 Soo c. 1950 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Frank Soo[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1914-03-08)8 March 1914[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Buxton,Derbyshire, England[2] | ||
| Date of death | 25 January 1991(1991-01-25) (aged 76)[2] | ||
| Place of death | Cheadle,Staffordshire, England[2] | ||
| Height | 5 ft7+1⁄2 in (1.71 m)[3] | ||
| Position(s) | Inside-left;half-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| West Derby Boys Club | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1932–1933 | Prescot Cables | ||
| 1933–1945 | Stoke City | 173 | (5) |
| 1945–1946 | Leicester City | 0 | (0) |
| 1946–1948 | Luton Town | 71 | (4) |
| 1948–1950 | Chelmsford City | ||
| Total | 244 | (9) | |
| International career | |||
| 1942–1945 | England (wartime) | 9 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1949 | Helsingin Palloseura | ||
| 1950–1951 | St Albans City | ||
| 1951–1952 | Padova | ||
| 1952 | Norway | ||
| 1952–1953 | Eskilstuna | ||
| 1953–1954 | Örebro | ||
| 1954–1955 | Djurgården | ||
| 1956–1957 | Oddevold | ||
| 1958 | AIK | ||
| 1959–1960 | Scunthorpe United | ||
| 1961 | Frigg | ||
| 1963 | IFK Stockholm | ||
| 1964 | Fredrikstad | ||
| 1965–1966 | Akademisk Boldklub | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
| Frank Soo | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 蘇衛清 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 苏卫清 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Frank Soo (8 March 1914 – 25 January 1991) was an English professionalfootball player andmanager of mixed Chinese and English parentage. He was the first player of Chinese origin to play in theEnglish Football League, and the first player of an ethnic minority background to representEngland, though inunofficial wartime matches.
He initially began his career atinside-left, though later became more established athalf-back. A quick and intelligent player, he was an excellentpasser of the ball. He grew up inLiverpool and began his playing career withPrescot Cables before he joinedStoke City for a£400 fee in January 1933. He made his first-team debut in November 1933 and became established in the first-team by the 1935–36 season. He lost most of his best playing years toWorld War II, leaving him only able to serve in theRoyal Air Force and play for Stoke and England in unofficial wartime games, as well as guest for numerous other clubs. He was sold on toLeicester City for a fee of £4,600 in September 1945 and then moved on toLuton Town 10 months later for £5,000. He joinedChelmsford City of theSouthern League in May 1948 and retired as a player after two seasons.
A stern task master, he began tocoach for European clubs in the 1950s and early 1960s. He briefly coached Finnish clubHelsingin Palloseura in 1949 before taking charge atIsthmian League sideSt Albans City for the 1950–51 season. He was appointed manager of the ItalianSerie A clubPadova in April 1951 but left the club 11 months later following the sudden death of his wife. He then coachedNorway at the1952 Summer Olympics, then ledEskilstuna topromotion out of the SwedishDivision 3 Östra in 1952–53. He briefly managedÖrebro before he coachedDjurgården to theAllsvenskan title in 1954–55. He then returned to lower league football withOddevold, securing promotion out ofDivision 3 Nordvästra Götaland in 1955–56. He coached atAIK in 1958 before returning to England to manageScunthorpe United in June 1959. He took Scunthorpe to 15th in theSecond Division in the 1959–60 season before he resigned in May 1960. From there, he struggled to find work, spending short periods in charge atFrigg (Norway),IFK Stockholm (Sweden),Fredrikstad (Norway), andAkademisk Boldklub (Denmark).
Frank Soo was born inBuxton,Derbyshire on 8 March 1914, and brought up inLiverpool.[1] His parents, a Liverpool-based Chinese sailor father, Our Quong-Soo (Chinese:區君仕; alsoAh Kwong-Soo), and an English mother, Beatrice Whittam, had married inChorlton, Manchester in 1908.[4] The couple had moved to the village ofFairfield to open alaundry, as was commonly done by Chinese emigrants in England at the time, before eventually moving premises toWest Derby, Liverpool around 1920.[5] He had an elder brother, Norman, and several younger siblings: Phyllis, Ronald, Jack, Harold and Kenneth.[6] His brother, Ronald, was killed on 14 January 1944 while serving as anair gunner inNo. 166 Squadron.[7]
Soo married hairdressing salon proprietor Beryl Freda Lunt inStoke-on-Trent on 12 June 1938. The couple honeymooned inBournemouth.[8] Freda, as she was known, was a keenautograph hunter and had initially introduced herself to Soo to ask for his signature.[9] The couple separated in 1951, and Freda died as a result of abarbiturate overdose on 10 March 1952; it was not known whether her death was intentional or accidental.[10]
Soo played for Norwood, West Derby and West Derby Boys' Club and wasscouted by bothEverton andLiverpool without ever being signed by either club.[11] He instead began his senior career withCheshire League sidePrescot Cables in late 1932, whilst working as an office clerk.[12] He was quickly signed byStoke City for a£400 fee on 25 January 1933, after being spotted by the club's scouts.[2]Tom Mather handed Soo his debut at the expense ofHarry Ware after picking him to play inside-left againstMiddlesbrough atAyresome Park on 4 November 1933, making him the first player of Chinese descent to play inthe Football League; the match ended in a 6–1 defeat.[2] Despite the heavy defeat, he was praised as Stoke's stand-out performer. He kept his place for the 1–0 defeat toManchester City at theVictoria Ground seven days later.[13] He made a third appearance in a loss toArsenal atHighbury, before being dropped for six matches.[14] He scored his first goal in professional football on 3 January 1934, as Stoke beatBradford Park Avenue 3–0 in the third round of theFA Cup, and then scored again as Stoke defeatedBlackpool by the same scoreline in the following round 24 days later.[14] He scored his first league goal for the "Potters" on 29 January, concluding the scoring in a 3–0 victory overHuddersfield Town.[14] He made a total of 16 appearances during the1933–34 season, scoring three goals, as Stoke posted a 12th-place finish in theFirst Division.[15]
Soo featured mainly for theReserves during the1934–35 campaign, as the forward line ofHarry Davies,Joe Johnson,Bobby Liddle,Stanley Matthews andTommy Sale proved to be highly effective, scoring 60 of the club's 71 league goals on the way to a tenth-place finish.[15] He failed to make a first-team appearance between September and 9 March, only returning to the side following a run of three consecutive defeats.[16] Hebroke his leg during1935–36 pre-season training, but made a speedy recovery to feature in a 2–0 defeat to Liverpool atAnfield on 18 September.[17] He found himself a first-team regular under newmanagerBob McGrory, who utilised him as a left-sided half-back in the place of ageing veteranHarry Sellars.[18] Playing alongsideArthur Turner andArthur Tutin, Soo would be a part of one of the club's great half-back lines.[18] He played a total of 40 matches that season, helping Stoke to a fourth-place finish, the highest inthe club's history.[18]
Stoke were inconsistent across the1936–37 season, recording a 10–3 victory overWest Bromwich Albion (a game which Soo missed due to injury) in the middle of a run of eight defeats in 11 league fixtures.[19] Soo made 31 appearances, as City finished in tenth place. Soo scored four goals from 45 appearances during the1937–38 campaign and played at centre-forward on two occasions in November due to injuries toFreddie Steele andJames Westland.[19] However, Stoke struggled again, falling to 17th-place in the league and being knocked out of the FA Cup by Bradford Park Avenue. Soo succeeded Turner as acting clubcaptain in March 1938 and was formally named as captain in the summer.[8]
In October 1938, Stoke rejected a bid fromBrentford of £5,000 for Soo.[20] Stoke recovered from a poor start to the1938–39 season to finish in seventh-place, with Soo scoring three goals from 44 appearances, sometimes being asked to play out of position due to injuries to other players.[20] His name was put forward in numerous newspapers for selection in theEngland team, with theDaily Express stating that "Soo, of Stoke, is one of the finest halves in the game, and it would be no less than he was worth if they put him in".[21] However, he lost the chance to represent England due to the outbreak ofWorld War II, which had also caused Stoke City to cancel their planned 1939 summer tour of Germany and Poland, and then led the Football League to cancel the1939–40 season after just three matches.[22] Before the league was suspended, Soo's midfield partnership with Turner and Tutin – with Matthews and Steele in attack – had made Stoke one of the favourites for that season's league title.[23]
