Joseph Clennell (19 February 1889 – 28 February 1965) 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 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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

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 ...

, Everton,

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

and

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 ...

Career

Clennell was born in New Silksworth, and spent his early career with Seaham White Star, Silksworth United and Seaham Harbour. He began his professional career with

in 1910 and was top scorer for "the Seasiders" in 1910–11, scoring ninetoon goals, which attracted the attention of First Division clubs.

signed him in April 1911 and in his first full season at

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a Association football, football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the English Football League, Football League and Premier League, who have played there since ...

he won a First Division champions medal. Injuries restricted him to few appearances for Rovers and he joined Everton in January 1914 where he again won a First Division title in 1914–15, scoring fourteen goals in the process. His career was interrupted by

World War I 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 ...

, but he resumed playing for Everton in 1919. He spent two more seasons at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

before leaving for

in October. He nearly won the title with Cardiff in 1923–24 but they missed out to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

on goal average. After losing his place to Harry Beadles, he then played two seasons for

scoring nine goals in 35 matches and ended his

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 ...

career with

and then

. He later played for

Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; ) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr conurbation has a ...

, Barry, Bangor (where he was player-manager for a time),

Distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

and

Great Harwood Great Harwood is a town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England, located north east of Blackburn and adjacent to the Ribble Valley. Great Harwood is part of the "Three Towns" conurbation along with the towns of Clayton-le-Moors and Ris ...

. After playing, he ran a hotel in Blackburn before retiring to Blackpool in 1936. He was killed in a car accident near to his

home at the age of 76 Belfast News Letter 2nd March 1965

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

; Blackburn Rovers *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

champions: 1911–12 ; Everton *

champions: 1914–15

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clennell, Joe 1889 births 1965 deaths English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Blackpool F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Everton F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players Ebbw Vale F.C. players Barry Town United F.C. players Bangor F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Great Harwood F.C. players Sportspeople from the City of Sunderland NIFL Premiership players