Carter Raich Image 5 Derbyshire 1937

Description

Sunderland born inside forward Horatio “Raich” Carter was one of the true greats of the football world to have come out of the 1930’s. The son of a former professional footballer, Robert Carter, who had played for Port Vale, Fulham and Southampton, he started his football career with junior clubs Whitburn St Mary’s in 1928, Sunderland Forge in 1929 and Esh Winning and had won England Schoolboy international honours before he signed for hometown First Division Sunderland as an amateur in November 1930, signing professional exactly a year later and making his Football League debut at Hillsbrough against Sheffield Wednesday in October 1932.

He first scored a hat-trick in a 6-0 demolition of Tottenham Hotspur in February 1934, and in September the following year scored 4 times as Sunderland beat West Bromwich Albion 6-1 at Roker Park. He scored two further hat-tricks for Sunderland before the Second World War. He was four times their leading or joint leading goalscorer during his career with The Wearsiders.

Already club captain, he scored 31 goals in 39 games as Sunderland won the League Championship in 1936 after being runners up the year before (Carter was their joint leading goalscorer with Bob Gurney in their Championship winning season), scoring the winner the following year in the FA Cup Final as Sunderland beat Preston North End 3-1 at Wembley. First capped for England in April 1934 against Scotland, he went on to win 13 caps either side of the Second World War, scoring 7 times, his final cap coming against Switzerland in May 1947. He also made 8 wartime appearances for England and appeared four times for The Football League.

In December 1945 Sunderland sold him to Derby County for £8,000 after 131 goals in 281 games, and he immediately won the 1946 FA Cup with Derby scoring 12 goals in the cup run but none in the Final itself which Derby won 4-1 after extra time against Charlton. He scored 50 goals in 83 games for The Rams. In March 1948 Hull City paid £6,000 to get Carter and the following month he was installed as player-manager, winning the Division Three (North) Championship in 1949. He resigned as manager in September 1951 but continued to play for The Tigers until April 1952, scoring 62 goals in 150 appearances.

In 1953 he had a short spell as player-manager of Cork Athletic in Ireland, appearing for The League of Ireland against The Football League before becoming manager of Leeds United in June that year, taking them to promotion in 1956 with John Charles at the centre of his team. He left the club in May 1958 but returned to management in February 1960 with Mansfield Town, staying three years at Field Mill before taking over at Middlesbrough in January 1963, a spell which lasted a further three years until his sacking in February 1966.

Carter also played first class cricket. Schoolboy ideas of a dual football/cricket career were discounted as Carter felt he wouldn’t be able to give his full attention to two sports and cricket would probably involve moving away from home and his widowed mother and sisters and serving a residential qualification before being eligible to play for a first class county.

On 26th July 1933 Carter made his debut for Durham against Yorkshire’s 2nd XI at Headingley, batting at number 10, he top scored with 44 in a total of 145. He retained his place in the next game when Durham beat the touring West Indies at Ashbrooke, Sunderland. Carter was dismissed for a duck. In July 1934, he was again selected to play for Durham against Yorkshire’s 2nd XI at Headingley. He took 4-22 and scored 10 runs. He retained his place in the side for the next game against the touring Australia side.

While at Derby County, Carter also played cricket for Derbyshire. He made his county debut against Worcestershire in June 1946. He was a right-handed batsman and played 4 innings in three first class matches gaining an average of 2 and a top score of 7. He was a left-arm slow orthodox bowler and took 2 wickets at an average of 23.00 and a best performance of 2 for 39.

During the summer, Carter was a regular club cricketer playing mainly in the Durham Senior League for Hendon and Sunderland Police. In the summer of 1936, due to loyalty to Hendon, he rejected interest from several clubs who wanted to employ him as their cricket professional. After moving to Derby County, he played for Chaddesden. He was a regular for the cricket teams of Derby County and Hull City. Carter kept some of his England shirts, Carter removed the badge pocket and used them for cricket. A big hitter, Carter was known as the “Gilbert Jessop of Durham”.