I’ve previously put together a blog on ‘The Best Wales 11 I Never Saw Play’. All of the players discussed there deserve a larger piece than their review within an imaginary starting eleven. And there is only one place to start of course, the superstar that was Billy Meredith
Embed from Getty ImagesBilly Meredith 1910, Manchester Utd
Colliery Beginnings
Born in Chirk, to a working class coal mining family, Billy Meredith was brought up within Primitive Methodism. This was the basis of his teetotal lifestyle and early introduction to the trade union movement. Football was in the blood of those colliery men as much as the coal dust they breathed. There were a number of exceptional amateur clubs in the area. These included Ruabon Druids and Chirk, and Meredith made his first appearance for the latter in 1892. He’d been working in the mines, as a pit pony driver, since he turned 12. Football must have been a very real diversion. One of Billy’s brothers (Elias, the eldest) worked on the railway and the access to transport. This enabled Billy to visit far off cities and see the larger professional teams of the day. Everton and presumably Bolton, the best team in the northwest of England at the time.
In 1892 Chirk made the Welsh Cup Final, but lost to Wrexham. The period is clouded by the mining striker which would have reduced Meredith’s income. In response to that he also signed for Northwich Victoria as the start of the 1893 season. He played for Victoria and Chirk, and continued to work in the Black Park Colliery. Victoria’s professional status in the football league gave Meredith a small stipend, his first payment for paying football. Chirk went on to win the Welsh Cup at the end of that season giving Meredith his first silverware. Norwich Victoria though withdrew from the football league after a terrible season that saw them win just three games.
Embed from Getty ImagesMeredith colour illustration, 1908
Move to Manchester City
A Bolton scout passed on Billy Meredith, thinking him ‘too slight’. But one of the games Meredith played for Northwich was refereed by Lawrence Furniss, the key figure in the formation of Ardwick AFC (which became Manchester City). Furniss seems to have been an active scout along with his managerial and chairman-like duties. Mam Meredith though needed some real persuading to allow Billy to sign on with Manchester City. She saw more security and stability in a simple working life in Chirk, over the big city.
In the end, even after signing as an amateur in the summer of 1894, Meredith continued to work in the Chirk colliery for a further year. He finally turned professional early in 1895 aged 20, playing in the second division as City chased promotion. Soon after he gained the City captaincy. Meredith strikes me as a rather paternal captain, despite his young years, mentoring new recruits and steering them away from bars and drink and onto fishing trips instead.
International honours
March of 1895 also saw Meredith gain his first Wales cap. A 2-2 draw with Ireland within the British Home Championship. At the time Wales were only playing games within the British Isles so international games were much rarer than now, being just three a year (England, Scotland and Ireland). Even so Meredith was frequently prevented from joining the national team by his club. Over a 25 year period, he only played in all three games in seven seasons. The reverse fixture a year later was a dominant Welsh win 6-1. The Racecourse crowd, cheering on a swathe of local heroes, saw Meredith score his first international goal.
Billy Meredith – ahead of his time
Meredith remained willowy and utilized his speed to grow into the outstanding right wing dribbler of his era. I’m tempted to write that he was blessed with natural skill and ball control. But that underplays the effort he put into training, skill development and refinement. I do think his football instincts were profound, but he also seems to have modified his game continuously through his long career. Initially more of a goal scorer, playing perhaps closer to what we now think of as a number 10 role than a true winger, over time he became a very clear midfield right sided ball crossing playmaker.
Embed from Getty ImagesMeredith and awards c1911
In his early days he was often marked out of the game. However, he matured to make that an asset through the space it opened up for others. At a time steeped in plucky, amateur endeavours, he undoubtedly knew his worth as a footballer and invested time in himself as a player. Full of trickery, he was entertaining, enjoyed the adulation and would sometimes chat to the crowd as play progressed down the opposite wing.
Often referenced for his toothpick chewing affectation, the habit originated when the laundry staff refused to wash Meredith’s shirts as they were stained with chewing tobacco. Out went the tobacco and in came the toothpick.
Promotion
By the 1898-9 season Manchester City won promotion, thanks to a fine partnership between Billy Meredith and the more senior Jimmy Ross, newly arrived from Burnley and a player Meredith described as a favourite football hero. Meredith managed four hat-tricks that season scoring 30 goals in only 35 games overall. Life in the first division was harder, of course. The more experienced teams seem to have shutdown City by targeting Meredith. Billy Meredith himself was perhaps also guilty of ‘over playing’, being accused of being out of position and trying to win games on his own. With Ross’s retirement in 1901, the 1901-2 season proved even harder, and City fell back into the second division. In happier, personal news, Meredith married Ellen Negus and the couple went on to have two daughters.
City’s new manager, Tom Maley, a former teacher, seems to have had the backbone to stand up to Meredith and galvanised team play, freeing the Welshman from being the sole recipient of the oppositions’ attention. City jumped back into the first division after just one season and Meredith would never again play in the lower tier. This time City’s play was more mature and balanced. In 1904 they won the FA Cup, in the process Meredith became the first Welsh FA Cup winning captain. A slipping Bolton Wanderers were beaten 1-0 thanks to a Meredith dribble that beat the defense followed by an audacious dummy passed his Wales team mate Dai Davies. Now a definite superstar, Meredith was the star winger and captain of one of the country’s glamour sides.
