Middlesbrough in great form
HIT FOUR GOALS
Middlesbrough 4, Blackpool 0
WHEREVER Blackpool play these days they pack the house. There was the old familiar report from Middlesbrough today. “All stands full” notices were being posted an hour before the kick-off at Ayresome Park, and as the afternoon cleared after the morning’s rain nearly 40,000 people were inside the gates.
I hear that Stanley Matthews is still in bed with the attack of tonsillitis which put him out of the game.
Blackpool, who were quartered last night at Saltburn, again played Sammy Nelson, the Irishman, as the England forward’s understudy.
Three of the men who were in the England-Sweden international on Wednesday were in this afternoon’s attractive cast - Stanley Mortensen for Blackpool, and George Hardwick, the England captain and Will Mannion for Middlesbrough.
Teams:
MIDDLESBROUGH: Goodfellow, Robinson (R), Hardwick, Bell, Whitaker, Gordon, Spuhler, McCormack, Fenton, Mannion, Walker (G).
BLACKPOOL: Wallace, Shimwell, Suart, Farrow, Hayward, Johnston, Nelson, Mortensen, McIntosh, McCall, Munro.
Referee: Mr, H. Berry (Huddersfield).
THE GAME
Not only Blackpool but Middlesbrough wore black armlets in memory of Col. W. Parkinson. Blackpool played in white, won the toss, and had the aid of a rising wind.
Whitaker, the £6,000 centre-half from Chesterfield, halted McIntosh in Blackpool’s first attack after Johnston, Farrow and Nelson had created positions for the centre-forward.
Another raid ended in Goodfellow fielding Munro’s fast centre from McCall’s neat pass. Both forward lines played attractive football.
FIRST CORNER
Middlesbrough’s left wing forced Shimwell to give a corner almost the first time they crossed the halfway line in the third minute.
That corner might have produced a goal, a bouncing ball skidding away from Spuhler as the outside right moved to it in front of an open goal.
Both defences were constantly being outpaced by forwards releasing studied, short passes.
It was in midfield some of the best football I have seen this season.
One long crossfield pass by McCall sent Nelson away on a clear run which ended in his crossing a centre which Whitaker headed out.
Fenton and Walker were outwitted by Shimwell when Middlesbrough’s front line swept on an open front into the game again.
Yet in spite of this fast football by the two front lines no goal was near until Micky Fenton, one of Blackpool's guests in the war days leaped to a high centre and headed at a great pace from 15 yards out a ball which was flying low over the line as Wallace leaped and reached it at full length near the far post.
This Fenton can take his chances. He has taken 13 already this season to become the First Division's leading marksman.
INCIDENTS
There was one every minute
In the other goal, Goodfellow snatched Munro’s free-kick from out of a swarm of men massed in front of him.
There was an incident every minute. Hayward shattered one down-the-middle raid by Middlesbrough’s line - a line constantly put into action by the audacious ball juggling of Wilf Mannion.
Fifteen minutes had gone and there was nearly a goal for Middlesbrough.
Mannion released another of those long forward passes which are his speciality. McCormack chased it, reached it a split second before Wallace dived at his feet almost on the penalty area edge, hooked wide of him a ball which rolled out by the far post of an empty goal.
That was a big escape for Blackpool, who were afterwards in retreat everywhere for a time.
They surrendered a corner in a nonstop pressure which included the missing of a chance by Spuhler as he shot from Walker’s long pass high over the bar.
SHOT WIDE
In one picture raid created by Johnstons long, across the field pass to Nelson, Munro suddenly appeared in the inside right position, shot wide with Middlesbrough s defence for once torn wide open.
McIntosh missed a post by a couple of inches as Blackpool's raids continued.
Both goals were under fire until in the 35th minute Middlesbrough took the lead with a goal - a magnificent goal.
The right wing created it and completed it. Spuhler made the pass as he saw his partner standing unmarked and waiting for it.
McCORMACK took it, outwitted two men, cut fast inside, shot a ball which flew across the face of the goal, hit the inside of the far post and cannoned off it over the line with 40.000 people cheering a goal which deserved every cheer it was given.
Within two minutes it should have been 2-0. With Middlesbrough raiding all out a gift chance offered itself as the ball was crossed from the right wing again.
Walker, the outside right from Bradford, must still be wondering how he shot wide of a post with the defenceless Wallace alone in front of him.
Another minute and McCormack headed wide from a position where goals are scored nine times out of 10.
HIT POST
Another two minutes and with these Middlesbrough forwards playing the sort of football which this line can play, Fenton hit the foot of a post with Blackpool’s defence scattered and torn apart.
