Louis Cardwell (20 August 1912 – 23 April 1986) 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 ...

. A defender, he spent six years 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 ...

in the 1930s, making over 100 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 ...

appearances for the club, and helping them to win

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out of the Second Division in 1936–37. He later played for

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, Netherfield, and

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' ...

Career

Blackpool

After starting his career with South Shore and Imperial Hydro, Cardwell made his debut for

on 17 January 1931, in a 5–1 defeat at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

.Calley, Roy (1992). '' Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992'', Breedon Books Sport, p. 236 It was his only league appearance of the 1930–31 season; he did, however, appear in the club's two

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 ...

ties. He missed the entire 1931–32 campaign due to injury and only returned with ten games of the following 1932–33 season remaining, appearing in six of them.Calley, Roy (1992). ''Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992'', Breedon Books Sport, p. 240 Sandy MacFarlane succeeded Harry Evans as Blackpool

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

before the 1933–34 season, and the Scot only gave one start to Cardwell, in a 3–0

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defeat at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

.Calley, Roy (1992). ''Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992'', Breedon Books Sport, p. 242 The following season, however, he selected him in 29 of the club's 42 league games.Calley, Roy (1992). ''Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992'', Breedon Books Sport, p. 244 Cardwell served under his third Blackpool manager (this time Joe Smith) for the 1935–36 term, and he went on to be ever-present for the season. He also scored five goals. The first three came in consecutive games: against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

on 7 March,

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 ...

a week later, and then against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

on 21 March. The remaining two were both from the

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spot: against Hull City on 11 April and against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

on 22 April, in the penultimate game of the league campaign.Calley, Roy (1992). ''Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887–1992'', Breedon Books Sport, p. 246 Cardwell was also ever-present the following season, 1936–37, as Blackpool were promoted to the

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as runners-up of the Second Division. In 1937–38, Cardwell started in eleven of the first twelve league games (and scored in one of them) before being sold to

. His final game for the "Seasiders" came on 16 October, a 2–0 defeat to Chelsea at

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a association football, football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool Football Club since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two be ...

Manchester City and beyond

Cardwell played 39 League games for

. The "Citizens" were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

out of the top-flight in 1937–38, and finished fifth in the Second Division in 1938–39 – they were five points behind promoted

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

. He joined

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 ...

as a wartime guest in January 1945, making his debut in a 5–0 defeat at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

on 20 January. He scored one goal in seven further games before departing in March 1945. He also guested for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

. Cardwell moved on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

to Netherfield and then left

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attenda ...

permanently on a

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in 1947. The "Railwaymen" finished tenth and 12th in the

Third Division North The Third Division North 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 South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

in 1947–48 and 1948–49 under the stewardship of

Frank Hill Frank Robert Hill (21 May 1906 – 28 August 1993) was a Scottish football player and manager. Playing career Forfar and Aberdeen Hill was born in Forfar and started his career at Forfar Athletic, joining the club in 1924. He moved to Aberdee ...

and Arthur Turner. He played 25 league games during his two seasons at

Gresty Road Gresty Road or the Alexandra Stadium, currently known as the Mornflake Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Crewe, Cheshire, England. The home ground of Crewe Alexandra, it has an all-seated capacity of 10,153. History C ...

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Blackpool *

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 ...

second-place promotion: 1936–37

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardwell, Louis 1912 births 1986 deaths Footballers from Blackpool English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Blackpool F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. wartime guest players Blackpool F.C. wartime guest players Fulham F.C. wartime guest players Millwall F.C. wartime guest players Portsmouth F.C. wartime guest players West Ham United F.C. wartime guest players Kendal Town F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen