Biography
Centre forward Max Holmes joined the Tigers in May 1935 and began the season as City’s first choice pivot, scoring his first goal in a September 1935 2-4 defeat against Charlton Athletic. However as the season wore on he was kept on the sidelines by injuries and an illness that hospitalised him for several weeks. With the Tigers relegated in May 1936 and new manager David Menzies installed during the summer, the recovered Holmes was selected in City’s first team strike force at the start of the 1936/37 season – Max rewarded his manager with three goals in four games as the Tigers started the Third Division North season brightly. He played a supporting role for the remainder of the season, scoring twice for new manager Ernest Blackburn in a February 1937 3-0 win over Mansfield Town. However Holmes’ time at Anlaby Road came to an end in the 1937 close season.
Maxey Martin Holmes was born in Pinchbeck, an agricultural village near Spalding in Lincolnshire, and raised in nearby King’s Lynn. Holmes graduated at London University in the late 1920s and qualified as a school teacher. A talented cricketer and rugby union player, he turned to football when a shoulder injury halted his rugby career and after scoring plentifully for Spalding United during the 1930/31 season he joined Grimsby Town in August 1931. He scored on his Mariners debut against Blackburn Rovers in March 1932 and performed well for the rest of the season as Grimsby slid towards relegation from Division One. Holmes played his part in trying to arrest the decline, netting a hattrick in a remarkable 6-5 win at West Bromwich Albion then following up with a brace in a last day victory over Sheffield Wednesday that was not enough to avoid the drop.
Grimsby spent the 1932/33 season consolidating in the middle reaches of the Division Two table and Holmes was used sparingly throughout the season. The Mariners won the Division two title in the 1933/34 season and Max played more regularly, netting an April 1934 hattrick against Blackpool. Restored to the top flight, Holmes was rarely involved in the first team during the 1934/35 season that saw the Mariners finish fifth in the table, and he left Grimsby Town in May 1935 having scored 17 goals in 39 appearances.
On leaving the Tigers Holmes joined Mansfield Town in July 1937 and was used primarily in a more withdrawn midfield role. He scored five goals in 19 appearances for the Stags during the 1937/38 season before joining Lincoln City in August 1938, where he ended his playing days two years later having scored once in 21 senior appearances.
Holmes served in the RAF during World War Two and assisted Grimsby Town in wartime matches. After the War he ran a sports shop in Grimsby before returning to his first career as a school teacher in several Lincolnshire schools. He played cricket for Grimsby CC for nearly 30 years until he hung up his batting gloves in 1960. In later life he retired to Cleethorpes, where he died in July 1999.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 24 December 1908, Pinchbeck
Hull City First Game: 31 August 1935, Fulham H (Division Two), 26 years, 250 days old
Hull City Final Game: 29 March 1937, Stockport County H (Division Three North), 28 years, 95 days old
Clubs
Spalding United (1930-1931), Grimsby Town (1931-1935), Hull City (1935-1937), Mansfield Town (1937-1938), Lincoln City (1938-1940)
Hull City Record
Career: 30 apps, 10 goals
Max Holmes| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1935/36 | 8 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1936/37 | 21 | 8 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |