Steele: Frederick Charles (Freddie)

WW2 Guest: 1943-1944 (Leeds United War-time Guest Player Details)

Centre Forward

Born: Hanley: 06-05-1916

Debut: v Chesterfield (h): 08-04-1944

Height & Weight: Unknown

After playing with Downings Tileries, Freddie Steele was signed for Stoke City in 1931, aged fifteen, by Manager Tom Mather. He carried out work in the club's offices, until he was old enough to turn professional. He signed professional forms in August 1933 and made his debut in December 1934. Nicknamed "Nobby" by fans, Steele was a prolific goal-scorer for Stoke, scoring two hundred and twenty goals in three hundred and eighty-four games in his time at the club. This tally included five goals in a 10–3 win over West Bromwich Albion, which is the record League win for the club. Steele's thirty-three league goals in 1936-37 remains a club record to this date. A knee injury sidelined him in 1937, which he struggled to recover from. He decided to retire in 1939, aged twenty-three. However, he opted to return to the game, scoring ten times in five matches upon his return. The outbreak of World War Two then halted his progress, as the Football League was suspended. During the war Steele still played, including a spell as a guest player at Arsenal and a couple of games for Leeds United. He played two games for Leeds in April 1944 and scored twice in the 1943-44 Football League Northern Section Second Championship. He made his Leeds debut on 8th of April 1944 at Inside Left in 1-0 home win over Chesterfield and Steele got the only goal of the game. He returned three games later in the final game of the campaign against Halifax Town at The Shay and although Steele got the first Leeds goal they went down 2-5. He returned to Stoke City in 1945-46, scoring forty-nine goals in forty-three games during the course of the season. He left the club in 1949, due to persistent knee problems. Steele was capped six times for England and scored eight goals. He made his International debut at Centre Forward on 17th October 1936 at in a 1-2 defeat by Wales at Ninian Park, Cardiff. He got his second cap on 18th November 1936 at Centre Forward on his own Victoria Ground at Stoke as England beat Northern Ireland by 3-1. His third cap brought his first International goal on 17th April 1937 as he opened the scoring after forty minutes, but it did not stop Scotland winning 3-1 at Hampden Park Glasgow in front of 149,547 rabid Scottish spectators. He grabbed two second half goals in his fourth International as England beat Norway 6-0 on 14th May 1937 at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo and there were three goals for him inside thirty-three minutes, as England won in the Rasunda Idrottsplats, in Solna, Stockholm against Sweden three days later. His sixth and final cap came at Inside Left in an 8-0 win by England over Finland in the Toolon Pallokentta, Helsinki on 20th May 1937, which saw Steele score twice, one in each half with England’s third and fifth goals. However, the knee injury sustained in 1937 meant that he did not play for his country again. He also represented the Football League on two occasions. Steele assumed a Player-Manager role at Mansfield Town in June 1949 and played fifty-three games and scored forty-one goals before taking up a similar role with Port Vale in December 1951. With Port Vale, he achieved some success, winning the Third Division Championship and guiding the club to the Semi-Final stage of the FA Cup in 1953-54. He scored twelve goals in twenty-five appearances before retiring as a player in 1952. He died in 1976.