Biography
Pacy outside left Percy Downes joined the Tigers in February 1932, having been granted a free transfer by previous club Blackpool after a long recovery from an operation. Downes spent 4 weeks in City’s Reserves to gain match fitness before coming into the first team in mid-March in place of Dally Duncan as the Tigers consolidated a top ten position. Downes scored in each of three wins in the last four games of the season against Carlisle United, Accrington Stanley and Wrexham. However in May 1932 he was again on the move after being lured to join City’s Division Three North rivals Stockport County, who were managed by former Scottish international centre forward Andrew Wilson.
Percy Downes was born in Langold, a model mining village north of Worksop in Nottingham. As a young man his family moved a few miles west to Dinnington, another purpose-built colliery village, where his father worked as a miner. In the early 1920s the young Downes played for the Dinnington Main Colliery team and in March 1924, after two trial matches including one against Hull City’s Reserves, he transferred to Midland League side Gainsborough Trinity. After only eight months at The Northolme, playing on the left side of attack alongside ex-Tiger Joe Kitchen, Downes’ form was sufficient to prompt Division Two side Blackpool to pay £500 for his signature in November 1924 – at the time a record fee paid for Midland League player.
After a year finding his feet in Blackpool’s reserves Percy was handed his Blackpool senior debut in a September 1925 match against Darlington. By January 1926 he had scored his first senior goal against Southampton and was the Tangerines’ first choice outside left for the rest of the 1925/26 season – he remained an important part of the Tangerines’ first team squad for the next three seasons. In the 1929/30 season Downes missed only one League game as Blackpool won the Second Division title, earning promotion to the top flight – Downes scored twelve goals including an October 1929 hattrick against Bristol City. Downes made his top flight debut against Arsenal in August 1930 and played a support role to the first team for much of the season until sustaining an injury in February 1931 that required major surgery. He left the Tangerines in February 1932 having scored 31 goals in 155 senior starts.
Downes left the Tigers in May 1932 and joined Division Three North side Stockport County, thriving for the Edgeley Park side over the next two seasons – he scored 26 goals in two seasons and netted his second senior hattrick in January 1934 when Stockport smashed Halifax Town 13-0. Downes had compiled 90 senior appearances for the Hatters by May 1934 when he transferred to Second Division side Burnley. He was a first team regular throughout the 1934/35 season and played in the FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday at Villa Park, which the Owls won 3-0. He dropped out of the first team picture in the second half of the 1935/36 season and left the Clarets in May 1936 having scored six times in 69 appearances.
Downes joined Division Three North side Oldham Athletic in May 1936 and he was again a first team regular in his first season at Boundary Park. He missed a large chunk of the 1937/38 season and by the 1938 close season he had made 58 starts for the Latics and scored four goals. In May 1938 he returned to Lincolnshire and re-signed for Midland League side Gainsborough Trinity while working as a crane driver in the docks area, he hung up his boots when senior football was suspended for World War Two. In the early 1950s Percy coached the Gainsborough Youth Centre team in the local leagues while working for engineering firm Marshalls, a company he served for 32 years. He stayed in Gainsborough for the rest of his life, living in a suburban avenue with Iris, his wife since 1925. He died in Gainsborough in November 1989.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 19 September 1905, Langold
Hull City First Game: 12 March 1932, York City A (Division Three North), 26 years, 175 days old
Hull City Final Game: 7 May 1932, Wrexham H (Division Three North), 26 years, 231 days old
Clubs
Dinnington Main Colliery, Gainsborough Trinity (1924), Blackpool (1924-1932), Hull City (1932), Stockport County (1932-1934), Burnley (1934-1936), Oldham Athletic (1936-1938), Gainsborough Trinity (1938-1939)
Hull City Record
Career: 11 apps, 3 goals
Percy Downes| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1931/32 | 11 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |