Len Andrews

Infobox Football biography
playername = Len Andrews


fullname = Leonard Thomas Alford Andrews
height =
dateofbirth = birth date|1888|12|9|df=y
cityofbirth = Reading
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath = death date and age|1969|1|21|1888|12|9|df=y
cityofdeath = Southampton
countryofdeath = England
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Inside forward
youthyears =
youthclubs = University of Reading
years = 1909–1912
1912–1915
1919–1921
1921–1924
1924–1925
clubs = Reading
Southampton
Reading
Southampton
Watford
caps(goals) =
105 (32)
033 0(5) [Football League only]
059 0(3)
038 0(6)
manageryears =
managerclubs =
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

Leonard Thomas Alford Andrews (9 December 1888 – 21 January 1969) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside forward for Southampton between 1912 and 1924.

Playing career

Andrews was born in Reading and attended the University of Reading where he trained as a teacher. He joined Reading F.C. in October 1909 and spent three seasons with them in the lower reaches of the Southern League. At the end of his first season, Reading were relegated to Division Two but returned to the First Division as champions in 1911.

In the summer of 1912 he moved to the south coast to join Southampton, who had just appointed a new trainer in Jimmy McIntyre. Due to the lack of funds following George Swift's spending spree in the previous season, McIntyre was only able to sign three new players; the only successful recruit was Andrews, whose signing from Reading was "one of the best moves of McIntyre's managerial career" [cite book | author=Gary Chalk & Duncan Holley | title=Saints - A complete record| publisher= Breedon Books| year=1987| pages=p.52|id=ISBN 0-907969-22-4] as Andrews went on to become the "Saints" most consistent forward in the three seasons leading up to the First World War, as well as being an expert penalty taker.

He started off well scoring eight goals in the first 17 games, before the goals dried up after Christmas 1912 and he finished the season with nine goals, one behind leading scorer Percy Prince. He was more consistent the following season, where he was now playing alongside Arthur Dominy; he scored twelve goals and missed only one league game. In the final pre-war season he contributed eleven goals of which eight were from penalties.

Described by Holley & Chalk in "The Alphabet of the Saints" as a "clever and able forward who could play in all the front positions" [cite book | author=Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk | title=The Alphabet of the Saints| publisher= ACL & Polar Publishing | year=1992|pages=p.13| id=ISBN 0-9514862-3-3] he was a noted penalty taker converting all but two of the 22 penalty kicks he took, gaining a reputation as "a man who could hit the ball harder, and more accurately, with his left foot than any other player in the game".

During the First World War, Andrews joined the 5th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment, where he served in the Middle East rising to the rank of Regimental Sergeant Major.

After the war, he signed for his first club Reading in July 1919. At the end of the 1919–20 season Reading, along with most of the Southern League clubs formed the Third Division of the Football League. Andrews spent the first season of the new division with Reading before returning to Southampton in August 1921.

In his first season back at The Dell he helped the Saints to the Third Division South title. By now the goals were few and far between and, although his enthusiasm carried him through another two seasons, he was no longer a first choice player, losing out firstly to Joe Clark for much of the 1922–23 season and then to Henry Johnson the following season. On 17 February 1923 he was drafted in as goalkeeper for a match at Port Vale when Tommy Allen was taken ill; he acquitted himself well as the game finished goalless.

He played his final match for Southampton at Blackpool on 24 November 1923. During his two spells with Southampton he played 180 games in all competitions, scoring 40 goals of which exactly half were from penalties.

He then spent the 1924–25 season with Watford where he was joint top scorer with six league and one FA Cup goals.

After retiring from the game in 1925, he returned to Southampton where he took up a career as an insurance salesman. He became an outstanding bowls player and won honours at county level. He died in January 1969, shortly after his 80th birthday.

Honours

;Reading
*Southern League Second Division championship: 1910–11

;Southampton
*Football League Third Division South championship: 1921–22

References