Fred Pagnam

Fred Pagnam (4 September 1891 – 1 March 1962) was an English footballer and manager. Pagnam played as a forward in the Football League for clubs Huddersfield Town, Blackpool, Liverpool, Arsenal, Cardiff City and Watford, and in non-league football for Lytham, Blackpool Wednesday, Doncaster Rovers, Southport Central and Gainsborough Trinity. He played for the reserves but not for the first team, and after a spell with Doncaster Rovers of the Midland League, he joined Southport Central of the Central League. By early 1913, the club was struggling financially, and the directors offered the players a choice: a wage cut or a free transfer. Pagnam took the latter, and moved on to Blackpool. He scored just once in 23 Second Division appearances, spent time with another Midland League team, Gainsborough Trinity,

His time at Liverpool coincided with a conspiracy by some Liverpool players to rig a match with Manchester United. This was in order to profit from betting on the result, in what became known as the 1915 British football betting scandal. Pagnam refused to take part in the conspiracy and even threatened to score a goal to ruin the prearranged result. United won 2–0 as agreed, but four Liverpool players and three United players were eventually found guilty of match-fixing by the Football Association, with Pagnam testifying against his teammates.

The outbreak of the First World War meant competitive football was suspended at the end of the 1914–15 season. Pagnam continued to play for Liverpool during the war,

Pagnam made his Arsenal debut against Bradford City on 25 October 1919. He was moderately prolific in his first season, scoring twelve League goals, although Harry White finished higher in the scoring charts. The next season, 1920–21, Pagnam finished as Arsenal's top scorer with 14 goals, despite having been sold to Cardiff City in March 1921 for £3,000Arsenal were quite strapped for cash at the time. In all he scored 27 goals in 53 appearances for Arsenal.

He lasted just nine months at Cardiff. His six goals from 14 appearances helped them gain promotion to the First Division in their first season in the Football League, but he was less successful at the higher level, and moved on to Watford of the Third Division South in December 1921 for a club-record fee of £1,000. In five seasons and 144 league matches, he scored 67 goals (74 from 157 appearances in all competitions) for Watford, After leaving Watford, he managed Galatasaray and the Turkey national team. He was declared a deserter on 20 April 1918.

Honours As a player Watford Third Division South top scorer: 1922–23