Jack Lambert

Career in Yorkshire

A large and robust centre forward from Greasbrough, near Rotherham in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Lambert played football for Methley Perseverance, for an Army team, and for his local team, Greasbrough W.M.C. He was turned down by Sheffield Wednesday after a trial, but was taken on by Leeds United in November 1922. He was included on Leeds' retained list at the end of the season, but was signed irregularly by Rotherham County, who gave him his debut away to Bradford City in the Second Division in April 1923. Lambert scored the only goal of the match, but the Football Association fined the club £25 and returned the player to Leeds. He played only once for Leeds' first team, and He next moved on to Doncaster Rovers in January 1925 in exchange for goalkeeper David Russell. He finally came to prominence after becoming a regular goalscorer for Doncaster. Playing in Yorkshire, he had attracted the attention of Herbert Chapman when the latter was manager of Huddersfield Town.

Career in London

Chapman became Arsenal manager. Needing a new centre-forward, he signed Lambert for £2,000 in June 1926. He made 16 appearances in his first season with the club, but only scored one goal. He also made 16 appearances in the 1927–28 season, but managed to score three times. He became a regular for the club towards the end of the 1929–30 season, during which he scored 18 times in only 20 league appearances, and was also prolific in that season's FA Cup.…

He next moved on to Southern League club Margate, who at the time were Arsenal's "nursery" club; he chose Margate because the club were happy for him to take coaching courses as well as playing. In January 1936, after Margate's manager resigned, Lambert took over as player-manager until the end of the season; he continued in post until returning to Arsenal in 1938 as coach of the club's "A" team.

Arsenal

Football League First Division: 1930–31, 1932–33 FA Cup: 1929–30; runner-up: 1931–32 FA Charity Shield: 1930, 1931