Albert Pickles was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 association football player and manager. Born in Burnley

Burnley

Burnley is a market town in the Burnley borough of Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It lies north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun....

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

 he was an outstanding athlete in his school days and went on to play amateur football for Burnley Belvedere. In 1894, at the age of 17, he was invited to a trial with Aston Villa

Aston Villa F.C.

Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...

, but his parents would not give him permission to pursue a career in professional football. In 1918, he joined the Burnley

Burnley F.C.

Burnley Football Club are a professional English Football League club based in Burnley, Lancashire. Nicknamed the Clarets, due to the dominant colour of their home shirts, they were founder members of the Football League in 1888...

 board of directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

. In January 1925, the club looked within the club to appoint a new manager following the death of former boss John Haworth

John Haworth

John Haworth was an English football manager. After playing amateur football as a youth, he was appointed manager of Accrington Stanley in 1897. He was in charge of the team for 13 years, leading them to two Lancashire Combination titles, before moving to nearby Burnley in July 1910...

 in December 1924, and Pickles was chosen to take care of first-team duties. He went on to manage Burnley for seven seasons, before resigning in August 1932 following a heavy defeat to Preston North End

Preston North End F.C.

Preston North End Football Club is an English professional football club located in the Deepdale area of the city of Preston, Lancashire, currently playing in the third tier of English league football, League One...

.