JJ Sefton
Live, Laugh, Love
The last installment...
The Bramall Lane board had sent a fair bit of cash to avoid relegation, a total of £10,000 had been spent on centre half Vince Matthews and two inside lefts, Jimmy Blair and Tom Phillipson. Even accounting for the receipts for the Cup run United’s balance on transfers was just £82 to the good. The bank overdraft had climbed to £6,500 making the decision to spend £5,000 on Forest winger Sid Gibson brave to say the least.
At the same time the economic situation in Sheffield and Britain at large was increasingly grim. In 1925 Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill had taken Britain back on to the Gold Standard at the pre war value. As a result the price of British exports rocketed overnight. To restore competitiveness wage cuts were forced on workers which provoked the General Strike in 1926.
The strike was the most widespread industrial unrest in British history. The Trade Union Congress called the strike off after nine days but mining areas, such as Sheffield, remained on strike for another eight months. In 1929 the Wall Street Crash led to a worldwide depression and by 1931 unemployment in Sheffield stood at 18.7%, 6% above the national average. As disposable income dried up attendances fell from an average of 27,619 in 1920 -1921 to 14,296 in 1932 – 1933.
United, like other clubs, began to run deficits. In the first full season after the war only two First Division clubs had run at a loss but in September 1926 John Nicholson warned that six First Division clubs had lost money over the last season. By 1928 it was thought that only a third of clubs were in the black and a United match programme of February that year optimistically speculated that “…the opinion that the rich clubs should be taxed to help the poorer ones is gaining adherence every day”. The AGM in 1929 reported a loss of £4,878 and plans to extend terracing in the ground were postponed.
But this blow to the city’s economic health does not fully explain United’s fall. Across the city Wednesday, whose fans were suffering from the same economic troubles, won the League title in 1929 and 1930 and the Cup in 1935. If the 1920’s had belonged to United the next decade would be Wednesday’s. A more relevant reason for the malaise at Bramall Lane was, perhaps, the men in charge. George Waller had been trainer since 1894 and John Nicholson had been secretary since 1899. This did not exactly encourage fresh thinking as evidenced by Club President Charles Clegg’s comments on the new found dominance of attacking play in 1925; “…there is no necessity for wing men and the centre forward being thrust out in advanced positions. Keep the line, and let the forwards maintain their places”
But as long as United’s prolific forwards could score more goals than the leaky defence conceded the Blades would keep their heads above water and evidence of both these traits could be seen at the Lane during this period. In January 1927 United crashed to their worst ever home defeat in the League when Huddersfield won 7-1 but in January 1929 United rattled an incredible 10 goals past Burnley, with Harry Johnson getting four, in the clubs record home league win.
But when the attacking players came to the end of their careers United were in trouble. 1931 – 1932 saw the last of both Fred Tunstall and Billy Gillespie. Tunstall left for Halifax and later spent three decades in various roles at Boston United. His legacy lingered at Bramall Lane though and as late as the early 1960’s a missed United penalty would prompt calls of “Fetch Tunstall!” Gillespie coached the reserves for a short while before heading back to Ireland to manage Derry City. He was so successful there that they changed their kit in his honour and, to this day, play in the red and stripes of Sheffield United. Harry Johnson’s first team days had all but come to an end in 1929 and he moved to Mansfield two years later where he went on breaking scoring records. The blow was softened by the explosion onto the Bramall Lane scene of his successor, Jimmy Dunne.
Born in Ireland in 1905, Dunne had been interned by the Free State army during the Irish Civil War for his alleged Republican sympathies. He had actually been signed from New Brighton in 1926 but his appearances in his first three seasons were kept to minimum by Harry Johnson and a bout of appendicitis. On September 7th 1929 Dunne scored a hat trick in 3-3 draw away at Leicester and never looked back. The Independent described Dunne as “a revelation”. He won 8 Irish caps in his time at the Lane scoring 6 international goals.
There were other players gradually emerging at the Lane to replace the old guard. Sheffield born inside forward Jack Pickering made his debut in 1927 but didn’t nail down a regular spot until 1929. Groomed as a ready made successor to Gillespie Pickering was a smart passer of the ball who let his distribution do the running he didn’t fancy. But his time at United was much less calm than his football. When he began playing he was working in a betting office, something that went down like a pint of vinegar with the staunch Methodists, such as Clegg, who ran United and Pickering was found other work, eventually qualifying as a chartered accountant. But his performances were patchy. In October 1930 the programme complained that he did not put “enough ginger” into his football and described him as “moody”. He was occasionally dropped.
