Laurie Kelly (footballer)

Laurence Kelly (28 April 1925 – 1972) was an English professional footballer who played as a defender in the Football League for Wolverhampton Wanderers[2] and Huddersfield Town.

Laurie Kelly
Personal information
Date of birth (1925-04-28)28 April 1925
Place of birth Wolverhampton, England
Date of death 1972[1]
Place of death Dudley, Staffordshire, England
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
– Wolverhampton Wanderers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1947–1950 Wolverhampton Wanderers 60 (0)
1950–1956 Huddersfield Town 225 (2)
– Nuneaton Borough
Managerial career
– Nuneaton Borough
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

He signed amateur forms for his home-town club in 1940 and made his first-team debut in the 1942–43 season in the Wartime League (North), with seven appearances in all. He first played in the Football League in 1947–48. However Wolves were then at the start of a period of dominance in the First Division and Kelly was not a regular first team player; he made 60 league appearances in three seasons. In October 1950 he was persuaded to move to Huddersfield who had had difficulties with the left back position. He made the position his own for the next six years, during which he was a member of the Huddersfield Town defence which was ever-present through the 1952–53 season.[3] He made 239 first team appearances in all, playing five seasons in the First Division and two in the Second. Huddersfield also reached the quarter-final of the F.A. Cup during this period.

In 1956–57 it was Huddersfield's policy to reduce the average age of the team and Kelly lost his place to the up-and-coming Ray Wilson. At the end of the season he moved to play for[2] and manage non-league club Nuneaton Borough. He resigned from that post in December 1958.

References
  1. "Laurie Kelly". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  2. "Wolverhampton Wanderers : 1946/47–2008/09". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 10 October 2009.
  3. Thomson, Dougie (13 January 2009). "Huddersfield Town goal legend Wheeler has died". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 10 October 2009.
  • Huddersfield Town: A Complete Record 1910–1990, Terry Frost, Breedon Books 1990
  • Huddersfield Town, 75 Years On. G.S. Binns, Huddersfield Town AFC, 1984
  • 99 Years and Counting – Huddersfield Town Centenary History by A.Hodgson, G.&I. Thomas and J.Ward, Huddersfield Town AFC, 2007
  • Soccer at War 1939–45, Jack Rollin, Willow Books, 1985
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