Frank Lord (13 March 1936 – June 2005) 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 lea ...

who played as a

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

. He made 354 appearances in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

and Chesterfield, and scored 172 goals.

Career

Lord was born in

Chadderton Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester. The ...

, near

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. He began his career with

, where he scored 54 goals in 122 league games during eight seasons with the club. His goal-ratio improved with

, who he joined in 1961. Lord spent a little over two seasons with Crewe and scored 68 league goals in 108 appearances; in total, he made 117 appearances, scoring 73 times. He scored four

hat-tricks 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 Wick ...

in 1961–62 and eight in total to set a new club record. He signed with

in November 1963 and was the club's leading goalscorer in his first season. Lord was also joint-leading scorer in 1964–65 with

Mike Trebilcock Michael Trebilcock (born 29 November 1944) is an English retired professional footballer. He played primarily as a winger and is known for scoring twice in the 1966 FA Cup Final for Everton, becoming the first black player to score in an FA ...

. In February 1966, he moved to

after scoring 23 times in 69 league games for Argyle and six more in seven cup ties. His form at Stockport, 18 goals in 27 league appearances, prompted a move to

later that year. He scored once in 10 league games for Blackburn before joining Chesterfield in 1967. He returned to Plymouth Argyle in October 1967 to work as a player-coach under the management of

Billy Bingham William Laurence Bingham (5 August 1931 – 9 June 2022) was a Northern Ireland international footballer and manager. As a player, his first professional club was Glentoran, for whom he played between 1948 and 1950. Making a move to England, ...

, having scored six times in 12 league games for Chesterfield. While his main role was coaching, Lord did play occasionally when others were injured. He scored two more goals in nine league and cup games in 1968–69 before retiring from playing. Lord went on to coach at

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

and

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

, where he also served as caretaker manager in 1973. He managed Cape Town City in South Africa for several years, where he won the Manager of the Year award in 1977, before becoming

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

manager in December 1979; a position he held until September 1982. Lord was the head coach of the Malaysia national team from 1983 to 1985, and applied unsuccessfully for the vacant manager's position at Plymouth Argyle. In 1994, he became assistant manager at Lincoln City and then joined

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

as a football co-ordinator. Lord was briefly caretaker manager at Wigan in 1995. He returned to South Africa and settled in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, where he later worked as a scout for

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Death

Lord died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

at his home in June 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord, Frank 1936 births 2005 deaths People from Chadderton Footballers from Greater Manchester Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Rochdale A.F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Preston North End F.C. managers Hereford United F.C. managers Malaysia national football team managers Wigan Athletic F.C. managers Lincoln City F.C. non-playing staff Plymouth Argyle F.C. non-playing staff 20th-century English sportsmen