Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Warneford Cresswell | ||
Date of birth | 5 November 1897 | ||
Place of birth | South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England | ||
Date of death | 20 October 1973 | (aged 75)||
Place of death | South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England | ||
Playing position | Full back | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
Morton | |||
Heart of Midlothian | |||
Hibernian | |||
1919–1922 | South Shields | 99 | (0) |
1922–1927 | Sunderland | 182 | (0) |
1927–1936 | Everton | 290 | (1) |
Total | 571+ | (1+) | |
National team | |||
1921–1929 | England | 7 | (0) |
Teams managed | |||
1936–1937 | Port Vale | ||
1937–1939 | Northampton Town | ||
Dartford | |||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
Warneford Cresswell (5 November 1897 – 20 October 1973) was an English international footballer who was described as "The Prince of Full Backs" for his renowned tackling and positional skills in the right-back position. In a seventeen-year career in the Football League he made 571 league appearances, and won seven caps for England.
He began his career during World War I, playing in the Scottish Football League with Morton, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian, before signing with English Second Division club South Shields in 1919. Three years later he moved into the First Division when he was bought by Sunderland for a world-record fee of £5,500. He made 190 league and cup appearances and helped the "Black Cats" to a second-place finish in 1922–23, before moving on to Everton for £7,000 in 1927. He helped the "Toffees" to win the Football League championship in 1927–28 and 1931–32, the Second Division championship in 1930–31, the FA Cup in 1933, and the FA Community Shield in 1928 and 1932.
He turned to management with Port Vale in May 1936, and moved on to Northampton Town twelve months later. He later managed Dartford. He has also been credited with the quote: "Good goalkeepers never make great saves".