Sam Abel

Sam Abel
Personnel
Surname	Samuel Charles Abel
birthday	December 30, 1908
place of birth	Neston ,  England
date of death	September 26, 1959
Place of death	Willesden ,  England
position	Center forward , winger (right), defender (right)
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
	Neston Brickworks
1929-1930	Bury FC	0 0(0)
1930-1931	Accrington Stanley	26 (18)
1931-1933	Chesterfield FC	70 (39)
1933-1934	Fulham FC	9 0(1)
1934-1946	Queens Park Rangers	36 0(6)
1 Only league games are given.

Samuel Charles "Sam" Abel (born December 30, 1908 in Neston , † September 26, 1959 in Willesden ) was an English football player . Mostly called up as a center forward , he scored 64 goals in 141 games in the lower leagues of the Football League for four different clubs in the 1930s .

Career

Started his career in the north of England, until 1933

Abel played for Neston Brickworks and worked as a fisherman in Neston on the Wirral Peninsula before joining Bury FC as an amateur in June 1929 , and in October 1929 he rose to professional level. Until his departure at the end of the season, Abel was only used in the reserve team, with which he finished third in the Central League . Already at Bury he demonstrated his accuracy as a center forward , including four goals against the reserves of Wolverhampton Wanderers in November 1929 . In the summer of 1930 he moved to Accrington Stanley in the Third Division North and met 18 times in 26 league appearances until his departure in February 1931. Already on his debut in the Football League he scored a brace against Crewe Alexandra at the start of the 1930/31 season , the correspondent praised him "as one of the best third division strikers in terms of the speed of action when taking opportunities".

In February 1931 he played with Accrington at the promotion candidate FC Chesterfield and scored a goal in the 3-7 defeat, already on the following day he was switched to Chesterfield. As for his move to Chesterfield within the league, the story goes that at the end of the game a frustrated Stanley director told a Chesterfield director that he could get any of his players for £ 100, which he immediately responded to and said: “We'll take Abel! “In truth, Accrington was financially in dire straits and desperately in need of revenue and a reduction in player salaries, which is why Abel was transferred to Chesterfield FC a few days after the game.

By the end of the season, Abel played seven games and scored two goals, on the crucial last five match days, when Chesterfield took the lead with five wins and thus rose to the second division as season champion , but Albert Pynegar was preferred in the center forward position. Instead, Abel had to play in the reserve for some time, for which he scored eight goals in the last five game days of the Midland League , and at the beginning of the following season 1931/32 Abel was initially in the reserve team. It was not until the end of October 1931 that he returned to the first team after his nomination had also been requested by the press. The Sheffield Independent wrote: “He's not a great footballer, nor does he claim to be, but he can shoot and goals that count. Once he has established himself in the first team, he will score goals that may save Chesterfield from the humiliation of relegation. ”When he made his first appearance in the Second Division on October 31, 1931, he scored the 1-0 winner against Bury , in the second leg in March 1932, he contributed with his first hat trick in the Football League to a 4-1 success. In the FA Cup, he helped the club move into the fourth round with two goals against league rivals Nottingham Forest , where he failed with his team despite a goal with 2: 4 at the first division club Liverpool . At the end of the season Abel had scored 20 goals this season in 27 league games and thus played a decisive role in staying up.

Also in the season 1932/33 Abel was the top scorer of his team with 17 league goals in 36 missions, but also had to appear as a right half - forward because coach Bill Harvey temporarily preferred Colin Cook to the center-forward position. In the FA Cup they advanced to the round of 16 and eliminated first division Sheffield Wednesday (a goal by Abel in a 4-2 win in the replay). In the league, meanwhile, could not break away from the relegation places and rose as the table penultimate after two years back in the Third Division North.

Continued in London from 1933

Abel also played second rate in the following 1933/34 season , he had attracted the attention of Fulham coach Jim McIntyre , who was worth £ 500 the signing of Abel. At Fulham Abel did not succeed in building on his performance from Chesterfield. In the course of the season he came to only nine missions, including several times in the second half of the season in the right wing position, in addition, he was affected by a broken collarbone in early October 1933. At the end of the season he moved for £ 400 within London to the Queens Park Rangers (QPR) in the Third Division South There, too, he started as a center forward, but from February 1935 was mostly called up on the right wing and was hardly considered in the first of the following seasons Team. A serious injury put him out of action for 18 months, after which he was retrained as a right-back at QPR, but was only used in this position on the first five match days of the 1938/39 season until the outbreak of World War II .

In London, Abel had a wealthy patron in Arthur Lawrence , who had become wealthy as a chest maker, who also changed his own following from Fulham to QPR after Abel's move. In October 1936 Abel married his housekeeper, Lawrence was fatally injured in a traffic accident six months earlier and left Abel's wife the handsome sum of £ 10,000, the couple also lived in Lawrence's house.

