Role Footballer Height 1.75 m | Years Team Name Sid Gueran | |
Full name Sidney Frederick Gueran Date of birth (1916-10-02)2 October 1916 Date of death 19 August 1944(1944-08-19) (aged 27) Died August 19, 1944, Arnhem, Netherlands | ||
Place of birth Grays, Essex, England Place of death Arnhem, Netherlands | ||
Sidney Frederick Gueran (2 October 1916 – 19 August 1944) was an English footballer who made three first-team appearances for Southampton in 1937. His career was cut short when he was killed during the Battle of Arnhem.
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Football career
Gueran was born in Grays, Essex, before moving to Ramsgate as a child where he represented Ramsgate Schools. He joined Arsenal as an 18-year-old in May 1935 and was "farmed out" to play for Margate, Arsenal's nursery side.
Southampton's manager, Tom Parker (formerly an Arsenal player), used his connections to sign Gueran on loan in March 1936. Described as "a thoughtful and constructive inside-forward", Gueran spent most of his "Saints" career in the reserves, but was given a run-out in the first team in the last match of the 1936–37 season, when he replaced Wilf Mayer in a 3–0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest.
Gueran made two further appearances in the opening matches of the next season, both defeats, before Arthur Holt took over at inside-right. Gueran then returned to reserve-team football, before being recalled by Arsenal in May 1938. A few weeks later, he was transferred permanently to Exeter City of the Third Division South, but failed to break into the first-team and "retired" from professional football later that year.
Later career and death
On the outbreak of World War II, Gueran enlisted in the Royal Engineers as a sapper attached to the 1st Parachute Squadron and was killed on the second day of the Battle of Arnhem. He is commemorated on the Groesbeek Memorial in the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery.
Note
In all three of his first-team appearances for Southampton, Gueran played in front of defender Charlie Sillett, who was also killed on active service, in a U-boat attack on an allied convoy while serving with the Royal Navy in 1945.