THE LEAGUE MAGAZINE
Welcome to the second issue of THE League Magazine.
We hope you enjoyed issue one and this time around we have (sadly) more obituaries as well as a memorable match to reflect on for Arsenal fans, a look at perhaps Tottenham Hotspur’s first great player and reviews of four new books.
ANDY GORAM 1964-2022
Former Scotland international goalkeeper Andy Goram sadly lost his battle with cancer in June.
Goram, who represented Scotland 43 times at football as well as five cricket appearances at cricket played for a number of clubs during a playing career that spanned 22 years. Born in Bury in 1964 – the son of former professional goalkeeper Lewis Goram who hailed from Edinburgh, he started off at West Bromwich Albion but failed to break into the first team. A move to Oldham brought first-team football and he spent six years as first choice at Boundary Park before returning to his parents’ homeland and joining Hibernian.for a fee of £325,000.
During his time at Easter Road, Goram served as club captain, scored in open play, and earned first national team call-up when then-Scotland boss Alex Ferguson chose him for the Hampden Park friendly against East Germany. This call came after he had been chosen for an England Under-21 squad by Howard Wilkinson although he was denied a start when the manager preferred Portsmouth’s Alan Knight.
A regular during Rangers’ early to mid 90s dominance in Scotland he claimed Scottish Footballer of the Year honours in the treble-winning campaign on 1992-93 and established himself as one of the game’s top keepers.
Goram finally left Rangers in 1998 and had brief spells with Notts County and Sheffield United before returning to Scotland and settling at Motherwell. Manchester United (where he collected a Premier League winners medal despite making just two appearances), Hamilton Academical, Coventry City, Oldham Athletic again, Queen of the South and Elgin City all featured on his late career resume before he finally hung up his gloves in 2004.
Whilst Goram’s football career has been well documented, his four appearances for Scotland at cricket are less well-known and he is the only man to represent his country at the two sports. A left-handed batsman and right-arm medium-pace bowler, his cricket career was effectively ended by Rangers boss Walter Smith who refused to allow him to combine the two careers.
After he stopped playing Goram assumed a coaching role and he worked for a number of clubs before leaving the sport just a few years ago.
After announcing in May of this year that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, Andy Goram passed away on 2 July. He will be remembered as, perhaps Rangers’ greatest-ever goalkeeper
ANDY LOCHHEAD 1941-2022
It is a well-worn cliche but has to be said. If you needed a photograph to illustrate an ‘Old-fashioned Centre Forward’ you could certainly do worse than use one of Andy Lochhead.
The Scot, who sadly passed away in March at the age of 81, gave fine service to each of his four English professional clubs whilst also enjoying a brief stint in the NASL.
Born in Milngavie, Stirlingshire, Andrew Lorimar Lochhead was spotted playing junior football for local team Renfrew Juniors by Burnley scout Jimmy Stein and moved to Turf Moor in 1958,
He made his debut for the Clarets in the first away game of the 1960-61 season replacing the injured Ray Pointer as the reigning champions lost 2-1 to Manchester City.
Lochhead returned to the reserves until March when he was one of ten players called up for the match at Chelsea as manager Harry Potts chose to rest most of his first-teamers ahead of the European Cup match with Hamburg. He scored twice in a 4-4 draw and added another before the end of the season.
It was back to the reserves for the Scot for the 1961-62 campaign with just two first-team appearances but the following season saw the big breakthrough.
Lochhead replaced Jimmy Robson as the first choice centre-forward. He scored in the 2-0 home win over Leyton Orient in September kicking off a run where he found the net eight times in six matches. He ended the season as Burnley’s top scorer, grabbing 20 goals and winning a Scotland Under-23 cap along the way as the Clarets finished the campaign in third.
Lochhead top scored again the following season finding the net 14 times including a memorable four-goal haul in the 6-1 Boxing Day thrashing of Manchester United. He went one better during the following campaign, netting five times on the last day of the season as the Clarets hammered Chelsea 6-2.
He was edged out of top scorer honours for the club during that season as strike partner Willie Irvine found the 22 times one more than Lochhead.
Northern Irishman Irvine did even better in 1965-66 scoring 37 times in all competitions to set a new club record whilst Lochhead, his presence and physicality helping his teammate chipped in with 24 of his own including another five-goal haul, this time against Bournemouth in the FA Cup.
