The Second Greatest Season Ever

[Kushiro2]

Match 22
Friday December 26th 1924
Port Vale v Leicester City

Heading for the Recreation Ground in Hanley that day would have been a nine year old Port Vale fan called Stanley Matthews. He lived a mile from the ground and he probably ran the whole distance. Running, along with kicking a football, was his great love.

He was already building a reputation as an athlete. Every year he entered the annual Boys' 100 Yards Handicap, held at the Victoria Ground, home of Stoke. The very first time he entered, aged just six, he came first (with a 45 yard start over the eldest boys). As he got older, and that head-start shortened, he would win it three more times.

Stanley's hero was Port Vale centre half Bob Connelly, who had been marking Arthur Chandler in the game at Filbert Street on Christmas Day. Their personal duel had finished fairly even. Chandler put Leicester ahead early on, but after that, Connelly kept him quiet (while Johnny Duncan ran riot).

Duncan's double hat-trick took him above Channy at the top of the Division Two goalscorers list. It is not clear who was supposed to be marking him that day, but we have a pretty good idea. For this return game, Tom Cooper was restored to the Vale defence for just his second appearance, in place of Jack Braddock. With that change, Vale's defence was considerably tightened up.

This is the place Leicester visited that day:



It looks like an industrial wasteland because that's exactly what it was - 'squalid ugliness on a scale so vast it became sublime', as writer Arnold Bennett put it. Bennett's works, which include wonderfully authentic portrayals of football matches around the turn of the century, somehow made the Potteries romantic.

In the photo you can see the Recreation Ground, scene of today's game, at the bottom, in the very centre of Hanley. On the left is the Cobridge Athletic ground, from where the club had recently moved. And the arrow at the top is the site of their present home, Vale Park, back in Burslem where the club were born. Arnold Bennett's home was very close to the Cobridge ground, on Waterloo Road, the main route from Hanley to Burslem which you can see stretching up the left hand side of the picture.

The Leicester team had a very early start that Boxing Day morning, stopping in Derby on the way to have breakfast. And in those less partisan days, there would have been a fair few Stoke fans heading for the game too, curious to see the team they'd be facing in the FA Cup two weeks later.

The first chance of the game fell to the home side. Alf Strange, future England star, 'sent in a magnificent shot that rebounded from the crossbar'. Then Leicester's Billy Newton let fly from distance and saw his shot strike the bar at the other end.

It was at this point that the main characters of the previous day took centre stage once again. Johnny Duncan was fouled in the Vale area and Leicester were awarded a penalty. Duncan it was who stepped up to face Tom Fern. Did the keeper adopt his 'putting off' attitude? We don't know - but he did manage to outwit the Leicester captain, whose shot was saved as Fern dived to his right.



Then just before the break, 'Fern was loudly applauded (and deserved it) for a maginificent save, again from Duncan, fisting the ball over the bar with his arm extended'. According to the Leicester Mail, 'for several seconds the crowd were dumb with amazement before they broke out in cheers and applause'.

After 45 minutes it was still goalless. The few Leicester supporters in the crowd would have been persecuting themselves with typical football supporter logic - 'Why didn't we save a couple of those Christmas goals for today?'

During the half-time break, one of the main exit gates was pushed open and dozens of people rushed through to add to the already huge holiday crowd, though from reports it's unclear whether the gates were forced or if it was a safety measure of some kind.

Three minutes into the second half we finally took the lead, Chandler scoring with what the Mercury called 'an overhead kick'. This is unlikely to have been a bicycle kick of the Klaus Fischer / Shinji Okazaki variety, more likely Channy hooked the ball over his head while facing away from goal, as he would do so many times later in his career.

Vale's response to going behind was very different from 24 hours earlier, and they were on top for much of the second half. Strange again came close, this time hitting the post, and then seeing a shot beat Godderidge but hit a defender. The pressure paid off fifteen minutes from time when Harry Hooper failed to clear and centre forward Wilf Kirkham rushed in to score the equaliser.

We knew we needed the points, and we stepped up our game in search of a winner. Adcock got away on the right and was closing in on goal before a cynical challenge stopped him in his tracks. From the free kick, George Carr got in a header which flew past Fern for a priceless goal.

2-1 was the final score, and we had four points out of four with two thirds of this hectic holiday programme completed.

Just how vital Carr's winner was the players realised when they heard the other results. All three teams above us had won:



With none of the teams immediately below us winning, a gap opened up between the top four and the rest:



It was turning into a gripping promotion battle, with four outstanding teams chasing two slots (just like 2023/24). And the excitement would go up yet another notch the following day, when Manchester United arrived at Filbert Street.

 

[Kushiro2]

No sniggering please - this is the Mercury reporter's description of the penalty incident at Port Vale:

 

[Kushiro2]

Match 23
Saturday December 27th 1924
Leicester City v Manchester United

Supporters in Leicester that morning faced a dilemma. The team were on the crest of a wave, and Manchester United were in town. But across the country a storm was raging, and with half of Filbert Street uncovered, many wondered if they really wanted to spend 90 minutes exposed to gale-force winds and driving rain.

At Everton, a huge tarpaulin was caught by the wind and slammed into a goalpost, breaking it in half. The game kicked off ten minutes late to allow for emergency repairs:



At Leicester the club flag, flying proudly over the Filbert Street end, flapped so forcefully against its supporting pole that it snapped it in two. The pieces narrowly missed people queueing at the turnstiles, 'falling into the open space behind the refreshment bar'.

Many thousands who had been planning to see the game decided to stay home - and they would regret the decision. After our seven goal bonanza on Christmas Day, no-one imagined we'd put in an even better performance against United. But that's what happened.

Let's review the action with the help of two of the great sports journals of the day.

First, Kernel in the Football Post, who described the games's key moments in that evening's paper:



After 19 minutes, City deservedly took the lead, and it was a brilliant effort by Chandler. Taking a pass near midfield, the centre-forward dashed away on his own and not only beat both backs but also eluded the keeper as he came out before placing the ball in the net. The crowd went nearly frantic for quite five minutes.

The second half opened in sensational fashion. Adcock beat Grimwood and centred nicely across the goal. Chandler first tried to convert it but the ball struck a defender and rebounded to Duncan, who dashed up and put it in the net, the visitors appealing vainly for offside.

With fifteen minutes to go, Chandler, seizing onto the ball from a throw-in, tried a shot from 25 yards. It hit Silcock's leg and found its way into the net.

As for United's response, Kernel told us that: The extent to which the Manchester side were subjugated may be gathered from the fact that while in the first half keeper Godderidge had very little to contend with, in the second he didn't have a single shot to stop.

'Jacques' of the Athletic News had time to reflect on what he'd seen before writing his commentary for Monday's paper:



Leicester City are not likely to achieve a greater performance than this, and I say it with full knowledge of Duncan's six successive goals against Port Vale. In this match they completely conquered the worst conditions imaginable in mud and water, a driving wind and rain.

Though losing the toss, they played such magnificent football that Manchester United, powerful side though they have proved themselves to be, were never able to do much more than desperately and vainly defend their goal.

Despite the awful conditions, the Leicester men were quick on the ball, rapid and accurate in their passing, and from first to last the Manchester United half-back line was an utterly beaten force. So much did the home side by their dash and combined skill dominate affairs that the home backs had an easy task, while their custodian was a mere spectator.

The crowd who braved the anger of the elements saw as fine an exhibition of football as they are ever likely to see, when we take into consideration the difficult conditions.

