David Calderhead

David Calderhead

Personal information
Full name	David Calderhead
Date of birth	(1864-06-19)19 June 1864
Place of birth	Hurlford, Scotland
Date of death	9 January 1938(1938-01-09) (aged 73)
Place of death	London, England
Position(s)	Centre half
Youth career
	Wishaw Swifts
	Wishaw Thistle
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1881–1889
1889–1900	Notts County	278	(12)
1900–1901	Lincoln City	2	(0)
National team
1889	Scotland	1	(0)
1891[1]	Football League XI	1	(0)
Teams managed
1900–1907	Lincoln City
1907–1933	Chelsea
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

David Calderhead (19 June 1864 – 9 January 1938) was a Scottish football player and manager. Calderhead played for , Notts County and Lincoln City. He also represented Scotland once, in 1889. He then became a manager, working for Lincoln City (1900–1907) and Chelsea (1907–1933).

Playing career[]

Calderhead was a centre half and played for various clubs, including Dumfries team (not to be confused with Queen of the South, formed in 1919). He won one Scotland cap, in a 7–0 win against Ireland at the first Ibrox Park in the British Home Championship in March 1889; this attracted Notts County.

With Notts County he played in two FA Cup finals:^[2][3] the Blackburn Rovers side of Thomas Mitchell were 3–1 winners in 1891,^[3][4] but Calderhead got his hands on the trophy in 1894 after a 4–1 victory over Bolton Wanderers.^[3]

Management career[]

He then moved into management, taking over at Lincoln City in 1900. In leading his side to a shock replayed win over Chelsea in the first round of 1906–07 FA Cup, he impressed the west London club's board enough for them to appoint him manager later that year. Norrie Fairgray made the same move in the same year to play for Calderhead at both clubs.^[3][5]

Calderhead was Chelsea's first full-time secretary-manager and spent almost 26 years at the club, making him the club's longest-serving manager. In his time there, the team were relegated twice, in 1909–10 and subsequently re-promoted as Second Division runners-up.^[3]

He took Chelsea to their first FA Cup final, in 1915, but in a match overshadowed by the First World War they were beaten by Sheffield United 0–3 at Old Trafford. The club later reached two more semi-finals under Calderhead and were on course for a domestic double in 1919–20 but ultimately finished 3rd in the First Division and were denied in the FA Cup by Aston Villa.^[3]

A second relegation ensued in 1923–24 before the side of Willie Ferguson, Tommy Law and Andy Wilson endured a succession of near misses before securing promotion in 1929–30.^[3][5]

Calderhead was notoriously shy of the media, earning the nickname "The Sphinx of Stamford Bridge". But he was not afraid to spend headline-making transfer fees on star strikers (especially fellow Scots), bringing the likes of Hughie Gallacher, Alex Jackson and Alec Cheyne to Stamford Bridge. Despite the glamour of the squad, trophies remained elusive. 1931–32 brought a further FA Cup semi final. Tommy Lang inspired Newcastle to a 2-goal lead and despite Gallacher pulling a goal back, Newcastle progressed to the final.^[3][5]

Calderhead holds the record at Chelsea for managing games – 966.^[5] He left the job in June 1933 to be replaced by Leslie Knighton. Calderhead died five years after leaving Chelsea in London at the age of 73.^[3]

His son, also called David, played for Chelsea while his father was manager and later took charge of Lincoln City.^[3]

Honours[]

Player[]

Notts County;;;

• FA Cup: 1894
  • finalist 1891

Manager[]

Chelsea

• FA Cup: finalists: 1915

References[]