Isaw Joeshaw
Old School Blade
- Joined
- May 17, 2017
- Messages
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Part 2 of 3 in the series Great Blades in my Lifetime - I wonder who no. 3 could be ?
In terms of running with the ball at his feet taking on defenders or delivering passes splitting defences wide open or just begging to be put into the back of the net, I can think of no other English player In my lifetime who was better at it than The Great Jimmy Hagan, or 'Sir James' as my dad and many of his generation referred to him.
For younger readers (i.e. anyone under 70 !) the nearest comparison I can think of in modern football would be David Sylva and Jimmy was also roughly the same build as him.
The control he had over the ball when he went on one of his mazy runs was truly astonishing. I know it's a bit of a cliché (as Sam Goldwyn once said " I 'm getting tired of the same old clichés - why can't we have some new ones"?) but it seemed at times as if the ball was attached to his bootlaces.
He was also a surprisingly prolific goalscorer for his type of player scoring, for instance, a total of 67 goals in the four seasons starting 1948-49.
Like the great Joe Shaw, he was shamefully denied the number of international caps he deserved being often overlooked in favour of players who were not as good but playing for clubs who were more fashionable at the time (e.g. Wilf Mannion).
My favourite recollection involving Jimmy is from the age 10 when my dad asked his pal who was a Barnsley supporter to take me with him to watch us playing them at Oakwell. One of the best things my old man ever did for me - it was a cracking match with the Blades twice coming form 2 down to win 4 - 3.
That day, Hagan gave a master class in the art of inside forward play, scored a lovely goal and made 2 others. I even heard Barnsley supporters purring with pleasure at some of his touches.
If that wasn't enough excitement for one day, My dad's pal then took us off to the Barnsley Co-op restaurant for tea - the very height of sophistication to my 10 year old eyes !
I'm sure others of my generation will have other information and recollections of Jimmy and I'm looking forward to reading them.
to reading them.
In terms of running with the ball at his feet taking on defenders or delivering passes splitting defences wide open or just begging to be put into the back of the net, I can think of no other English player In my lifetime who was better at it than The Great Jimmy Hagan, or 'Sir James' as my dad and many of his generation referred to him.
For younger readers (i.e. anyone under 70 !) the nearest comparison I can think of in modern football would be David Sylva and Jimmy was also roughly the same build as him.
The control he had over the ball when he went on one of his mazy runs was truly astonishing. I know it's a bit of a cliché (as Sam Goldwyn once said " I 'm getting tired of the same old clichés - why can't we have some new ones"?) but it seemed at times as if the ball was attached to his bootlaces.
He was also a surprisingly prolific goalscorer for his type of player scoring, for instance, a total of 67 goals in the four seasons starting 1948-49.
Like the great Joe Shaw, he was shamefully denied the number of international caps he deserved being often overlooked in favour of players who were not as good but playing for clubs who were more fashionable at the time (e.g. Wilf Mannion).
My favourite recollection involving Jimmy is from the age 10 when my dad asked his pal who was a Barnsley supporter to take me with him to watch us playing them at Oakwell. One of the best things my old man ever did for me - it was a cracking match with the Blades twice coming form 2 down to win 4 - 3.
That day, Hagan gave a master class in the art of inside forward play, scored a lovely goal and made 2 others. I even heard Barnsley supporters purring with pleasure at some of his touches.
If that wasn't enough excitement for one day, My dad's pal then took us off to the Barnsley Co-op restaurant for tea - the very height of sophistication to my 10 year old eyes !
I'm sure others of my generation will have other information and recollections of Jimmy and I'm looking forward to reading them.
to reading them.