On this form, the City are a great team, and while the forwards played splendidly, individually and as a combined force, one must not forget that they owed much to the half-back line.

Chandler led the line with his dash and ability. Duncan was a great craftsman, and it was noticeable that the wings had a great understanding with the wing half-backs. Even in the mud, they worked the triangular scheme with such success that Mann and Greenwood, the opposing wing half-backs, could make nothing of them.

The Leicester Mail reporter singled out our wingers: Adcock and Wadsworth appeared to revel in the mud. They fell and rolled in it, but they were up and after the ball again in a wonderful manner. Once Wadsworth was charged over the line and had to dig mud from under his sleeve and out of his eyes, whilst United's Frank Mann, who has the misfortune to be bald, ceased to have that appearance long before the match was over.

Leaders Derby faced the same conditions at Hull, where 'the storm reached its height during the game and players sank to their ankles in mud'. Most of the play was 'purely farcical', but the referee allowed the game to run its course. It finished 1-1. At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea stretched their unbeaten run to 16 with a 3-0 win over bottom club Coventry. That left the table like this:



Our three goals took us level with Derby as top scorers in Division Two. The table also reveals the contrast between the leading pair. United's strength was their defence - at least it was until they arrived at Filbert Street.

We were now playing the best football of any side in the division, and in those more egalitarian days, it's fair to say that the only sides in the whole Football League playing at a higher level were West Brom and Huddersfield, breaking clear at the top of Division One, with early pace-setters Notts County and Birmingham falling back.

Here are the men responsible - our strongest line-up that season, first selected at Derby in early December and pretty much unchanged for the rest of the season:



These men were becoming household names, getting rave reviews week after week, their exploits capturing the imagination of football lovers all over the country.

But still we were only fourth. Chelsea didn't have our style but kept grinding out results, while the top two had been unchanged for over three months. As we looked forward to 1925 we knew we had a real scrap on our hands if we were to win out in this brutal promotion race.

 

[Kushiro2]

A little extra for Peaky Blinders fans.

That keeper you can see on the photo from Goodison Park is Dan Tremelling:



The series was based in Small Heath, of course - the area of the city in which Birmingham played (and still do). Tremelling was the only player from the club ever mentioned in the series (and it looks like he's borrowed Arthur Shelby's cap). He was a bit of a legend though. His penalty save on the last day of the previous season stopped Cardiff City winning the League (and gave Huddersfield the first of their hat-trick of titles).

 

[Kushiro2]

Match 24
Saturday January 3rd
Middlesbrough v Leicester City

On New Year's Day, Manchester United played their game in hand, and after their hammering at Filbert Street they got back on track with a 1-0 win over Chelsea at Old Trafford. That brought the Londoners' long unbeaten run to an end, and left the table like this as we headed north:



For our inside left George Carr it was a homecoming. He was brought up on Teesside and started his career at nearby South Bank. He was from a footballing family and his elder brother Jack was in the Middlesbrough team that day at outside right. A third brother, Billie, was also in the Boro' squad. Here they all are in a contemporary cartoon:



Middlesbrough brought in the wonderfully named 'Billy Kick' to their forward line. At least that's what readers of the Leicester Mail were told. Unfortunately it was a typo - the player's real name was the rather less memorable Billy Hick.

Leicester's holiday results were the best of all the 88 clubs in the Football League, and we started this game in the same vein. After just two minutes, Chandler picked up the ball near the halfway line and beat a man before setting up Duncan, who shot low past keeper Jack Clough.

Boro's hopes weren't helped when centre half Maurice Webster was injured and spent the rest of the game hobbling on the wing, with the rest of the line-up having to be reshaped.

We pressed for a second, with Hugh Adcock in great form - 'the best outside right we've seen at Ayresome this season', said a local reporter. On 30 minutes, Adcock 'beat his man cleverly and passed to Duncan, who lodged it at Chandler's feet, the centre-forward beating Clough with a lovely drive to register Leicester's 50th goal of the season'.

We were then reduced to ten men, Adcock going off for lengthy treatment, and this led to Boro's best spell of the game. They were awarded a penalty when Pat Carrigan fouled Jack Carr, and it was Billy Hick who made it 2-1 at half time.

With Adcock back on it took us just four minutes of the second half to restore the two goal advantage, Duncan heading in a centre from Harry Wadsworth. Boro' rarely threatened after that, and with seven minutes to go came a special moment for local boy George Carr. He picked up the ball outside the box, beat one man then rounded the keeper to make it 4-1. Adcock then added another just before the whistle.

If second half efforts from Bamber and Chandler had gone in instead of hitting the bar and post we'd have repeated our Christmas Day haul of seven, but we were quite satisfied with 5-1.

Channy's goal meant he had now scored in sixteen of our last 18 games - a truly remarkable run. Here's that sequence in detail:



It's actually the most consistent run of scoring in the club's history. Let's do a comparison. If, for simplicity, we look at twenty game sequences instead of 18, then Channy was now on a run of scoring in 17 out of 20 (adding in the following two games). Jamie Vardy's best sequence is 13 out of 20 - a period that includes his record eleven in a row The closest anyone has ever come to matching Channy was Arthur Rowley, who twice managed to score in 16 out of 20 in the 1950s.

Rowley scored more total goals in those spells, but the key here is consistency. As influential writer Ivan Sharpe put it in this week's Athletic News, commenting on Channy's form: 'the regular scorer, the man who can score the odd goal in the hour of need, is a far greater force than the forward who scores as many goals in hat-tricks, on days when success is of smaller value'.

Sharpe ended the article by tipping Channy for an England call-up. The squad for a trial game was due to be announced a few days later.

What else happned that day? As so often recently, our supporters' joy on finding out our own score was tempered by news of rivals' results. They all had home fixtures, and they all won - United 2-0 v Stoke, Derby 6-1 v Portsmouth (with a Fairclough hat-trick) and Chelsea 4-1 v Oldham (with a hat-trick from Harold Miller). We had won four in a row with an aggregate score of 17-2, we were unbeaten in seven, but the table showed that we were exactly where we were at the start of that run - chasing the top three.

How did supporters find out results back then? In the Mercury that week were two articles that showed us how things were, and how things would soon be.

The first report was on scenes at Leicester railway stations of people desperate to get the latest news from the Ashes series in Australia:

Every morning, a train from the suburbs steams in, and out rush these old fellows with a sprightliness that would put a schoolboy to shame. They come at a trot up the platform and reach the street, breathless no doubt, but anxious not to miss a copy of the Mercury racing special, containing the very latest from the Test match.



The other report was on plans for a new transmitter at nearby Daventry, which meant Leicester would finally have proper radio coverage. It would allow owners of cheap crystal sets to pick up BBC broadcasts. Up to now wireless buffs had needed expensive equipment to pick up the signals from distant transmitters, and there were very few in the city tuning in.



Before the end of the decade the first live sports broadcasts would begin - the start of a story that took us through Sports Report, Final Score, Ceefax, Five Live and Sky Sports News before everything changed with instant online results.

But 100 years ago we got everything from the newspapers. For the next week, those papers would be full of previews of the big day the following Saturday. It was FA Cup time.

