James Cantrell (7 May 1882 – 31 July 1960) was an English professional

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

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for

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 ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and Sutton Town.

Football career

Cantrell began his professional career at Aston Villa. The

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

played in 48 matches and found the net on 22 occasions for the club between 1904 and 1907. He moved to Notts County in 1907 where he was converted into the

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 ...

position. Top scorer in his three seasons at County he maintained a goal every other match ratio in 131 matches and scoring 64 goals in his time there. Tottenham Hotspur impressed by his goal scoring paid a substantial sum for his services in 1912. In a career interrupted by the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Cantrell lead the Spurs forward line that won the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

in 1919-20 with a then record 70 points. He went on to collect a winner's medal in the 1921 FA Cup Final at the age of 38. He played his last match against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

just short of his 40th birthday making him the oldest Spurs player to feature in a League match. This record lasted until 6 May 2012 when

Brad Friedel Bradley Howard Friedel (born May 18, 1971) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper. Friedel played 84 games for the United States national team between 1992 and 2005, and represented his country a ...

appeared for

against

in the Premier League. Cantrell remains the oldest outfield player to appear for Spurs. Cantrell played 176 times and scored on 84 occasions in all competitions between 1912 and 1922. He joined

Midland League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midl ...

club Sutton Town on 8 October 1923, retiring in 1925.

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur *

: 1919–20 *

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 ...

: 1920–21

After football

Cantrell returned to

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

where he became a golf professional. He died in Basford in 1960.

References

External links

Jimmy Cantrell biography
Retrieved 9 February 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cantrell, Jimmy 1882 births 1960 deaths People from the Borough of Chesterfield Footballers from Derbyshire English men's footballers English Football League players Men's association football forwards Aston Villa F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Sutton United F.C. players