George Clawley had played in the Football League with both Crewe and Stoke – and simultaneously worked as a coal miner – both before joining Southern League Saints.

His height and reach helped to make him one of the outstanding goalkeepers of an era in which Southampton FC shed its “St Mary’s” suffix, were the giants of the Southern League and were starting to take Football League scalps in the FA Cup.

And yet he managed to miss both of the Saints’ Finals; and although he played in an international trial in 1903, he was never capped. In his first spell of two seasons at the club, in the second of which he became the captain,

Clawley was ever-present as the Saints twice won the Southern League and had two impressive Cup runs, latterly all the way to a semi-final replay. After which, he had another season at Stoke, again suffering semi-final defeat, before reverting to the Southern League with Tottenham. He broke a leg in his first season at White Hart Lane but recovered in time to be in the Spurs’ goal when they beat Sheffield United in the replayed 1901 FA Cup Final. Back at The Dell in 1903, he immediately added a third championship medal to his collection. He would miss only one Cup match and run up a further 121 Southern League appearances in this second spell of four seasons. After his retirement in 1907, George remained in Southampton and, having turned down a chance to coach in Paris, he was content to run the Wareham Arms until his premature death in 1920.