Bob Hewison

Bob Hewison
Personal information
Full name Robert Hewison
Date of birth (1889-03-25)25 March 1889
Place of birth Backworth, England
Date of death 1964 (aged 74–75)
Position(s) Left half, Left back, Inside left
Youth career
East Holywell Villa
Whitley Athletic
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1910–1914 Newcastle United 64 (0)
1914–1919 Leeds City 0 (0)
1919–1920 Newcastle United 3 (0)
1920–1925 Northampton Town[1] 99 (8)
Total 166 (8)
Managerial career
1920–1925 Northampton Town
1925–1931 Queens Park Rangers
1932–1949 Bristol City
1949–1949 Gateshead F.C.
1950-1957 Guildford City
1957–1961 Bath City
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Robert Hewison (25 March 1889 – 1964) was an English football player and manager.

Playing career

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Born in Backworth, Northumberland, Hewison began his playing career with North East England non-league sides East Holywell Villa and Whitley Athletic before joining Newcastle United in 1910. He joined Leeds City in 1914 but due to the First World War and their expulsion from the Football League he never appeared in an official league match for the club. After suffering a leg break during the 1918-19 season Hewison was asked to serve as City's secretary during their winding up.[2]

Management career

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Hewison briefly returned to Newcastle before joining Northampton Town in 1920 as a player-manager. He remained in this position until 1925 when, having retired from playing, he switched to Queens Park Rangers as manager. Under Hewison QPR adopted their familiar blue and white kit although results on the pitch were nothing special for the Third Division South club and he was replaced by Archie Mitchell for the 1931-32 season.[3]

Hewison returned to management in 1932 with Bristol City. However at City Hewison was accused of making illegal payments to amateur players and on 15 October 1938 a joint Football Association and Football League inquiry suspended him until the end of the season, as well as fining the club 100 guineas.[2] When the ban ended in May 1939 (during which time club captain Clarrie Bourton served as caretaker player-manager[4]) Hewison returned to the hot-seat and remained in charge until March 1949. He subsequently managed non-league teams such as Guildford City from 1950 to 1957. Hewison went on to manage Bath City; with whom he built a strong side, signing players such as, Charlie Fleming, Alan Skirton and Ian MacFarlane, captained by Tony Book.[5][6] Bath went on to win the league in the 1959–60 season, finishing on 67 points (in 42 matches), with the division the Southern League being viewed as; "The foremost non-League competition" at the time.[7] In the same season, Hewison led the club on one of their best ever cup runs, beating Millwall in the FA Cup first round.[8][9] and then Notts County in the second round.[10] In the third round, Bath went on to play Brighton & Hove Albion at Twerton Park, in front of a record crowd of 18,020,[11] but lost 1–0.[12] Hewison rose as the second most successful manager in the club's history. He stayed with Bath until his retirement in 1961.[13]

References

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  1. ^ Michael Joyce, Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939, Beeston, 2004, p. 123
  2. ^ a b "Leeds City Club History". Archived from the original on 28 January 2010. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
  3. ^ A Potted History of QPR Archived 24 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Past Managers Archived 24 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Fleming signs for Bath City". Newcastle Journal. p. 10. Retrieved 4 November 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ "Bath City to provide more Cup shocks?". British Newspaper Archive. Halifax Evening Courier. 31 December 1959. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  7. ^ Steve, Whitney (25 March 2020). "The Southern League Internationals (Part One)". southern-football-league. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  8. ^ "Bath City: Angry Millwall say Brutal". British Newspaper Archive. Daily News (London). 16 November 1959. p. 11. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  9. ^ "Bath City shock mighty Millwall with 3–1 win". British Newspaper Archive. Bristol Evening Post. 14 November 1959. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  10. ^ "Week packed with incident for Bath". British Newspaper Archive. Bristol Evening Post. 12 December 1959. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Odds are still on Bath City". British Newspaper Archive. Torbay Express and South Devon Echo. 8 January 1960. p. 11. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  12. ^ "It is only au to revivor Bath City". British Newspaper Archive. Daily News (London). 11 January 1960. p. 11. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  13. ^ Northumberland
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