David Calderhead (19 June 1864 – 9 January 1938) was a Scottish football player and manager. Calderhead played for Queen of the South Wanderers, Notts County and Lincoln City. He 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 ...

with Notts County in 1894 and was capped once for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, in 1889. He then became a manager, working for Lincoln City (1900–1907) and Chelsea (1907–1933).

Playing career

Calderhead was a centre half and played for various clubs, including Dumfries team Queen of the South Wanderers (not to be confused with Queen of the South, formed in 1919). He won one

cap, in a 7–0 win 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 ...

at the first Ibrox Park in the British Home Championship in March 1889; this attracted Notts County. With Notts County he played in two

finals:David Calderhead in the QoS Club History
/ref>"David Calderhead" full career profile on www.qosfc.com
/ref> the Blackburn Rovers side of Thomas Mitchell were 3–1 winners in

1891 Events January–March * January 1 ** Paying of old age pensions begins in Germany. ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. **Germany takes formal possession of its new Africa ...

,David Calderhead in the 1891 Blackburn Rovers v Notts County FA Cup final in the profile on Jackie Oakes
but Calderhead got his hands on the trophy in

1894 Events January–March * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United S ...

after a 4–1 victory over Bolton Wanderers.

Management career

He then moved into management, taking over at Lincoln City in 1900. In leading his side to a shock replayed win over Chelsea in the first round of

1906–07 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 Music ...

FA Cup, he impressed the west

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

club's board enough for them to appoint him manager later that year. Norrie Fairgray made the same move in the same year to play for Calderhead at both clubs.David Calderhead and Chelsea in the profile on Willie ferguson
Calderhead was Chelsea's first full-time secretary-manager and spent almost 26 years at the club, making him the club's longest-serving manager. Chelsea were relegated in 1909–10 and promoted back to the First Division in 1911–12. Calderhead took Chelsea to their first FA Cup final, in 1915, but in a match overshadowed by the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

they were beaten by Sheffield United 0–3 at Old Trafford. During the war, Chelsea won the unofficial London Combination twice, as well as the War Fund Cup. The 1919–20 season was Chelsea's most successful under Calderhead, finishing 3rd in the First Division and reaching the FA Cup semi-finals, where they lost to Aston Villa. The club were relegated again in 1923–24 and, after a succession of near-misses, the side of Willie Ferguson,

Tommy Law Thomas Law (1 April 1908 – 17 February 1976) was a Scottish footballer. Playing at full-back, he spent his entire professional career at Chelsea. Born in Glasgow, he signed for David Calderhead's Chelsea from local junior club Bridgeton Wa ...

and Andy Wilson were promoted again in 1929–30. 1931–32 brought a further FA Cup semi final. Tommy Lang inspired Newcastle to a 2-goal lead and despite Gallacher pulling a goal back, Newcastle progressed to the final. Calderhead was notoriously shy of the media, earning the nickname " The Sphinx of Stamford Bridge". Nevertheless, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'' described him as "one of the managers who started the fashion of paying huge transfer fees and was responsible for bringing many celebrated players to Stamford Bridge, including ughieGallacher and lexJackson." Gallacher, Jackson and Alec Cheyne were purchased for a combined £30,000 in the summer of 1930. In March 1910, in an (unsuccessful) bid to stave off relegation, Calderhead's Chelsea spent the then-considerable sum of £3000 on new players. Despite the big spending on glamorous players, the club failed to win a major trophy during Calderhead's tenure. Calderhead holds the record at Chelsea for managing games – 966. He left the job in June 1933 to be replaced by Leslie Knighton. Calderhead died five years after leaving Chelsea in

at the age of 73. His son, also called

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, played for Chelsea while his father was manager and later took charge of Lincoln City.

Honours

Player

Notts County *

**finalist

Manager

Chelsea *

: finalists: 1915

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calderhead, David 1864 births 1938 deaths Footballers from East Ayrshire Notts County F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. managers Chelsea F.C. managers Scottish footballers Scottish football managers Scotland international footballers English Football League representative players Association football central defenders English Football League players FA Cup Final players