Clubs: Aldershot, Northampton Town, Crystal Palace

From his earliest days Fred Dawes followed his father's interest in football and captained his school team at the age of 10, playing with his elder brother Albert in the forward line. By the time Fred was 16 he was on the books of Aldershot and had played in friendlies against the Army and Clapton Orient.

After the two matches there was a flurry of interest in him from Football League clubs and Fred soon signed for Northampton Town where he played several seasons alongside Albert again. In February 1936 Fred once again linked up with his brother at Palace and by this time he was playing as a full-back.

In 1936/37 Fred started every game as captain but the following year he was badly hampered by injury and was limited to only 18 appearances. His best season for the club was 1938/39 as he was an ever-present and scored his only two goals for the club.

After World War Two - during which Fred served as a Special in the Metropolitan Police and later in the Royal Artillery - he put in another 111 league appearances for the club becoming the only man to have played a century of games on each side of the war. Fred continued playing until October 1949 until a head injury brought his career to a close but the association between Fred and the club lasted another 18 months as he served as Assistant Manager under Ronnie Rooke until November 1950 when he became joint manager with Charlie Slade.

The club was in a terrible situation when Fred and Charlie took control with Palace rock bottom of the league. There was no fairytale ending as Palace finished the season in last place and faced re-election to the Football League and after two months of little or no improvement the following year Fred and Charlie were relieved of their duties.

During his time at the club Fred gained an excellent reputation as a loyal Palace servant and if he had played for a more glamorous club then he probably would have had a wider circle of admirers outside of SE25.

Statistics