It was remarkable football which Middlesbrough played between the 30th and 40th minutes. It might have won the game. Only a resolute defence had limited it to one goal,
And after all that tearaway pressure which might have riddled the Blackpool defence with four goals in five minutes, the Blackpool forwards won two corners in a minute and were unfortunate not to make it 1-1 with two minutes of the half left.
The second corner was crossed from the left. Anywhere the ball was repelled. To Farrow it fell. The right-half saw the goal gaping unexpectedly in front of him, shot and hit the top of the bar with the unsighted Goodfellow seconds late in his leap at the rising ball.
But nobody could dispute that Middlesbrough’s direct football in the last 15 minutes of the half entitled them to the lead.
Half-time: Middlesbrough 1, Blackpool 0.
Second Half
The second half opened a few Seconds late. They forgot to bring out the ball Blackpool began with Mortensen at centre forward and McIntosh at inside right. Hayward took the ball away from Mannion and in the end repulsed a massed Middlesbrough attack all on his own.
In the next minute McCormack raced after a forward pass, was dispossessed by Hayward as the ball bounced awkwardly in front of him, and fell in a heap with the crowd demanding a penalty.
REFUSED
I think the centre-half played the ball. So did Mr. Berry who refused all Middlesbrough’s fevered petitions.
All the punch was in the Middlesbrough forward line at this time in spite of a series of heat, precise raids by the Blackpool forward line which too seldom reached shooting distance McCormack shot fast into the side net as Middlesbrough continued to raid on an open front.
Blackpool’s front line was being remodelled so often that I began to lose count of ail the shuffles.
At one time Nelson alone was in the position in which he 'opened the game. Munro was his partner. On the left McCall was in the wing position and McIntosh inside.
For a time this line raided frequently, but still it had not Middlesbrough’s direct plan of action.
Then Wallace fell full length to make the clearance of the match as Mannion shot wide of him from five yards out.
But these Middlesbrough forwards could not be denied a goal indefinitely. No. 2 came in the 17th minute of the half.
The elusive Mannion inevitably opened the raid, and it was SPUHLER, who, with a great cross shot from 10 yards out, got the goal.
Blackpool were outplayed completely before and after this goal.
For minutes shot after shot rained on a Blackpool goal which has never been under such a bombardment this season.
The third goal came with 15 minutes left and for all practical purposes settled the match. Again it was a great shot.
All the afternoon FENTON had been chasing his 14th goal of the season, had missed three or four goals in the process.
This time he took a chance when no one expected him to take it, hit low from 15 yards out a ball which never lifted an inch above the grass and was in the back of the net with Wallace still falling to it.
With three minutes left Fenton took a free-kick 30 yards out, hit the underside of the bar with yet another great shot.
Down cannoned the ball in front of McCORMACK who, in front of an open goal, hit the underside of the bar and stood watching as his shot dropped down over the line.
Result:
MIDDLESBROUGH 4 (McCormack 35, 87 mins, Spuhler 62 min, Fenton 75 min)
BLACKPOOL 0,
If the Middlesbrough forward line is not on its day the best in the First Division, I should like to know the one that is.
This was one of its days. From the 30th minute the Middlesbrough forwards played football which I have not seen equalled or even approached this season.
Nobody could blame Blackpool’s defence for the surrender of four goals to these five young men, who, in the open, were fast and aggressive.
In front of goal in the second half they shot like a battery of artillery.
It was magnificent football in its design and everything else. That Blackpool’s defence was outwitted and outpaced by it is no reflection on it.
The goalkeeper, his two fullbacks and Hayward were as resolute as I have ever seen them and, while the forwards were in the game, they could not complain that Farrow and Johnston were not giving them a service of the ball.
But these forwards never played or were permitted to play to the plan which made the Middlesbrough forwards such a dynamic, almost invincible, force.
Munro in the second half, and Mortensen before the interval, were the only two who stood out.
This is Blackpool’s biggest defeat of the season, the first time the defence has lost more than two goals in a match. If it had not battled over every inch it could have lost half-a-dozen goals today.
LEADER OF BLACKPOOL FOOTBALL
"W.P.” knew what he wanted
and went out to get it
By “Spectator”
COL. WILLIAM PARKINSON, J.P., was the presiding genius of Blackpool football. He was a born leader, and yet he would have no traffic with dictatorship.
Too many people had an entirely wrong impression of his exact status at Blackpool.
Repeatedly I have been asked this week, “Now what happens?” The inference has been that last weekend's tragedy will plunge the club into the sort of financial crisis which followed the death of the Colonel’s brother, Sir Lindsay, in 1936.
The cases are not comparable.
When Sir Lindsay died the club had an overdraft of £21,000, and year after year was losing money.