Fall from Grace
The 1904-5 season saw Manchester City push for the league title. On the last day they needed a win against Aston Villa to have any hope of catching Newcastle. The game was lost 3-2. At the end of the game a fight broke out between City’s Sandy Turnbull and Villa’s Alex Leake. The FA investigated the altercation, but what transpired from the scrutiny was an accusation that Meredith has tried, unsuccessfully, to bribe Leake, the Villa captain.
Denying the charge and giving no evidence to the FA, Meredith was given a suspension. As the FA dug further Meredith admitted to receiving bonus payments and a wage above the £4 maximum. This incriminated City manager, Maley, and the club. The relationship between City and Meredith was clearly broken and Meredith requested to be transfer listed. City, seeing this as an opportunity to avoid a planned benefit game, agreed and Meredith ultimately signed for Manchester United in October of 1906.
The move to Manchester United
Meanwhile the FA fined City, suspended various board members and staff and a total of seventeen players, having found evidence of widespread inducements. In the end City had to auction off a large proportion of their playing staff that November, in part to clear fines but primarily because many were banned from playing for City again. Having secured Meredith’s services just a month earlier, United’s manager Ernest Mangnall jumped in ahead of the auction. He signed three further City players (Turnbull included) whilst other team managers waited in the hotel foyer for the auction to begin.
Ultimately returning to football on January 1st 1907, in a game brimming with irony, the four ex-City players debuted for United together against Aston Villa. Of course, Billy Meredith fed Sandy Turnbull for the 1-0 winner.
Wales success
That spring, Meredith was part of a Wales team that won their first ever Home Championship. The opening game was a 3-2 win over Ireland in Belfast, with Meredith scoring. For the next two games he captained Wales, first to a win over Scotland, and then a 1-1 draw with England. And so Wales were topping the group as England and Scotland went in to the final game. A draw in Newcastle was not enough for England, and Wales were crowned Champions.
The British Football Association
All of this happened within the backdrop of increasing tensions between club owner, players and the FA. Prior to 1885 clubs affiliated to the FA were notionally amateur. The FA banning several teams early that decade when they openly paid players. By 1884 clubs had formed a rival association (the British Football Association) which supported professionalism. The FA then had a choice of following suit or seeing the best teams walk. The FA remained ambivalent towards professionalism over the next dozen years or so, and sought to reign in the power of individual players.
In 1893 a registration and transfer structure was introduced where players effectively signed annual contracts, but could not move between clubs (switch registration) even when out of contract. And then in 1901 the Football League also introduced a maximum wage of £4 per week. This basically set up the pattern for most of the 20th century where clubs owned a player’s FA registration and hence controlled his ability to move clubs.
It is also interesting to muse what might have happened had the fledgling British Football Association really got off the ground. A few key players, Meredith included a few years later, would have surely helped advance a small professional ‘super league’, with amateur players remaining with English FA affiliated clubs. Scottish players were heading south looking for contracts, so it is easy to imagine a Glasgow team ensuring the league crossed borders. Arguing for a separate FAW independent football nation, within this framework, would have been very difficult.
Association Footballers Union
By 1898 Billy Meredith was amongst a prominent group of players involved with the AFU (Association Footballers Union). The union suffered from a them-and-us division between the elite players (affected by the £4 maximum) and the majority of players who were earning less and often still retained other employment. The union folded without achieving any of its aims in 1901.
By 1907 Meredith was one of the few star players from the AFU still involved with the Football League. That April, during a reserve game with St Helens, a Manchester United team mate, Thomas Blackstone, collapsed after heading a ball. His team mates carried him off the pitch, and he died soon afterwards. The inquest returned a verdict of natural causes; and thus alleviated of this being a football matter, United withheld insurance money from Blackstone’s family. Angered by the injustice, Meredith, Turnbull, Charlie Roberts, and other team mates started the Association of Football Players’ and Trainers’ Union that December. The name didn’t stick and was more commonly called the Players Union (PU), and eventually became the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA).
Embed from Getty ImagesBilly Meredith c1914
Professional Footballers’ Association
Within 12 months the Players Union was fighting for three aims – right of transfer between clubs, a percentage on any transfer fee and unlimited wages. With a players’ strike looming, the FA set an ultimatum for players to declare loyalty to the FA or face suspension. Most teams issued FA friendly contracts to their players, and generally players signed off. The Manchester United hierarchy in a strange turn for them, refused to issue the contracts to their players, perhaps realizing the documents would go unsigned anyway. This put the players back in the wrath of the FA and they were dually suspended. United, returning to their modus operandi, refused to pay the players during this suspension. The team continued to train, dubbing themselves Outcasts FC.