Soo initially found work in the engineering department of theMichelin tyre company in Stoke-on-Trent, which allowed him to play wartime matches for Stoke City.[24] Throughout the war he played at full-back, right half-back, left-half-back and inside-left, filling in as need be as team-mates would be unavailable for selection due to service or work commitments.[24] He also appeared forNewcastle United,Blackburn Rovers,Everton,Chelsea,Reading,Brentford,Port Vale,Crewe Alexandra,Millwall, andBurnley, and played nine times for the England national football team between 1942 and 1945 (in Wartime andVictory Internationals),[25][26][27] the first non-white person ever to play for the national team (albeit in semi-official matches only) and the only person of East Asian descent to date.[28] He also played for severalFA representative teams not officially described as "England". He played mainly for Stoke City however, scoring three goals in 28 appearances in the1939–40 season as Stoke won the War League West Regional Championship.[29] He then scored four goals from 18 matches in1940–41.[2]
He was called up to theRoyal Air Force (RAF) on 28 July 1941 and spent most of his time in the RAF working in the technical training of aircrews.[30] As time went on, he was based further away from Stoke and became unable to play for the club; he scored three goals from 12 appearances in1941–42 and four goals from 13 matches in1942–43, before he was stripped of the captaincy.[31] He played just two games for Stoke in1943–44 and scored three goals from eight games in1944–45.[32] In April 1945, Soo submitted atransfer request after growing tensions between himself and McGrory due to his lack of availability and his frustrations at being played out of position by McGrory, who also had a similarly tense relationship with star player Stanley Matthews.[33][34][35]
On 27 September 1945, Soo was sold toLeicester City for a fee of £4,600, rejoining the manager who had signed him for Stoke, Tom Mather.[36] He was named as the "Foxes" new club captain less than two weeks later.[37] However, Leicester struggled in the1945–46 season, and he was transfer-listed in January despite being one of the better performers atFilbert Street.[38] He was demobilised from the RAF on 26 April 1946.[39]
Soo joinedLuton Town in July 1946 for a fee of £5,000.[12] The "Hatters" started the1946–47 season poorly, losing eight matches by mid-November.[40] However, after going three goals down to league leadersNewcastle United, managerGeorge Martin gave what Soo described as "the most unusual pep talk I have ever heard" and inspired a 4–3 comeback victory.[41] Luton went on to finish the season 13th in theSecond Division, with Soo making 38 league and four FA Cup appearances. He then scored five goals in 36 appearances in the1947–48 season, though new managerDally Duncan could not take Luton above 13th place, and he allowed Soo to leaveKenilworth Road in the summer.[42]
On 28 May 1948, Soo signed withChelmsford City from Luton for a reported "substantial transfer fee".[43] He was appointed as club captain and as acoach and helpedArthur Rowe's "Clarets" to finish second in theSouthern League in1948–49, before being transfer-listed in the summer after failing to agree terms with the club.[44] He spent the summer coaching Finnish clubHelsingin Palloseura.[45] Rowe left to manageTottenham Hotspur and Soo applied to succeed him as Chelmsford manager, but lost out toJack Tresadern.[46] He submitted a transfer request in November 1949 so as to try and find a club closer to his wife's family home in Stoke-on-Trent following her father's death, and also due to increasing tensions between himself, Tresadern, and the club's board of directors.[47]Kidderminster Harriers offered Chelmsford £1,000 for his services, but Soo refused to join the club.[48] He was forced to play for Chelmsford Reserves as the dispute rumbled on, before he was reinstated in the first-team in January following outcry from the club's supporters.[49] City finished in fourth-place at the end of the1949–50 season, and though Soo was named on the club's retained list he instead retired as a player to joinSt Albans City as manager on 30 May 1950.[50]
