If you enter a lion’s cage when the circus is in town, you should probably expect to be nicknamed “The Lion Tamer,” as George Seeley was. And if you signed for Southampton as an understudy to outside-left Joe Turner, you should definitely expect very little first-team football, which is what George had – just the one Southern League appearance in 1896-97, as the Saints romped, undefeated, to their first championship.

George tried his luck with two of Bristol’s clubs, each in the Western League, the following season, at the end of which Turner left for Stoke. George now returned and, as Southampton struggled to fill the gap on the left wing, he had a run of half-a-dozen games. But speedy and determined as he was, George could be inconsistent. So he left again, to play for the majority of his remaining career in London, where he later became the licensee of the Railway Hotel in Acton. He died on holiday in the Isle of Wight, aged only 42 (see scrapbook section).

NB George also played for Hampshire as illustrated in the photo which appears in John Spellacy’s profile, but note the caption that has him playing for Cowes at the time is incorrect.