Samuel Bennion (1871 – 6 May 1941) 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 ...

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 ...

and later chairman of

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 ...

Career

Bennion was a

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in ...

native and a Burslem Port Vale supporter from the club's inception. He served the club as an official, but made a full appearance in the

English 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 ...

as a left-back in a 2–2 draw at Lincoln City on 24 February 1894 when the club were a man down. It was reported in 1905 that he was expected to stand down from his role owing to his increasing business commitments. He later served as an emergency

when Tommy Clare left the club in 1906, before the club folded at the end of the 1906–07 season. He was then involved as Cobridge Church F.C. changed their name to Port Vale and went on to serve as

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of this new club from December 1908 to July 1911, when control was handed to the

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

s of a

limited liability Limited liability is a legal status in which a person's financial Legal liability, liability is limited to a fixed sum, most commonly the value of a person's investment in a corporation, company, or joint venture. If a company that provides limi ...

company. He was retained as a

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

However, until 1933.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennion, Sam 1871 births 1941 deaths Footballers from Burslem English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Port Vale F.C. players English Football League players Port Vale F.C. managers Port Vale F.C. directors and chairmen English football managers English Football League managers 19th-century English sportsmen 20th-century English sportsmen