Ted Drake
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Edward Joseph Drake | ||
| Date of birth | 16 August 1912 | ||
| Place of birth | Southampton, England | ||
| Date of death | 30 May 1995 (aged 82) | ||
| Place of death | Raynes Park, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||
| Playing position | Centre forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Winchester City | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1931–1934 | Southampton | 71 | (47) |
| 1934–1945 | Arsenal | 167 | (124) |
| Total | 238 | (171) | |
| National team | |||
| 1934–1938 | England | 5 | (6) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1946–1947 | Hendon | ||
| 1947–1952 | Reading | ||
| 1952–1961 | Chelsea | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Edward Joseph "Ted" Drake (16 August 1912 – 30 May 1995) was an English football player and manager. As a player, he first played for Southampton but made his name playing for Arsenal in the 1930s, winning two league titles and an FA Cup, as well as five caps for England. He was also a cricketer, but only ever played sparingly for Hampshire. After retiring from playing football, he became a manager, and while in charge of Chelsea he took the club to its first league title. Drake holds the record for the most goals scored in a top flight game in English football, scoring seven against Aston Villa in December 1935. He was a "classic number 9" on a football squad: "it was Arsenal's Ted Drake — strong, powerful, brave and almost entirely unthinking — who typified the English view."
Born in Southampton, Drake started playing at Winchester City, whilst continuing to work as a gas-meter reader. He nearly joined Tottenham Hotspur as a schoolboy, but missed the trial match with an injury. In June 1931, he was persuaded by George Kay to join Southampton, then playing in Division Two. He made his Saints debut on 14 November 1931 at Swansea Town, and signed as a professional in November, becoming first-choice centre-forward by the end of the 1931–32 season.
In the following season he made 33 league appearances, scoring 20 goals. After only one full season, his bravery and skill attracted the attention of Arsenal's Herbert Chapman, who tried to persuade Drake to move to North London. Drake rejected the chance of a move to Highbury and decided to remain at The Dell. He started the 1933–34 season by scoring a hat trick in the opening game against Bradford City, following this with at least one goal in the next four games, thereby amassing eight goals in the opening five games. By early March he had blasted his way to the top of the Football League Division Two goal-scoring table with 22 goals.
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