Abel was only used regularly for QPR after the regular game operations had ceased and was active in all seven seasons in which replacement competitions were held due to the war; In total, he played at least 178 games (6 goals) for the club during this time. Described as " Peter Pan of the [football] veterans" in 1944 , he was still in use until the end of 1945. In October 1939 Abel made appearances for the Tunbridge Wells Rangers with several QPR players . He also appeared as a guest player at Fulham (1941 / 42-1944 / 45, 2 appearances / 0 goals), Brighton & Hove Albion (1939/40, 1/0) and Chelsea (1939/40, 1/0). During the war Abel was an auxiliary policeman in Harlesden , west London. In this capacity he was nominated several times for soccer games as a selection player for the Metropolitan Police War Reserve . In February 1942 he played with his QPR teammates Alf Ridyard , Dave Mangnall and Albert Bonass against the South-Eastern Command (final score 3: 3); on May 20, 1942 an appearance against the Royal Navy followed .

In his spare time Abel played golf and cricket , the latter at the Neston Cricket Club and, during summer breaks, for the QPR cricket team. After his football career, he is said to have been groundskeeper at Wembley Stadium .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bee's Notes On Sports Of The Day. . In: Liverpool Echo , 6 August 1929, p. 27.  (link subject to charge)
2. ↑ ALBION'S DOZEN. Derby Thrashed in Central League Match. . In: Birmingham Daily Gazette , November 4, 1929, p. 10.  (paid link)
3. ↑ SPORTING CHATTER. . In: The People , July 13, 1930, p. 17.  (paid link)
4. ^ Mike Jackman & Garth Dykes: Accrington Stanley: A Complete Record, 1894-1962 . Breedon Books, Derby 1991, ISBN 978-0-907969-89-1 , pp. 108 .
5. ↑ CREWE'S UNFORTUNATE START . In: Staffordshire Sentinel , August 30, 1930, p. 5.  (paid link)
6. ↑ ^{a b} LONDON FOOTBALL "FAN." LEAVES FORTUNE TO BRIDE OF QUEEN'S PK. RANGERS PLAYER. . In: Nottingham Evening Post , November 2, 1936, p. 12.  (paid link)
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Alex White: The Men Who Made Fulham Football Club . Tempus Publishing Ltd, Stroud 2002, ISBN 978-0-7524-2423-1 , pp. 7 .
8. ↑ ^{a b} cfchistory.com: Sammy Abel , accessed April 20, 2019
9. ↑ A NEW LEADER. Chesterfield Get Abel From Accrington. . In: Sheffield Daily Telegraph , February 19, 1931, p. 7.  (paid link)
10. ↑ cf. Seasonal usage overviews on cfchistory.com , accessed April 20, 2019
11. ^ Changes Needed. . In: Sheffield Independent , October 27, 1931, p. 10.  (paid link)
12. ^ Abel's part in Chesterfield's Best Performance. . In: Sheffield Independent , March 14, 1932, p. 11.  (paid link)
13. ↑ Stuart Basson: Lucky Whites and Spireites: Who's Who Chesterfield FC Yore Publications, Harefield 1998, ISBN 978-1-874427-03-2 , pp. 8 .
14. ↑ CLOSE SEASON GOSSIP . In: Hull Daily Mail , August 18, 1934, p. 6.  (paid link)
15. ↑ ABEL INJURED . In: Daily Herald , October 9, 1933, p. 19.  (paid link)
16. ↑ FORWARD LINE quandary . In: Middlesex County Times , August 18, 1934, p. 14.  (paid link)
17. ↑ NEW BACK DIVISION FOR QP RANGERS . In: Daily Herald , August 26, 1938, p. 12.  (link subject to charge)
18. ↑ ^{a b c} John Marks: Heroes in Hoops - QPR Who's Who 1899 ~ 2003 . Yore Publications, Harefield 2003, ISBN 1-874427-84-4 , pp. 8th f .
19. ↑ cf. Gordon Macey: Queen's Park Rangers - The Complete Record . Breedon Books, 2009, ISBN 978-1-85983-714-6 , pp. 334 f .
20. ↑ MRS. SAM ABEL . In: Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald , November 6, 1936, p. 13.  (paid link)
21. ↑ THEY ALL LOOK UP TO THE FOREMAN! . In: The People , December 31, 1944, p. 5.  (paid link)
22. ↑ Jack Rollin: Soccer at War 1939-45 . Headline Book Publishing, London 2005, ISBN 0-7553-1431-X , pp. 396 f .
23. ↑ CHARLTON ATHLETIC AT DOWN FARM . In: Kent & Sussex Courier , October 13, 1939, p. 11.  (paid link)
24. ↑ SOUTHEND AT DOWN FARM . In: Kent & Sussex Courier , October 20, 1939, p. 7.  (paid link)
25. ↑ cf. Seasonal overviews in Jack Rollin: Soccer at War 1939–45 . Headline Book Publishing, London 2005, ISBN 0-7553-1431-X .
26. ↑ The fact that Abel, as mentioned in several publications, also made a guest appearance at Crystal Palace , can neither be substantiated with Rollins Soccer at War nor with Kings Crystal Palace - The Complete Record .
27. ↑ FOOTBALL. ARMY AND POLICE SHARE SIX. . In: Surrey Mirror , February 27, 1942, p. 7.  (link with costs)
28. ^ Death of Miss Mary Abel. . In: Cheshire Observer , January 23, 1937, p. 15.  (paid link)
29. ↑ RANGERS AND CHELSEA AT CRICKET . In: West Middlesex Gazette , August 21, 1937, p. 15.  (paid link)
30. ↑ QUEENS PARK RANGERS v. CENTRAL WILLESDEN . In: Kensington Post , September 16, 1938, p. 3.  (paid link)