Cyril Henry Spiers (4 April 1902 – 21 May 1967) was an English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

who played for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. He later went on to manage at

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 ...

clubs for more than twenty years.

Playing career

Spiers began his playing career at Halesowen Town during

World War I 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 ...

and signed for

in 1920, where he made 104 League and 8 FA Cup appearances over a seven-year career, competing with Tommy Jackson for a regular place. He made his debut on Christmas Day 1920, in a 4–3 defeat to

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

. He was forced to retire after suffering a serious injury and, believing that he could never play again, Aston Villa released him. However, he underwent experimental surgery and was able to return to football with

, making 169 appearances between 1927 and 1932. Spiers was ever present in seasons 1929–30 and 1930–31 but missed the entire 1932–33 season through injury. He eventually left the club and became player-coach, and subsequently, assistant manager, to Frank Buckley at

. He made eight appearances for "Wolves".

Managerial career

In 1939 he took over as secretary-manager at

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 ...

but his rebuilding of the team was cut short following the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He stayed at the club throughout the war and set up a number of nursery teams, including Cardiff Nomads who would go on to bring local football talent, including

Alan Harrington Alan Charles Harrington (17 November 1933 – 23 December 2019) was a Welsh professional footballer and Wales international. Harrington played his entire professional career at Cardiff City where he is regarded as one of the club's all-time gre ...

and Colin Baker, to the club. He fell into dispute with the club over money and left to manage Norwich City in June 1946. He was back at Cardiff in December 1947 as manager to replace

Billy McCandless William McCandless (20 December 1893 – 18 July 1955) was an Ireland national football team (IFA), Irish international football player and manager. As a player McCandless normally played at left-back, most notably at Rangers F.C., Rangers where ...

, bringing the Cardiff Nomads back with him having adopted the club for Norwich when he joined. He took them to promotion during the 1951–52 season but eventually left to manage Crystal Palace in September 1954. He later had a spell scouting for Leicester City before taking his last managerial post at Exeter City in 1962. Spiers died on 21 May 1967 aged 65.

Managerial statistics

References

;Specific ;General *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spiers, Cyril 1902 births 1967 deaths Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English footballers Aston Villa F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Norwich City F.C. managers Cardiff City F.C. managers Exeter City F.C. managers Crystal Palace F.C. managers English football managers Association football goalkeepers English Football League players English Football League representative players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff