Louis Cardwell (20 August 1912 – 23 April 1986) 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 ...

. A defender, he spent six years at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

in the 1930s, making over 100 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 ...

appearances for the club, and helping them to win

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

out 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 ...

in 1936–37. He later played for

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 ...

, Netherfield, and

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

Career

Blackpool

After starting his career with South Shore and Imperial Hydro, Cardwell made his debut for

on 17 January 1931, in a 5–1 defeat at

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 ...

.Calley, Roy (1992). '' Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992'', Breedon Books Sport, p. 236 It was his only league appearance of the 1930–31 season; he did, however, appear in the club's two

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. He missed the entire 1931–32 campaign due to injury, and only returned with ten games of the following 1932–33 season remaining, appearing in six of them.Calley, Roy (1992). ''Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992'', Breedon Books Sport, p. 240 Sandy MacFarlane succeeded Harry Evans as Blackpool

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

prior to the 1933–34 season, and the Scot only gave one start to Cardwell, in a 3–0

Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...

defeat at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

.Calley, Roy (1992). ''Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992'', Breedon Books Sport, p. 242 The following season, however, he selected him in 29 of the club's 42 league games.Calley, Roy (1992). ''Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992'', Breedon Books Sport, p. 244 Cardwell served under his third Blackpool manager (this time Joe Smith) for the 1935–36 term, and he went on to be ever-present for the season. He also scored five goals. The first three came in consecutive games: against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

on 7 March,

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

a week later, and then against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

on 21 March. The remaining two were both from the

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

spot: against Hull City on 11 April, and 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 ...

on 22 April, in the penultimate game of the league campaign.Calley, Roy (1992). ''Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992'', Breedon Books Sport, p. 246 Cardwell was also ever-present the following season, 1936–37, as Blackpool were promoted to the First Division as runners-up of the

. In 1937–38, Cardwell started in eleven of the first twelve league games (and scored in one of them) before being sold to

. His final game for the "Seasiders" came on 16 October, a 2–0 defeat to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a single-tier football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the ...

Manchester City and beyond

Cardwell played 39 League games for

. The "Citizens" were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

out of the top-flight in 1937–38, and finished fifth in the Second Division in 1938–39 – they were five points behind promoted

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 ...

. He joined

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

as a wartime guest in January 1945, making his debut in a 5–0 defeat at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

on 20 January. He scored one goal in seven further games before departing in March 1945. He also guested for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Cardwell moved on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

to Netherfield, and then left

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest atte ...

permanently on a

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

in 1947. The "Railwaymen" finished tenth and 12th in the

Third Division North The Third Division North 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 South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

in 1947–48 and 1948–49 under the stewardship of

Frank Hill Frank Robert Hill (21 May 1906 – 28 August 1993) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager. Playing career Forfar and Aberdeen Hill was born in Forfar and started his career at Forfar Athletic F.C., Forfar Athletic, jo ...

and Arthur Turner. He played 25 league games during his two seasons at

Gresty Road Gresty Road or the Alexandra Stadium, currently known as the Mornflake Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Crewe, Cheshire, England. The home ground of Crewe Alexandra, it has an all-seated capacity of 10,153. History Cre ...

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Blackpool *

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 ...

second-place promotion: 1936–37

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardwell, Louis 1912 births 1986 deaths Footballers from Blackpool English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Blackpool F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. wartime guest players Blackpool F.C. wartime guest players Fulham F.C. wartime guest players Millwall F.C. wartime guest players Portsmouth F.C. wartime guest players West Ham United F.C. wartime guest players Kendal Town F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players English Football League players