Jack Lambert (association footballer)

Infobox Football biography
playername = Jack Lambert
fullname = John Lambert


height =
dateofbirth = May 22, 1902
cityofbirth = Greasbrough, Yorkshire,
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath = December 1940
cityofdeath = Enfield
countryofdeath = England
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Centre forward
youthyears =
youthclubs = Greasborough
Methley Perseverance
years = 1922
1922-1925
1925-1926
1926-1933
1933-1935
clubs = Rotherham County
Leeds United
Doncaster Rovers
Arsenal
Fulham
caps(goals) = 001 0(1)
001 0(0)
044 (13)
143 (98)
034 0(4)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
manageryears =
managerclubs =
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

John "Jack" Lambert (May 22, 1902 – 1940) was an English footballer.

A large and robust centre forward from Greasbrough near Rotherham, Yorkshire, Lambert was turned down by Sheffield Wednesday after a trial, so started his career playing for Rotherham County in 1922. He soon made a move to Leeds United, but spent three years there with little success. He finally came to prominence after becoming a regular goalscorer for Doncaster Rovers, joining the side in January 1925. Playing in Yorkshire, he had attracted the attention of Herbert Chapman when the latter was manager of Huddersfield Town; when Chapman became Arsenal manager, needing a quality centre-forward, he signed Lambert for £2,000 in June 1926.

Lambert made his Arsenal debut against Bolton Wanderers at Burnden Park on September 6 1926, but initially struggled, scoring only once in his first season; he was forced to play understudy to Jimmy Brain for several years. However, he got his breakthrough in 1929-30; with the aid of playmaker Alex James, Lambert scored 18 times in only 20 appearances, including Arsenal's first goal in their 1930 FA Cup final victory over Huddersfield Town, the club's first major trophy.

The following season (1930-31) Lambert was even more successful, scoring 38 goals in just 34 games in the League, a club record at the time (which was later broken by Ted Drake) that included a total of seven hat-tricks; that season Arsenal won the First Division title for the first time in their history. Lambert continued to play for Arsenal over the next few years, scoring regularly (including five goals in a 9-2 defeat of Sheffield United, the most ever scored by an Arsenal player in a single home match); he helped Arsenal reach a third FA Cup final, a 2-1 loss to Newcastle United in 1931-32, and won a second First Division title in 1932-33, scoring 14 goals in 12 league appearances.

By now Lambert was over 30 and only a bit-part player (Ernie Coleman having led the front line through most of 1932-33), and the signing of Jimmy Dunne in September 1933 forced Lambert out of the side; his last game came on September 13 1933 against West Bromwich Albion and he was sold in October 1933 to Fulham. In all he scored 109 goals in 161 games for the Gunners, a quite high ratio, but it wasn't enough for him ever to be selected for England.

Lambert played for two seasons for Fulham before retiring from playing in 1935. The following year he became coach of Margate (who at the time were Arsenal's "nursery" club) and returned to Arsenal in 1938 as a coach of the club's reserve side. He died at the age of 38, killed in a car accident in Enfield, north London, in December 1940.

References

*cite book
author=Harris, Jeff & Hogg, Tony (ed.)
title=Arsenal Who's Who
publisher=Independent UK Sports
year=1995
id=ISBN 1-899429-03-4