Fred Spiksley

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Fred Spiksley

Personal information
Full name	Frederick Spiksley
Date of birth	(1870-01-25)25 January 1870
Place of birth	Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England
Date of death	28 July 1948(1948-07-28) (aged 78)
Place of death	Goodwood Racecourse, England
Position(s)	Outside Left
Youth career
1883-c.1886	Holy Trinity School, Gainsborough
c. 1884	Eclipse
1887	Gainsborough Jubilee Swifts
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1886	Gainsborough Working Men's Club
1886	Gainsborough Wednesday
1887–1891	Gainsborough Trinity
1891–1903	Wednesday	293	(100)
1904	Glossop North End	3	(1)
1905	Leeds City	7	(0)
1905–1906	Southern United	?	(?)
1906	Watford	11	(5)
International career
1893–1898	England	7	(7)
Managerial career
1910	IFK Norrköping
1911	AIK Stockholm
1911	Sweden
1911–1912	MTV Munich 1879
1912–1914	1. FC Nürnberg
1922–1924	Reforma AC
1922–1924	Real Club España
1926–1927	1. FC Nürnberg
1928	Lausanne Sports
1931	CF Badalona
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Frederick Spiksley (25 January 1870 – 28 July 1948) was an English footballer and coach, who played as a forward for Sheffield Wednesday and England. He also played for Gainsborough Trinity, Glossop North End, Leeds City, Watford. After retiring as a player in 1906, he worked as a coach and won national league titles in Sweden, Mexico and Germany. During the First World War he was arrested but escaped from a German Police prison.

Spiksley was born in Gainsborough, the son of a boilermaker.^[1] His father Edward worked at the Britannia Ironworks in Gainsborough. Edward had been married to Frederick's mother Sarah for five years by the time he was born.^[2] Frederick had a younger sister named Florence Maud, who died on 18 December 1875, at the age of nearly five weeks.^[3]

At the time of the 1881 census, Spiksley's father was recorded as working as a Publican in Gainsborough. Frederick had an older brother named John Edward, and a younger brother named William.^[4]

After playing for local teams in Gainsborough, including Gainsborough Trinity (for whom he had scored 131 goals in 126 appearances), he signed for Wednesday in 1891.^[1] His later career was marred by injury (including a serious knee injury in 1903) and he played for Leeds City, Southern United and Watford.^[1]

He was also an England international, scoring hat-tricks for his country on both his debut against Wales and second appearance against Scotland, both in 1893.^[1][5][6]

After retiring as a player Spiskley joined the Fred Karno Company, and worked in a theatre with Charlie Chaplin.^[1] He then became a football coach who worked in Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, the United States, Peru and Mexico, as well as in England.^[1]

After World War I broke out, he was coaching in Germany and was held in police prison for three days along with his son.^[1] His wife managed to secure their release, and the family moved to Switzerland.^[1] He then returned to England but was deemed unfit to serve in the War due to his earlier knee injury, which Spiksley exacerbated by dislocating his knee at will to fool the medical examiner.^[1] He spent the war working in Sheffield as a munitions inspector,^[7] resuming his coaching career after the war ended.^[1]

He ended his career coaching at the King Edward VII School in Sheffield.^[1]

Spiksley was a "slight and silky winger" who was described as the "fastest man in football" by his England international team-mate Billy Bassett.^[1]

He was married to Ellen with a son, Fred Jr.^[1] He and Ellen later divorced in 1928 due to his adultery.^[1][3] Spiksley was also a gambler who suffered heavy losses and was made bankrupt in 1909.^[1] Spiksley married Rose Reichel, on 3 June 1929, at Paddington Register Office.^[3]

He died from a heart attack at the age of 78 whilst attending Ladies' Day at Goodwood Racecourse in 1948.^[1]

• Fred Spiksley at Englandstats.com
• Fred Spiksley at England Football Online