James Yates (2 November 1869 – 5 September 1922) 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 ...

who played as a

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in the 1900 FA Cup Final for

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Playing career

Yates was born in Tunstall, Stafordshire, but started his professional career in November 1892 with

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 ...

Ardwick, after spending the 1891–92 season on the books of

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

. He made his Ardwick debut on 24 December 1892 in a 2–1 defeat at the hands of Lincoln City. Toward the end of the season he hit a rich vein of goalscoring form, scoring five goals in six matches. In the 1893–94 season he played in 13 consecutive matches, scoring a brace in his final Ardwick appearance, a 3–0 win against

Walsall Town Swifts Walsall Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Walsall, West Midlands, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club's nickname, "The Saddlers", reflects ...

. In total he made 21 appearances for Ardwick, scoring nine goals. In December 1893, after just under a year in Manchester, he moved back to his native town to join

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in the First Division. He spent four seasons with United playing at the top level in English football, and played a major part in them reaching the runners-up position in the 1896–97 season. In the summer of 1897, he was one of four Football League players who were signed by Southern League champions

. Described by Holley & Chalk as "''a dapper, clever forward (who)when at his best, was virtually unstoppable''" his first season at The Dell was often interrupted by ill-health and he was out of the team from March onwards, thus missing out on "Saints" first

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against

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. In the 1897–98 season he made thirteen appearances at the start of the season, before losing his place to

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, scoring six goals as Southampton again claimed the Southern League championship. At the end of the season, because of his poor health, he decided not to sign a new contract and moved to

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where he played for Gravesend United, also then in the Southern League. He returned to Southampton in March 1899, taking over from Tom Smith at outside-right, in time to help the Saints clinch the championship for the third successive season. The following season, Saints were able to finish in only third place in the table, as they were concentrating their efforts on the

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 ...

where they reached the final for the first time in their history, the highlight of which was a 4–1 drubbing of Newcastle United in which Yates was among the scorers. Unfortunately, the Cup Final was a great disappointment as Saints were swept aside 4–0 by Bury. In 1900–01 he was part of the forward line-up which claimed the league title for the fourth time in five years after which he again left the club for an easier life in Sussex where he turned out occasionally for Hastings & St Leonards, keeping in touch with his former club by acting as a scout. He also spent some time in Denmark coaching for

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. On 6 July 1904, Yates became the first professional coach in Dutch football, when he signed a six-week contract with HVV. In March 1905, after a brief period coaching with 93 Club, Copenhagen, he returned to The Dell for the third time (making him the only player in Southampton's history to sign for the club on three separate occasions). He only made one appearance (against

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 ...

on 18 March 1905) before finally retiring from playing football. In his three separate spells with Southampton, he made a total of 77 appearances, scoring 22 goals.

Later career

Over the next few years, he again turned out for both Gravesend and Hastings & St Leonards, before coaching in Brazil and USA. While at Hastings, he "discovered"

Horace Glover Horace Victor Glover (1883 – 28 January 1967) was an English professional footballer who played at left-back for Southampton and West Ham United in the decade prior to World War I. Football career Glover was born in Ashford, Kent and trained ...

and recommended him to his former club – Glover went on to make over 170 appearances for

in the next five years, before joining

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. He returned to

in 1907, taking up employment as a

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. He was still dogged by ill-health resulting in him losing his job. Unable to find employment, he committed suicide on

Southampton Common Southampton Common is a large open space to the north of the city centre of Southampton, England. It is bounded by the districts of Shirley, Bassett, Highfield and Portswood. The area supports a large variety of wildlife, including one of th ...

in September 1922.

Honours

Sheffield United * Football League First Division runners-up: 1896–97 Southampton *

runners-up:

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

* Southern League champions: 1897–98, 1898–99, 1900–01

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Jimmy 1869 births 1922 suicides Footballers from Staffordshire English footballers Manchester City F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Salisbury City F.C. players Southern Football League players Suicides in England Burnley F.C. players Hastings & St Leonards United F.C. players Gravesend United F.C. players Association football forwards HVV Den Haag managers English football managers FA Cup final players