Alf Strange
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alfred Henry Strange | ||
| Date of birth | 2 April 1900 | ||
| Place of birth | Ripley, Derbyshire, England | ||
| Date of death | October 1978 (aged 78) | ||
| Place of death | Ripley, Derbyshire, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | ||
| Playing position | Right half / Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Marehay Colliery | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1922–1924 | Portsmouth | 24 | (16) |
| 1924–1927 | Port Vale | 95 | (25) |
| 1927–1935 | Sheffield Wednesday | 253 | (22) |
| 1935–1936 | Bradford Park Avenue | 10 | (0) |
| Total | 382 | (63) | |
| National team | |||
| 1930–1933 | England | 20 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1945–1947 | Bedford Town | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Alfred Henry Strange (2 April 1900 – October 1978) was an English footballer who played most of his career as a half back with Sheffield Wednesday. He won 20 caps for England, including three as captain.
He began his career at Portsmouth, helping "Pompey" to win the Third Division South title in 1923–24. He then transferred to Port Vale, and impressed at the club enough to win a move to Sheffield Wednesday in February 1927. He spent eight years with the club, helping Wednesday to win the First Division title in 1928–29 and 1929–30. He ended his professional career at Bradford Park Avenue in 1936. Over the course of his 14 years in the Football League he scored 63 goals in 382 league appearances. He spent a brief spell as manager of Bedford Town after World War II.
Strange was born in Ripley, Derbyshire and as a youth played for the Marehay Colliery team, where he was spotted by scouts from Portsmouth, for whom he signed as a professional in December 1922. He started his career with Portsmouth as a centre-forward and in his two seasons there he scored 16 goals from 24 league appearances, helping them to win the Third Division South title in 1923–24.
Frustrated at the lack of regular first team opportunities at Fratton Park, Strange moved to Second Division club Port Vale in 1924. His excellent ball control and powerful shots impressed the fans at The Old Recreation Ground, as the club enjoyed some of its most successful years with three successive eighth-place finishes. At Port Vale he was a regular selection at inside forward, scoring seven goals in 33 league and FA Cup games in 1924–25. He claimed 17 goals in 42 games in 1925–26, including a hat-trick in a 4–2 win over Clapton Orient on 2 January and four goals in a 5–0 victory over Blackpool on 6 February. He scored five goals in 28 appearances in the first half of the 1926–27 season. In February 1927 he was transferred to Sheffield Wednesday, with Harry Anstiss and "a substantial financial consideration" moving in the opposite direction.
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