Harold Lockett (1855–1930) was an English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

manager and administrator.

Career

Lockett was born in

Stoke-upon-Trent Stoke-upon-Trent, also known as Stoke, is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Burslem, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton and Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall form the city of Stoke-o ...

and was appointed manager-secretary of Stoke in 1884 replacing Walter Cox. He was Stoke manager when

professionalism Professionalism is a set of standards that an individual is expected to adhere to in a workplace, usually in order to appear serious, uniform, or respectful. What constitutes professionalism is hotly debated and varies from workplace to workplac ...

was introduced in August 1885, agreeing to pay his players, half-a-crown (13p) a week. However following a threat of strike action amongst the players when the club wished to introduce different pay levels, it was increased to five

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s (25p). A football season at this time consisted of numerous friendly matches and the eagerly anticipated

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 ...

and the Staffordshire Senior Cup. However once a team has been knocked out of the cup there was little excitement for players and supporters and so a league format was advocated by the chairman of

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 ...

, William McGregor and in the spring of 1888

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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

was formed with McGregor as its first president. Lockett represented Stoke at the meeting in Anderton's Hall Hotel, London and was successful as three weeks later Stoke joined the league and Lockett was appointed as the league's first secretary. Stoke's first season in league football didn't go well at all and the team had the misfortune to finish bottom of the table, albeit on goal-average after only winning four of their 22 matches. The following season was even worse with Stoke again taking bottom spot and suffered a number of heavy defeats most notably the club's record loss, 10–0 against Preston North End. This time Stoke failed to gain

re-election The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be a ...

and their place was taken by

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

and Stoke joined the

Football Alliance The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92. History In 1888, the same year the Football League was founded, The Combination was established by clubs who had been ...

. Lockett then decided to relinquish his position at Stoke to concentrate on his time-consuming position with

, where he stayed until 1902. In 1890 he was appointed Administrator of Stoke baseball club, for the upcoming professional

1890 National League of Baseball of Great Britain Year 189 ( CLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Silanus and Silanus (or, less frequently, year 942 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 189 for t ...

Managerial statistics

References

External links

Stoke City managers
at stokecityfc.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Lockett, Harry 1855 births 1930 deaths English football managers Stoke City F.C. managers English Football League managers Baseball in the United Kingdom