Keetley: Charles Frederick (Charlie/Wag)

1927-1934 (Player Details)

Centre Forward

Born: Derby: 10-03-1906

Debut: v South Shields (h): 31-12-1927

5’9” 12st (1983)

#74 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

Former Rolls-Royce worker Charlie Keetley was the youngest of a set of Derbyshire brothers who played League football between the wars. He had ten brothers and a sister and nine of the brothers, not Charlie, played for the same Victoria Ironworks team. He scored eighty goals for Alvaston and Boulton in 1926-27 to secure a place in the Derby and District League squad which toured Ireland. Leeds signed him in July 1927 and he learned a lot from Tom Jennings, putting it to good use in the Reserves, for whom he scored seven goals in a Central League game against Bolton Wanderers. Keetley made a scoring League debut and finished the 1927-28 season with eighteen goals in only sixteen League games. He topped the United scoring charts for three seasons and was reserve for the Football League against the Irish League in September 1932. He was a member of two Leeds United promotion sides in 1927-28, his first season at Leeds, and again in 1931-32, when he was top scorer with twenty-three goals from thirty-seven games. The latter promotion was a just reward as the previous season they had suffered relegation by a single point, with Keetley again heading the scorers with sixteen goals from twenty-nine games. He was also the leading goalscorer in the 1928-29 season with twenty from twenty-nine games. In his seven seasons at Leeds, once he was established, only injuries kept him out of the team and being the leading goalscorer. However, after Arthur Hydes had become United’s regular wearer of the number nine shirt, Keetley joined Bradford City in October 1934, where he played just twenty-two league games, scoring four goals, but also scored twice as City upset Aston Villa in a Third Round FA Cup tie on 12th January 1935. He went to Reading in June 1935, where he scored three times in nine games. Arthur Keetley says: Charlie, always known to family and friends as “Wag”, worked in Rolls-Royce Foundry as a core maker before becoming a professional player. After a brilliant career he returned to Derby. He continued to work in the foundry through the war years but could not contemplate staying there until he retired. In spite of his glory days with Leeds he struggled to raise funds in order to take on the licence of the Sir Walter Scott on the Osmaston Road, Derby in about 1950. Later on he was able to move out and take over the New Inn at Chellaston, a Derby suburb. His brother Tom was at one time only a few doors away in the Rose & Crown. Charlie was a coremaker in Rolls-Royce Derby's foundry before joining Leeds. After football, he had to return to the old job. He managed to escape from the foundry by becoming the licensee of a small pub near the foundry. Charlie died in 1979. Of his brothers Frank, Harold, Joe and Tom all played for Doncaster Rovers. Frank also played for Derby County. Albert played for Burton United, Jack assisted Hull City and Arthur turned out for Spurs.