United England WC squad

[programmechap]

Hodgy was in the 1958 & 1962 world Cup squads

Also Ted Burgin. Reserve goalie in 1954, though he never actually won a cap.

 

[LudlamBlade]

31 posts and not a single mention of Sharp...bonkers

 

[Revolution]

Hodgy was in the 1958 & 1962 world Cup squads

And Ted Burgin in the 1954 squad.

Ah, missed programmechap saying the same thing.

 

[Revolution]

As Silent said , Jimmy's face didn't fit. Having said that there were several inside forwards who would have taken some replacing. Stan Mortensen- Wilf Mannion-Raich Carter- Harald Hassall- Stan Pearson. Also, 2 Owls inside forwards got more caps than Jimmy but they were nowhere near Jimmy's class- Jackie Sewell and Albert Quixall.

This is one of the reasons why I always regard Ernest Needham as our greatest ever player.

Did Hagan deserve more than one cap? Probably. Was he screwed by the War? probably.

But should he have been a regular? That I'm not so sure of. Wilf Mannion was the regular inside forward in the late 1940s. I wasn't there, but he was a great player. Ditto Raich Carter who was done with England by 1947 but was a superb player. These two did keep Hagan out of the side, and may well have kept him out of the side if there had been no War - Mannion was fighting on the continent, whereas Hagan was, to the best of my recollection, stationed mainly in Aldershot, which was a big advantage as far as wartime caps was concerned.

In contrast, in an era where teams were often selected on a whim, and the Northern professionals were sometimes left out in favour of Southern Amateurs, Needham played 16 times when England were only playing 3 games a year. That's 50 odd caps minimum today. Needham was called "The Prince of Half Backs" by the press. He was not the biggest star of the era (if I had to pick a player I'd say it was Steve Bloomer, possibly Billy Meredith later) but there seems little doubt he was the best in his position, and there is an argument that he may have been the best player in the league for a season or two. Hagan, great though he was, can't make those claims (and neither can Tony Currie).

As I have said before, if you have a parent or grandparent who was born during or before the War, the chances are they will say that Hagan is the greatest United player they've ever seen. My Dad (1940) says that. My Grandad (1917) said that. And I'm sure it's right. But I think the evidence suggests Needham was a little bit better.

 

[Russ]

United had 34 England Internationals in their history. Number of caps when they were SUFC players. Who are the 8 to leave out to make the final cut of 26?

Bobby Barclay 3
Walter Bennett 2
Bob Benson 1
Arthur Brown 2
Alf Common 2
Tony Currie 7
Brian Deane 3
Bob Evans 4
Willie Foulke 1
Harold Gough 1
Colin Grainger 6
George Green 8
Jimmy Hagan 1
Walter Hardinge 1
George Hedley 1
Alan Hodgkinson 5
Rab Howell 1
Harry Johnson snr 6
Mick Jones 2
Harry Lilley 1
Bert Lipsham 1
Vince Matthews 2
David Mercer 2
Tommy Morren 1
Ernest Needham 16
Harold Pantling 1
Jack Pickering 1
Fred Priest 1
Graham Shaw 5
Albert Sturgess 2
Harry Thickett 2
Fred Tunstall 7
Michael Whitham 1
Bernard Wilkinson 1

In my time of being a Blade (since 1981, 45 years) we’ve got Deano and that’s it. Embarrassing really. It shows how shocking we have been selling our best players such as Kyle, Harry etc.

 

[Revolution]

In my time of being a Blade (since 1981, 45 years) we’ve got Deano and that’s it. Embarrassing really. It shows how shocking we have been selling our best players such as Kyle, Harry etc.

It puts me in mind of that piece written when we were in the Championship or League One last decade which totalled up the number of PL minutes played in a season by each club's academy graduates. We were in the top 10 despite the fact that we were not in the PL at the time.

On the one hand, this is something for the club to be proud of. On the other hand, it is appalling squandering of resources.

 

[Eskimo]

Ill do this on the basis of 3 GK 8 D 8MF 7 F

GK
Gough
Foulke
Hodgkinson

D
Green
Howell
Johnson
Matthews
Shaw
Sturgeon
Thickest
Wilkinson

MF (including wingers)
Currie
Grainger
Hagan
Hardinge
Mercer
Needham
Bennett
Lipsham

F
Brown
Common
Deane
Healey
Jones
Pickering
Tunstall

Missing out
Barclay
Benson
Evans
Howell
Lilley
Morren
Priest
Whitham

Glad you included Harry Thickett (although amusingly written as Thickest) . There would have been hell on from me otherwise. Cracked his ribs at Wembley drank some celebratory champagne at half time, got strapped up and carried on.

 

[Silent Blade]

Glad you included Harry Thickett (although amusingly written as Thickest) . There would have been hell on from me otherwise. Cracked his ribs at Wembley drank some celebratory champagne at half time, got strapped up and carried on.

At Crystal Palace, not Wembley

 

[Cheeky Blade]

I’d have to go with my heart and have King Keith, Colin Morris, Billy and Paul Stancliffe in my squad…might have a proper go later.

UTB.