 

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View attachment 7732

Match 24
Saturday January 3rd
Middlesbrough v Leicester City

On New Year's Day, Manchester United played their game in hand, and after their hammering at Filbert Street they got back on track with a 1-0 win over Chelsea at Old Trafford. That brought the Londoners' long unbeaten run to an end, and left the table like this as we headed north:

View attachment 7733

For our inside left George Carr it was a homecoming. He was brought up on Teesside and started his career at nearby South Bank. He was from a footballing family and his elder brother Jack was in the Middlesbrough team that day at outside right. A third brother, Billie, was also in the Boro' squad. Here they all are in a contemporary cartoon:

View attachment 7734

Middlesbrough brought in the wonderfully named 'Billy Kick' to their forward line. At least that's what readers of the Leicester Mail were told. Unfortunately it was a typo - the player's real name was the rather less memorable Billy Hick.

Leicester's holiday results were the best of all the 88 clubs in the Football League, and we started the game in the same vein. After just two minutes, Chandler picked up the ball near the halfway line and beat a man before setting up Duncan, who shot low past keeper Jack Clough.

Boro's hopes weren't helped when centre half Maurice Webster was injured and spent the rest of the game hobbling on the wing, with the rest of the line-up having to be reshaped.

We pressed for a second, with Hugh Adcock in great form - 'the best outside right we've seen at Ayresome this season', said a local reporter. On 30 minutes, Adcock 'beat his man cleverly and passed to Duncan, who lodged it at Chandler's feet, the centre-forward beating Clough with a lovely drive to register Leicester's 50th goal of the season'.

We were then reduced to ten men, Adcock going off for lengthy treatment, and this led to Boro's best spell of the game. They were awarded a penalty when Pat Carrigan fouled Jack Carr, and it was Billy Hick who made it 2-1 at half time.

With Adcock back on it took us just four minutes of the second half to restore the two goal advantage, Duncan heading in a centre from Harry Wadsworth. Boro' rarely threatened after that, and with seven minutes to go came a special moment for local boy George Carr. He picked up the ball outside the box, beat one man then rounded the keeper to make it 4-1. Adcock then added another just before the whistle.

If second half efforts from Bamber and Chandler had gone in instead of hitting the bar and post we'd have repeated our Christmas Day haul of seven, but we were quite satisfied with 5-1.

Channy's goal meant he had now scored in sixteen of our last 18 games - a truly remarkable run. Here's that sequence in detail:

View attachment 7735

It's actually the most consistent run of scoring in the club's history. Let's do a comparison. If, for simplicity, we look at twenty game sequences instead of 18, then Channy was now on a run of scoring in 17 out of 20 (adding in the following two games). Jamie Vardy's best sequence is 13 out of 20 - a period that includes his record eleven in a row The closest anyone has ever come to matching Channy was Arthur Rowley, who twice managed to score in 16 out of 20 in the 1950s.

Rowley scored more total goals in those spells, but the key here is consistency. As influential writer Ivan Sharpe put it in this week's Athletic News, commenting on Channy's form: 'the regular scorer, the man who can score the odd goal in the hour of need, is a far greater force than the forward who scores as many goals in hat-tricks, on days when success is of smaller value'.

Sharpe ended the article by tipping Channy for an England call-up. The squad for a trial game was due to be announced a few days later.

What else happned that day? As so often recently, our supporters' joy on finding out our own score was tempered by news of rivals' results. They all had home fixtures, and they all won - United 2-0 v Stoke, Derby 6-1 v Portsmouth (with a Fairclough hat-trick) and Chelsea 4-1 v Oldham (with a hat-trick from Harold Miller). We had won four in a row with an aggregate score of 17-2, we were unbeaten in seven, but the table showed that we were exactly where we were at the start of that run - chasing the top three.

How did supporters find out results back then? In the Mercury that week were two articles that showed us how things were, an how things would soon be.

The first report was on scenes at Leicester railway stations of people desperate to get the latest news from the Ashes series in Australia:

Every morning, a train from the suburbs steams in, and out rush these old fellows with a sprightliness that would put a schoolboy to shame. They come at a trot up the platform and reach the street, breathless no doubt, but anxious not to miss a copy of the Mercury racing special, containing the very latest from the Test match.

View attachment 7736

The other report was on plans for a new transmitter at nearby Daventry, which meant Leicester would finally have proper radio coverage. It would allow owners of cheap crystal sets to pick up BBC broadcasts. Up to now wireless buffs had needed expensive equipment to pick up the signals from distant transmitters, and there were very few in the city tuning in.

View attachment 7737

Before the end of the decade the first live sports thank-you verymuch broadcasts would begin - the start of a story that took us through Sports Report, Final Score, Ceefax, Five Live and Sky Sports News before everything changed with instant online results.

But 100 years ago we got everything from the newspapers. For the next week, those papers would be full of previews of the big day the following Saturday. It was FA Cup time.

Thank-you very much

 

[Kushiro2]

So 'Billy Kick' didn't really exist.

How about Billy Kikhard? He was a pal of Jem Crushem.

An old cartoon from the Leicester Chronicle:

 

[Kushiro2]

This was one of those days when, as mentioned above, people were rushing to find out news of the Ashes series. It was day three of the second Test at the MCG, with England looking to square the series. After Australia were bowled out for exactly 600 in their first innings, Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe batted all day to finish on 283 for 0 at the close. There was no rush - this was a Timeless Test, and the match was still in progess the following Saturday.

To complete the sporting action that day, the All Blacks, who you'll recall hammered Leicester Tigers in October, played the last match of their UK tour against England at Twickenham. They won 17-11 - and that made it 28 wins out of 28 on the tour. The team has gone down in history as The Invincibles. They certainly left a mark on Leicester. The Tigers adopted the 'New Zealand formation' this season - seven forwards and eight backs.

The star of the All Blacks team was George Nepia, the Maori full back, who played in every single game on the tour. Ten years later he was offered a huge amount of money to come to London to play for the Streatham and Mitcham Rugby League side:

 

[Kushiro2]

FA Cup First Round
Saturday January 10th 1925
Leicester City v Stoke

There was no doubt about it. From the end of World War 1 until the mid-1960s, the FA Cup was the most coveted prize in English football - perhaps the whole of English sport. The Wembley final was the climax of course, but there was something extra special about this stage, when not just two but 64 teams were involved, all kicking off at the same time on a Saturday afternoon, with Cup fever spreading to every corner of the country.

Cynics in Leicester would have said it's a good job the First Round was such fun, because we'd never made it much beyond that. This was the sorry tale of Leicester's FA Cup progress compared to our East Midlands rivals:



A home tie with Stoke - a team lying ten places below us in Division Two - seemed like a chance to start a run. Our visitors wouldn't be lacking confidence though - they were the only side who'd beaten us at Filbert Street this season.

There were no second string line-ups for cup games in those days, of course. Quite the opposite. Clubs would often leave a player out of a League game to make sure he was fit for the Cup. So the Leicester Chronicle knew when they published this picture of our strongest XI that these would be the players turning out:



(That's the photo you can see reproduced in high quality further up the page).

The pitch was 'under the influence of both frost and sun, with a precarious foothold', and in the first half, Stoke adapted better to the conditions. Contemporary match reports suggest that had xG existed back then, it would have been somthing like Leicester 0.1, Stoke 1.5 at half time. Twice they had one-on-ones with Bert Godderidge, but Harry Sellars and Frank Watkin both contrived to put their efforts wide of the post. They had two other good chances that our keeper had to be at his best to keep out.

At the other end, we were struggling to break through - apart from one moment of genius when Johnny Duncan made something out or nothing:

From a clearance by Adam Black, he picked up the ball and zig-zagged his way down the field, going past full backs Milne and McGrory, before sending a drive past Bob Dixon.

