Wilfred Milne (24 March 1899 – 29 November 1977) was an English professional footballer. A one-club man, Milne spent his entire professional career with Swansea Town where he holds the club record for most appearances in the Football League.Swansea Town/City: The First Comprehensive Player A-Y by Colin Jones

Career

After winning the Northumberland Senior Cup, Milne signed for Swansea Town in May 1920 from local junior side Walker Celtic for the price of a fish tea and a cup of tea (2/9d). Manchester United 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 ...

were also interested in the player at the time. He did not play in the clubs' first game in the Football League at

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 ...

, but six games later replaced the injured William Ogley at left back. He became the clubs' first choice left back for the next sixteen seasons, making at least 30 league appearances in thirteen of those seasons, and was ever present in the 1930–31 season. Milne scored his first Swansea goal on his 501st appearance for the club, a penalty, and went on to score a further six goals. His final two appearances for Swansea came in the 1936–37 season as an emergency goalkeeper, replacing the injured Stan Moore for games against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

and

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 ...

. At the age of 38 he was released at the end of that season, and joined Milford United as player-manager, but only lasted half a season before returning to Swansea. He died in Swansea in November 1977. Milne played a total of 586 league games while at Swansea, which is a record to this day, while only two other players have managed to top 500. Roger Freestone made more appearances in all competitions for the Swans, though Freestone played in a number of competitions that did not exist in Milne's day, notably the Football League Cup,

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

and the

Football League play-offs The English Football League play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic promotion places in the second, third and fourth tiers of the English football leagu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milne, Wilfred 1899 births 1977 deaths People from Hebburn Footballers from Tyne and Wear English footballers Swansea City A.F.C. players English Football League players Association football defenders Milford United F.C. players Milford United F.C. managers