Joe Mallett

Infobox Football biography
playername = Joe Mallett


fullname = Joseph Mallett
dateofbirth = birth date|1916|01|8|df=y
cityofbirth = Gateshead
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath = February 2004 (age 88)
cityofdeath = Hastings
countryofdeath = England
height = height|ft=5|in=7
position = Wing half
currentclub =
youthyears =
youthclubs = Dunston Colliery
years = 1935–1939
1937–1938
1939–1947
1947–1953
1953–1955
clubs = Charlton Athletic
QPR (loan)
QPR
Southampton
Leyton Orient
caps(goals) = 002 0(0)
029 0(4)
041 0(7)
215 0(3)
027 0(1)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
manageryears = 1964–1965
1970–1973
1973–1974
managerclubs = Birmingham City
Panionios
Panionios

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.

Playing career

Born in Gateshead, 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." [cite book | author=Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk | title=The Alphabet of the Saints| publisher= ACL & Polar Publishing | year=1992| pages=p.232|id=ISBN 0-9514862-3-3] 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". [cite book | author=Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk | title=In That Number - A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC | publisher=Hagiology | year=2003|pages=p.544| id=ISBN 0-9534474-3-X] Team-mate Alf Ramsey described him as "having one of the finest of all soccer brains". [Quoted in "ibid"]

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.

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.cite book
author=Matthews, Tony |title=Birmingham City: A Complete Record |year=1995 |publisher=Breedon Books |location=Derby |pages=p. 62 |isbn=978-1-85983-010-9] Though he was a proven technical coach with sound judgment of a player – he signed Geoff Vowden and Ron Wylie [Matthews, "Complete Record", pp. 131, 136.] and gave Malcolm Page his debut [cite web
url=http://www.givemefootball.com/display.cfm?article=9093&area=&type=1&page=3 |title=Blast from the Past: Malcolm Page |author=Clarkson, Ian |publisher=PFA |date=2006-09-22 |accessdate=2007-11-27] – under his management Birmingham won only 13 out of 64 matches [Matthews, "Complete Record", pp. 200–01.] 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.From 1975 he coached under Gordon Bradley at New York Cosmos in the NASL, rejoining Bradley at the Washington Diplomats in 1978, [cite news
http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:AWNB:WPIW&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0EB325E21A280831&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated4&req_dat=0D0CB57AB53DF815 |title=Gordon Bradley, Diplomat soccer coach, has brought... |author=Rosen, Byron |publisher=Washington Post |date=1978-01-26 |accessdate=2007-11-22] and later coached at San Jose Earthquakes. He also scouted for former club Southampton.

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. [ cite news
url=http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/birmingham/news/tm_method=full%26objectid=13939441%26siteid=50002-name_page.html |title=Ex-Blues boss dies, aged 88 |publisher=Evening Mail |date=2004-02-11 |accessdate=2007-11-22]

Notes

External links

*soccerbase (manager)|id=766|name=Joe Mallett

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