Leonard Thomas Alford Andrews (9 December 1888 – 21 January 1969) 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 an

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 ...

. During his career he had two spells with both

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, as well as playing for

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Playing career

Andrews was born in

and attended the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

where he trained as a teacher. He joined

Reading F.C. Reading Football Club ( ) is a professional football club based in Reading, Berkshire, England. They compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. They play their home matches at the Select Car Leasing Sta ...

in October 1909 and was relegated from the Southern League First Division at the end his first season. However they were promoted as champions Second Division in 1911. In the summer of 1912 he moved to the south coast to join

, who had just appointed a new trainer in

Jimmy McIntyre James Alfred McIntyre (31 October 1881 – 1954) was an English footballer who became manager at Southampton, Coventry City and Fulham. Playing career McIntyre was born in Wednesbury, Staffordshire. He was a journeyman player of some reput ...

. Due to the lack of funds following George Swift's spending spree in the previous season, McIntyre was only able to sign three new players; the only successful recruit was Andrews, whose signing from Reading was "one of the best moves of McIntyre's managerial career", as Andrews went on to become the "Saints" most consistent forward in the three seasons leading up to 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 ...

, as well as being an expert penalty taker. He started off well scoring eight goals in the first 17 games, before the goals dried up after Christmas 1912 and he finished the season with nine goals, one behind leading scorer Percy Prince. He was more consistent the following season, where he was now playing alongside

Arthur Dominy Arthur Albert Dominy (11 February 1893 – 23 September 1974) was an English professional footballer, who played as an inside-forward, and football manager, spending most of his career with Southampton. Playing career Southampton He played h ...

; he scored twelve goals and missed only one league game. In the final pre-war season he contributed eleven goals of which eight were from penalties. Described by Holley & Chalk in "The Alphabet of the Saints" as a "clever and able forward who could play in all the front positions" he was a noted

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

taker converting all but two of the 22 penalty kicks he took, gaining a reputation as "a man who could hit the ball harder, and more accurately, with his left foot than any other player in the game". During the First World War, Andrews joined the 5th Battalion

Wiltshire Regiment The Wiltshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot and the 99th Duke of Edinburgh's (Lanarkshire) Regiment of Foot. T ...

, where he served in the Middle East rising to the rank of

Regimental Sergeant Major Regimental sergeant major (RSM) is an appointment that may be held by a warrant officer (WO) in the British Army, the Royal Marines, and the armies of many other Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations. It is also an actual rank in the Iri ...

. After the war, he signed for his first club

in July 1919. During the 1919–20 season he was part of the last Southern League representative XI, playing in a fixture against

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

. At the end of the 1919–20 season Reading, along with most of the Southern League clubs, formed the Third Division of the

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 ...

. Andrews spent the first season of the new division with Reading before returning to Southampton in August 1921. During his second spell at Reading, Andrews formed a "exciting partnership" with

Jimmy Carr James Anthony Patrick Carr (born 15 September 1972) is an Irish-British comedian, presenter, writer and actor. He is known for his rapid-fire deadpan delivery of One-line joke, one-liners. He began his comedy career in 1997, and he has regula ...

on the left-wing, which was to be briefly re-created at Southampton a few years later. In his first season back at The Dell he helped the Saints to the

Third Division South The Third Division South of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

title. By now the goals were few and far between and, although his enthusiasm carried him through another two seasons, he was no longer a first choice player, losing out firstly to

Joe Clark Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian businessman, writer, and retired politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980. He also served as Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the ...

for much of the 1922–23 season and then to Henry Johnson the following season. On 17 February 1923 he was drafted in as

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for a match at

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

when Tommy Allen was taken ill; he acquitted himself well as the game finished goalless. He played his final match for Southampton at

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 ...

on 24 November 1923. During his two spells with Southampton he played 180 games in all competitions, scoring 40 goals of which exactly half were from penalties. In August 1924 he joined

on a free transfer. He made 38 league appearances for the club, as well as a further two in the

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 ...

, playing as either an inside forward or left winger. He finished the 1924–25 season joint top scorer alongside

Fred Pagnam Fred Pagnam (4 September 1891 – 1 March 1962) was an English footballer and manager. Pagnam played as a forward in the Football League for clubs Huddersfield Town, Blackpool, Liverpool, Arsenal, Cardiff City and Watford, and in non-league footb ...

with six league and one

goals. However, he was released by Watford at the end of the season. After retiring from the game in 1925, he returned to

where he took up a career as an insurance salesman. He became an outstanding

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

player and won honours at county level. He died in January 1969, shortly after his 80th birthday.

Honours

Reading * Southern League Second Division championship: 1910–11 Southampton *

championship: 1921–22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrews, Len 1888 births 1969 deaths Footballers from Reading, Berkshire Alumni of the University of Reading English men's footballers Southern Football League players Reading F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Watford F.C. players English Football League players Wiltshire Regiment soldiers British Army personnel of World War I Men's association football inside forwards Military personnel from Reading, Berkshire