John Devey

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John Devey
Personnel
Surname John Henry George Devey
birthday December 26, 1866
place of birth Birmingham ,  England
date of death October 11, 1940
Place of death Birmingham ,  England
position Half forward , center forward
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
Wellington Road
FC Excelsior
Aston Unity
Aston Manor
1889 West Bromwich Albion 0 00(0)
Birmingham St. George's
1891-1901 Aston Villa 268 (169)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1892-1894 England 2 00(1)
1 Only league games are given.

John Henry George "Jack" Devey (born December 26, 1866 in Birmingham , † October 11, 1940 ibid) was an English football player and, as a striker, long-time captain of the successful championship and cup winners team of Aston Villa of the 1890s.

Career as a soccer player

Devey initially acted exclusively as an amateur player for various clubs in Birmingham before he joined Aston Villa in March 1891. The critics who accused him of being too old to jump into professional business at the age of 24 were immediately refuted when he scored 29 goals in 25 missions in the 1891/92 season and finished fourth with his team. At the same time he reached the FA Cup final with Aston Villa after victories against Wolverhampton Wanderers (3: 1) and Sunderland (4: 1) , which was clearly lost to West Bromwich Albion in the Kennington Oval with 0: 3 .

Although Devey could be used in all positions in attack and scored high goal percentages, his position was mostly that of the right inner striker. His strengths lay in technically adept dribbling and in the ability to attract opponents in order to then play a free-standing teammate. This mostly benefited both right winger Charlie Athersmith and the center forward. After a further fourth place in the season 1892/93 (18 goals scored) contributed the strong headed Devey in the season 1893/94 as team captain 20 league goals - he was the top scorer of the "Villans" - to win the English championship. During this time he came to the English national team on March 5, 1892 and March 3, 1894 to two international matches against Ireland . That no further assignments for England followed, was due to the fact that he had top-class competition in his position with John Goodall and later Steve Bloomer , which he could not displace, with not a few contemporary voices of the "axis Devey-Athersmith" a higher priority in relation to the English selection.

Instead, Devey led his club to a veritable flood of titles by the end of the 19th century, which began with his first victory in 1895 with a 1-0 final win over West Bromwich Albion - the decisive goal was scored by left winger Bob Chatt after just half a minute won the FA Cup. In the following year, the second English championship followed and in 1897 even the " double " from the FA Cup and championship. After the departure of two key players and the serious injury of Howard Spencer , Devey and Villa failed to win titles in the following season. More important things happened beyond the soccer field when Devey and a number of other important soccer players of the time founded the Association Footballers' Union (AFU) in February 1898 , which objected to the Football League 's maximum wage limit of four pounds per week.

In his career fall, Devey won the English championship again in 1899 and 1900, and in the 1900/01 season he was again top scorer in Villans with 15 goals. When he then lost his place in the team in the 1901/02 season , he ended his football career after a total of 187 goals in 308 competitive games for Aston Villa. To this day, he has the third-best hit yield in the club's history.

Beside and after the football career

In addition to football, Devey played cricket for the Warwickshire County Cricket Club for many years . In addition, there was a widespread interest in baseball , where he supported the efforts of the American Albert Spalding to spread the game in England.

After retiring as an active player, he remained loyal to football itself until 1934 and worked as a director for Aston Villa. He also owned a sports equipment shop in Lozells and, together with the still active Villa player Harry Hampton , he opened a 1,500-seat cinema in 1915 with the “Winson Green Picture House Company” .

successes

Web links

literature

  • Michael Joyce: Football League Players' Records. 1888 to 1939. (p.73) , 4Edge, Hockley, Essex 2004 ISBN 1-899468-67-6
personal data
SURNAME Devey, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Devey, Jack; Devey, John Henry George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH December 26, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Birmingham
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 1940
Place of death Birmingham