Jeremiah Best (23 January 1901 – 18 March 1975) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who began his career in England before moving to the American Soccer League. He led the league in scoring in 1930. In 1931, he returned to England, where he finished his career. He was born in Mickley, England.

Career

Best began his professional career in December 1919 with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

. He played only two games before being transferred to

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

in July 1920 for L100. While he began the season as the starting left inside forward, he lost his position to Basil Wood. He left the team in 1921 and spent several years playing non-league football before moving to the United States in 1924 to sign with the Providence F.C. of the American Soccer League. In his first season in the league, he scored twenty-goals in twenty-nine games. In 1925, he moved to the

New Bedford Whalers New Bedford Whalers was the name of three American soccer teams based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The first Whalers played in the Southern New England Soccer League between 1914 and 1918. The second Whalers played in the American Soccer Leag ...

remaining there for the next four seasons. In 1929, Best played two games for the Fall River He then jumped to the

Pawtucket Rangers J. & P. Coats was an American soccer club founded in 1900 as the team of the Pawtucket, Rhode Island branch of the J. & P. Coats threadmaking company of Paisley, Scotland (following a 1952 merger this firm became part of the Coats Group Coats ...

for the remainder of the season. In the summer of 1930, Best rejoined the Whalers, leading the league in scoring with thirty-five goals in twenty-seven games in the fall 1930 season. In 1931, Best moved back to England, signing with

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

for two seasons. In 1933, he transferred to

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

where he became one of the club's all-time leading scorers.Darlington F.C. team records
/ref> He finished his career with

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

in the 1936–37 season.

Honours

As a player

* Third Division (North) Cup winner: 1933–34 *Third Division (North) Cup runner-up: 1935–36

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Best, Jerry 1901 births English men's footballers Newcastle United F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players American Soccer League (1921–1933) players Providence F.C. players New Bedford Whalers players Fall River F.C. (1922–1931) players Pawtucket Rangers players Leyton Orient F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players 1975 deaths Men's association football forwards English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers People from Mickley, Northumberland Footballers from Northumberland 20th-century English sportsmen