George Liddell (14 July 1895 – after 1962) was an English professional

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 ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Life and career

Liddell was born in

Murton, County Durham Murton is a village in County Durham, England. Lying east of the city of Durham and south of Sunderland, it has a population of 4,534, increasing to 7,676 at the 2011 Census. Originally a rural agricultural hamlet called Morton, the discov ...

, the youngest of five siblings. Upon marrying Charlotte Anderson he changed his family name from Liddle to Liddell. He played football for Yorkshire Amateur and as an amateur for South Shields, then turned professional when he moved to

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. ...

in 1920. He spent the whole twelve years of his professional playing career at the club, for whom he made 345 appearances as

wing half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or full back in all competitions, and played in the

1931 FA Cup Final The 1931 FA Cup Final was a football match between West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham, played on 25 April 1931 at the original Wembley Stadium in London. The showpiece event was the final match of the 1930–31 staging of English football's pri ...

. He was described as a powerful defender who read the game well and was positive on the ball. When manager

Leslie Knighton Albert Leslie Knighton (15 March 1887 – 10 May 1959) was an English football manager. He managed Arsenal, Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, Birmingham, Chelsea and Shrewsbury Town. Management career Knighton was born in Church Gresley, Sw ...

left Birmingham for

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in 1933, Liddell succeeded him. He remained in charge while the club retained their top-flight status, leaving the job at the end of the 1938–39 season when the club were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

. During his six-year tenure he selected 70 different players for first team duty. A trained teacher, Liddell whilst continuing his football career as both player and manager also taught at several schools in the Birmingham area, including Handsworth New Road

Secondary Modern School A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usuall ...

where he was head teacher in the early 1950s. Liddell also was a part-time journalist writing a sports column for a Birmingham newspaper.

Honours

Birmingham *

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 ...

finalist:

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 ...

References

General * Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Liddell, George 1895 births Year of death missing People from Murton, County Durham Footballers from County Durham English footballers Association football defenders Yorkshire Amateur A.F.C. players South Shields F.C. (1889) players Birmingham City F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Birmingham City F.C. managers English Football League managers Schoolteachers from County Durham Place of death missing FA Cup Final players