Signing Info:
Transferred from: Dundee Old Boys, 06/1892, £
Previous Clubs:
Dundee Old Boys
Debut:
03/09/1892 v Blackburn Rovers (A) 3-4 (League Division One)
Farewell:
Retired from game due to knee injury 06/1902
Passed Away:
06/04/1938
Biography
The only man to play 400 matches for Newton Heath was Fred Erentz. It helped that he also claims the club's longest-serving spell: ten years, from 1892 to 1902. It was enough time for him to grow from 12 stone on arrival in Manchester to around 16 stone by the end! That was quite a frame for the blond fellow of Danish ancestry.
Erentz was born in Scotland, however, in the Dundee area, and it was there that he started his career, with a junior side called Maryfield FC. The strapping half-back was soon signed up by Dundee Our Boys where he was made vice-captain of the reserve team. Fred's speed soon put him in the papers as he invariably won various races at the local summer sports. Although he made his debut for Our Boys in August 1890, he did not become a regular until 1891-92. In the meantime, he assisted Forfar once when they arrived at Dundee East End a player short.
In February 1892, Fred was suspended for one month by the Forfar FA for simply "squaring up to an opponent who had tripped him". Oddly, while serving his ban, he was selected by the same FA to play for Forfarshire against Perthshire!
After impressing yet again in Our Boys' 1892 sports, Erentz was lured to North Road with wages of 50s a week. Newton Heath were entering the Football League and he played in the very first match against Blackburn on September 3rd. It was claimed that the half-back line of Perrins-Stewart-Erentz was the tallest in the country. Fred ended his first season with a Manchester Cup medal around his neck.
In 1893-94, however, the left-half was converted to a left-back, and it was a position he would preserve for nearly a decade. Erentz would go on to form a formidable defensive trio with goalkeeper Barrett and right-back Stafford that made Heath's defence one of the best in the league. He even embellished his consistency by the occasional trot forward to convert penalties.
When Heath won their most important trophy - the Lancashire Senior Cup - in 1898, Fred was at left-back while his brother, Harry, played at right-back. At the season's end, Tottenham of the Southern League tempted Harry to join them, but Fred resisted their lavish offer to stay put with his Mancunian wife. The two brothers came face to face, thus, in the FA Cup in 1899, only for Fred to be content with a defeat and a dislocated arm for his trouble.
When Manchester United were formed from Newton Heath's downfall in 1902, the new regime took one look at Fred's ever-increasing physique and his knacked knee and refused to offer him a contract. It brought an end to his career, though he could always look back on a poignant final contribution: Fred scored Newton Heath's last ever goal - a penalty kick against Manchester City in April 1902 - that won the Manchester Senior Cup.
Erentz became a licensee of a hotel at 44 Albion Street in Miles Platting upon retirement. His son, Fred Jr., died in action during World War I, while Fred himself lived till the age of 68. Fredrick Erentz is one of the few sets of brothers to play for Heath or United Fred's brother was Henry Erentz. Significant thank you & acknowledgement for the hard work of Iain McCartney, the Manchester United Graves Society and The Friends of Philips Park Cemetery. Biography kindly provided by Charbel Boujaoude.
