb of Lake Macquarie
Canada
*Hillsborough, New Brunswick
*Hillsborough Parish, New Brunswick
* Hillsborough, Nova Scotia, in Inverness County
*Hillsborough (electoral d ...
, but by the 1930–31 season, aged 35, he was badly hampered by a knee injury and was often limping before the end of the games. He often played even though he was not fully fit, because of his talismanic influence on the team. After damaging the ligaments in his right knee in a match against
Newcastle United
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...
at Christmas 1930 he realised his playing days were numbered, but he did not retire until the end of the 1931–32 season. He then took up an offer from
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 ...
manager
Herbert Chapman to manage
Clapton Orient (which Chapman intended to become Arsenal's nursery club).
[''"The Jimmy Seed Story"'', Jason Dickinson & John Brodie, Page 262 Gives biographical information.]
He played for the "Professionals" in the
1929 FA Charity Shield
The 1929 FA Charity Shield was the 16th FA Charity Shield, an annual football match. It was played between the Professionals and the Amateurs at The Den, New Cross in London on 7 October 1929. The Professionals won the match 3–0.
Teams
Matc ...
.
Managerial career
Clapton Orient
Seed began his managerial career at Clapton Orient. He was tempted into the job by Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman, who told Seed that Arsenal had plans to buy Orient and turn them into their nursery club. Seed commenced the job at £12 a week but within a short time Arsenal were forced to abandon their plans after being told by the Football League that they were acting unlawfully. Without the financial backing of Arsenal, Orient had very little money and the team struggled. In Seed's first season as manager the team finished 16th, and then in the following 1932–33 campaign they avoided having to seek re-election on goal average. In May 1933 he accepted the offer of the manager's job at
Charlton Athletic, despite Sheffield Wednesday trying to tempt Seed back to Hillsborough as a replacement for the manager Bob Brown.
Charlton Athletic
Between 1933 and 1936 he led Charlton to successive promotions from the
Third Division
In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below.
Association football
*Belgian Thir ...
to the First Division. In Charlton's first season in the top-flight, they finished runners-up behind
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
in 1937. They finished third and fourth in the following two seasons before the outbreak of
World War II.
He led the team into a variety of regional competitions set up during the war and Charlton reached a
Wembley final for the first time in 1943. They were beaten 7–1 by
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 ...
in the
War Cup
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
. They were more successful in 1944, when captain
Don Welsh lifted the trophy following a 3–1 triumph over
Chelsea.
They contested the first two post-war
FA Cup finals at Wembley, which were noted for the ball bursting on both occasions. They were well beaten
4–1 by
Derby County in 1946, but a Chris Duffy goal beat
Burnley 1–0 in 1947.
Despite the revenues generated by very large home attendances, Charlton refused to allow Seed to invest in new players (he "discovered"
Stanley Matthews but was not allowed to sign him)
[
] and so Charlton were unable to repeat their pre-war success in the First Division, finishing no higher than ninth in the initial six seasons after the conflict. They narrowly avoided relegation in 1949–50 with a 20th position finish, but they finished fifth in 1952–53. Following two lower mid-table finishes, Charlton, with key defenders missing through injury, endured a poor start to the 1956–57 season, losing their first five matches, before Seed was sacked on 3 September 1956. To avoid a backlash from supporters, Seed was asked to publicly announce he had retired due to ill health.
The South Stand at
The Valley, Charlton's home ground, is named The Jimmy Seed Stand in Seed's honour.
Later career
After Charlton had turned down his request to become a director, he became an advisor at
Bristol City in January 1957. He took over as caretaker manager in January 1958 for a short while after
Pat Beasley had left the club. When new Bristol City boss
Peter Doherty took over, Seed moved to manage
Millwall in the early months of 1958. He got off to a terrible start at
The Den, going nine matches without a win. The team eventually finished 23rd in the Third Division South, having to apply for re-election. The following season saw Millwall playing in the new
Fourth Division
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
, eventually finishing 9th. Seed stepped down as Millwall manager at the end of the 1958–59 campaign, but stayed with the club as advisor and then as a club director. He continued as a director of Millwall until his death on 16 July 1966, aged 71.
Career statistics
International
''Wales score listed first, score column indicates score after each Seed goal''
Honours
Tottenham Hotspur
*
Football League Second Division:
1919–20
*
FA Cup:
1920–21
References
External links
*
Jimmy Seed's England stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seed, Jimmy
1895 births
1966 deaths
English footballers
English Football League players
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players
Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players
England international footballers
English football managers
Charlton Athletic F.C. managers
Clapton Orient F.C. managers
Millwall F.C. managers
Mid Rhondda F.C. players
Army Cyclist Corps soldiers
British Army personnel of World War I
Association football inside forwards
West Yorkshire Regiment soldiers
Footballers from Tyne and Wear
People from Whitburn, Tyne and Wear
Footballers from County Durham
FA Cup Final players