261 Andrew Mitchell

Biography

Versatile wing man Andrew Mitchell joined the Tigers in June 1933 and was immediately selected in the first team’s outside right position by manager Hayden Green. City’s forward line was dominated by another recent signing, centre forward Bill McNaughton, who scored seven times in the first seven fixtures. In that same span of games Mitchell did not score and was replaced by local product Arthur Atkinson in late September. Mitchell returned for one further start in late November but before the New Year bells had tolled he had been given a free transfer and moved on to pastures new.

Andrew Mitchell was born in Coxhoe in County Durham and grew up in Bowburn, a nearby town that grew rapidly from nothing after the local colliery opened in 1906. Mitchell’s father worked as a boiler operative, providing power to the various mechanical installations at Bowburn Colliery. Andrew started playing football at Northern League side Ferryhill Athletic, in November 1926 he switched to divisional rivals Cockfield. By September 1927 he had moved again to Crook Town, a side that had four months earlier been crowned Northern League champions. Mitchell came into the Crook team in early November and within two months he had scored 10 goals and attracted the attention of several First Division clubs.

In the final days of December 1927 Mitchell joined First Division side Sunderland and while his goal tally for the Reserves was decent he was not able to break into the Roker Park first team. Andrew moved on to Second Division side Notts County in September 1928 where he again failed to break into the first team and in June 1929 he transferred to Division Three North side Darlington. He was quickly introduced to the Quakers’ first team and scored his first Darlo goal in a September 1929 6-2 thumping of Doncaster Rovers. Mitchell remained an important part of the Darlington first eleven and by the time he left the club he had scored 33 times in 106 senior appearances. In April 1932 Manchester United gave Mitchell another try at Second Division football, having paid a £600 fee for his services. His only start for the Red Devils came nearly a year after the transfer in March 1933 against his old club Notts County, though he did contributed 19 goals in 39 starts for the Manchester United reserves ‘ side. Despite that, in June 1933 Manchester United allowed Mitchell to sign for Hull City.

Mitchell joined Northampton Town at the end of December 1933 and scored three times in 24 appearances during the remainder of the 1933/34 season. In August 1934 he signed for Lancashire Combination side Rossendale United where he scored a goal every four games across two seasons. He squeezed in a short two month spell at local rivals Great Harwood at the start of the 1935/36 season before returning to Rossendale, where he ended his playing days in 1936.

By 1939 Mitchell was living in Blackburn town centre and working as a builder’s labourer, he remained in Blackburn and died there in December 1971.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 20 April 1907, Coxhoe
Hull City First Game: 26 August 1933, Notts County H (Division Two), 26 years, 128 days old
Hull City Final Game: 25 November 1933, Grimsby Town A (Division Two), 26 years, 219 days old

Clubs

Ferryhill Athletic, Cockfield (1926-1927), Crook Town (1927), Sunderland (1927-1928), Notts County (1928-1929), Darlington (1929-1932), Manchester United (1932-1933), Hull City (1933), Northampton Town (1933-1934), Rossendale United (1934-1935), Great Harwood (1935), Rossendale United (1935-1936)

Hull City Record

Career: 8 apps, 0 goals

Andrew Mitchell
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1933/3480--------

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