Charles Sagar (28 March 1878 – 4 December 1919) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. Born in

Edgworth Edgworth is a small village within the borough of Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire, England. It is north east of North Turton between Broadhead Brook on the west (expanded artificially to form the Wayoh Reservoir) and Quarlton Brook in the sout ...

, Lancashire, he played in

The 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 ...

for Bury and

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 ...

at the turn of the 20th century. He also played twice for the England national team,

Career

Born in Daisy Hill,

, Lancashire, Sagar was raised in Turton. He began his football career with Edgworth Rovers, making his debut for the club's reserve team at the age of 15,Dykes, p. 336. before a season with Turton St. Anne's in the Bolton Sunday School League led to him signing for

Lancashire Combination The Lancashire Combination was a football league founded in the North West of England in 1891–92. It absorbed the Lancashire League in 1903. In 1968 the Combination lost five of its clubs to the newly formed Northern Premier League. In 1982 it ...

side Turton Rovers in 1896 at the age of 18. After a two-goal performance for Turton Rovers against Bury Reserves, the

Gigg Lane Gigg Lane is a football ground in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, built for Bury F.C. in 1885. The first match was played on 12 September 1885 between Bury and a team from Wigan. One of the world's oldest professional football stadiums, Gig ...

club signed Sagar in 1898. In a seven-year spell with Bury, Sagar scored 71 goals in 186 appearances, and finished as the club's top scorer from 1903 to 1905. He was also part of the Bury team that won the

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 competit ...

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), ...

and

1903 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having been ...

, scoring the second of six goals in the latter game – Bury's 6–0 win is still a record margin of victory in the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

. During his time at Bury, Sagar played for

The Football League XI The English Football League XI was a representative side of the Football League. The team regularly played against the Scottish Football League XI and other national league select teams between 1891 and 1976. For a long period the annual fixture b ...

four times. Bury finished in 17th in the First Division in 1904–05, which would have seen them relegated had the league not chosen to expand the division from 18 teams to 20. Nevertheless, Sagar joined

in May 1905, and made his debut on the opening day of the 1905–06 season at home to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

; Manchester United won 5–1, with Sagar scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

– only

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while ...

has since scored a hat-trick on his Manchester United debut. He scored another hat-trick in another 5–1 win against Barnsley later in the season on the way to a total of 20 goals in 23 appearances; only a knee injury prevented him from contributing further to the club's second-place finish in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

and subsequent promotion. The injury worsened over the course of the following season, limiting Sagar to sporadic appearances and his eventual release at the end of the season; he managed only four goals in 10 appearances in 1906–07. After leaving Manchester United, Sagar joined Atherton of the Lancashire Combination First Division, but left for Second Division

Haslingden Haslingden is a town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is north of Manchester 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 ...

after Atherton finished bottom of the league in 1909. The year after Sagar joined Haslingden, they scored 113 league goals, but it is unknown how many of these he contributed. They scored 98 goals the following year on the way to securing the Division Two title and promotion to Division One. Sagar earned two

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He made his debut on 17 March 1900 against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in the 1899–1900 British Home Championship, and scored the second goal in a 2–0 win. His only other appearance came against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

two years later. After retiring from football, Sagar set up a business in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ce ...

Honours

Bury *

: 1899–1900,

1902–03 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Musi ...

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sagar, Charlie 1878 births 1919 deaths People from Edgworth English men's footballers England men's international footballers Bury F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Atherton F.C. players Haslingden F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players Men's association football forwards Footballers from Lancashire