That was the Daily News, and this was the Mercury describing the same moment:

Duncan lunging forward, ball at his feet, getting past opponents in his own shuffling way - not too fast, but very sure - makes a rare pictire for the football crowd. When finally he shuffled past McGrory he was not to be hurried in his shooting, and Dixon seemed the more puzzled the longer Duncan dallied. He was just making sure in his own way.



That's Duncan's goal, with the rays of the setting sun coming over the old Spion Kop roof and lighting up the Popular Side.

This was the scene beneath that roof a moment later:



Amazing, isn't it, to see those faces from 100 years ago. Some of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers in there perhaps.

With Duncan's goal we were 1-0 up at the break, despite having played our least convincing 45 minutes for several weeks.

After that it was a completely different game. We rediscovered our fluency and were on the attack for most of the second half. Here's how Kernel in the Football Post described the key moments:

On 68 minutes, A long pass up the centre saw Chandler get on the move, and when Milne miskicked, the centre forward dashed through on his own and although challenged by Dixon, Chandler recovered possession and placed the ball into an empty net.

So Channy's incredible run continued. He had now scored in seventeen of our last nineteen games.

After 83 minutes the Royal Blues put the issue beyond doubt. Chandler robbed McClure and swung the ball over to Adcock who after taking it in his stride middled it with excellent judgment for Duncan to head through.

3-0 it finished.

Unconnected to the Cup, a small piece of football history was made that day. The FA had recently sanctioned trials of changes to the offside law, and at Elland Road in a game between West Riding and Staffordshire, the first experiment was undertaken. Lines were drawn across the pitch 40 yards from each goal, and players could only be offside within those areas. To avoid confusion, the halfway line was marked only inside the centre circle. Feedback was mixed, and there would soon be another experiment, with a different tweak of the rules. This one would be more successful.

On Monday, two other pieces of news emerged from FA headquarters in Russell Square. For Leicester, there was both good news and bad. First, Arthur Chandler was chosen for an England trial game. No outfield Leicester player had ever been capped, but the selectors couldn't ignore Channy's form. He would be playing centre forward for 'The North' against 'The South' in the trial at Stamford Bridge on January 19th.

The other news was the draw for the Second Round of the Cup, and we could hardly have been given a tougher tie - away to Newcastle United. They were the holders, and were currently on a great run in the League, challenging for the title. The only time we had ever made the Quarter-Finals, in 1910, our run had ended in a 3-0 defeat at St James Park.

What was notable about the rest of the draw was that none of our promotion rivals were in the hat. They had all been knocked out on Saturday:

Derby County 0 Bradford City 1
The Wednesday 2 Manchester United 0
Birmingham 2 Chelsea 0

The result at the Baseball Ground was a real upset, but as the Football Post argued: It was perhaps the best for Derby bearing in mind the club's chances of securing promotion to the First Division, where on form they rightly belong. There are few teams capable of securing two objects together, and no-one has more reason to know that than Derby, who would have been Second Division champions last season if they hadn't had seventy-five percent of the stamina knocked out of them at the crucial period by having to meet Newcastle United four times in the Second Round of the Cup.

This was a cartoon from the same paper:



The caption reads: "Keep the other hoss up and you're alright". (Derby County's attempt to drive two steeds early met with disaster. But they hope to keep going all right with one).

Many Leicester fans would've been thinking along similar lines. 'We're fourth in the table, and the three above us are all out. What's the point in ruining our chances with a cup run?'

Would those thoughts enter the minds of the players? We would soon have a conclusive answer to that question, and in fact, the way we dealt with the attempt to 'drive two steeds' would be the most extraordinary feature of this whole season.

 

[Kushiro2]

League Match No. 25
Saturday January 17th 1925
Stoke v Leicester City

Seven days after we beat them in the FA Cup we faced Stoke again - this time in the League at the Victoria Ground. This aerial shot shows how the place looked in the 1920s. It's not great quality but it's value lies in the rare view of the old oval shape with a running track, which you can just about make out.



That was the track on which Stanley Matthews won all those handicap races mentioned above. It was removed in 1930, just before Stanley joined Stoke, and the ground took on its standard rectangular shape.

The star of this week's show is a woman called Daisy Bates. She too had run on that track, with great distinction. She was also the best female footballer in England. She played for Stoke, who had won the Ladiies FA Cup in 1922, then won a European tournament in Barcelona.

Here's that Cup winning team, with Daisy sitting to the left of the guy with the trophy:



Five days before Leicester turned up at the Victoria Ground, Daisy got married - to Stoke goalkeeper Bob Dixon. Where, or whether they spent a honeymoon is unclear, but Dixon reported for work as normal on Saturday - and he would be the game's central character.

We started the game in confident style, and took the lead after twenty minutes. Johnny Duncan moved out to the wing and played a pass to Hugh Adcock, who had moved inside. His shot was partially saved by Dixon but Adcock followed up to shoot home.

Dixon then made a 'phenomenal' save from Chandler's shot, which was 'traveling low with great pace, away from the keeper and inside the post. It looked a matter of physical impossibility to keep it out but Dixon flung himself full length. It was a save of the spectacular variety which delights the crowd'. And no doubt Daisy too.

Like last week, we led 1-0 at the break.

In the second half we were completely on top, but Dixon made a string of saves to keep Stoke in the contest. Chandler was through on goal twice but shot wide with the first chance and then hit a tame effort straight at the keeper. Then with just three minutes to go, we paid for all those missed chances, Frank Watkin heading in 'after a goalmouth scrimmage'.

1-1 it finished, and for just the third time in the last twenty games, Chandler failed to find the net.

'Leicester threw their chances away' was the headline in the Sentinel. 'They were an exceptionally good side, but were thwarted by two factors - the hopeless finishing by the forwards and a marvelous display of goalkeeping by Dixon. The Athletic News had this verdict: Stoke were just a hard-kicking, dashing set of individual rushers, whereas the visitors moved in precise, polished fashion, their swift, thrustful attacks always boding danger, with Adcock outstanding on the right wing.

Elsewhere, Derby had a comfortable 2-0 home win over Fulham, but Chelsea lost 2-1 at The Wednesday and the big shock of the day came at Highfield Road. Coventry had gone three months without a win and were four points adrift at the bottom, but they beat leaders Manchester United 1-0. All that meant Derby leapfrogged United again, and we were still in fourth place:



On Monday came Arthur Chandler's England trial, playing for 'The North' against 'The South' at Stamford Bridge. His side lost 3-1, but he did score. The description of the goal brings to mind a Leicester legend of the 21st century:

He slipped down in the goalmouth, sat on the ball in doing so, then got up and scooped the ball into the net.

A 'stupid goal', one reporter called it, and his overall performance didn't impress the critics. 'He failed completely to hold the line together' was the verdict of the Daily Herald.

The teams for the final trial were due to be announced two weeks later. We had two big games to face before that - Coventry in the League, and Newcastle in the Cup.

 

[Kushiro2]

This was the cartoon in the Footbal Post today:




The Post was based in Nottingham and covered all the East Midlands clubs. You can see them all here on the masthead:



Our Leicester gent is behind the Magpie (Notts County) and the Forest figure (a Robin Hood link?). The guy at the front with his dog plays some kind of master of ceremonies role and is not representing a particular club.

After much fruitless endeavour I have failed to discover why we are represented by the gent in a top hat (it goes back to the Fosse era as you can see here



Any ideas?

