Biography
Inside forward Jack Fryer joined Hull City in May 1937, signed by new City manager Ernest Blackburn who had also been his manager at previous club Wrexham. Fryer was immediately selected at inside right for City’s first team and had a superb debut against his former club, scoring twice in a 3-0 opening day victory. He combined well another new signing, Scottish centre forward John McNeill, and Fryer’s goal tally reached double figures by mid-November 1937. Jack missed only three games all season – he was rested for a Division Three North Cup tie in October 1937 and missed two League games during the frantic Easter schedule in mid-April 1938 – and by the end of the season both Fryer and McNeill had netted 25 times in all competitions as the Tigers finished a point shy of the promotion spots in third place. Fryer’s goals had attracted attention from Second Division clubs and he left the Tigers in June 1938.
John “Jack” Fryer was born in Widnes, an industrial town on the River Mersey, and was playing local football in the Cheshire town of Helsby when he was snapped up on amateur terms by First Division side Everton in April 1930. Fryer appeared regularly for Everton’s A team initially and graduated to the Reserves in the 1931/32 season and scored plenty of goals at both levels. During these formative years for Fryer, Everton won the Second Division title in the 1930/31 season, bouncing back from relegation the previous year, then claimed the First Division title a year later and the FA Cup in the 1932/33 season. With an established first team forward line built around the remarkable goalscoring exploits of William “Dixie” Dean (383 goals in 433 senior appearances for the Toffees) Fryer was unable to break into the first team squad and in May 1933 he was surplus to requirements at Goodison Park and transferred to Wrexham, a side managed by future City manager Ernie Blackburn.
In Fryer’s first season at Wrexham he made only three first team starts but he broke into the first team in October 1934 and scored his first senior goal against Chester a month later. Jack kept his first team shirt for the rest of the season, twice scoring a brace against Rochdale in League and Cup and finishing with 10 goals. The 1935/36 season saw Fryer miss only one League game as he netted 16 times in a Wrexham side struggling in the lower half of Division Three North. Fryer started the 1936/37 season in the first team but he lost his place in October 1936 and never regained it, leaving the club in May 1937. Jack had made 89 senior appearances and scored 29 goals in his four years at the Racecourse Ground.
Fryer’s successful season at Hull City led to Second Division side Nottingham Forest signing him in June 1938. He scored on his Forest debut against Burnley in early September 1938 and was a regular first team pick during the second half of the season, scoring 8 goals in 23 starts in total. The start of World War Two halted his professional career in September 1939 and during the next two years he played wartime fixtures for Newark Town and Nottingham Forest while serving as an air raid warden. He did not resume his football career after the war, no records of when he died have been located although we believe he may have lived in Liverpool in his later life, based on his wife’s death.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 23 September 1911, Widnes
Hull City First Game: 28 August 1937, Wrexham H (Division Three North), 25 years, 339 days old
Hull City Final Game: 7 May 1938, Crewe Alexandra H (Division Three North), 26 years, 226 days old
Clubs
Everton (1930-1933), Wrexham (1933-1937), Hull City (1937-1938), Nottingham Forest (1938-1941)
Hull City Record
Career: 44 apps, 25 goals
Jack Fryer| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937/38 | 40 | 23 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |