 Berry while withBrentford in 1926 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William George Berry[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1904-08-18)18 August 1904 | ||
| Place of birth | Hackney, England | ||
| Date of death | 15 September 1972(1972-09-15) (aged 68)[2] | ||
| Place of death | Manor Park, England[2] | ||
| Position | Outside left | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Royal Naval Depot | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1923–1924 | Charlton Athletic | 11 | (2) |
| 1924–1926 | Gillingham | 79 | (9) |
| 1926–1932 | Brentford | 134 | (40) |
| 1932–1933 | Crystal Palace | 17 | (4) |
| 1933–1934 | Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic | 12 | (2) |
| 1934–1937 | SC Fives | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| 1934–1944 | SC Fives | ||
| 1944–1946 | Lille | ||
| 1946–1948 | Lierse | ||
| 1953–1955 | Nice | ||
| 1955–1956 | Club de Hammam-Lif | ||
| 1956–1958 | Étoile du Sahel | ||
| 1958–1961 | Jeunesse Esch | ||
| 1961–1965 | Union Luxembourg | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
William George Berry (18 August 1904 – 15 September 1972), known in England asBill Berry and inFrancophone nations asGeorge Berry orGeorges Berry, was an English professionalfootballer who made over 130 appearances as anoutside left in theFootball League forBrentford. He also played league football forGillingham,Charlton Athletic,Crystal Palace andBournemouth & Boscombe Athletic and after his retirement he had a 30-year management career with clubs in France, Belgium, Tunisia and Luxembourg.
Anoutside left, Berry began his career with theRoyal Naval Depot team inChatham, before joiningThird Division South clubCharlton Athletic in 1923.[3] He made 11 league appearances and scored two goals for the club before moving toGillingham, of the same division, in February 1924.[3] Berry remained atPriestfield for two-and-a-half seasons and made 87 appearances and scoring 11 goals.[4][5]
Together with Gillingham teammatesWally Barnard,Charlie Reddock,Charlie Butler andJoe Craddock, Berry followed former Gillingham managerHarry Curtis to Third Division South clubBrentford in May 1926.[6] He failed to fully make the outside left berth his own and was dropped to thereserve team for the1929–30 season.[6] He returned to the first team in good form during the1930–31 season, scoring 19 goals in 37 appearances.[7] The signing ofArthur Crompton in February 1932 signalled the beginning of the end of Berry's time atGriffin Park and after making just one appearance during the early months of the1932–33 season, he left the club in November 1932.[6] He made 148 appearances and scored 44 goals in just over five seasons with the Bees.[6]
In November 1932, Berry joined Third Division South clubCrystal Palace in a part-exchange deal which sawIdris Hopkins move to Brentford.[6] In what remained of the1932–33 season, Berry scored four goals in 17 appearances, but in an unlucky twist, he lost his place to new signing Arthur Crompton, whose signing had cost him his place at Brentford a year earlier.[6] He closed out hisFootball League career with a short spell atBournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, before moving toFrance to joinNational clubSC Fives in 1934, where he remained until his retirement as a player in 1937.[6]
Berry had a long and successful management career in France,Belgium,Tunisia andLuxembourg.[8][9][10][11][12][13] He won thedouble withLille OSC in the1945–46 season and aCoupe de France withOGC Nice in1953–54.[14] Berry won theTunisian National Championship twice, in1955–56 withCS Hammam-Lif and in1957–58 withÉtoile Sportive du Sahel.[10][15] He twice won theLuxembourg National Division withJeunesse Esch (1958–59 and1959–60) and once withUnion Luxembourg (1961–62), in addition to oneLuxembourg Cup with the latter club.[16][citation needed]
Berry was married to Winifred and had three children.[17]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Gillingham | 1923–24[4] | Third Division South | 16 | 1 | — | 16 | 1 | |
| 1924–25[4] | 37 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 43 | 4 | ||
| 1925–26[4] | 26 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 28 | 6 | ||
| Total | 79 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 87 | 11 | ||
| Brentford | 1926–27[7] | Third Division South | 22 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 5 |
| 1927–28[7] | 25 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 6 | ||
| 1928–29[7] | 23 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 5 | ||
| 1930–31[7] | 32 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 37 | 19 | ||
| 1931–32[7] | 31 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 36 | 8 | ||
| 1932–33[7] | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |||
| Total | 134 | 40 | 14 | 3 | 148 | 44 | ||
| Crystal Palace | 1932–33[1] | Third Division South | 17 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 4 |
| Career total | 230 | 53 | 22 | 5 | 252 | 59 | ||
Lille
Nice
CS Hammam-Lif
Étoile Sportive du Sahel
Jeunesse Esch
Union Luxembourg