 

[Kushiro2]

League Match No. 26
Saturday January 24th 1925
Leicester City v Coventry City

No-one knew quite what to expect. For the first time in more than 200 years, a total eclipse of the sun would be witnessed on British soil. And it would fall on Saturday afternoon, right in the middle of the Football League programme. Would it be too dark to play?

This was the Daily Express on the Thursday:



Totality would only be observed in the Outer Hebrides. In the south of England it would be like this:



The Football League said matches could go ahead as scheduled, but at many grounds the half-time break would be skipped - players simply changing ends and carrying straight on with the second half so they could finish at around quarter past four (most games kicked off at 2.45).

Our visitors Coventry City were three points adrift at the bottom of the table, but Leicester fans' confidence would have been slightly jolted when they heard the team news. For the first time in four months we had to make a change to our forward line. Johnny Duncan had a hand injury and it was decided not to risk him before next week's Cup tie. Buchanan Sharp came in at inside right for his debut, and Jack Bamber took over the captaincy.

Sharp was a Scot who we'd just signed from Tottenham - and he made a dream debut. After just seven minutes 'George Carr beat two men and swung the ball over to Wadsowrth on the left. Without hesitation he rounded the full back and centred for Sharp to turn the ball past the keeper' (Football Post).

After twenty minutes it was 2-0. 'Chandler and Carr combined to force a passage on their own, and Carr resisted the keeper's challenge to shoot into an empty net'.

The players were showing that even without the artistic flair of their captain they could put on a show. In the 24th minute 'after another clever bout of passing between Chandler and Carr, Chandler took the ball in his stride splendidly and beat the keeper with a lovely drive'.

Five minutes before the break it was four. 'Wadsworth put the ball into the middle and Chandler, challenged by the full back, swung round and volleyed the ball into the net with a hard drive'.

Half time arrived at 3.30. The sky was cloudy, so the eclipse was not visible. Unlike at many grounds, the players took the normal ten minute break. Coventry were no doubt relieved to get off for a while.

In the second half, 'the light was not as good as usual', but there was no danger of the game not finishing. We eased off a little, and it took until the 80th minute for us to score again. Centre half Pat Carrigan set up Chandler who scored 'with a terrrific drive that the keeper got his hands to but couldn't hold'.

That was Channy's third hat-trick for the club - and Coventy were sick of the sight of him. The previous one had come a year earlier at HIghfield Road.

Coventry got a late consolation and the game finished 5-1. There had been no astronomical show, just an onfield bonanza that meant we were now the top scorers in the whole Football League.

The best news of the day was still to come. Derby and Manchester United, so long out on their own at the top, both suffered shock home defeats. Derby were beaten 1-0 by Wolves, and fans at the Baseball Ground got so wound up that there was a pitch invasion, with one fan attacking Wolves half back Jack Bradford. Oldham won by the same score at Old Trafford, the winner from Reg Watson.

And there was more good news. Chelsea could only draw 1-1 at home to Clapton Orient, which meant we finally climbed to third, just two points off a promotion place:



The eclipse gave the headline writers and cartoonists a lot of fun, but forecasts of early nightfall were wide of the mark. Unlike Leicester, many areas of the country had clear skies, with scenes like this at Elland Road:



After the game, our goalscoring debutant Buchanan Sharp went back to London to sort out a few loose ends at home. Then somehow a rumour started in Leicester that he had been involved in a serious traffic accident. Then word came that he'd actually died. The rumour spread all over the city, and the 'tragedy' was even mentioned at a church service on Sunday afternoon.

But none of it was true. Sharp had arrived safely in London. There had been no accident. On Monday, the Leicester Mercury had a front page report confirming it:



Who had started the rumour, and why, were questions that were never answered.

If we were the form team in Division Two, in the top flight the team on a hot streak was Newcastle - our opponents in the Cup in seven days' time. They moved up to 4th with a 2-0 win over Manchester City at St James' Park. This was their current form:



Before that tie, there was big news in the city. You may remember the very first post in this thread with the map of the centre of the city, showing how the key places in Harold Lineker's universe were all very close together, but 'A few years later, Charles Street would blast through those buildings on Humberstone Gate and the character of the area would be changed forever'.

On January 28th, over 20,000 people took part in a citizens' referendum on the Charles Street proposals. That evening at 10pm at the Corn Exchange the results were announced.

13,002 were in favour,
9,724 against.

So the city centre that Harold Lineker knew so well would soon be changing.

His big Cup tie was also approaching. A week after the Newcastle game, the Leicester Boys team would be heading for Great Yarmouth, having made it through to the First Round Proper of the English Schools Trophy for the first time.

 

[Kushiro2]

The thing that led me to call this 'the second greatest season ever' is the two month period that begins with the FA Cup tie at Newcastle today. I've had the chance to look back in detail at all the exciting periods in the club's history, and this one wins the 'time machine prize' - the one I'd most like to go back and witness if I had the chance. It's the way the story develops over the next few weeks and the obvious excitement in the city as footy fever reaches completely uncharted levels.

To keep up with that growing excitement the posts will be more frequent. It's been once a week so far, but it'll be a lot more than that from now on.

Hope you enjoy it. Look out for the Newcastle report coming up soon.

 

[Kushiro2]

FA Cup Round Two
Saturday January 31st 1925
Newcastle United v Leicester City

United were the Cup holders, beating Aston Villa 2-0 in the second Wembley final the previous April . When they paraded the trophy through the streets of the city two days later, 'a band played their'song of victory called 'Oh Me Lad'. It's on record that every time they play this tume at St. James', United always win'.

That's surely a reference to Blaydon Races. It must have been around that time that it was first becoming a Geordie Anthem.

No doubt the band played it before this game too. But we were in confident mood. No-one could have spent time in the company of the Leicester team lately without realising that they do not expect to be beaten on Saturday, said the Mercury.

We traveled north on Thursday, spending two nights at Whitley Bay before the game. There was a 'vociferous band of Leicester followers' at St. James' Park - here's one Filbert Street regular who had made it to the game on crutches:



Our reputation as the team of the moment had clearly reached the north-east. The crowd was officially recorded as 58, 713, the takings being a record for the ground.

This is Johnny Duncan before kick-off with the Frank Hudspeth, the man who lifted the Cup at Wembley:



Newcastle quickly realised that a lucky song wasn't going to be enough. Many of those reporting on the game were seeing us in action for the first time, and we made quite an impact. Leicester 'quickly made an impression on the huge Tyneside crowd with their forceful and stylish play' (Athletic News). In the first half we were 'by far the better side, dashing and constructive' (Football Post), Leicester were 'infinitely superior in pace and effective combination' (Sporting Life). 'They weren't playing typical "Cup-tie" football, it was sound, scientific play fed by splendid halves' (Sunday Express).

The combination of Adcock and Duncan on the right 'repeatedly outwitted the Newcastle backs with their wonderful strategy', and the only surpirse was it took us thirty minutes to take the lead. Arthur Chandler, following his England trial, was 'the man all eyes were on', and after missing a couple of chances supplied by Adcock, his simple finish after yet another Adcock centre put us one up.

Here's the build up to the goal, with Duncan challenging the keeper and Channy lurking in the background:



This was a fraction of a second later:



Adcock, 'audacious and artistic', continued to impress, and Newcastle could make no impression at all at the other end.

'So this is Leicester! That was the only comment Newcastle fans had the heart to make at half time' (Daily Chronicle).

