Robert Edwin Firth (20 February 1887 – 1966) was an English

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 for

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, Wellington Town,

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 ...

, Port Vale, and

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

. He scored 22 goals from 242 appearances in the Football League. He later coached Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

teams

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league syst ...

and Real Madrid, leading Santander to a second-place finish in 1930–31 and Madrid to two

Campeonato Regional Centro The Campeonato Regional Centro ( Spanish for Central Regional Championship) was an important annual association football competition for clubs based primarily in the Castile region of Spain, including the Community of Madrid, during the first half ...

titles and to a first-place finish in La Liga in 1932–33 and a second-place finish in 1933–34.

Playing career

Firth played for Birmingham Corporation Transport and Golders Green before joining

. He played nine

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 ...

and

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 ...

games in the 1909–10 season. He scored his first goal in the Football League on 10 December 1910, in a 1–0 win over Lincoln City at

Sincil Bank Sincil Bank Stadium, known for sponsorship reasons as LNER Stadium, is a football stadium in Lincoln, England which has been the home of Lincoln City since 1895. Previously, Lincoln City had played at the nearby John O'Gaunts ground since th ...

, and went on to score two goals in 18 appearances in the 1910–11 campaign. After leaving St Andrew's he played for Wellington Town and

, before joining Port Vale in June 1921 after serving in the Royal Field Artillery during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He claimed his first goal for the club on 29 August, in a 3–0 win over

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profess ...

The Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad condit ...

. He went on to score five goals in 39 Second Division games in the 1921–22 season, and was a member of the side which shared the North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup in 1922. However he was released at the end of the season and moved on to

Coaching career

He coached

from 1930 to 1932. He led Santander to second in

1930–31 Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condit ...

, behind champions Athletic Bilbao on goal difference. They went on to finish the 1931–32 season in fourth place. Firth then swapped the Estadio El Sardinero for Real Madrid. He spent two seasons in charge at

Estadio Chamartín Estadio Chamartín was a multi-use stadium in Madrid, Spain. It was initially used as the stadium of Real Madrid matches before the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium opened in 1947. The stadium held 22,500 people and was built in 1924. The stadium wa ...

, leading Madrid to the league title in 1932–33, before leaving them after a second-place finish in 1933–34. He also led the club to two successive

victories. He also took Madrid to the 1933 final of the Copa del Presidente de la República, which ended in a 2–1 defeat to Athletic Bilbao at the

Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys (, formerly known as the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc and Estadio de Montjuic) is a stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Originally built in 1927 for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, 1929 Internation ...

Career statistics

Honours

;Port Vale *North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup: 1922 (shared) ;Real Madrid *La Liga: 1932–33 *

: 1933, 1934

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Firth, Robert 1887 births Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Spain Association football midfielders Birmingham City F.C. players Telford United F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Southend United F.C. players English Football League players English football managers English expatriate football managers Racing de Santander managers Real Madrid CF managers La Liga managers Expatriate football managers in Spain 1966 deaths British Army personnel of World War I Royal Field Artillery soldiers Date of death missing Place of death missing