The back story of Syd Puddefoot is just as compelling as his emergence as a Rovers great.

A true cockney, Sydney Charles Puddefoot was born in St Paul’s Road Limehouse on 17 October 1894. Puddefoot was one of 14 children, of which only 6 reached adulthood.

The East End of London was severely overcrowded, and unsanitary at that time and Syd’s world was one of extreme poverty and disease which largely accounted for the high mortality rate. This was then the challenging and unforgiving background against which Syd Puddefoot elevated himself to become one of the most influential footballers of his era and one could hazard a guess, subsequent eras of the game. 

Puddefoot’s influence stretched far beyond his East End roots and subsequently nestled in East Lancashire and more particularly at Ewood Park – Blackburn Rovers being his ‘home’ for some 7 years, over which time he bewitched Roverites with his sumptuous skills and wrote his name indelibly in the Rovers illustrious history book, and in the hearts and minds of the supporters.

Syd Puddefoot was, from an early age, a precocious footballer, whose propensity for goal scoring had already set him apart from other players but it might well have not been the case, for in 1903 the Puddefoot family moved to Stratford in London. Having been enrolled at the Abbey Road Elementary School, Syd began to demonstrate the first signs of his football ability. 

His mother, however, was unhappy with Syd’s football activities and thought he should concentrate on more academic matters which prompted her to arrange for young Syd to transfer to Park Elementary School. Unbeknown to Mrs Puddefoot the new School had on its staff an excellent football coach, one Cornelius Beal. Syd later said “Mr Beal used to coach us and tell us our faults and show us how to overcome them. A grand coach he was too.” Syd started as an outside left but was scoring so many goals he was switched to centre forward despite his lack of inches – his nickname was “Titch”

Quite simply Puddefoot was one of those players whose talent on the ball was never going to be denied. Having played for Limehouse Town, Puddefoot was signed on amateur forms by West Ham United in 1912. Despite his youth and relative inexperience, Puddefoot was soon rubbing shoulders and on equal terms with the Hammers two potent goal scorers, Danny Shea, later to join the Rovers, and George Hilsden. 

Puddefoot was generous in his praise for both players who he stated helped him to mature as a footballer. Shea’s transfer to the Rovers increased Puddefoot’s opportunities at the Hammers and in Hilsden he had the perfect foil to expand and improve his own game.

So grateful was Puddefoot for Hilsden’s advice that every time Syd scored he gave Hilsden half a crown. It ultimately became an expensive habit due to Syd’s propensity to hit the back of the net on a regular basis.

In his first 11 games for West Ham, Puddefoot scored 13 times. He created a Hammers goal scoring record in 1914 when he netted 5 times, in an 8 – 1 victory over Chesterfield in the FA Cup.  Actually, during the wartime years and playing for West Ham, Puddefoot racked up an extraordinary 100 goals in 126 appearances including a 7 goal haul against Crystal Palace in 1918.

His scoring feats continued season on season until, and quite remarkably, he was sold, much against his will, in February 1922 to Falkirk for a then world record fee of £5,000. 

Part of the fee was raised through public subscription by the Falkirk supporters, many of whom met Puddefoot at the railway station, it is said and cheered him all the way to his digs. 

Such was the impact on the West Ham supporters, that one of them a young Reg Pratt, later to become Chairman of the Hammers, readily confessed that he was in tears at Puddefoot’s sudden departure. 

Syd’s time north of the border was a sobering experience but despite his misgivings he still managed 45 goals in 113 games. The bold move by the Scottish club ultimately didn’t resonate with Puddefoot who complained bitterly that his colleagues didn’t pass the ball to him. Syd also strenuously denied the accusations made against him that he wasn’t trying by asserting that “I can honestly say that during all the time I was in Scotland I did my best.”

This breach of confidence had the inevitability of having only one outcome.

Although Jack Carr was the Rovers Manager at that time it is strongly understood that Bob Crompton was the main instigator and influence in Puddefoot coming to Ewood.  Despite Puddefoot’s age, he believed that the prompter and tormentor in chief was the x factor that the Rovers needed.

It was in February 1925, aged 30, that Syd Puddefoot signed for the Rovers for a £4,000 fee, and the transfer was seen as something of a coup at the time, as others were keen to sign this supreme playmaker. 

He had already racked up 147 goals in 271 appearances with West Ham and Falkirk. It was to be a match made in heaven. Besides scoring his fair share of goals for the Blue and Whites, Syd showed Roverites what a supreme and talented footballer he was. Possessing balance, poise, quick feet and an astute football brain, Syd Puddefoot was the playmaker, the schemer in chief and was the” mainspring “ of everything. His influence on the team was profound.