If you think 'heat maps' are a modern thing, look at this cartoon fom the Mercury:



This was an era when you needed a knowledge of poetry to understand the references in the sports pages. Our keeper Bert Godderidge in the cartoon is quoting Tennyson's 'Maud':

COME into the garden, Maud,
For the black bat, Night, has flown,
Come into the garden, Maud,
I am here at the gate alone.

This was how the same cartoonist portrayed Adcock, the outstanding performer of that first half:



Shortly after the break came our second, this time from the left. Wadsworth and Carr 'made a perfect advance', and Carr's pass found Chandler, who had two defenders around him, 'but his ball control was such that he was able to take his shot at precisely the right second, and a swiftly placed ball high up in the corner had the custodian beaten' (Mercury).

That finally woke Newcastle up, and they soon got one back from Tom Urwin. After that it was a different game. With twenty minutes to go, centre forward Neil Harris 'looked all over a scorer as a trio of defenders hurled themselves at him. I fancy it was Adam Black who administered that charge from behind which caused the referee to give a penalty'. Tommy McDonald made it 2-2.

Were we disappointed at the end? Most reports said we should have won, and that United were fortunate to have another chance.

'You will be lucky if you find them so easy to beat a second time', a local said to the Leicester Evening Mail's 'Scrutator', who wrote, 'There was a nasty taste in that remark, for there was a very disagreeable truth in it'.

The replay was set for Thursday afternoon, half-day closing in Leicester.

 

[Kushiro2]

On Sunday morning, the players could relax at their hotel in Whitley Bay and read about themselves in the papers, all of which were raving about our fine performance.

The 2-2 draw meant the team would stay in Whitley Bay for an extra two days, using it as a training base for the replay.

Athletic News would often profile the outstanding team of the week on their front page. This week they chose Leicester City.

It's one thing I haven't done yet on this thread - profile each of the players in this great side. Let's put that right. Here they are as featured in that Athletic News piece (I've added the pics):

 

[Brauny]

Brilliant as always.

Fantastic memorabilia

 

[Kushiro2]

The draw for the next round was on Monday lunchtime. The players would have seen the news when the Newcastle Evening Chronicle reached their hotel in Whitley Bay (though it's possible the details had been phoned through before that).



If we could win the replay, we'd be heading back to Hull, who'd beaten us in the League three months earlier.

Also on the agenda at the FA meeting in Russell Square was the selection for the final England trial - and it was bad news for Arthur Chandler. He hadn't shown his usual form in the first trial and now he'd been overlooked. In his place came a centre forward from the Third Division South - Brighton's Tommy Cook.

Things weren't going Channy's way. He was sharing a room in the hotel with Johnny Duncan, who liked to keep the skylight window open when he slept. One night there was a heavy snowfall and Chandler woke up covered in snow. He caught a heavy cold, making him doubtful for the replay.

Back in Leicester, the Mercury reported that at hosiery factories and boot and shoe factories in the city, managers are allowing employees to work overtime today, tomorrow and Wednesday so they can finish early on Thursday in time to make the 2.30 kick off. No-one wanted to miss this one.

 

[Kushiro2]

We'd call it 'mind games' these days. Newcastle were lucky to come away with a draw on Saturday and before the replay the noises coming out of St James' Park suggested that Leicester had missed their chance. One Newcastle director said 'Leicester's display was a very good one, but we formed the conclusion that they were right on top of their form and cannot improve it very well'. He continued 'We hope to shortly resume acquaintance with our old skipper Billy McCracken at Hull'.

McCracken was now Hull manager.

The Leicester camp didn't respond, but the comments of the Leicester Evening Mail would have summed up their feelings: 'Leicester are also looking forward to meeting their old skipper O’Brien at Hull, too, but they haven’t made the mistake of bragging about it'.

Meanwhile, the reports of Leicester factories closing early for the replay were confirmed. BUSM said they expected about 400 of their workers to be at Filbert Street.

Two days to go and the excitement was building.

 

[Kushiro2]

On Wednesday, after six nights, the players finally checked out of their hotel in Whitley Bay. This picture shows them on Tuesday at Table Rocks. Absent from the picture is Arthur Chandler, still fighting the cold he developed after that night covered in snow.



This is Table Rocks in a contemporary tourist brochure:



They boarded the Aberdeen to Penzance express at Newcastle Station, and the train made a special stop at Quorn to let them off. They wlll spend the night before the replay at the Manor House on Woodhouse Road.

The Newcastle squad followed them down, heading for the Grand Hotel in Leicester.

Both sides look like being unchanged - as long as Channy is over his cold.

As today's Mercury put it: Not for many years, if ever, has a Cup tie caused such a great interest in the city and county. Leicester's recent run of success in the League followed by the club holding the Cup holders on their own pitch has led to an exceptional display of what is called "Cup-tie fever".

 

[Kushiro2]

FA Cup Second Round Replay
Thursday February 5th 1925, kick-off 2.30pm
Leicester City v Newcastle United

In the mid-1950s, the Leicester Mail asked nearly a hundred City supporters to name their favourite moment in the history of the club. Which moment do you think got the most mentions? It wasn't the 1949 FA Cup Final, or the dramatic semi-final that preceded. It wasn't a strike from Arthur Rowley or Jack Lee, post-war goalscoring heroes. If I told you it was a moment from back in the 1920s you might think it was 'Channy and the six swans', but no - that barely got a mention. It was a moment from this FA Cup replay - one that has since been forgotten almost completely, failing to survive in Leicester legend after those who recalled it so vividly 30 years on eventually passed away.

The Game

George Carr's profile in Athletic News on Monday had been a little unkind. 'A trifle short of shooting power', it said That must have hurt. His teammates had no doubt spent the week teasing him about it. The best thing to do was just laugh it off, while quietly resolving to stick it back down their throats.

The day before the game Carr was the man the Newcaslte Daily Chronicle chose for their 'Sketches from the Sports Field' series. He was a well-known figure in the North-East after his five years at Middlesbrough:



People started queueing from early morning, and by 1.45 the gates were closed with an estimated 5,000 people still outside, 'swarming the streets without a hope of seeing a ball kicked, but reluctant to leave, prefering to have the story of the match from the shouts of the fortunate ones inside'. 'It looked as though the inhabitants of Grasmere Street had converted their back bedrooms into private boxes'. Inside the ground, 'hundreds were allowed to take a position inside the rails', and people were six-deep around the touchlines, with two mounted police parading. This was the scene at the Spion Kop end:



The Mercury reported that 'around 50% of the miners from the collieries around Coalville' had headed for the game, with the mines shutting down at midday. 'It was curious to see hundreds of blackened men hurrying off straight from their work without bothering with a meal'.

With everyone inside, the game kicked off five minutes early.

It was more like a typical Cup-tie than the first match, Leicester unable to recapture the fluidity they'd displayed at St James Park, and Newcastle struggling once again to make chances. City had a good chance when they won a free-kick for handball just outside the box, but Channy's shot hit the wall:



Newcastle were marking Adcock tightly after his dazzling display on Saturday, but Wadsworth on the other wing was the threat today, having one of his best games for the club.

Just before the half hour mark, it happened.

Johnny Duncan had set up an attack, but it broke down and the ball fell to George Carr, about twenty five yards from goal. He 'made up his mind to shoot and although Bradley had an early view of his intention, the shot from Carr's left boot was hit with such power that, while the keeper threw himself across the goal, he never looked likely to stop it'. Or, as another report put it, 'Carr swept down on the ball and drove it past Bradley in a fashion seldom seen'.