Soo was quick and intelligent and was noted for his ability to deliver perfectly placed passes.[51][33]Stan Mortensen wrote in his autobiography,Football Is My Game, that Soo was one of the four best wing-halves he ever played with (alongsideGeorge Farrow,Billy Wright andHarry Sellars), and "seemed incapable of a clumsy movement".[52] Arsenal'sAlex James described him as "modern for his time".[53]
Soo spent the summer of 1949 coaching the Finnish club Helsingin Palloseura before entering management full-time atIsthmian League side St Albans City in May 1950. He led the "Saints" to a ninth-place finish at the end of the1950–51 season. On 12 April 1951, he was appointed as manager of Italian clubPadova followingGiovanni Ferrari's dismissal as manager.[54] The press had accused the "Patavini" players of laziness, and Soo's reputation as a stern taskmaster was seen as a good solution.[55] Padova beatNapoli 2–0 on the final day of the1950–51 season to avoidrelegation out ofSerie A, and finished just a point ahead of 19th-placedRoma.[55] His main summer signing was Norwegian playerKnut Andersen, though the transfer was only completed in December when clearance from the Scandinavian Federation was confirmed; on Andersen's debut Padova managed to beat reigning championsMilan 5–2 at theStadio Silvio Appiani.[56] However, the team struggled in the second half of the1951–52 season, and Soo left the club on 13 March to return to England following his wife's death;Gastone Prendato was named as his successor at Padova, but could not keep the club out of the relegation zone by the end of the season.[56]
He signed a one-yearcontract to manage Swedish clubEskilstuna in May 1952, but took charge of the side after first working ashead coach of theNorway national football team for the1952 Summer Olympics inHelsinki.[57] He took charge of just one match, as Norway were defeated 4–1 by neighbours andreigning gold medallistsSweden in thefirst round of the tournament.[58] Returning to Eskilstuna, he told the press that he wanted to initiate a new playing style of "long, sweeping passes", and in addition to coaching the first-team he also took charge of theyouth team and coached at localEskilstuna schools.[59] He also initiated a total ban on alcohol for his players, which some in the media criticised as totalitarian and unnecessary.[60] The club finished third in the Östra region ofDivision 3 in1952–53, but were promoted intoDivision 2 due to a re-organisation of the league system.[61]
Soo was appointed manager of newly relegated Division 2 Svealand clubÖrebro in 1953, however, soon became unpopular with some players in his new dressing room due to his strict training methods.[62] Despite his apparent unpopularity, he still managed to take the club to a second-place finish at the end of the1953–54 season, one place ahead of Eskilstuna.[62] He again did not stay long though. He was appointed as manager atAllsvenskan clubDjurgården in June 1954, succeeding WelshmanDai Astley.[62] He was also linked with theSweden national team job, but theSvFF opted not to appoint a full-time manager following failure to qualify for the1954 FIFA World Cup.[63] He instead accepted a post as part-time coach of Sweden, still to be officially managed by a committee, but left the post following heavy defeats to theSoviet Union andHungary.[63] Back at Djurgården, his physical style of play proved to be highly effective, and he led the "Blåränderna" to the league title at the end of the1954–55 season, after which he tendered his resignation.[64]
Soo was appointed manager of Division 3 Nordvästra Götaland clubOddevold on 21 February 1956 and led the club to promotion as runners-up of their region in1955–56.[65] However, the team struggled in the Västra Götaland region of Division 2 in the1956–57 campaign, and Soo left the club in February 1957; his successor,Sven-Ove Svensson, led the club to an eighth-place finish.[65] In December 1957, he was appointed as trainer at Allsvenskan clubAIK, working alongside former Sweden selection committee chairmanPutte Kock.[65] However, he soon caused controversy after trying to focus his players primarily on football, which angeredbandy playing twinsBengt andBjörn Anlert.[66] The "Gnaget" finished ninth in1957–58, and Soo and the players suffered a difficult relationship.[66]
On 8 June 1959, Soo returned to England and was appointed manager ofSecond Division clubScunthorpe United, and immediately came under fire from vice-chairman Doug Drury, who said the club could not afford Soo's £1,600-a-year salary.[67] He signed defenderDennis John, wingerMartin Bakes and centre-forwardBarrie Thomas; Thomas went on to score 26 goals as the "Iron" recorded a 15th-place finish at the end of the1959–60 season.[68] Writing in February 1960,Ipswich Town managerAlf Ramsey described Scunthorpe as "one of the most improved clubs in the country, since manager Frank Soo took over the reins at theOld Showground at the start of the season, the football produced by this little club has at times matched the best".[69] However, Soo resigned in May 1960.[69]