My Dad was an aficionado of Syd and needed no excuse to regale me with stories of the inside forward’s potent skills and prowess. So, for me, vicariously, Syd Puddefoot or Puddy, as Rovers supporters knew him, became the player (along with Bob Crompton) I wish I could have seen in blue and white halves.

Puddy was hero worshipped by the Ewood faithful from the off as he displayed his repertoire of abundant skills and tactical nous, in fact everything good about the Rovers stemmed from Puddefoot’s prompting. 

His control of the ball and that sixth sense, given to all gifted players, combined with subtle, yet devastating passing accuracy carried the Rovers forward. Puddefoot possessed the panache and footballing acumen given to few to unlock any opposition defence. 

He was the arch schemer. Of course, too, he was a key member of that 1928 Rovers FA Cup winning team, in which he scored four times en route to the Final, as well as gaining much deserved international honours with England.

The local and national press were generous in their praise of Syd remarking on “his judicious passing game, his astute promptings and constantly producing his best form”.

There was fulsome praise for his footballing skills “which were the hallmark of a master craftsman. In open play he was a force in planning raids. Puddefoot provided deft touches with the assurance and command that long experience and natural ability bring.”

In a match against Liverpool it was reported “Rovers’ dominance lasted only as long as Puddefoot prompted the raids by his positioning and array of passes.”

There was an interesting story attached to Rovers thrilling 7-5 win in September 1929 where Puddefoot scored four goals.

Jack Bruton, another prolific Rovers goalscorer had got a new pair of boots. Puddefoot had tried them on and found a perfect fit and played that game and subsequent games in them. No one doubted Syd deserved them since in a long and top-drawer career, his 4 goals ranked highly amongst his many feats.

In the FA Cup 6th Round tie against Manchester United at Ewood, Puddefoot was again the hero scoring both the Rovers goals the first of which was graphically described by the Manchester Guardian thus – “Holland’s centre was lobbed over head high , Puddefoot made a catapult action from the neck and Ewood rose in a great roaring, surging mass as though tossed about by some violent subterranean disturbance.”

To further demonstrate the sincere affection in which Syd Puddefoot was held by the Rovers supporters was another game against Manchester United, this time in 1926 at Ewood, where at the final whistle, Puddefoot was observed lying on the ground and, with some Rovers supporters believing him to have been attacked, swarmed on to the pitch surrounding the United players, as they desperately tried to get to the safety of the dressing room. 

Puddefoot was stretchered from the pitch and thankfully made a full recovery. Policemen and officials rushed to the scene and escorted the players to safety. The understanding was that a linesman saw what happened between the players and notified the referee.  After the game, and following a report from the Riverside linesman, a United player was later suspended for two months.

A spell approaching 7 years saw Syd Puddefoot play 250 League games for the Rovers, scoring 79 goals and making countless others. 

On 26 February 1932 Syd Puddefoot returned to his roots and West Ham United with grateful thanks and a host of happy memories from Rovers supporters ringing in his ears. In his time at the Rovers Puddefoot was celebrated as one of their own and became one of the most popular players to ever grace Ewood.

Following his retirement as a player Syd managed both Galatasaray and Fenerbahce and whilst manager of the former, was caught up in a disturbing incident following a Galatasaray/ Fenerbahce. match. 

During the incident Puddefoot was “mauled” as play was suspended and the spectators invaded the pitch. The outcome was that 17 players were suspended after the assault, including one banned for life, by the Turkish FA.

Later, Syd managed Northampton Town and. as he was an all-round sportsman, played County cricket for Essex.

His standing in the game also enabled him to become one of the first players to take advantage of a personal hearing in front of the FA’s Disciplinary Committee following a sending off in the last minute of a Rovers game against Bolton Wanderers in 1929. Although he lost his appeal, the costs having to be defrayed by the Rovers, it enabled others to take advantage of the rule change in the future.

Amidst the illustrious history of Blackburn Rovers, Syd Puddefoot, was, quite simply and indisputably, a Rovers great, epitomized by the awe and standing in which he was held by the Rovers supporters.

By common consent, Syd Puddefoot’s juggling of the ball past opponents, his distribution of the ball, his elusive touches, the unorthodox feints and swerves placed him in a class of his own. As that great Rover, Jocky Simpson, observed, “ Puddefoot was a player and a half”

Syd Puddefoot passed away in October 1972 aged 78 years.

More on Puddy HERE in podcast format & HERE in book format.