Joe Mallett

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Joe Mallett
Personal information
Full name Joseph Mallett
Date of birth 8 January 1916(1916-01-08)
Place of birth    Gateshead, England
Date of death    February 2004 (age 88)
Place of death    Hastings, England
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Playing position Wing half
Youth clubs
Dunston Colliery
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1935–1939
1937–1938
1939–1947
1947–1953
1953–1955		 Charlton Athletic
QPR (loan)
QPR
Southampton
Leyton Orient		 002 0(0)
029 0(4)
041 0(7)
215 0(3)
027 0(1)   
Teams managed
1964–1965
1970–1973
1973–1974		 Birmingham City
Panionios
Panionios

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Joe Mallett (8 January 1916 – February 2004) was an English professional footballer who spent most of his career at Southampton (playing as a wing half). He later became a coach, manager and scout.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

Born in Gateshead, Northumberland, Mallett was spotted playing for the Dunston Colliery works team by a London scout, and was signed at the age of seventeen by Charlton Athletic to serve his apprenticeship under manager Jimmy Seed. He had not made any first team appearances before Charlton (then in the First Division) loaned him to Third Division South team Queens Park Rangers to gain experience in April 1937. He remained at QPR until May 1938, making 31 appearances before returning to Charlton, where he appeared twice in the 1938–39 season. In February 1939 Rangers persuaded Charlton to sell him; he was becoming a first-team regular at QPR before his career was interrupted by conscription into the RAF in World War II. During the war he guested for Fulham and West Ham, returning to QPR after the cessation of hostilities.

In February 1947 Bill Dodgin signed him for Southampton for a club record £5000. Although now aged 31, Mallett proved to be a bargain purchase – he was "a strong link between the defence and attack, and was particularly sound in his positional play."[1] He made his debut away to Plymouth Argyle on 1 March 1947, scoring one of Saints’ goals and making the other in a 3-2 defeat. He soon became the team’s captain and had "forthright views on how the game should be played".[2] Team-mate Alf Ramsey described him as "having one of the finest of all soccer brains".[3]

When Dodgin left the Saints in August 1949 to be replaced by Sid Cann, Mallett became restless and in January 1950 he put in a transfer request in the hope of receiving a coaching position. The board persuaded him to stay and he remained loyal to Southampton, playing regularly until his last game, away to Nottingham Forest on 29 April 1953. During his Southampton career he made 223 appearances, scoring 3 goals.

[edit] Coaching career

In July 1953, now aged 37, he moved on to Leyton Orient as player-coach, where he was re-united with former QPR team-mate Alec Stock. In 1959, he was reserve team coach at Nottingham Forest under Billy Walker and then Andy Beattie, where he brought on a succession of young players, including Ian Storey-Moore and David Pleat.

In June 1964 he joined Birmingham City as coach, and a month later accepted the vacant managerial position.[4] Though he was a proven technical coach with sound judgment of a player – he signed Geoff Vowden and Ron Wylie[5] and gave Malcolm Page his debut[6] – under his management Birmingham won only 13 out of 64 matches[7] and were relegated from the First Division. He remained at the club as assistant manager under Stan Cullis from December 1965 to 1970.

When Cullis retired, Mallett went on to manage Panionios and coach at Apollon in the Greek Super League.[4] From 1975 he coached under Gordon Bradley at New York Cosmos in the NASL, rejoining Bradley at the Washington Diplomats in 1978,[8] and later coached at San Jose Earthquakes. He also scouted for former club Southampton.[4]

[edit] Personal life

He was married to Bertha, whom he first met whilst at Charlton Athletic. They had three sons and one daughter. He died at his home in Hastings in early February 2004.[9]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing, p.232. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3. 
  2. ^ Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk (2003). In That Number - A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology, p.544. ISBN 0-9534474-3-X. 
  3. ^ Quoted in ibid
  4. ^ a b c Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books, p. 62. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9. 
  5. ^ Matthews, Complete Record, pp. 131, 136.
  6. ^ Clarkson, Ian (2006-09-22). Blast from the Past: Malcolm Page. PFA. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  7. ^ Matthews, Complete Record, pp. 200–01.
  8. ^ Rosen, Byron. "Gordon Bradley, Diplomat soccer coach, has brought...", Washington Post, 1978-01-26. Retrieved on 2007-11-22. 
  9. ^ "Ex-Blues boss dies, aged 88", Evening Mail, 2004-02-11. Retrieved on 2007-11-22. 

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Mallett, Joe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Professional footballer, football manager
DATE OF BIRTH 1916-01-08
PLACE OF BIRTH Gateshead, Northumberland, England
DATE OF DEATH February 2004
PLACE OF DEATH Hastings, England
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Birmingham City F.C. – Managers

Jones (1892–1908) • Watson (1908–10) • McRoberts (1910–15) • Richards (1915–23) • Beer (1923–27) • Harvey (1927–28) • Knighton (1928–33) • Liddell (1933–39) • Camkin (1939–44) • Goodier (1944–45) • Storer (1945–49) • Brocklebank (1949–54) • Turner (1954–58) • Turner and Beasley (1958) • Beasley (1958–60) • Merrick (1960–64) • Mallett (1964–65) • Cullis (1965–70) • Goodwin (1970–75) • Bell (1975–77) • Ramsey (1977–78) • Smith (1978–82) • Saunders (1982–86) • Bond (1986–87) • Pendrey (1987–89) • Mackay (1989–91) • Macari (1991) • Cooper (1991–93) • Fry (1993–96) • Francis (1996–2001) • Bruce (2001–07) • McLeish (2007–)