Drastic action had to be taken. Within a few weeks the team’s star, Peter Doherty, had been transferred for the £10,000 which the creditors were demanding.
No overdraft
WHAT is the position today?
The overdraft has gone, since promotion-and-relegation football was reintroduced fees totalling between £18,000 and £19,000 have been paid for Stanley Matthews and Eddie Shimwell, but the astute bargaining of Manager Joe Smith and his directors has persuaded other clubs to pay nearly £30,000 for players surplus to Blackpool’s requirements.
This figure. I know, will be questioned, but it is as near to the correct total as makes no difference.
The question of £ s. d. should not rear its head when the board meets to consider its future now that its chief has been lost
In Scotland
Yet that factor apart, they will miss “W.P.” in Blackpool football.
He could be a law unto himself - and, as a consequence, an embarrassment to the board. He could never abide, would not tolerate, a wait-until-tomorrow policy. It was always now or never with the Colonel.
Last year, I recall, tired of chasing up to Scotland in all weathers over nearly impassable roads in one of the worst winters in history, he went to Edinburgh one day, called at the Hibernians’ ground, and made an offer for Gordon Smith, the Scottish outside-right.
£15,000 offer
“MY figure’s £15,000,” he said “Take it or leave it. The Hibernians left it, but if they had taken it a new world’s record, which would have been intact until Tommy Lawton went to Notts County last week, would have been created.
And the board knew nothing about that!
Yet, in spite of these audacious impetuosities, Col. Parkinson achieved such a lot for Blackpool football because he knew what he wanted and went out to get it that all else was pardonable.
And he was not a dictator. One case - the case of Jock Dodds - proves that.
When the big Scot came back from Ireland, prepared to sign and play - again for Blackpool, Col. Parkinson wanted to resign him. The rest of the board said “No.”
Majority rule
“WHAT could I do?” he asked me the day after this decision. “Majorities must rule - or where shall we be?”
Always he gave his manager, Mr. Joe Smith, complete freedom of action in the selection of the team.
Often he was in disagreement with him. but he took no action - even if he did not hold his peace.
His death is a grievous loss to Blackpool football, but it is not irreparable. His own conduct while he lived ensured that. I shall always be glad that I knew him. Take him for all in all - he was a man, a big man in a day when there are not many of them about.
Who is to be Col. Parkinson’s successor as chairman?
The man in the direct line of succession, the vice-chairman, Mr. Harry Evans, has every qualification, possesses an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game, and is known and esteemed wherever football is played on this and the other side of the Border.
Nor am I forgetting that it was when Mr. Evans was serving as honorary team manager that the club won its first promotion in 1930.
A formal invitation has already been made to him. I hope he accepts it.
Jottings from all parts
BY "SPECTATOR" 22 November 1947
THE DEADLY LEFT
MY No. 1 correspondent - a man possessing an obviously intimate knowledge of the game - Mr. Harry Jacks, of Pickmere - avenue, South Shore, advances the theory that left-foot players possess the deadliest shots in football.
He lists such stars as Jack Rowley, Eric Houghton, Cliff Bastin, Eric Roper, and, inevitably, Joe Smith.
And what about George Harrison, the Preston North End wing forward, who finished his career at Blackpool? There is no question about it - the man with the left foot often has dynamite in it.
***
NEW SHIRTS
BLACKPOOL took the field at Middlesbrough this afternoon in new white jerseys.
The jerseys were ordered for the Arsenal match a fortnight ago, but were not delivered in time. When they arrived they were stacked in a separate cupboard and escaped last weekend’s fire at the Blackpool ground.
Several sets of new tangerine jerseys and training sweaters have already been commissioned.
“We pride ourselves on being one of the smartest teams in the country on the field and in training kit,” says Manager Joe Smith.
NOTE: Blackpool had to play in white today to avoid a clash with Middlesbrough’s red.
BETWEEN Alec Forbes, the Scottish international wing-half of. Sheffield United, who played at Blackpool last weekend, and one of Blackpool “A” team’s recruits there is a close personal link.
When red-haired Alec left the Scottish junior club for Sheffield and the fame which so soon he won afterwards a 15-years-old unknown was introduced into the team. They were soon saying in Scotland, “He’s another Forbes.”
Blackpool heard the whisper, signed him. His name is Eddie Fenton.
Now if he follows in Alec’s footsteps . . . There are one or two good judges who say he may.
I NOTICED the name of the son of Jim McClelland, the former Blackpool and Middlesbrough forward, in a recent representative game. He is still on Blackburn Rovers’ books while completing his R.A.F. service.