Towards the end of 1931 United’s leaky back line was strengthened with the emergence of goalkeeper Jack Smith. Jack Alderson, Norman Wharton and Jack Kendall had all tried to stake a claim to the goalkeepers spot over the previous few seasons with little success. Smith had been born in Penistone but had grown up in the United States where he had been a talented baseball player. Known as ‘Smiler’ by his team mates for his warm personality, Jack Smith would go onto to set a club record with 193 consecutive appearances. He subsequently broke this when he played 203 consecutive games.
In front of him the pacy and hard tackling right back Harry Hooper was signed from Nelson and secured a first team berth from the 1931 – 1932 season. An apprentice tailor in his youth the immaculately styled Hooper would remain with United until 1946 eventually becoming captain. Another new addition to the starting line up that season was midfielder Bobby Barclay who was signed from Derby for £3,500. A clever creative player with a good goal scoring record Barclay would go on to make three appearances for England and against Leeds in March 1933 he dribbled past four players to score one of the goals of the season.
With the introduction of these young players United carved out a niche in the middle of the first division. In 1929 – 1930, Jimmy Dunne’s first season as a first team player, United escaped relegation on the final day of the season with a 5-1 away win against Manchester United in which Sid Gibson repaid his transfer fee with a hat trick. League finishes of 15th and 7th came in the next two seasons with Dunne’s awesome scoring record, 36 goals, 41 goals, 41 goals and 46 goals in the four seasons to mid 1933, being the highlight.
If things on the pitch had settled into a rut there were plenty of changes off it, not all of them welcome. In 1930 George Waller retired as trainer bringing to an end an association with the club which went back 35 years. Another was the death of John Nicholson, club secretary since 1899, in April 1932. Nicholson was on his way Midland station to join the team as they travelled to Birmingham to take on Aston Villa. As he climbed off the tram he was hit and killed by a lorry. Tom Sampy remembered
“He never had a chance and was killed instantly. Most of the players were sitting in a cafe opposite the railway station and we all saw it…we were just glad to get the season over because I think we all sensed that Nicholson’s death was the end of something for the club, and, somehow, it would never be quite the same again”
Men like Waller and Nicholson had been with the club for more than six decades between them. While it is true that a sense of staleness had crept in at Bramall Lane it should be remembered that these men had been instrumental in the most successful period in the club’s history.
The opportunity was taken to bring United more into line with current thinking in matters of football management. Former Blade Herbert Chapman had become the first great English manager, first at Huddersfield in the 1920’s and then at Arsenal in the 1930’s. In the new role of manager he took upon himself some of the decisions, such as buying and selling players, which had been the job of the board, and team selection and tactics which had been the concern of the team captain. In June 1932 United brought in Teddy Davison to be the club’s first manager.
Davison had played in goal for Wednesday and had been capped by England despite being only 5ft 7inches. As a manager he had started at Mansfield before moving to Chesterfield where he took them up to the Second Division in 1931. Davison’s job wasn’t an easy one and in his first season, with no money available to strengthen the side, the United defence conceded more goals than any other team in the top half of the table but still finished a respectable enough 10th.
Davison, like many United bosses since, was expected to unearth First Division players at Third Division prices. Before the 1933 – 1934 season forwards Reg Baines and Peter Spooner were bought cheap from York City and neither worked out. There was bad luck when Charlie Wilkinson, signed from Leeds United to shore up defence, missed half the season with influenza. But if there was one thing that condemned United to the most miserable season in their history so far and relegation for the first in their history it was the sale to Arsenal of Jimmy Dunne for a massive £8,250 at the end of September 1933.
Dunne’s spectacular record had attracted bids from Birmingham and Huddersfield and Arsenal had unsuccessfully bid £10,000 for him the previous year. But, with the financial situation worsening, Dunne became the first of many United players to be sold to pay the bills. Albert Platt, the United chairman, excused the sale with the unsupportable claim that Dunne had lost form since Tunstall left, this despite 59 goals in two seasons.
With Dunne gone United’s attack had lost the ability to make good the goals the defence would concede and it was a terrible season. Going into November United had won just three league matches when they travelled to Middlesbrough on the 18th. Reg Baines scored first to put United in the lead but it turned into a horror show after that. Boro fired home 10 goals, the only time United have conceded that many in the League, and by the time United were dumped out of the Cup in the third round they had won only twice more. After a reserve game against Newcastle Unitedites pleaded “Leave us your reserve team and you can take our first team”
A bright spot was Willie Boyd, signed from Clyde in December, who scored 15 goals in 22 league games. Three of these came in a 5-1 thrashing of Wednesday at the Lane on March 3rd. Following a 1-0 win at Hillsborough in October United completed another double over Wednesday.
As with most things in life it was a combination of factors which combined to send United tumbling out of the top flight in 1934 for the first time in 41 years. The city’s economic plight made it hard to replace ageing players and old fashioned ideas in tactics and coaching were found wanting in the top division. Sadly, and not for the last time, hopes of a quick return were to be dashed.