In 1961, Soo returned to Scandinavia and managedFrigg inOslo, the capital of Norway, for one season.[70] Two years later Soo was appointed manager of theIsrael national team and was due to take charge in October 1963, but a last-minute disagreement between himself and theIsrael Football Association meant that he never formally took charge of the team. The job instead went toGeorge Ainsley.[69] He subsequently returned toScandinavia and briefly took charge atIFK Stockholm before he was appointed manager ofNorwegian First Division clubFredrikstad in January 1964.[71] He had a "short and turbulent" reign, again finding his players resentful of his prohibition of alcohol, and led the club to a second-place finish in1964, before he resigned on 15 December 1964.[71] In November 1965, he was appointed manager ofDanish 1st Division clubAkademisk Boldklub, and led the "Akademikerne" to fifth-place and sixth-place finishes in1965 and1966.[72] However, by this time he had established a reputation as a manager who was difficult to work with, highly demanding both in what he asked of his players and what he asked for financially, and someone who very quickly moved on.[73] He remained in Sweden for the rest of the 1960s, though nearly made a return to coaching with theHong Kong national team in April 1972, though did not take up the post as theHKFA were only prepared to offer him a one-year contract.[72] He returned to Stoke-on-Trent by the 1980s, and later died due to complications ofdementia at a cottage hospital inCheadle on 25 January 1991.[51]
In an interview with the Swedish newspaperFotboll, Soo said "usually I run with the boys for 90-minutes. Then I try to make that time as intense as possible... I want them to be tired after training".[63] He was described as aslavdrivare (slave driver).[63]
A street was named after him on what used to be the site of the Victoria Ground in Stoke.[53] The Frank Soo Foundation was created in Soo's honour in 2016, the aim of which is to promote his story, continue his legacy and encourage more people fromEast and South East Asian backgrounds to participate in football. An annual five-a-side charity football tournament is held in his honour, with the Player of the Tournament award being named after him.[74] The Frank Soo Cup is also held every year in collaboration withCounty Football Associations encouraging grassroots participation and supported by the FA
On 8 May 2020, to commemorate the anniversary of his first Englandcap, Soo was honoured byGoogle with aDoodle.[75] On 3 November 2023, Soo was inducted into the Stoke-on-Trent Sporting Hall of Fame to mark 90 years since his debut for Stoke City.[76] On 2 November 2024, Soo was also inducted into theNational Football Museums Hall of Fame.[77][78] A campaign lobbyingthe FA to award Soo with a posthumous honorary England cap was launched shortly after.[79]
| Club | Season | Division | League | FA Cup | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Stoke City | 1933–34 | First Division | 14 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 3 |
| 1934–35 | First Division | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| 1935–36 | First Division | 35 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 40 | 0 | |
| 1936–37 | First Division | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 0 | |
| 1937–38 | First Division | 42 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 45 | 4 | |
| 1938–39 | First Division | 42 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 44 | 3 | |
| Total | 173 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 185 | 10 | ||
| Leicester City | 1945–46 | War League | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Luton Town | 1946–47 | Second Division | 38 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 42 | 0 |
| 1947–48 | Second Division | 33 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 36 | 5 | |
| Total | 71 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 78 | 5 | ||
| Career total | 244 | 9 | 21 | 6 | 265 | 15 | ||
Source:[80]
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Norway | June 1952 | July 1952 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 000.0 |
| Scunthorpe United | June 1959 | May 1960 | 44 | 14 | 10 | 20 | 031.8 |
| Total | 45 | 14 | 10 | 21 | 031.1 | ||
Eskilstuna
Djurgården
Oddevold
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