Charles Baker (footballer) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Charles Baker was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

professional footballer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

who played as an inside forward

Striker

Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...

in Southampton

Southampton F.C.

Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...

's inaugural season

1894–95 Southampton St. Mary's F.C. season

The 1894–95 season was the tenth since the foundation of Southampton St. Mary's F.C. and their first in league football, being founder members of the Southern League....

in the Southern League

Southern Football League

The Southern League is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, South Central and Midlands of England and South Wales...

Playing career

Born in Stafford

Stafford

Stafford is the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies approximately north of Wolverhampton and south of Stoke-on-Trent, adjacent to the M6 motorway Junction 13 to Junction 14...

, he first played for Stafford Rangers

Stafford Rangers F.C.

Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts...

before joining Stoke in April 1889. He made one appearance at the end of the 1888–89 season

1888-89 in English football

The 1888–1889 season was the 18th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:A new competition, The Football League, started this season...

; the following season

1889-90 in English football

The 1889–90 season was the 19th season of competitive football in England. Preston North End were Football League champions for the second successive season while The Wednesday finished top of the newly formed Football Alliance. Blackburn Rovers won the FA Cup....

he appeared fairly regularly making twelve league appearances, scoring twice as Stoke finished at the foot of the Football League table and failed to be re-elected for the following season. As a consequence, Stoke played 1890–91

1890-91 in English football

The 1890–91 season was the 20th season of competitive football in England.-Events:Everton started the 1890–91 season in superb form with five straight victories, with Fred Geary scoring in each of the first six matches...

in the Football Alliance

Football Alliance

The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92.It was formed by 12 clubs as a rival to the Football League, which had begun in the 1888–89 season, also with 12 member clubs...

, finishing the season as champions.

In August 1891, he moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...

where he played alongside Will Devey

Will Devey

William 'Will' Devey was an English professional footballer who played as a centre-forward for Small Heath in the Football Alliance and for a variety of Midlands clubs in the Football League and outside it.-Football career:He was Small Heath Alliance's leading...

and England

England national football team

The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

international forwards Harry Wood

Harry Wood (footballer)

Harry Wood was a professional footballer who played most of his career as an inside-forward for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton.-Wolverhampton Wanderers:...

and Robert Topham

Robert Topham

Robert Topham was an English international footballer, who played as an outside right.-Career:Born in Ellesmere, Topham played for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Casuals, and earned two caps for England between 1893 and 1894....

. In 1891–92

1891-92 in English football

The 1891–92 season was the 21st season of competitive football in England.-Events:Three new clubs joined the Football Alliance, following the expansion of the Football League to 14 teams, and the defection of Sunderland Albion to the Northern League...

he was a virtual ever-present, making 24 appearances in the league scoring five goals, as well as four FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

appearances (four goals). The following season, he lost his place to Joe Butcher

Joe Butcher

Joseph Henry Butcher was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Wolverhampton Wanderers, with whom he won the 1893 FA Cup.-Career:...

and returned to Stoke in January 1893.

Although he made four appearances for Stoke at the end of the 1892–93 season

1892-93 in English football

The 1892–93 season was the 22nd season of competitive football in England.-Events:The Football League and the Football Alliance formally merged, and so the Football League Second Division was formed, consisting mostly of Football Alliance clubs...

, he made no appearances at all in the first team in the following season, presumably as a result of injury.

On 26 April 1893, he was part of a Stoke side who were invited to play a friendly match against Southampton St Mary's

Southampton F.C.

, played at the County Cricket ground

County Ground, Southampton

The County Ground in Southampton, England was a former cricket and football ground. It was the home of Hampshire County Cricket Club from the 1885 English cricket season until the 2000 English cricket season...

in Northlands Road, Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

. The "Saints", who included the 18-year old Charles Miller

Charles William Miller

Charles William Miller was a Brazilian sportsman, who is considered to be the father of football in Brazil.-Early life:...

(considered to be the father of football in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

) in their line-up, were "outplayed fairly and squarely on every point", although the spectators "thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition" and looked forward to witnessing "more matches of a similar character" in future. Also playing for Stoke were Alf Littlehales

Alf Littlehales

Alfred "Alf" Littlehales was an English professional footballer who played at centre-half for Southampton in the 1890s.-Football career:...

