Frank Soo
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Frank Soo (real name Hong Y. Soo) (8 March 1914 – 25 January 1991), born in Buston, Liverpool, was an English football player and manager of mixed Chinese and English parentage.
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[edit] Playing career
Soo began his career with Prescot Cables, moving to Stoke City in January 1933. By the time of the Second World War, Soo had established himself as a crowd favourite at Stoke. During the war, he guested for Everton, Chelsea and Brentford and played nine times for the England national football team between 1942 and 1945 (in Wartime and Victory internationals), 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. He also played for several FA representative teams not officially described as "England".
In September 1945, after playing 173 league games for Stoke, Soo moved to Leicester City for a fee of £4,600, rejoining the manager who had signed him for Stoke, Tom Mather. He moved to Luton Town in July 1946 for a fee of £5,000, playing a further 71 league games before joining non-league Chelmsford City.
[edit] Managerial career
Soo took over as manager of St Albans City early in the 1947-48 season, but left in 1948 to move to Italy. In April 1950 he was appointed as manager of Padova, a post he held until July 1952. Later that year he became coach of Swedish side IFK Eskilstuna, taking over at Örebro SK in 1953, Djurgårdens IF in 1954 and Oddevold in 1956.
In June 1959 he was appointed as manager of Scunthorpe United, but left in May 1960 after his one season in charge had seen Scunthorpe finish a respectable 15th in Division Two. He subsequently returned to Scandinavia, taking over as coach of IS Köping in 1962, IFK Stockholm in 1963 and AB Copenhagen in 1965. He later coached a number of teams in Copenhagen and Malmö before taking over as coach of Hoganas BK in 1972.
He also had a spell as manager of the Israel national team.
[edit] International games played
- 9 May 1942: Wales 1 - England 0 (Ninian Park, Cardiff, attendance 30,000)
- 25 September 1943: England 8 - Wales 3 (Wembley Stadium, London, attemdance 80,000)
- 22 April 1944: Scotland 2 - England 3 (Hampden Park, Glasgow, attendance 133,000)
- 30 September 1944: France XI 0 - FA Services XI 5 (Parc des Princes, Paris, attendance 30,000)
- 1 October 1944: Belgium 0 - FA Services XI 3 (Stade du Daring Club, Brussels, attendance 28,000)
- 14 October 1944: England 6 - Scotland 2 (Wembley Stadium, London, attendance 90,000)
- 3 February 1945: England 3 - Scotland 2 (Villa Park, Birmingham, attendance 65,780)
- 14 April 1945: Scotland 1 - England 6 (Hampden Park, Glasgow, attendance 133,000)
- 26 May 1945: England 2 - France 2 (Wembley Stadium, London, attendance 65,000) ("Victory International")
- 21 July 1945: Switzerland 3 - England 1 (Neufeld Stadion, Bern, attendance 35,000) (Unofficial international - Swiss FA 50th anniversary)
- 15 September 1945: Northern Ireland 0 - England 1 (Windsor Park, Belfast, attendance 45,061)
- 20 October 1945: England 0 - Wales 1 (The Hawthorns, Birmingham, attendance 54,611)
[edit] External links
- Rec.sports.soccer Statistics Foundation - Wartime and Victory Internationals statistics
- Scunthorpe United F.C. - The Managers
| Preceded by Billy Kellock |
St Albans City Manager 1947-1948 |
Succeeded by Billy Williams |
| Preceded by Bill Lambton |
Scunthorpe United Manager 1959-1960 |
Succeeded by Dick Duckworth |