The Bramall Lane board had sent a fair bit of cash to avoid relegation, a total of £10,000 had been spent on centre half Vince Matthews and two inside lefts, Jimmy Blair and Tom Phillipson. Even accounting for the receipts for the Cup run United’s balance on transfers was just £82 to the good. The bank overdraft had climbed to £6,500 making the decision to spend £5,000 on Forest winger Sid Gibson brave to say the least.
At the same time the economic situation in Sheffield and Britain at large was increasingly grim. In 1925 Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill had taken Britain back on to the Gold Standard at the pre war value. As a result the price of British exports rocketed overnight. To restore competitiveness wage cuts were forced on workers which provoked the General Strike in 1926.
The strike was the most widespread industrial unrest in British history. The Trade Union Congress called the strike off after nine days but mining areas, such as Sheffield, remained on strike for another eight months. In 1929 the Wall Street Crash led to a worldwide depression and by 1931 unemployment in Sheffield stood at 18.7%, 6% above the national average. As disposable income dried up attendances fell from an average of 27,619 in 1920 -1921 to 14,296 in 1932 – 1933.
United, like other clubs, began to run deficits. In the first full season after the war only two First Division clubs had run at a loss but in September 1926 John Nicholson warned that six First Division clubs had lost money over the last season. By 1928 it was thought that only a third of clubs were in the black and a United match programme of February that year optimistically speculated that “…the opinion that the rich clubs should be taxed to help the poorer ones is gaining adherence every day”. The AGM in 1929 reported a loss of £4,878 and plans to extend terracing in the ground were postponed.
But this blow to the city’s economic health does not fully explain United’s fall. Across the city Wednesday, whose fans were suffering from the same economic troubles, won the League title in 1929 and 1930 and the Cup in 1935. If the 1920’s had belonged to United the next decade would be Wednesday’s. A more relevant reason for the malaise at Bramall Lane was, perhaps, the men in charge. George Waller had been trainer since 1894 and John Nicholson had been secretary since 1899. This did not exactly encourage fresh thinking as evidenced by Club President Charles Clegg’s comments on the new found dominance of attacking play in 1925; “…there is no necessity for wing men and the centre forward being thrust out in advanced positions. Keep the line, and let the forwards maintain their places”
But as long as United’s prolific forwards could score more goals than the leaky defence conceded the Blades would keep their heads above water and evidence of both these traits could be seen at the Lane during this period. In January 1927 United crashed to their worst ever home defeat in the League when Huddersfield won 7-1 but in January 1929 United rattled an incredible 10 goals past Burnley, with Harry Johnson getting four, in the clubs record home league win.
But when the attacking players came to the end of their careers United were in trouble. 1931 – 1932 saw the last of both Fred Tunstall and Billy Gillespie. Tunstall left for Halifax and later spent three decades in various roles at Boston United. His legacy lingered at Bramall Lane though and as late as the early 1960’s a missed United penalty would prompt calls of “Fetch Tunstall!” Gillespie coached the reserves for a short while before heading back to Ireland to manage Derry City. He was so successful there that they changed their kit in his honour and, to this day, play in the red and stripes of Sheffield United. Harry Johnson’s first team days had all but come to an end in 1929 and he moved to Mansfield two years later where he went on breaking scoring records. The blow was softened by the explosion onto the Bramall Lane scene of his successor, Jimmy Dunne.
Born in Ireland in 1905, Dunne had been interned by the Free State army during the Irish Civil War for his alleged Republican sympathies. He had actually been signed from New Brighton in 1926 but his appearances in his first three seasons were kept to minimum by Harry Johnson and a bout of appendicitis. On September 7th 1929 Dunne scored a hat trick in 3-3 draw away at Leicester and never looked back. The Independent described Dunne as “a revelation”. He won 8 Irish caps in his time at the Lane scoring 6 international goals.
There were other players gradually emerging at the Lane to replace the old guard. Sheffield born inside forward Jack Pickering made his debut in 1927 but didn’t nail down a regular spot until 1929. Groomed as a ready made successor to Gillespie Pickering was a smart passer of the ball who let his distribution do the running he didn’t fancy. But his time at United was much less calm than his football. When he began playing he was working in a betting office, something that went down like a pint of vinegar with the staunch Methodists, such as Clegg, who ran United and Pickering was found other work, eventually qualifying as a chartered accountant. But his performances were patchy. In October 1930 the programme complained that he did not put “enough ginger” into his football and described him as “moody”. He was occasionally dropped.
