Stanley Roy Cribb (11 May 1905 – 13 January 1989) 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 for Southampton, Queens Park Rangers and

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

as an

outside-left 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 the 1920s and 1930s. He later went on to help found and to manage

Gosport Borough Gosport Borough Football Club is a professional football club based in Gosport, Hampshire, England. The club is affiliated to the Hampshire Football Association and is an FA Charter Standard Community Club. They are currently members of the an ...

Playing career

Early days

Cribb was born in

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...

, Hampshire and attended Grove Road School. He won County representative honours at sixteen before joining Gosport Athletic, helping them to win the Hampshire League in 1924. This brought Cribb to the notice of Southampton, who he joined in September 1924.

Southampton

Cribb made his debut for Southampton on 24 January 1925, in a Second Division match against Crystal Palace, replacing Jimmy Carr on the left-wing. Carr returned after four matches, although Cribb made a further two appearances in April. Although he established a reputation as a quick outside-left, his first-team appearances were rather occasional, making only 28 appearances in his first four seasons at The Dell with firstly Jimmy Carr and then Billy Murphy being preferred on the left. In early March 1928, Cribb finally took over the No. 11 shirt from Murphy, retaining his place for the remainder of the season. On 24 March 1928 (

Easter Monday Easter Monday refers to the day after Easter Sunday in either the Eastern or Western Christian traditions. It is a public holiday in some countries. It is the second day of Eastertide. In Western Christianity, it marks the second day of the Octa ...

), the "Saints" played West Bromwich Albion at The Dell. Albion's goalkeeper, George Ashmore was injured and was replaced in goal by a defender and was switched to the wing. In the second half, with the scores level at 2–2, Ashmore was back helping out in defence. Forgetting that he was now an outfield player, Ashmore caught the ball in the penalty area – Cribb duly scored from the penalty spot to give Saints the victory. Although Cribb missed the opening match of the 1928–29 season, he returned in the second match and retained his place for the rest of the season, making 33 appearances, scoring 13 goals, including two in an 8–2 victory over

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 ...

(with

Willie Haines Wyndham William Pretoria Haines (14 July 1900 – 5 November 1974) was an English footballer who played at centre-forward for south coast rivals, Portsmouth and then Southampton in the 1920s and 1930s. Club career Haines was born at Warminster ...

scoring four). By the end of the season, however, Cribb had lost his place to new signing

Johnny Arnold John Arnold (30 November 1907, Cowley, Oxford – 4 April 1984, Southampton, Hampshire) was an English cricketer and Football player. Cricket career John Arnold was an attacking opening batsman for Hampshire for 20 years from 1930, when he qu ...

who retained it for the following season, during which Cribb only made eleven appearances.

Later career

In the summer of 1930, First Division club West Ham United paid £500 for Cribb's services as cover for

Jimmy Ruffell James William Ruffell (8 August 1900 – 6 September 1989) was an English footballer who played as an outside-left. He made over 500 appearances in the Football League for West Ham United, and ended his career with a short spell at Aldershot. R ...

, but he never made the first-team before moving across London to join Queens Park Rangers the following summer. He scored 13 goals in 28 appearances for Rangers, before a further move to

in July 1932. After 11 goals from 29 appearances for the Ninian Park club, he retired in the summer of 1933.

Coaching career

Following his retirement from playing, he returned to Gosport and coached with

Haslar Haslar is on the south coast of England, at the southern tip of Alverstoke, on the Gosport peninsula, Hampshire. It takes its name from the Old English , meaning "hazel-landing place". It may have been named after a bank of hazel strewn on mars ...

Sports F.C. before helping to found

. In their first season (1944–45), the football section of the Club won the Portsmouth and District League Division One; the line-up at that time included

Jimmy Scoular James Scoular (11 January 1925 – 19 March 1998) was a Scottish football player and manager. Known as a tough, combative player with precise passing skills, Scoular made over 600 appearances in the Football League with Portsmouth, Newcastle U ...

and Peter Harris who both went on to become full internationals.Gosport Borough Football Club history
/ref> Cribb continued to manage the club until 1967. Following his retirement, he retained his connections with football, scouting for Southampton and rarely missing a match at Privett Park.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cribb, Stan 1905 births People from Gosport 1989 deaths English footballers English Football League players Southampton F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players English football managers Gosport Borough F.C. managers Association football outside forwards