Carr was on a high, and after the break 'his ball-control, dribbling and passing were the outstanding feature'. Just like five days earlier Newcastle had their best chances in the second half, and Godderidge had to make three smart saves, before right at the end Neil Harris fired their best chance over the bar.

At the final whistle the fans swarmed on to the pitch and the players were carried off shoulder-high. When the crowds finally left the ground, several broken crush barriers could be seen around the terraces.

We were through to the last 16, and perhaps we had Athletic News to thank for the victory. As another paper reflected:

'It was remarkable that Carr, who is not generally regarded as a dangerous shot, should be the man to knock-out the Cup holders'.

 

[Kushiro2]

Here's that feature in the Leicester Mail I mentioned from the mid-50s. They interviewed one fan each week. You can see here numbers 12, 13 and 15 all choose George Carr's goal from 30 years earlier.

 

[DagenhamFox]

Number 13 has a slight resemblance to @Sohofox

 

[Kushiro2]

The day after the game, everyone was talking about the goal. The thousands locked out could now picture it clearly, having heard it described over and over by the lucky ones who got in.

The Mercury reflected on the emotions of Cup football:

No feeling is moderate. Each seems to be wilder than the last, until an outburst of joy marks the climax and a wave of sentiment marks a desperate rush to reach the heroes of the hour as the final whistle blows'.

Here's that scene:



But amidst all the Cup fever, someone had to bring the players down to earth. Tomorrow it will be back to the business of trying to win promotion as Sheffield Wednesday arrive at Filbert Street. Our rivals, all knocked out in the First Round of the Cup, have been relaxing for two weeks while we went through two energy-sapping scraps against one of the best teams in the country.

As Hull City awaited us in the next round of the Cup, could we keep our minds on the other big target?

The Leicester Boys' team were hoping to follow City's example. Harold Lineker and his temmates set out today for Great Yarmouth where they would face the local team for a place in the First Round Proper of the English Schools Trophy (a stage they'd never reached before).

I wonder how many of the Boys' team had been at the Newcastle game? One lad who was there was Jack Curtis, who many of you will remember. He was involved with youth football in the city for decades, and used to have a feature in the Leicester programme about club memorabilia:



The shirt is from Leicester Boys' first ever match, against Sheffield in 1893.

The Newcastle game was the first Jack ever attended, skiving off from St. Saviours' School.

 

[Kushiro2]

League Match Number 27
Saturday February 7th 1925
Leicester City v Sheffield Wednesday.

What had those gruelling Cup ties taken out of us? Were we fit and raring to go, just 48 hours later?

As one report said, 'Wednesday may have been counting on several of our players being absent, but in the end Leicester only needed to make one change'. That was Pat Carrigan, who had a knee injury and was replaced by Billy Watson at cente half.

That was the fitness report. So how about 'raring to go'?

As 'Scrutator' wrote in the Leicester Mail, 'It must have come as a shock to Wednesday to see the sprightly, eager way in which Leicester took the field'.

We were on the attack from the kick-off, and were ahead in less than ten minutes. Johnny Duncan was the scorer: 'It was a typical effort from the captain, By skilful dribbling and strength in resisting a tackle he forced his way into a shooting position'.

Wednesday were 'demoralised under the spell of City's quick and precise combinaiton' and Harry Wadsworth, our outstanding forward two days earlier, was still on top form - 'his short legs seemed to be working overtime'.

Then came the Adam Black show. He holds the record for most League appearances by a Leicester player, but he only ever scored four goals. Two of them came in this match. They were both penalties - the first after a Chandler shot was handled on the line; the second just after half-time to make it 3-0.

Soon after that Duncan got another 'after a clever cut-in by Adcock'. (There was a picture of the goal in the Mercury on Monday. That must be Adcock in the background, not interfering with play):



We rounded it off with two from Channy, both supplied by his captain. The first came from a simple pass, and then:

The last goal from Chandler was a further illustration of the wonderful understanding between him and Duncan. Nine out of ten people, seeing Duncan going through, would have concluded that he was out for a solo effort. But it was more like poker than solo, and the defenders were completely bluffed. They directed the whole of their attention to John when - biff! - he had not got it and Chandler had scored.

All Wednesday could manage was a late goal from Jimmy Trotter.

Kernel summed up the game in the Football Post: 'The titanic struggle on Thursday had not impaired Leicester's efficiency and they completely overwhelmed the Sheffielders'.

If supporters were elated after the Newcastle game, how did they feel now? This was a breathtaking follow-up, and sent a message to our promotion rivals that we had the energy and the talent to fight on two fronts.

Those rivals were all at home, and they all won. Derby beat Huddersfield 3-1, Chelsea beat Southampton 1-0, but the strangest thing that happened that day was at Old Trafford, where Clapton Orient were the visitors. Three hours before the kick-off, Orient forward Albert Pape, who had been named in their line-up, was transfered - to United! When the teams ran out he was in a red and white shirt. He even scored as his new side beat his old side 4-2.

This is how things now stood:



Our 65 goals put us way out in front as top scorers in the whole Football League.

The individual scoring chart in the Second Division looked pretty good too. Leicester had two players at the top, followed by Albert 'Fairy' Fairclough of Derby and Paddy Mills (Nigel Pearson's great uncle) of Hull City, who we would shortly be facing in the FA Cup:



There was good news too from Yarmouth where Leicester Boys came away with a 7-2 win in the Final Qualifying Round of the English Schools Trophy. Yarmouth took the lead, then we quickly went 2-1 up. Their keeper then sprained his wrist when he 'stopped a stinging piledriver'. He had to go off, and later returned to play on the right wing.

Next they would face West Ham, with the game to be played at Filbert Street on Monday March 9th. That would be two days after a possible FA Cup Quarter Final. But first we had to get a result at Anlaby Road. And before that we faced a tough trip to Clapton Orient in the League.

'Bring it on' would have summed up the players' feelings. On the night before the Sheffield Wednesday game, Johnny Duncan had been a guest at the annual dinner of the Leicestershire and Rutland Golfers' Association. He told them, 'We can win the FA Cup and get into the First Division'.

 

[Nickj]

Great read again, although not sure the woke brigade would be happy with Albert “Fairy” Fairclough’s nickname these days

 

[Kushiro2]

The huge crowds at the Newcastle replay and the Sheffiled Wednesday match prompted this letter to the Leicester Evening Mail:

 

[Kushiro2]

League Match No. 28
Saturday February 14th 1925
Clapton Orient v Leicester City


The Supporters, Not The Directors, Are The Backbone of the Club

As it is today, so it was back then. Before the game there was 'An Orient Spectator's Protest', as one headline put it. It was a well-mannered affair - 'an elderly man addressed the occupants of the stand, objecting to the 'unsportmanlike behaviour of the club in selling Pape to Manchester United'. He added that 'the management should be aware that the supporters, not the directors, are the backbone of the club'. His remarks were received with great cheers.


We have enjoyed many crucial victories at Orient over the years. Twice we've won there to clinch the Division Two title - in 1980, with Larry May's famous goal, and in 1957, with a 5-1 victory.

Before World War Two, though, the club didn't play at Brisbane Road and they weren't called 'Leyton' Orient. They were still based in Clapton, and that was their name.

