Syd Puddefoot

Early years and West Ham United

Puddefoot was born in Limehouse in the East End of London. He was a pupil at Park School in West Ham and played junior football with Condor Athletic and Limehouse Town before joining West Ham United as an amateur in June 1912. He then signed on as a professional in February 1913. Under the tutelage of coach and future manager Charlie Paynter, he quickly developed into a formidable force and scored 28 goals in 55 Southern League appearances for the club. He broke the club record for most individual goals scored in an FA Cup match, landing five (including a hat-trick in seven minutes) in an 8–1 mauling of Chesterfield in a first-round game on 10 January 1914. The record remains to this day and is also West Ham's biggest victory in the competition.

Wartime

Puddefoot worked at a munitions factory for most of World War I and was not called up for service until late on in the conflict. He made 126 appearances in the wartime London Combination and scored 100 goals, including seven against Crystal Palace in April 1918 (a record for the competition). On 8 September 1917, he played against QPR in their first game at Loftus Road, scoring a hat-trick. During his service, he was stationed at Bridge of Allan in Stirlingshire and guested for Falkirk during his time in Scotland.

After the war and Falkirk

After the end of the war, Puddefoot played in the newly enlarged Football League Division Two for the 1919–20 season. He scored…

Puddefoot's three Victory International games did not count as official appearances. He did, however, gain official caps when he played twice for England in the British Home Championship, once in 1925 and once in 1926.

Puddefoot played cricket for Essex. He appeared in eight first-class matches in 1922 and 1923, travelling back to Essex during summers while he was with Falkirk.

After the end of his playing career, Puddefoot travelled to Turkey to manage Istanbul side Galatasaray for the 1933–34 season. In February 1934, he was involved in an incident in which he was manhandled while trying to calm down players during a game. Play had to be suspended and police were called in when the crowd invaded the pitch. As a result, 17 of the 22 players who were involved in the match were suspended by the Turkish Football Association. Puddefoot returned to England in 1934 for the birth of his child. He worked as an FA instructor to Kent Secondary Schoolboys, replacing Wally Hardinge in the role in 1935, but left to take on the managers role at Northampton Town. He joined the East Midlands club on 8 March 1935 and stayed for two years, resigning on 10 March 1937 after a disagreement over club policy. He left the club having won 41 of his 94 games in charge. During World War II, he worked as a War Reserve Constable for the Blackpool Borough Police and went on to become a civil servant with the Ministry of Pensions. He later worked for Southend United.