The family spent time living in Barnsley[3] before settling in Woodlands, where Firth attended the village school and captained its football team.
[2] A trial with Doncaster Rovers during the 1925–26 season came to nothing, and in March 1926, he joined Football League First Division club Birmingham on a similar basis.
The Sunday Mercury reporter wrote that he "revealed a great deal of footcraft, but he was too slow in parting with the ball and should have fed his partner oftener.
[13] He regained a regular place in the side from mid-February onwards, scored in the FA Cup sixth round replay and played in the semi-final win against Sunderland, but Bob Gregg was preferred for the 1931 FA Cup Final, which Birmingham lost 2–1 to West Bromwich Albion.
His manager, Norman Bullock, thought he would "prove a very good utility player",[21] but, apart from a run of five games at inside right in February 1937 that produced four goals, he rarely played.