At one point the players stole items from the club’s offices, in lieu of pay, but were persuaded to return these. There was little resolve from other players until the Everton captain, Tim Coleman, also went on strike and hence galvanized other players. The FA and Players Union eventually agreed recognition of the PU and a bonus payment system. The principle of the maximum wage remained though. By October 1909 PU members were asked to vote on affiliation with the General Federation of Trade Unions. Their ‘no’ vote effectively enabled the FA to argue for years that football players were not workers in the regular sense and hence remained outside many of the improvements to workplace and employment standards introduced in subsequent legislation. I imagine this outcome angered Meredith, more conscious than most of the need from a strong union voice, given his experiences in the mines of Chirk.
More FA trouble
Despite all of these upheavals, the United team dominated the league and won the 1907-8 title. By the 1908-9 season though, Meredith was back in trouble with the FA. He received a month long ban in mid-season for kicking an opponent. The FA Cup proved to be more fruitful and United reached the final. I think Billy Meredith must have genuinely relished this game, up against Bristol City, captained by England skipper Billy Wedlock. Not only was this an opportunity to best the rival international captain, but Wedlock had also been a staunch supporter of the English FA and equally outspoken opponent of the Players Union. In the end, old mate Sandy Turnbull scored the only goal giving Meredith another opportunity to hoist the cup.
Embed from Getty Images1908-1909. Manchester United F.C. Meredith is bottom left, Sandy Turnball seated far right, Charlie Roberts seated center to right of trophy,
1909 brought more personal trials too, when he was declared bankrupt through a business venture (a gentlemen’s outfitter) being affected by fire. By 1910 through he was running a public house. Something he was to return to in retirement as owner of the Stretford Road Arms Hotel.
Another league title came in 1911 in a tight content decide by the last games; Meredith providing the cross for an equalizing goal against Sunderland that clearly galvanized the team who went on to score four further unanswered goals. Other results went their way and United were Champions again.
Instability returns
The next two season saw a return to instability. Mangnall left United to manage City in 1912, the only manager to steer both historic clubs. There was finally a benefit game held for Meredith, seeing the Manchester rivals put their differences aside and along with FA Wales helped raise £1400. Subsequently though United dallied about passing the money on to Meredith and he also argued with new manager, John Bentley, regarding reduced playing time.
Yet another bribery scandal followed, when United and Liverpool players placed bets that led to a Manchester victory in the last game of the 1914-15 season. Thus ensuring United avoided relegation. Meredith, perhaps reflecting how out of favour he was at United by this point, was exonerated and in fact expressed disbelief at the fact that his team seemed not to pass to him during the key game. Players were banned, but neither team hierarchy faced consequences. With the league suspended from then through 1919 due to WW1, all but one player were reinstated by the time they were next able to play league games. Sadly Sandy Turnbull was killed in action at Arras in 1917and was eventually given a posthumous reinstatement in 1919.
The war years were marked by a series of adhoc games between teams as and when possible. Meredith played as a guest for Port Vale and Manchester City for example, despite remaining a United player. As a modicum of normality returned after the war, Meredith requested a free transfer. But United insisted on a fee, so Meredith remained playing with them into 1921, by then aged 46.
Embed from Getty ImagesEngland v Wales 1919, Meredith centre.
End of an international era
The 1920 British Home Championships saw Meredith bow out of international representation. He left on a high with Wales beating England 2-1 at Highbury to take the title.
It was the last of his 48 caps, though he should have received over 70 based on call-ups. He of course still holds the record for our oldest capped player, then being 45.
Return to Manchester City
The summer of 1921 saw a return to Mangnall’s City. Over the next three years, he played a squad role appearing in as many as 25 games in a season. His final club appearance was in the 1924 FA Cup semi final; a defeat to Newcastle. Billy Meredith was less than four months short of his 50th birthday. His professional career had spanned 31 years and 1500 games.
Life after football
Further business ventures followed including investing in several cinemas in Manchester. This was perhaps spurred by Meredith’s appearance in a well received 1926 film, The Ball of Fortune, where he played himself. There was a stint coaching the short-lived Manchester Central team, but most of his later years were spent running the Stretford Road Arms though, which he ran until 1945.
Meredith died thirteen years later, aged 83. Sadly initially he was in an unmarked grave, but FA Wales, his two Manchester clubs and the PFA later paid for the upkeep of a headstone.
His working class routes, union ties and clear love of the game made Meredith a populist icon.We wrote regularly for news media, including articles for Thompson’s Weekly News (circulation 300,000), and an open letter to the Athletics News questioning FA decisions, particularly feeling he was scapegoated and isolated during the 1905 bribery scandal. A working class hero, he was lauded loudly through cartoons and vaudeville songs. One terrace favourite went …. ‘Oh I wish I was you Billy Meredith / I wish I was you / I envy you / Indeed I do!’. It is difficult to imagine a Welsh football hero who has been so beloved by fans across the country, well beyond his immediate club and country.
Photo credits : Geoff Charles, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; Meredith at Glynceiriog https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Billy_Meredith%2C_the_famous_Welsh_footballer%2C_with_Glynceiriog_team_members_%2811219662514%29.jpg