Sidney Storey (25 December 1919 – 6 April 2010) 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 ...

who played as an

inside 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 ...

. Storey played for Ardsley Welfare and Grimethorpe Athletic in

non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

while working as a

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...

, before joining

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

in 1943. After leaving them he played for Wombwell Athletic before moving to

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

in 1947. He played for York in 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 ...

semi-final in 1955 and left a year later after making 354 appearances to join hometown club

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 ...

. He later had periods with

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

and

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

before returning to York as trainer-coach for three years.

Career

Born in Darfield,

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, Storey worked at a

W. H. Smith WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and ...

, West Riding of Yorkshire at the age of 14 before becoming a

at Houghton Main Colliery. Meanwhile, he played

for local colliery sides Ardsley Welfare and Grimethorpe Athletic before signing for

in September 1943. He was released by the club soon after and returned to play non-League football for Wombwell Athletic, where his father worked as a trainer. He joined

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 ...

team

for a fee of £100 in May 1947, combining mining with playing and training for the club. He was later rated as "perhaps the best bargain York City ever bought". He made his debut in a 2–2 home draw at

Bootham Crescent Bootham Crescent in York, England, was the home of York City football club and York City Knights rugby league club. With a capacity of 8,256, it is near the city centre, just over a mile from York railway station. York City leased land at Boo ...

with

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 27 May 1947 and finished the remainder of the 1946–47 season with three appearances. He missed one game for York during the 1947–48 season, making 42 appearances and scoring 12 goals in all competitions. An injury resulted in him missing the

semi-final A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

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 26 March 1955 and several league games, with many fans believing this cost the club

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 ...

, although he was able to play in the 2–0 defeat to Newcastle in the semi-final replay on 30 March at

Roker Park Roker Park was a football ground in Roker, Sunderland, England, which was the home of Sunderland A.F.C. from 1898 to 1997, before the club moved to the Stadium of Light. Its final capacity was around 22,500, with only a small part being seated; ...

. He received a

benefit match A benefit is a match or season of activities granted by a sporting body to a loyal sportsman to boost their income before retirement. Often this is in the form of a match for which all the ticket proceeds are given to the player in question. Howeve ...

in 1955 and was granted a free transfer in 1956 after making 354 appearances and scoring 42 goals in all competitions for York, joining hometown club

in May to run their

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

. He managed to play for Barnsley due to an injury to one of their

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

players and he was able to "demonstrate that his old skills had not deserted him". He made 29 appearances and scored four goals in the league for Barnsley before joining

in October 1957, where he "once more belied his age with some top class displays". He made 30 appearances and scored two goals for Accrington in the league and joined

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

of the reserves in July 1959. He made two league appearances for Park Avenue and following his retirement as a player he rejoined the York coaching staff as a trainer-coach. He left after three years in 1963 and worked for Richmond Sausages as a van driver for two years. He was then employed as a bus driver for the

West Yorkshire Road Car Company The West Yorkshire Road Car Company was a major bus operator operating in North and West Yorkshire between 1906 and 1987. History West Yorkshire The Harrogate Road Car Company was formed in 1906, running at first steam buses in Harrogate, then ...

and after York won the 1983–84

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 ...

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

he drove the

open top bus An open top bus is a bus, usually but not exclusively a double-decker bus, which has been built or modified to operate without a roof. Early buses were constructed without roofs but in more recent times they have only been built for tourist and s ...

that paraded the team around

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. He resided in

Haxby Haxby is a town and civil parish in the City of York district of North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 8,754, reducing to 8,428 at the 2011 Census. Open farmland is to the north as far as the vil ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

until his death in

, North Yorkshire on 6 April 2010 at the age of 90. His death was marked a day later by a minute's applause before York's game at home to

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

, which the team won 5–0.

Style of play

Storey played as a left-sided

and has been described as a "ball-player", a "little gem" and a "creative spark". He was held in "great esteem" by York fans due to his ball work and vision. Following his death, it was said that "it will be for his jinking skills and sweet left foot that he will always be remembered".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Storey, Sid 1919 births People from Darfield, South Yorkshire Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley 2010 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Grimethorpe Miners Welfare F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Wombwell Town F.C. (1940s) players York City F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. (1891) players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players English Football League players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. wartime guest players York City F.C. non-playing staff