Charles James Fane Preedy (11 January 1900 – February 1978) 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 ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

. One of six children, Preedy was born in

Neemuch Neemuch or Nimach is a city in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. The town shares its northwestern border with the state of Rajasthan and is the administrative headquarters of Neemuch District. Formerly a large British people, British cantonm ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, where his father was serving with the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

. The family returned to

Eltham, London Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of Elth ...

, in 1907 where he attended Gordon School. He began playing football as a youth, turning professional in 1924 with

Third Division 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 on ...

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

, where he became the club's regular keeper and made 131 league appearances in four seasons. In a Football League Management Committee Meeting in May 1928, Preedy was removed from retained to transfer list. Preedy moved to

Wigan Borough Wigan Borough Football Club was an English football club from the town of Wigan, Lancashire. their forerunners were Wigan A.F.C., Wigan County, Wigan United and Wigan Town, County and Town having folded. Beginnings According to the Wigan Ob ...

in 1928 and spent a single season there, playing 41 league matches, before moving to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in May 1929. He was not initially the Gunners' first team goalkeeper, instead mainly playing as understudy to Dan Lewis, Arsenal's regular keeper. Preedy made his Arsenal debut on 7 September 1929, against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

, and kept a clean sheet as Arsenal won 2–0. Preedy kept his place after that match but was dropped after a 2–5 defeat to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

in November. After that, he was often left out of the team in favour of Lewis, but after Lewis was injured in a 6–6 draw against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, Preedy was picked to play in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

Final against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. Preedy kept a clean sheet and Arsenal won the match 2–0 in front of 100,000 spectators, the first of Arsenal's many successes over the years. He was presented with his winner's medal by

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

. Arsenal manager

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English Association football, football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful manage ...

was never happy with any of his goalkeepers and in an attempt to fill the role signed both Gerard Keizer and Bill Harper in the 1930 close season, and then

Frank Moss Frank Edward "Ted" Moss (September 23, 1911 – January 29, 2003) was an American lawyer and politician. A Democrat, from 1959 to 1977 he served as a United States Senator from Utah, and is currently the last Democrat to do so. Early life a ...

a year later. Despite intense competition for the goalkeeper's place, Preedy made 25 appearances in the 1930-31 and 1931-32 seasons, but not enough to win a League Championship medal in the former. After an entire season spent as Moss's understudy, Preedy left Arsenal for

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

in 1933, having played 40 matches for the Gunners. After a season with Rovers he moved to

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

and finished his career with non-league

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

in 1935. He then followed in the footsteps of his elder brother Jack and became a London

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

driver. He died in 1978 at age 75.

Honours

Arsenal *

: 1929–30 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

References

External links

Gunners Greatest 50 Moments
at arsenal.com. Preedy is pictured wearing white. {{DEFAULTSORT:Preedy, Charlie 1900 births 1978 deaths People from Neemuch English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Arsenal F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Wigan Borough F.C. players Margate F.C. players British taxi drivers British people in colonial India 20th-century English sportsmen