The Scot top-scored again in the 1966-67 season and netted six times in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup to help Burnley reach the quarter-final.
After reaching a century of goals for the club in 1967-68 and scoring four times in the early stages for the following campaign, Lochhead was somewhat surprisingly sold to Leicester City for £80,000. His totals for Burnley were 128 goals (including three or more on seven occasions) in 266 matches.
He spent just over a season at Filbert Street, reaching the 1969 FA Cup final where the Foxes lost to Manchester City and scoring 12 times. But new new club were relegated and he was soon on the move again, this time to Aston Villa.
He reached another cup final in 1971, the time the League Cup where Vila lost out to Spurs and in 1971-72 he was voted Midland Footballer of the Year after his team won the 3rd Division title.
Another move, and another 3rd Division crown would follow with Oldham Athletic, whom the Scot joined in the summer and where he paired with another former top flight front man in Tony Hateley, claiming the title in 1973-74.
Oldham proved to be Lochhhead’s last port of call in England with two seasons at Boundary Park and a brief spell in NASL with Denver Dynamos in the middle.
When he finally retired in 1975, Lochhead and spent 15 years in the game, making almost 500 league appearances and finding the net 159 times.
After retiring the Scot moved back to second home Burnley, becoming landlord at the Bay Horse public house and later steward at Ighten Mount Bowling Club.
He would also spend time with former strike partner Willie Irvine giving fans ground tours at Turf Moor and reminiscing about the old days.
Andy Lochhead was a tough player, giving as good as he got against the many hard centre-halves playing in the 60s and 70s. He is remembered fondly by fans of all the sides he played for and as a difficult opponent by all of those he played against.
MEMORABLE MATCHES 2: DRAKE’S SEVEN
Aston Villa v Arsenal. 14 December 1935
On 6th January 1934 champions Arsenal suffered a devastating blow when their inspirational Manager Herbert Chapman passed away from Pneumonia. Reserve team manager Joe Shaw took over on a temporary basis and led the Gunners to their second successive title.
Chapman had already tried to sign Southampton centre-forward Ted Drake and in March, Shaw, along with managing director (and future manager) George Allison persuaded him to make the move, parting with £6,500.
Drake signed too late to win a title-winners medal but the following season he topped the scoring charts with 42 goals in 41 games as the North Londoners raced to their third successive championship finishing fourth points clear of Sunderland.
With four in a game four times and three hat-tricks Drake had already shown that he was capable of scoring in bunches, but was only a foretaste of things to come.
Arsenal’s match against Middlesbrough, scheduled for December 7th was postponed due to fog and played two days later. A 2-0 win left them in 4th place in the table six points behind leaders Sunderland.
Welshman Ehud Rogers got both of the Gunners goals that day whilst Drake, who had scored 11 goals to date during the campaign, missed a couple of sitters.
Five days later Arsenal travelled to Villa Park to play the bottom club.
Villa had already lost 7-2 to Middlesbrough, 7-0 to West Bromwich Albion and 6-2 to Grimsby Town and invested heavily in six new players, including a number of Scots, in November and early December in a bid to turn things around. It hadn’t been going well and they were trounced 5-0 at Manchester City a week before.
However, the Daily Mirror preview on the day of the clash warned Arsenal; ‘Villa aren’t so bad!’ ‘Adjutant’ wrote: “I feel sure that Villa will improve, and unless Arsenal can take advantage of the strangeness to English football of [George] Cummings and [Alex] Massie, they may not win.
Despite their struggles, Villa had no trouble drawing a crowd and 60,000 packed into Villa Park to watch their team face the champs.
The teams:
Aston Villa: Morton, Blair, Cummings, Massie, Griffiths, Wood, Williams, Astley, Palethorpe, Dix, Houghton.
Arsenal: Wilson, Male, Hapgood, Crayston, Roberts, Copping, Rogers, Bowden, Drake, Bastin, Beasley.
For the first 12 minutes the match was pretty even. Then in the 13th, Drake drifted to the left in an attempt to get away from the attentions of Welsh international centre-half Tom Griffiths. Accepting a pass from Pat Beasley, he cut in, slipped the ball through Griffiths’ legs and fired a shot which bounced in front of Villa ‘keeper Harry Morton and beat him on the bounce.
This habit of drifting away from the middle seemed to befuddle the home defence. The Sunday Pictorial wrote: “Time after time Drake would bear down on the home goal with the defence wondering just where he had come from”.
