Debut:
04/10/1890 v Higher Walton (North Road)) 2-0 (FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round)
Farewell:
Transferred to , 09/1892, £
Passed Away:
PA
Biography
For one reason or another, Newton Heath decided to load up on Nottingham footballers for the second season of the Football Alliance: John Slater, William Sharpe and John Clements all became regular members of the team in 1890-91, with Arthur Henrys to follow a year later.
John Frederick Slater was the man trusted to replace departing goalkeeper Tom Hay. He had spent some time with Basford Rovers, a local Nottingham outfit, where his abilities were tested to the limit in a lop-sided encounter with Notts County in October 1886: County won 13-0! Amusingly, it was once said in the papers of the time that "Slater has the largest and deepest mouth of any footballer in the country"! Nevertheless, Slater thrived when he first arrived at North Road, appearing in all 22 Alliance fixtures in 1890-91 and in 16 of the first 17 in 1891-92.
It was not all plain sailing. On October 17th, 1891, John was attacked by two spectators at Grimsby, his teammates rushing to his rescue. Then, in January, the papers summed up his effect thus: "Slater has not been as clever as Hay, but he has not been so well supported by his backs". Of course, it did not help that he let in eight goals in a match at Nottingham Forest - it remains Manchester United's worst competitive defensive performance ever!
The Heath directorate finally lost patience with Slater in March 1892 and replaced him first with John Davies then Jimmy Warner. Although he signed on with the club upon entry into the Football League, he soon crossed over to Fairfield where he spent 1892-93. Slater lived on Oldham Road during the 1890s as he worked for the L&Y Railway, but later found employment at the Manchester Gas Works. Extra information supplied by Charbel Boujaoude thru Paul Nagel of http://unitedkits.com/. Biography kindly provided by Charbel Boujaoude.
