Player #189 for Aston Villa, Herbert Charles Lawrence James Kingaby, known as Bert Kingaby and nicknamed Rabbit played as a winger for the club in the outside right position.

Bert played for Villa on 4 occasions during the 1905-06 season.

Bert was born in London on 1st August 1880 and made his debut appearance as a 25 year old on the 10th March 1906.

Villa had signed Bert from Clapton Orient for £400 earlier in the month and he was to subsequently move on to Fulham in July 1906 after making his final appearance on 13th April 1906.

Bert’s contribution to football extended to off the pitch controversy and he could be reasonably described as the maker of the modern transfer system.

Having been signed from Clapton Orient for £400, Villa placed Kingaby on a contract set to the maximum wage of £4 week.

Villa however soon suffered buyer’s remorse when it was clear Kingaby was not up to the standards required from a first team player.

Villa decided their best move was to cut their losses and released the player back to Orient for a discounted fee of £200. Orient however weren’t interested in the deal. Villa then found no other clubs out there were willing takers either.

Rather than admit an expensive mistake in the transfer market, Villa upped the ante considerably.

The Villa hierarchy deemed it appropriate to stop paying Bert’s wage on the basis that he was not delivering under his contracted terms.

Whether there was a performance clause in the contract is highly unlikely. Villa however doubled down and not only stopped Kingaby’s income but also placed him on the retained list, and in so doing meant he could not move to another league club even if there was an amenable destination.

This fit of pique simply served to make the whole situation significantly worse for all parties.

Eventually Fulham, then a Southern League club, playing outside of the existing League structure, took Kingaby on and it appeared this most unedifying chapter had come to a close.

That however was wishful thinking as an opportunistic Orient - with a fresh £400 still in their pocket from the original transfer - decided to get greedy and re-signed Kingaby for the 1910-11 season.

What they hadn’t bargained for however was that Villa still held the player’s registration and he remained on their retained list.

Quite how Orient hadn’t twigged that when Kingaby rocked up in non-league is a mystery but the end result was painful for them.

A tribunal ordered that Orient owed Villa a transfer fee for Kingaby and Orient were ordered to pay £350 for his services.

Admittedly they were still ‘up’ £50 but they’d gambled and lost not once but twice by rejecting the £200 offer and re-signing the player on the sly.

It still wasn’t over however and more controversy was to follow as Kingaby attempted to sue Villa for preventing him from playing by holding him on the retained list - which in itself was fair, although withholding payment was not.

Kingaby’s case was ultimately dismissed due to what could euphemistically be described as “irregularities” and the Player’s Union, who funded the case, faced ruin, as did Kingaby’s career in football.

Kingaby, Villa, Orient - An episode from which no party emerged with any credit.

Bert played under the George Ramsay led Management Committee.

Bert passed away in London in 1957 aged 77.