The ground we headed for in 1925 was called Millfields Road. You can see it here at the bottom of the picture, with Brisbane Road arrowed at the top, and Hackney Marshes in the centre:



That picture was taken after the war when Millfields Road was only used for greyhound racing. It was demolished in the early 70s.

In the mid-20s the ground looked very different. The Spion Kop running the length of the pitch was one of the most impressive terraces at any London venue:



For the visit of Leicester the crowd was well above average. We were the team everyone was talkng about, and a big draw. If we were to keep our impressive scoring record going we'd have to get past two Orient legends. In goal was Billy Wood, an enormous figure who was a favourite of the cartoonists:



And at centre back there was John Townrow, who would shortly win his first England cap. The press were looking forward to the contest between him and Arthur Chandler.

The match kicked off in typical wintry conditions, and you can see the state of the pitch in this Sunday Mirror photo, with George Carr on the right and an unidentified City player (possibly Jack Bamber) making a challenge:



The key moment in the first half came when Chandler was through on the keeper and looked odds on to score. 'Scrutator' in the Leicester Evening Mail decribed what happened next - and a dilemma we are all familiar with today:

'Chandler was going straight for goal and had only Wood to beat. Townrow tripped him from behind, but he did not go srpawling in the mud. He is too clean a sportsman to fall purposely. He stumbled off the ball, however, and Townrow robbed him. Had he fallen prone, and looked as hurt as he probably felt, the referee would have been compelled to take notice. As it was, Leicester's appeal for a penalty went unheeded'.

The next contentious incident came when 'George Carr was following a forward pass and Wood came out to meet it. It seems that Carr kicked Wood on the leg or on the arm, but Wood must have known he was playing a dangerous game. Fists were clenched and raised but others intervened and the incident passed' (LEM again).

In the second half, we were totally on top and Chandler, Wadsworth and Duncan all saw efforts come back off the bar. The Daily Herald told us that 'the Orient cross bar became bespattered with mud'.

Then with fifteen minutes left, Duncan 'received the ball unmarked, and taking aim at leisure, he shot well out of Wood's reach'.

That goal was enough to finish off Orient.


There was great news from the other games. Across the river at Selhurst Park, Arthur Lochhead put Manchester United ahead but then two goals from Tom Hoddinott condemned them to their third defeat in four games. Derby County lost 2-1 at Vale Park, the winner a controversial late penalty. Our only rival to pick up points were Chelsea, who won 2-1 at Craven Cottage.

That meant that, after five months of no change in the top two, we had finally gatecrashed the promotion places:



The most eye-catching result of the day was 5th placed Portmsouth winning 5-0 at 4th placed Wolves, which meant that the top four were even further ahead of the chasing pack. Two famous old clubs (Derby and Man U), one club with a famous ground (Chelsea) plus the previously unheralded Leicester City were turning it into a classic four-way scrap.

Notice Hull City there in eighth place - our opponents in the FA Cup in seven days time. The Hull Daily Mail reported this weekend that many fans were left disappointed when tickets for the Cup tie sold out quickly. 'One problem we've had', said the Hull chairman, 'is that for the Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton ties, very few tickets were required by the visiting club. But Leicester have taken their full allocation - 25%'.

In the League, we'd finally cracked the top two. Next we'd find out if we could make it to the last eight of the Cup.

 

[Kushiro2]

Do yourself a favour some time and choose a few random selections from the player profiles in Of Fossils and Foxes. Every one is an absolute gem.

Here's the entry for Mick O'Brien, the ex-Leicester skipper who we'd be facing in the FA Cup at Hull:

Mick was a virtually legendary figure in inter-war football who's itchy feet and love of the blarney could scarcely disguise a genuine talent for classical centre half play. One of his claims was that he'd never kicked a football until the age of 18 when his family moved from Ireland to the north east and shortly before he joined the army. Nonetheless he quickly became a footballing mercenary before the outbreak of war, then served during the hostilities in each of the Navy (seeing action aboard HMS Chester at the Battle of Jutland) and the Royal Flying Corps (from January 18th) and then resumed his soccer wanderings in 1919.

After almost two seasons easing QPR into the league and having won both his first Irish cap and selection for the Football League against the Army, in November 1921 Mick brought his 6 foot 1 inch presence and his outsize personality to Leicester. A further four International appearances came his way as firstly he played alongside Jimmy Harold in a daunting defensive pairing then usurped his partner's pivotal role. He was denied a further cap in February 1923 when City prioritized their promotion effort over the release but unfortunately Mick missed out on the frustrating run-in to a third place finish after suffering a broken toe.

A year later, however, no sooner had the Sunday Post declared of his game that he 'had brains behind his boots - he eschewed the haphazard' that he had a bust up with the board in a Blackpool hotel and found himself listed. After the league reduced City's asking fee from £2,000 to $750 (and he'd spent part of the summer playing Cricket with Thurmaston), Mick joined second division rivals Hull.



Mick O'Brien - and Paul Taylor, the man who wrote those words. Wish he was still with us.

 

[Sammelslongshot]

Do yourself a favour some time and choose a few random selections from the player profiles in Of Fossils and Foxes. Every one is an absolute gem.

Here's the entry for Mick O'Brien, the ex-Leicester skipper who we'd be facing in the FA Cup at Hull:

Mick was a virtually legendary figure in inter-war football who's itchy feet and love of the blarney could scarcely disguise a genuine talent for classical centre half play. One of his claims was that he'd never kicked a football until the age of 18 when his family moved from Ireland to the north east and shortly before he joined the army. Nonetheless he quickly became a footballing mercenary before the outbreak of war, then served during the hostilities in each of the Navy (seeing action aboard HMS Chester at the Battle of Jutland) and the Royal Flying Corps (from January 18th) and then resumed his soccer wanderings in 1919.

After almost two seasons easing QPR into the league and having won both his first Irish cap and selection for the Football League against the Army, in November 1921 Mick brought his 6 foot 1 inch presence and his outsize personality to Leicester. A further four International appearances came his way as firstly he played alongside Jimmy Harold in a daunting defensive pairing then usurped his partner's pivotal role. He was denied a further cap in February 1923 when City prioritized their promotion effort over the release but unfortunately Mick missed out on the frustrating run-in to a third place finish after suffering a broken toe.

A year later, however, no sooner had the Sunday Post declared of his game that he 'had brains behind his boots - he eschewed the haphazard' that he had a bust up with the board in a Blackpool hotel and found himself listed. After the league reduced City's asking fee from £2,000 to $750 (and he'd spent part of the summer playing Cricket with Thurmaston), Mick joined second division rivals Hull.

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Mick O'Brien - and Paul Taylor, the man who wrote those words. Wish he was still with us.

Interesting Mick served in HMS Chester at Jutland. The same ship 16 year old Jack Cornwell served in and was awarded the VC but list his life

 

[Kushiro2]

There was some very sad news this week. I mean now - in 2025, not 100 years ago. But I want to mention it on this thread for reasons that will become clear.

As we were winning at Clapton Orient, across North London, Division One leaders Huddersfield were outclassing Arsenal, their 5-0 win being perhaps the stand-out result of the whole season in the top flight.



That Huddersfield side was built by the legendary Herbert Chapman, whose biography was written by Patrick Barclay:



Sadly, Paddy passed away this week, aged 77. Along with our own Jon Holmes and another well-known writer Colin Shindler, he presented the weekly podcast Football Ruined My Life.

You can hear Jon's tribute to his friend and colleague here:

https://podcastranking.jp/1669268775