Fred Geary
Geary in a Liverpool team photo
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 23 January 1868 | ||
| Place of birth | Hyson Green, England | ||
| Date of death | 8 January 1955 (aged 86) | ||
| Height | 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) | ||
| Playing position | Centre forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Balmoral (Nottingham) | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1886–1887 | Notts Rangers | ||
| 1887–1888 | Grimsby Town | ||
| 1888–1889 | Notts Rangers | ||
| 1889 | Notts County | 0 | (0) |
| 1889 | Notts Rangers | ||
| 1889–1895 | Everton | 91 | (78) |
| 1895–1896 | Liverpool | 39 | (14) |
| National team | |||
| 1890–1891 | England | 2 | (3) |
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
Fred Geary (23 January 1868 – 8 January 1955) was an English professional footballer who played at centre forward for Everton in the 1890s, and made two appearances for England, scoring a hat-trick on his debut.
At Everton, he was a prolific goal-scorer, with 86 goals in 99 appearances, helping them to win the Football League championship for the first time in 1890–91. He was "the first Everton centre-forward to capture the imagination of their supporters" and "in his era he was as important to Everton as Dixie Dean was some years later".
Geary was born at Hyson Green, on the outskirts of Nottingham. As a boy he won many sprinting titles on the athletics track, and was to use this speed to great effect during his football career. He played youth football for local side Balmoral before joining Notts Rangers. After spells with Grimsby Town and Notts County, he returned to Notts Rangers in 1888, where he played in front of future England internationals Alf and Charles Shelton. Everton had tried to sign him earlier, and eventually persuaded Geary to move to Liverpool in 1889.
Everton had finished in a disappointing eighth position in the inaugural Football League season, having scored only 35 goals and the directors "were determined to improve upon their indifferent performances", especially in front of the goal, by recruiting Geary, along with Scotsman Alex Latta (from Dumbarton) and Welshman Charlie Parry (from Chester St Oswald's). Geary had first been spotted at Grimsby Town, but had moved back to Notts Rangers before he was persuaded to join Everton.
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