Fred Laidman

Fred Laidman
Personal information
Full name Frederick Laidman[1][2]
Date of birth (1913-06-20)20 June 1913[2]
Place of birth Durham, England
Date of death 20 June 1987(1987-06-20) (aged 74)
Place of death Durham, England
Playing position Inside forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
19??–1934 Crook Town
1934–1935 Burnley 0 (0)
193?–1936 Wigan Athletic
1936–1938 Everton 0 (0)
1938–1942 Bristol City 10 (1)
1942–1945 Sunderland 0 (0)
1945–1949 Stockton
1949–1950 Darlington 2 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Frederick Laidman (20 June 1913 – 20 June 1987), known as Fred or Freddie Laidman, was an English footballer who played as an inside forward in the Football League for Bristol City and Darlington.[2] He was on the books of Burnley and Everton without representing them in the League, was registered with Sunderland during the Second World War, and played non-league football for Crook Town, Wigan Athletic and Stockton.

Life and career

Laidman was born in Durham in 1913.[2] He played football in the North Eastern League for Crook Town, then, after a two-match trial, turned professional with Burnley, then a Second Division club, in December 1934. He played for the club's 'A' team,[3] and for the reserves in the Central League,[4] but was released on a free transfer at the end of the season without having appeared in the first team.[5] He played for Cheshire League club Wigan Athletic, and signed for Everton of the First Division in December 1936 for a £500 fee.[6][7] Laidman was retained for the 1937–38 season,[8] but by December, he was available for transfer. Amid interest from Stockport County and Chester, Everton's secretary was instructed to accept offers of £500 or better,[9][10] but none were forthcoming. At the end of the season, he was transfer-listed at £350.[11] He submitted a written request to be allowed a free transfer,[12] but in June 1938, joined Third Division South club Bristol City for a £250 fee.[13][14] He never played first-team football for Everton.

Laidman made his debut in the Football League on the opening day of the 1938–39 season in a 2–2 draw away to Watford. The Western Daily Press reported that he "showed up well towards the end".[15] By mid-September, we read that his "passing lacked precision and accuracy",[16] and an unnamed Bristolian in the Cheltenham Chronicle expressed his disappointment with the lack of understanding between the left-wing pairing of Laidman and George Willshaw, suggesting that Laidman needed to play higher up the field and nearer to his partner.[17] He scored in a 2–2 draw at Northampton Town,[18] but lost his place, finished the season with ten League appearances and that one goal,[2] and was listed as available for transfer.[19]

During the Second World War, Laidman served in the Durham Light Infantry. He played for their football team alongside such players as England internationals Walter Boyes and Bill Nicholson.[20] By October 1942, he had been promoted from private to corporal, was playing at right half rather than inside forward,[21] and had signed professional forms with Sunderland.[22] In December, the Sunderland Echo's "Argus" wrote "what a grand little right half he is – full of grit and enthusiasm, capable of running for the proverbial week, and capable of using the ball to the advantage of those in front of him",[23] but sometimes his enthusiasm was to get the better of him. A year of so into his Sunderland career, the same correspondent described him as "sometimes in a hurry to use the ball before he had it under control",[24] and feeding Johnny Spuhler with passes that were well-conceived but so overhit that "some of them Spuhler could not reach if he had a flying start on a Spitfire".[25]

Laidman scored 16 goals from 67 games in three seasons of wartime football for Sunderland,[26] and made one guest appearance for Queens Park Rangers in November 1944,[27] before signing professionally for North Eastern League club Stockton in 1945. He also played as a guest for Leeds United in the Football League North in 1945–46,[28] but the Football Association's ruling that clubs could only field their own registered players in the first postwar FA Cup made him ineligible to guest for Sunderland in that competition.[29] Laidman was a member of the Stockton team that reached the second round proper of the 1947–48 FA Cup, losing only after a replay to Notts County, who fielded Tommy Lawton in both matches.[30][31] He continued with Stockton until the summer of 1948, when he made a brief return to League football with Darlington.[28] He played just twice in the Third Division North before retiring from the game.[32]

Laidman went on to work on the railways, and died in Durham in 1987, on his 74th birthday.[28]

