Exactly three years after the appointment of Gilbert Gillies as the first Leeds City manager, on the day his contract expired, 16th March 1908, the club's Board approached Frank Scott-Walford, then manager of Southern League side Brighton, and offered him the manager's job.

Scott-Walford, aged 36 when appointed, was born in Perry Barr, Birmingham and had trained as an engineer before becoming immersed in football. In his playing days, he had kept goal as an amateur with Tottenham Hotspur and played subsequently for Lincoln, Small Heath and Aston Villa. But his playing ability never matched his organisational skill and he went on to form the Enfield and District League and became a Southern League referee. He was also a keen cricketer and cyclist.

Scott-Walford became Brighton's manager in March 1905 but within two months all but three of his playing staff had departed, leaving him with the awesome task of piecing together a new squad before the start of the next season. He managed to get his players together, but an FA Council meeting on 2 April 1906 reported that Scott-Walford was mainly responsible for irregularities in approaching other clubs' players before their contracts had expired and he was suspended from management from 16 April until 1 August.

Despite the ban, Leeds' directors felt he could do the job at Elland Road but, because Scott-Walford had two years of his contract still to run with Brighton, negotiations were protracted and on 26th March 1908 it was announced that he would be released by the southern club as soon as they could find a replacement.

In the short term Scott-Walford had a galvanising effect - 'Leeds on the up grade,' noted the Yorkshire Post of 20 April, after the team recorded successive home victories over Stockport (3-0) and Wolves (3-1). But any ambitions Scott-Walford might have had for the team were, like those of Gillies, impeded by lack of money. He brought in many of his trusted Brighton players like Jimmy Burnett, Davie Dougal, Dickie Joynes, Tom Rodger and Willie McDonald, yet none made a lasting impact. Even though Tom Morris, said to be the best defender in the Second Division, was introduced in the latter half of the campaign, no real improvement was made. The team's form lurched wildly throughout the 1908-09 season. City again finished 12th, but without a platform on which to build. Scott-Walford used 28 players in 1909-10 as he searched in vain for a winning combination, but the campaign was dogged more by humiliation than covered in glory, notably a record 7-0 defeat at Elland Road by Barnsley on 23 October.

Scott-Walford later switched his attention to Ireland and brought a host of up-and-coming players to Elland Road, including Shelbourne pair Joe Enright and Joe Moran - both of whom won Irish caps at Leeds - and Derry Celtic inside left Billy Gillespie. Gillespie was about to sign for Linfield when Scott-Walford persuaded him to turn professional, but after a loss of form he moved from Elland Road to Sheffield United where he became a star.

Many of the Irish acquisitions failed to make the grade at Leeds and with little cash to spend on new players, Scott-Walford found difficulty in making an impression and at the end of the 1911-12 season City had to seek re-election. It came as no surprise when the manager stood down in May 1912.

He was manager at Coventry from 1913 to 1915.

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