It took another 13 minutes for Drake to bag his second, and probably, the best of the bunch. This time he collected a pass from Cliff Bastin, shouldered off challenges from Griffiths and Cummings and beat Morton with a beauty of a shot to score what Ivan Sharpe in the Sunday Chronicle called; “A glorious goal – about the best I have seen this season”.
On 31 minutes the hat-trick goal came and it had an element of luck about it. A shot from Pat Beasley was deflected by Blair playing Drake onside and he scored with a simple tap-in.
That was it until the break but right after it the centre-forward picked up again.
After 47 minutes Drake again got the better of Cummings and surprised Morton with a snap shot. 4-0.
Just three minutes later a tussle for the ball near the corner flag ended with the ball being passed back to the Drake who fired home for number five
Another five minutes passed and he struck again, from 20 yards out, driving the ball past a hapless Morton with deadly accuracy to bring up the double hat-trick.
Almost immediately Villa got a consolation through Jack Palethorpe but Arsenal were straight back onto the attack. Drake’s seventh shot of the match bounced down off the crossbar and was cleared amid claims that it had crossed the line.
With three minutes remaining a cross field ball from Bastin found Drake in acres of space and he easily scored number seven. ‘Seven is my lucky number’ he said after the match.
The Sunday Pictorial headlined the match ‘Plain Mr. Drake’s Armada Act’ and wrote that: “In the days of good Queen Bess a certain man named Drake – Sir Francis of that ilk – smashed up the Spanish Armada.
“Yesterday at Villa Park plain Mr. Drake – Ted this time – smashed the Villa’s team of stars”.
Drake’s seven in a match equalled a record set by Jimmy Ross 47 years before when, on his debut for Preston North End he got all seven against Stoke.
JOHN CAMERON: THE FIRST GREAT SPUR
Given that the history of Spurs is sprinkled with great Scots it is probably apt that the club’s first ‘great’ had his roots in Ayr.
John Cameron was born in 1872 and first played at centre-forward for local side Ayr Parkhouse before joining Queens Park. But he only spent a single season with the (then) giants, winning a single cap for his country in a 3-3 draw with Wales before work took him south and he joined Cunard in Liverpool. This saw a move to Everton and also a switch from centre-forward to an inside -forward position.
The next switch came when his new club persuaded Cameron to turn professional, making him one of the highest earners in the game and enabling him to devote himself full time to the game. This move came after Cameron had returned to Scotland a couple of times to play for Queens Park. The Toffees wanted Cameron’s full-time commitment and needed him to turn pro to get it, and in getting it made him one of the highest-paid player in the game..
In 1898 Cameron became involved in the movement for the unionisation of Footballers. The movement came about after the Football League decided to impose a maximum wage of £4 per week, a decision which the Scot, somewhat understandably, was vehemently opposed to.
Thus, with the support of most of the top players of the time the Association Footballers Union was formed with Cameron as secretary and treasurer (another Scotsman, Jack Bell also of Everton, was chairman). The Union insisted that they were not formed to focus on wage issues but on transfer negotiations with the aim being to include players in any discussions on moves rather than just the clubs involved,
However Cameron soon left the Union after he left Football League Everton, where he had scored 12 goals in 42 games, to join Southern League Spurs.
Cameron was brought to North London as part of a signing spree by new manager Frank Brettell who had himself only just arrived from Bolton. But within a few months of his move south the manager himself was on his way out after being offered a better-paid position at Portsmouth.
In his short time under Bettrell, Cameron impressed the directors enough that, in February 1899 he was offered the position of secretary-player-manager as his replacement. In his first game in charge the team came from behind to beat Sunderland the ‘team of all the talents’ in an FA Cup tie at Northumberland Road with Cameron scoring the winner.
Cameron finished his first season at the club as top scorer with 34 goals as the team took 7th in the Southern League and reached the 3rd Round of the FA Cup.
The 1899-1900 season was Cameron’s first full term in charge of Spurs. This was the season the club left their Northumberland Road home and moved a short distance, leasing land next to the White Hart pub from Charrington’s Brewery and moving the stands to their new location. A crowd of 5,000 attended the first official match at the new ground, known at that stage as ‘The High Road Ground (it became known as White Hart Lane after WW1) a 4-1 friendly win over Notts County.
