Albert Herbert Hoskins (March 1885 – 19 February 1968) was an English football forward and football manager, who managed

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 ...

and Gillingham.

Playing career

Born in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, England, Hoskins first played for

Freemantle Freemantle is a suburb and electoral ward in Southampton, England. There are similarly named places in Hampshire: notably Henry II's hunting lodge in Kingsclere; a suburb of Hannington, Hampshire, Hannington; and Freemantle Common in Bitterne. ...

, where he was noticed by

when playing against them in a reserve fixture in 1904. He joined the Saints shortly after and made his debut on Christmas Day 1906. According to Holley & Chalk's "The Alphabet of the Saints he was "always on the brink of establishing himself in the first eleven". He failed to score in any of his 21 Southern League appearances, but did score in each of his three

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 ...

matches. He moved to

in May 1908. He played 14 league games in the 1908–09 and 1909–10 seasons, before playing for Dudley Town,

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

and

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

Management career

He joined the office staff at Wolves and eventually became the club secretary in 1922. As secretary he also acted as assistant to Wolves' managers

Jack Addenbrooke John Henry "Jack" Addenbrooke (6 June 1865 – 7 September 1922) was an English football player and manager, who spent his career with Wolverhampton Wanderers. Career Addenbrooke was one of the founding members of Wolverhampton Wanderers (as St ...

and

George Jobey George Jobey (July 1885 – 9 May 1962) was an English football player and manager. He won the league championship as a player with his hometown club Newcastle United. Career Jobey was born in 1885 in Heddon, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and played ...

, taking over as manager in May 1924, combining his secretarial duties with those of managing the playing side, as was the norm at the time. His first season in charge at Molineux saw Wolves finish sixth in Division Two, a vast improvement on the previous post-war seasons. The following season, Wolves continued to challenge at the top of the table; they would eventually finish in 4th place, but Hoskins surprisingly left Molineux to take up the secretary-manager's post at Gillingham in March 1926. He spent almost three seasons at Gillingham, with the side always struggling in the lower reaches of

Division Three (South) The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to o ...

and left in 1929. Following his departure from Gillingham, Hoskins was announced in the press as the new manager of

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

. However, he never actually took up the role at

Plainmoor Plainmoor is an association football stadium located in the Plainmoor suburb of Torquay, Devon, England. Since 1921, the stadium has been the home of Torquay United Football Club, who currently compete in the National League, the fifth tier of E ...

which was given instead to

Frank Womack Francis Womack (16 September 1888 – 8 October 1968) was an English association football player and manager born in Stannington, Sheffield, Yorkshire. He still holds the league appearances record for Birmingham City playing 491 games and hold ...

. He later worked as a trainer, coach and scout for a number of non-league sides up to the start of the war in 1939, at which point he left football.

Family

His great-nephew,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

played as a forward for Southampton and

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

in the 1950s.

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoskins, Albert 1885 births 1968 deaths Footballers from Southampton English footballers Association football forwards Freemantle F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Dudley Town F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players English football managers Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. managers Gillingham F.C. managers