Jimmy Seed
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James Seed (1895 - July 1966) was an English footballer and football manager.
As a player Jimmy Seed was a member of the legendary Spurs 1921 FA Cup winning side, won the League Championship twice, with Sheffield Wednesday, and was capped five times for England. He then began a distinguished career in football management. He was appointed secretary/manager of Charlton Athletic in May 1933. He became the club's most famous and successful manager who turned the club from a Third Division (South) to F.A. Cup winners pushing for the League title.
He resigned from Clapton Orient to join a financially crippled club, just relegated to Division Three (South) after a chance conversation with chairman Albert Gliksten. After several acquisitions he began his reign in style with an unbeaten run of six games, in a season which saw the Addicks finish fifth. But the next two seasons saw consecutive promotions, with Seed bringing in players such as Sam Bartram, George Tadman and Don Welsh who all went on to lead successful careers at the Valley. Seed's side showed no nerves during their first season in the top flight, as they finished runners-up to champions Manchester City in 1936/1937. They finished third and fourth in the final two seasons before the outbreak of the Second World War.
He led the team into a variety of regional competitions set up during the war and Charlton reached a Wembley final for the first time in 1943. They were beaten 7-1 by Arsenal in the War Cup. They were more successful in 1944, when captain Don Welsh lifted the trophy following a 3-1 triumph over Chelsea.
They contested the first two post-war F.A.Cup finals at Wembley, which were noted for the ball bursting on both occasions. They were well beaten 4-1 by Derby County in 1946, but a Chris Duffy goal beat Burnley 1-0 in 1947.
Despite the revenues generated by very large home attendances, Charlton wouldn't allow Seed to invest in new players (he 'discovered' Stanley Mathews but wasn't allowed to sign him) and so The Addicks were unable to repeat their pre-war success in the First Division, finishing no higher than ninth in the initial six seasons after the conflict. They narrowly missed relegation in 1949/1950 with a 20th position finish, but they finished fifth in 1952/1953. Following two bottom-half-of-the-table finishes, Seed endured a dreadful start to the 1956/1957 season, losing their first five matches, before being asked for his resignation in September 1956.
He later became an advisor at Bristol City in 1957, before managing Millwall for eighteen months. He then became a direcor of Millwall until his death in July 1966, aged 71.