Cameron signed a number of new players and led from the front. In his first season in charge the team, including four Scotsman (Harry ‘Tiger’ Erentz, Sandy Tait, John Copeland and Cameron himself), Irishman Jack Kirwan and two Welshmen in centre-half Ted Hughes and experienced skipper Jack Jones, won the Southern League for the first time, at just the fourth time of asking, finishing three points clear of Portsmouth.
In 1900-01 Cameron added a fifth Scot to the line-up with the crucial signing of Alexander ‘Sandy’ Brown from Portsmouth and although the team’s league form dropped off a little as they finished in 5th place in the Southern League but this was more than made up for by the FA Cup exploits of this side gathered from far and wide (one fascinating fact is that not a single player from that season’s regular starting XI was born within 100 miles of White Hart Lane).
The 1st Round draw was anything but kind to Spurs as they were given the task of taking on the mighty Preston North End who had knocked them out in the previous year’s competition. After a 1-1 home draw Cameron took his team to Deepdale with fans fearing the worst but they recorded a famous 4-2 victory with the player-manager himself opening the scoring and Brown weighing in with a hat-trick.
Thing didn’t get any easier in the 2nd round with Spurs drawn to meet holders Bury. Despite the tie being at White Hart Land Cameron’s team were underdogs with Tottenham’s hopes being described in one contemporary publication as ‘the wish being father of the thought’.
Bury took the lead after just two minutes and things looked glum for the home team but they settled down and slowly got a grip on the game. Cameron set up Brown for the equaliser. From then on Sours took charge and it came as no surprise when Brown headed the winner.
In the 3rd Round a 1-1 draw at Elm Park where the Londoners were lucky to survive after a clear penalty was not given, brought Reading back to White Hart Lane where they were comfortably seen off by a 3-0 scoreline (two of them from Brown) setting up an Easter Monday semi-final against West Bromwich Albion at Villa Park.
After wins over Southampton on Good Friday and Bristol City on Saturday in Southern League fixtures, Cameron took his team to Birmingham for the semi where they were initially denied entry by an ‘over-zealous guardian of the gate’. Eventually allowed in they fought an even first-half which finished goalless but took control in the second period scoring four unanswered goals, all from the prodigious Brown.
And so to the final, just 12 days after the semi, with Spurs set to face another giant of the game in the form of Sheffield United at Crystal Palace. With the Yorkshire team on a win bonus of £10 per man and the Londoners on £25 an immense crowd of 110,820 watched a match full of drama and controversy. Fred Priest gave United the lead but a pair of goals from Brown (who else?) turned things around. Walter Bennett then equalised after the ball had apparently gone out of play. Cameron’s men had numerous chances but failed to find a way past ‘Fatty’ Foulke again sending the match to a replay.
The replay was seen by Cameron as offering a great advantage to Spurs. “Playing at the Palace was difficult” he said after the first match; “owing to our inexperience of the peculiarities of the ground”.
It was Cameron who gave the Londoners the lead, and although Bennett equalised Spurs were always on top and goals from Tom Smith and, inevitably, Brown wrapped up the win, brought the cup back to London and took it outside the Football League.
So the trophy came to White Hart Lane for the first time, fired by the astonishing record of that man Brown, who was born in the football-mad village of Glenbuck (birthplace of Bill Shankly among many others) and became known as ‘The Glenbuck Goalgetter’. He scored an astonishing 15 goals – a record – in the competition. Just as remarkably, by the autumn of that same year and after less than two seasons with the club the star striker was gone having scored 96 times in 113 games across all competitions, moving back to Portsmouth and later on to Middlesbrough and Luton Town before eventually emigrating to New Zealand.
Spurs would go on to finish runners-up twice more during Cameron’s reign as manager but that 1901 campaign was clearly the zenith of his time in charge of the club.
In 1907 after what were described as ‘various differences of opinion’ Cameron announced his resignation as manager, having already hung up his boots a couple of years before. It was initially reported that he would take over at Chelsea but negotiations fell through. Instead he worked as a football journalist for a short time before moving to Germany where he took over as manager at Dresdner SC.
Before leaving for Germany he co-wrote, along with ‘Two old Spurs’ ‘The White Hart – A Souvenir of Spurs’ Entry To The English League’ which was published in 1908, and he also wrote ‘Tottenham Hotspur – It’s Story And Progress’ for The Book of Football.
