After scoring 10 goals in 309 appearances, and winning two First Division titles (1907–08 and 1910–11) and one FA Cup (1909), Bell was sold to Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £1,000 in July 1913. He played only a few matches for Blackburn before the outbreak of the First World War, and signed for Clackmannan in 1921. He played there for two seasons and spent one with Royal Albert, before retiring as a player and joining the coaching staff at Coventry City. His last job in football was at Manchester City, where he was employed as coach and trainer from 1925 until his death in November 1934 at the age of 52.