Sometimes the generations succeed each other in this game. Manager Jack Hacking, of Accrington Stanley, who became an England goalkeeper after Blackpool had given him away, has a goalkeeper son. Matthew Barrass, another of the old school at Blackpool, has a son at Bolton who has already played in an international trial.
And there is George Mee the Second whose one week with his father’s old club was one of football’s minor tragedies this season. Crippled in his first match, he refused to hold the club to his contract.
FOR the second time in a fortnight Harry Johnston, the Blackpool captain, acting as 12th man for England, has this week been paid the international match fee of £20 for watching game instead of playing in it.
He would still have preferred to play. And one of these days, it is a nominal certainty, he will play again for his country. His only comment when he was left out of England’s team after last season’s Scottish match at Wembley was, “Well, now I must get back again.” He is nearly back already.
MORE and more the goalkeeper has become an essential part of a team’s attack.
The boot-it-anywhere clearance is now being replaced by the sensible one-armed throw to halfback or winger.
Joe Robinson in this way instigated one of Blackpool Reserve’s four goals against West Bromwich Albion recently.
Jock Wallace, Allen, of Queens Park Rangers, Bartram, of Charlton Athletic, and a host of other goalkeepers practise it.
Frank Swift too, uses the throw consistently,
***
FOR the benefit of all those folk who are beginning to complain that Blackpool players are wearing themselves out in internationals - no complaints by the players concerned! - it should be noted that England have not another match until the clash in Scotland on April 10, the date of Blackpool’s return match with Middlesbrough.
The matches in Czechoslovakia and Austria are reserved until mid-May, when the English season has ended.
***
STRANGE that two letters in one post this week should have asked the question “What full-back has played the best game against Stanley Matthews this season?’’ - and answered it - and given the same name.
Man for the honour - and I agree unreservedly with it - is “Ginger” Barker, of Huddersfield Town. This full-back who in his war days as a Blackpool guest was on Aston Villa’s books had a grand game against the England forward both at Blackpool and Huddersfield.
It was only in the second half of the Blackpool game that he faded out with one or two others - about 10 others.
It was during those 45 minutes that the Blackpool forwards scored four goals and played the best football I have seen them play this season.
JOHNNY MAPSON, the Sunderland goalkeeper who was given his first chance at Reading by Mr. Joe Smith, the Blackpool manager, claims to be the longest goal-kicker in the game today.
Often, he lands the ball 10 yards beyond the halfway line.
But what about Alec Roxburgh, the goal-keeper from Blackpool, who has gone to Barrow?
He has been clearing the halfway line for years and is still clearing it. Once, with a following wind, I saw one of his goal- kicks finish over the other goal-line for a goal-kick for his opposite number.
At Blackpool, where Alec still trains, they facetiously call his new team “The Spivs” - because they are “The Barrow boys.”
BLACKPOOL will have had to play in the old lily-white again at Middlesbrough this afternoon to avoid a colour clash with the home team’s red jerseys.
Now if it had been Stoke...
The Potteries club are superstitious, although what there is to be superstitious about in white I don’t pretend to know.
But they never play in all-white jerseys, if another colour is ordered transfer from red-and-white stripes to blue-and-white stripes.
MR TED GOODIER, manager of Rochdale, who signed Cyril Lawrence, the ex-sailor from Blackpool, to-lead his forwards is these days fielding another Blackpool signing, Hugh O’Donnell in the position.
This is in a forward line, too, which also contains Dick Withington, the forward who came as Stanley Mortensen’s partner to Blackpool.
O'Donnell has scored six goals in his last seven games, and is reported to want to play in the centre now for the rest of his days.
THE tragedy which overtook Blackpool Football Club last Saturday at the finish of the match against Sheffield United was just as big a blow to the Supporters’ Club.
Col. William Parkinson, J.P. the president, was more than a figurehead - he showed real enthusiasm and interest.
We extend our sincere sympathy to Col. Parkinson’s relatives.
Quarterly meeting
THE quarterly meeting will be held at the Jubilee Theatre, Blackpool, at 7-30, on Tuesday and will be followed by a sports quiz.
The secretary, Mr. F. W. Coope, J.P., will be the questionmaster, and on the platform it is hoped to have W. Capel Kirby, Archie Ledbrooke, and Harry Johnston, Stanley Mortensen Stanley Matthews and Frank Swift.
Competition
THE “Have a Go Joe” competition for guessing the weight of the players last Saturday was won by Mr. J. Coubors, of Harcourt-road, South Shore, who was only 48lb. out for the weight of the whole team.
Mr. Coubors is requested to call at the Supporters’ Club hut at the ground.
The ladies’ committee are holding two events at the Jubilee Theatre next week - a whist drive on Wednesday and a dance on Friday.
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