Towards the end of 1931 United’s leaky back line was strengthened with the emergence of goalkeeper Jack Smith. Jack Alderson, Norman Wharton and Jack Kendall had all tried to stake a claim to the goalkeepers spot over the previous few seasons with little success. Smith had been born in Penistone but had grown up in the United States where he had been a talented baseball player. Known as ‘Smiler’ by his team mates for his warm personality, Jack Smith would go onto to set a club record with 193 consecutive appearances. He subsequently broke this when he played 203 consecutive games.
In front of him the pacy and hard tackling right back Harry Hooper was signed from Nelson and secured a first team berth from the 1931 – 1932 season. An apprentice tailor in his youth the immaculately styled Hooper would remain with United until 1946 eventually becoming captain. Another new addition to the starting line up that season was midfielder Bobby Barclay who was signed from Derby for £3,500. A clever creative player with a good goal scoring record Barclay would go on to make three appearances for England and against Leeds in March 1933 he dribbled past four players to score one of the goals of the season.
With the introduction of these young players United carved out a niche in the middle of the first division. In 1929 – 1930, Jimmy Dunne’s first season as a first team player, United escaped relegation on the final day of the season with a 5-1 away win against Manchester United in which Sid Gibson repaid his transfer fee with a hat trick. League finishes of 15th and 7th came in the next two seasons with Dunne’s awesome scoring record, 36 goals, 41 goals, 41 goals and 46 goals in the four seasons to mid 1933, being the highlight.
If things on the pitch had settled into a rut there were plenty of changes off it, not all of them welcome. In 1930 George Waller retired as trainer bringing to an end an association with the club which went back 35 years. Another was the death of John Nicholson, club secretary since 1899, in April 1932. Nicholson was on his way Midland station to join the team as they travelled to Birmingham to take on Aston Villa. As he climbed off the tram he was hit and killed by a lorry. Tom Sampy remembered
“He never had a chance and was killed instantly. Most of the players were sitting in a cafe opposite the railway station and we all saw it…we were just glad to get the season over because I think we all sensed that Nicholson’s death was the end of something for the club, and, somehow, it would never be quite the same again”
Men like Waller and Nicholson had been with the club for more than six decades between them. While it is true that a sense of staleness had crept in at Bramall Lane it should be remembered that these men had been instrumental in the most successful period in the club’s history.
The opportunity was taken to bring United more into line with current thinking in matters of football management. Former Blade Herbert Chapman had become the first great English manager, first at Huddersfield in the 1920’s and then at Arsenal in the 1930’s. In the new role of manager he took upon himself some of the decisions, such as buying and selling players, which had been the job of the board, and team selection and tactics which had been the concern of the team captain. In June 1932 United brought in Teddy Davison to be the club’s first manager.
Davison had played in goal for Wednesday and had been capped by England despite being only 5ft 7inches. As a manager he had started at Mansfield before moving to Chesterfield where he took them up to the Second Division in 1931. Davison’s job wasn’t an easy one and in his first season, with no money available to strengthen the side, the United defence conceded more goals than any other team in the top half of the table but still finished a respectable enough 10th.
Davison, like many United bosses since, was expected to unearth First Division players at Third Division prices. Before the 1933 – 1934 season forwards Reg Baines and Peter Spooner were bought cheap from York City and neither worked out. There was bad luck when Charlie Wilkinson, signed from Leeds United to shore up defence, missed half the season with influenza. But if there was one thing that condemned United to the most miserable season in their history so far and relegation for the first in their history it was the sale to Arsenal of Jimmy Dunne for a massive £8,250 at the end of September 1933.
Dunne’s spectacular record had attracted bids from Birmingham and Huddersfield and Arsenal had unsuccessfully bid £10,000 for him the previous year. But, with the financial situation worsening, Dunne became the first of many United players to be sold to pay the bills. Albert Platt, the United chairman, excused the sale with the unsupportable claim that Dunne had lost form since Tunstall left, this despite 59 goals in two seasons.
With Dunne gone United’s attack had lost the ability to make good the goals the defence would concede and it was a terrible season. Going into November United had won just three league matches when they travelled to Middlesbrough on the 18th. Reg Baines scored first to put United in the lead but it turned into a horror show after that. Boro fired home 10 goals, the only time United have conceded that many in the League, and by the time United were dumped out of the Cup in the third round they had won only twice more. After a reserve game against Newcastle Unitedites pleaded “Leave us your reserve team and you can take our first team”
A bright spot was Willie Boyd, signed from Clyde in December, who scored 15 goals in 22 league games. Three of these came in a 5-1 thrashing of Wednesday at the Lane on March 3rd. Following a 1-0 win at Hillsborough in October United completed another double over Wednesday.
As with most things in life it was a combination of factors which combined to send United tumbling out of the top flight in 1934 for the first time in 41 years. The city’s economic plight made it hard to replace ageing players and old fashioned ideas in tactics and coaching were found wanting in the top division. Sadly, and not for the last time, hopes of a quick return were to be dashed.