Cameron was still working in Germany when the 1st World War broke out and he was interned at Ruhleben, a civilian detention camp near Berlin alongside football greats Fred Pentland and Steve Bloomer. He played a major role in football at the camp and led a ‘World XI’ team that played two matches against an ‘England XI’ led by another former Spur John Brearley, who Cameron had brought to North London from Everton.
When he was eventually repatriated Cameron returned to Scotland and took over as manager of Ayr United but he spent only a year at the club before retiring and becoming a full-time journalist.
He carried on as a respected writer until his death at the age of 63 in 1935.
As a player John Cameron was a truly classy inside-forward and a solitary cap for Scotland would seem scant reward for a player of his class, although he spent played mostly in England at a time when the Scottish selectors rarely chose ‘Anglos’ to play. As a player-manager and manager he led Tottenham to their first major honour and signed a number of top players for the club, keeping them at the highest level throughout his time in charge.
In his article for ‘The Book of Football’ Cameron wrote; ‘May one not say without the slightest suspicion of egotism that no club has left a mark upon football in the South of England as the Tottenham Hotspur?’. Despite the lack of egotism, there is little doubt that one of the major factors in this being true was the influence of Cameron himself.
NEW BOOKS
There are three great new books recently released by Pitch Publishing as well as a new effort from Gate 17 that benefits an excellent charity.
GOODISON MEMORIES By Steve Zocek
Pitch Publishing £16.99
With a new stadium on the horizon Goodison Park, one of the great cathedrals of English football, will soon become nothing but a fond memory.
Taking this into account Steve Zocek’s Goodison Memories is an interesting look back at Everton’s home, through the eyes of opponents.
So, instead of Toffee heroes we get the likes of Paul Merson, Willie Morgan, ‘Chopper’ Harris, John Barnes and Pat Crerand telling us what it’s like to come up against Alan Ball, Alex Young and Bob Latchford
Filled with great memories and wonderful anecdotes and with an introduction by John Motson, Goodison Memories is a unique and excellent insight into what it’s like to play at the fabled ground.
TALES FROM THE SHED; An Anthology edited by Mark Worrall
Gate 17 £8.95 – Available on Amazon
Another ground that has seen many memorable matches is Stamford Bridge and Gate 17 have put together Tales From The Shed – a fan’s eye view of the stadium, and of supporting the club.
Sales of the book benefit the ‘Big Stamford Bridge Sleep Out’ an annual event which raises funds for the Stoll Foundatiion, the leading provider of supported housing for vulnerable veterans.
Editor Mark Worrall, who has himself written some excellent books about the club and who runs the Gate 17 collective, has gathered together 34 Chelsea fans to tell their own most memorable Blues story.
And they provide some fine memories with some of the team’s biggest matches covered, as well as some which relate specifically to the writer.
Tales From The Shed is a book that Chelsea fans in particular will love, and in buying it they will provide much-needed funds for an excellent cause.
A DIRECTOR’S TALE By Dave Thomas
Pitch Publishing £19.99
And here is the other end of the spectrum. In A Director’s Tale, Dave Thomas takes us inside the boardroom to see what life is like at the top of the football tree.
With access to the diaries of Claret’s board member Derek Gill we go inside the club during the tumultuous early 1980s.
With John Bond as manager Burnley achieved a surprise promotion quickly followed by two relegations and the book gives tremendous insight into the turmoil at the club with Chairman and Manager at loggerheads.
The book is a fascinating inside look at the goings-on at a club in turmoil and will interest Burnley fans in particular and anyone who wants to know what really goes on in football’s ‘corridors of power.
WEST HAM UNITED – From East End Family to Globalised Fandom By Jack Fawbert
Pitch Publishing £16.99
It’s back to the fans for this book on East London’s Hammers with a look through the club’s history and how they have grown.
From starting out as works team Thames Ironworks through to their their appearance in the first Wembley FA Cup final and providing three of the stars for England’s World Cup triumph, West Ham now proudly reside in the former Olympic stadium from 2012.
And the fan base has grown geographically with Supporters Clubs in operation all over the globe, many flying in to attend matches at various times during the season.
The book is about those fans, both local and all over the world and Fawbert, whose son Nick lives in Chicago, looks at the many long-distance supporters (the club has a massive 174 groups all over the globe) and why it is that they are Hammers fans rather than followers of the so-called ‘glamour teams’.
With a foreword, by 60s great Jack Burkitt and some great photography, the book is an interesting look at football and fandom with an East-End tint.