, Willie Naughton

Willie Naughton

William A. "Willie" Naughton was a Scottish professional footballer, who played as an outside-forward for various clubs in Scotland and England in the 1880s and 1890s, including Celtic, Stoke and Southampton...

and Lachie Thomson

Lachie Thomson

W.J.G. "Lachie" Thomson was an English professional footballer who played as a defender for Stoke in the Football League before joining Southampton St Mary's for the inaugural Southern League season in 1894.-Stoke:...

, all of whom were to move to Southampton within two years.

In the summer of 1894, along with fellow Stoke players Lachie Thomson

Lachie Thomson

and Alf Littlehales

Alf Littlehales

Alfred "Alf" Littlehales was an English professional footballer who played at centre-half for Southampton in the 1890s.-Football career:...

, he was persuaded to move to the south coast, where Southampton

Southampton F.C.

were about to embark on their first season in the new Southern League

Southern Football League

The Southern League is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, South Central and Midlands of England and South Wales...

. He was appointed the first team captain and "his surges down the right wing made him a favourite with the Southampton faithful". He scored a hat trick in an FA Cup qualifying match at the Antelope Ground

Antelope Ground

The Antelope Ground, Southampton was a sports ground that was the first home of both Hampshire County Cricket Club, who played there prior to 1884, and of Southampton Football Club, who played there from 1887 to 1896 as "Southampton St...

against Reading

Reading F.C.

Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...

on 3 November 1894, as well as scoring in the next two matches as the Saints progressed to the first round proper where they lost 4–1 to Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest F.C.

Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...

. Baker went on to score a total of twelve (six league and six FA Cup) goals that season, making him the cub's top scorer

Southampton F.C. seasons

This is a list of seasons played by Southampton Football Club in English and European football, from 1892 to the most recent completed season. The first six seasons are Southampton St. Mary's....

.

According to Holley & Chalk, he was "a neat dribbler, (who) had a firm command over the ball and could centre with precision" In 1895–96 he was an ever-present as Southampton finished the season in third place. His Southampton career covered 42 first-team appearances, in which he scored 17 goals.

At the end of the season he announced his retirement from football; the club presented him with a gold watch, before Baker returned to Stafford

Stafford

to take up the trade of shoemaker

Shoemaking

Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand. Traditional handicraft shoemaking has now been largely superseded in volume of shoes produced by industrial mass production of footwear, but not necessarily in quality, attention to detail, or...

Career statistics

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Stoke Stoke City F.C. Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...	1888–89 1888-89 in English football The 1888–1889 season was the 18th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:A new competition, The Football League, started this season...	1	0	0	0	1	0
	1889–90 1889-90 in English football The 1889–90 season was the 19th season of competitive football in England. Preston North End were Football League champions for the second successive season while The Wednesday finished top of the newly formed Football Alliance. Blackburn Rovers won the FA Cup....	12	2	4	0	16	4

}
|17||11||0||0||17||11
|-
!Total
!30!!13!!4!!0!!34!!13
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="center"|Wolves

Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

|1891–92

1891-92 in English football

|24||5||4||4||28||9
|-
|1892–93

1892-93 in English football

|13||1||0||0||13||1
|-
!Total
!37!!6!!4!!4!!43!!9
|-
|rowspan="2" valign="center"|Stoke

Stoke City F.C.

Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...

|1892–93

1892-93 in English football

|4||0||0||0||4||0
|-
!Total
!4!!0!!0!!0!!4!!0
|-
|rowspan="3" valign="center"|Southampton

Southampton F.C.

|1894–95

1894-95 in English football

The 1894–95 season was the 24th season of competitive football in England.-Football League:Following the collapse of Middlesbrough Ironopolis and the resignation of Northwich Victoria, three new teams were admitted to the Second Division, bringing it to 16 teams...

|15||6||4||6||19||12
|-
|1895–96

1895-96 in English football

The 1895–96 season was the 25th season of competitive football in England.-Events:Loughborough replaced Walsall Town Swifts in the Second Division.-Honours:Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour...

|18||5||5||0||23||5
|-
!Total
!33!!11!!9!!6!!42!!17
|-
!colspan="2"|Career total
!104!!30!!17!!10!!123!!39
|}

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.