References

  1. ↑ Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData (Tony Brown). p. 150. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Hugman, Barry J., ed. (1998). The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–1998. Queen Anne Press. p. 312. ISBN 978-1-85291-585-8.
  3. ↑ 'Sportsman' (22 December 1934). "Wing experiment justified". Burnley Express. p. 16 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  4. ↑ "Tomorrow's football prospects". Lancashire Daily Post. 8 February 1935. p. 11 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  5. ↑ 'Sportsman' (4 May 1935). "Leaving Burnley?". Burnley Express. p. 19 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  6. ↑ "Sports Items". The Daily Mail. Hull. 8 December 1936. p. 9 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  7. ↑ EFC/1/1/22&p=273 "Minutes of meeting held Saty. December 5, 1936" Check |chapterurl= value (help). Minute Book No. 18. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1935–37. p. 207.
  8. ↑ EFC/1/1/22&p=319 "Annual General Meeting of Shareholders Thursday, 3rd June, 1937" Check |chapterurl= value (help). Minute Book No. 18. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1935–37. p. 253.
  9. ↑ EFC/1/1/23&p=103 "Meeting of Directors Tuesday, 14th Decr., 1937" Check |chapterurl= value (help). Minute Book No. 19. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1937–43. p. 48.
  10. ↑ EFC/1/1/23&p=110 "Meeting Tuesday, 28th December, 1937" Check |chapterurl= value (help). Minute Book No. 18. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1937–43. p. 55.
  11. ↑ EFC/1/1/23&p=153 "Meeting Tuesday, 5th April, 1938" Check |chapterurl= value (help). Minute Book No. 18. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1937–43. p. 98.
  12. ↑ EFC/1/1/23&p=168 "Meeting of the Company 20th June, 1938" Check |chapterurl= value (help). Minute Book No. 18. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1937–43. pp. 113–14.
  13. ↑ "Soccer Moves". The Evening News. Portsmouth. 3 June 1938. p. 10 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  14. ↑ EFC/1/1/23&p=216 "Meeting Tuesday, 4th October, 1938" Check |chapterurl= value (help). Minute Book No. 18. The Everton Football Club Co. Ltd. 1937–43. p. 149.
  15. ↑ "City save point with last kick of match". Western Daily Press. Bristol. 29 August 1938. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  16. ↑ "Early goal seals City's fate at Swindon". Western Daily Press. Bristol. 12 September 1938. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  17. ↑ 'Corinthian' (17 September 1938). "Sports gossip". Cheltenham Chronicle. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  18. ↑ "Unlucky not to have won". Western Daily Press. Bristol. 10 October 1938. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  19. ↑ "Rovers retain 13 players". Western Daily Press. Bristol. 18 April 1939. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  20. ↑ 'Argus' (22 May 1941). "Under the searchlight". The Sunderland Echo. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  21. ↑ 'Argus' (5 October 1942). "Billy Robinson puts punch in attack". The Sunderland Echo. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  22. ↑ 'Argus' (19 October 1942). "Sunderland sign forward and half-back". The Sunderland Echo. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  23. ↑ 'Argus' (28 December 1942). "Sunderland much too good for Gateshead". The Sunderland Echo. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  24. ↑ 'Argus' (13 September 1943). "Sunderland too good for Hartlepools". The Sunderland Echo. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  25. ↑ 'Argus' (13 September 1943). "Wear–Tyne duel attracts biggest war-time crowd". The Sunderland Echo. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  26. ↑ Rollin, Jack (2005). Soccer at War 1939–45. London: Headline. pp. 420–21. ISBN 978-0-7553-1431-7.
  27. ↑ Westerberg, Kenneth. "1944/45" (Excel spreadsheet). QPRNet. Ron Norris. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  28. 1 2 3 "Laidman: Frederick (Fred)". Leeds United F.C. History. Tony Hill. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  29. ↑ 'Argus' (6 August 1945). "In world of sport". The Sunderland Echo. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  30. ↑ "Teams for to-morrow". Nottingham Evening Post. 12 December 1947. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  31. ↑ "Notts. two up in quick time". Nottingham Evening Post. 20 December 1947. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
  32. ↑ "Darlington: 1946/47–1988/89 & 1990/91–2009/10". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Players Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
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