Wembley Wizards
Encyclopedia
| style="font-size: 90%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> |  ENGLAND: |
|
| GK | 1 | Ted Hufton Ted Hufton Arthur Edward Hufton , better known as Ted Hufton, was an England international goalkeeper who earned six caps for his country.... |
| FB | 2 | Roy Goodall Roy Goodall Frederick Roy Goodall was a professional footballer, who played for Huddersfield Town for 16 years and played 25 games for England, 12 as captain.... (c) |
| FB | 3 | Herbert Jones Herbert Jones (footballer) Herbert "Taffy" Jones was an English professional footballer. He played as a defender.-Early life:Jones trained as a plumber before World War I. He lied to enlist, signing up illegally aged 15. During the war, he was stationed in France. He took part in the famous events of Christmas 1915... |
| RH | 4 | Willis Edwards Willis Edwards Willis Edwards was an English former professional football player and manager.-Biography:Willis Edwards was born in the mining village of Newton, North East Derbyshire, not far from Chesterfield and Alfreton... |
| CH | 5 | Thomas Wilson Tom Wilson (footballer) Thomas "Tom" Wilson was a footballer who was a member of the Huddersfield Town team that won the Football League three times in the 1920s.-Playing career:... |
| LH | 6 | Henry Healless Henry Healless Henry Healless was an English international footballer, who played as a centre half.-Career:Born in Blackburn, Healless played professionally for Blackburn Rovers, and earned two caps for England between 1924 and 1928.... |
| RW | 7 | Joe Hulme Joe Hulme Joseph Harold Anthony "Joe" Hulme was an English footballer and cricketer.-Football career:Born in Stafford, Staffordshire Hulme usually played as a right-winger... |
| IR | 8 | Bob Kelly Bob Kelly (footballer) Robert "Bob" Kelly was an English professional football player. He broke the British football transfer record when he moved from Burnley to Sunderland for £6,550 in 1925. He spent two years at the Roker Park Club before joining Huddersfield Town... |
| CF | 9 | Dixie Dean Dixie Dean William Ralph Dean , better known as Dixie Dean, was an English football player. Dean originally started his career with Birkenhead based Tranmere Rovers before moving on to Everton, the club he had supported as a child, where he became one of the most prolific goal-scorers in English football... |
| IL | 10 | Joe Bradford Joe Bradford Joseph "Joe" Bradford was an English professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Born in Peggs Green, near Coalville, Leicestershire, Bradford made nearly 450 appearances for Birmingham in all competitions, scoring 267 goals... |
| LW | 11 | Billy Smith Billy Smith (footballer born 1895) William Henry "Billy" Smith was a professional footballer who played most of his career at Huddersfield Town.... |
SCOTLAND:
Jack Harkness (footballer)
John Diamond "Jack" Harkness MBE was a Scottish international footballer, best remembered as the goalkeeper in the famous "Wembley Wizards" Scotland side of 1928.-Club career:...
Tommy Law
Thomas "Tommy" Law was a Scottish footballer. Playing at full-back, he spent his entire professional career at Chelsea....
Jimmy Gibson (footballer born 1901)
James Davidson Gibson was a Scottish footballer who played for Kirkintilloch Rob Roy, Glasgow Ashfield, Partick Thistle and Aston Villa. His career spanned 19 years, from 1917 to 1936....
Jimmy McMullan
Jimmy McMullan was a Scottish football player and manager. McMullan won 16 Scotland caps as a player at half-back and was part of the famous "Wembley Wizards" side of 1928.-Early life:...
(c)
Alex Jackson
Alexander Skinner Jackson was a Scottish footballer.Alex Jackson was born in Renton in 1905. A highly-talented winger, known as the Gay Cavalier, he was particularly adept at dribbling and free kicks. He initially played for Renton Victoria Football Club but was transferred to Dumbarton F.C. in...
James Dunn (Scottish footballer)
James "Jimmy" Dunn was a Scottish professional international footballer, most famous for being part of the 1928 Wembley Wizards side....
Hughie Gallacher
Hugh Kilpatrick "Hughie" Gallacher was a Scottish football player in the 1920s and 1930s. In 624 senior games, Gallacher scored 463 times....
Alex James (footballer)
Alexander Wilson James was a Scottish footballer, and is most noted for his success with Arsenal, where he is regarded as one of the club's greatest players of all time. James played as an inside forward, as a supporting player for the main strikers...
Alan Morton
Alan Lauder Morton was a Scottish international footballer and 'Wembley Wizard'. He was known for his stirring wing play as an outside-left and commitment to Rangers. He retired from active play in 1933.-Early life:...
Aftermath
When asked for his comment after the game, Alex James simply beamed a smile and said, “We could have had ten!”Back in Scotland the pubs did rather well and the newspapers were not slow in piling praise on the heads of those little no-hopers of the Scottish side. The Glasgow Herald was a typical example when they said: ‘ Want of height was looked upon as a handicap to the Scots’ attack, but the Scottish forwards had the ability and skill of such high degree as to make their physical shortcomings of little consequence.’ Scotland skipper Jimmy McMullan took time out from the after match celebrations to comment on the way he saw the game:
“I want to emphasise that all our forwards are inherently clever,” he said. “But I wish to say that the English tactics were wrong. The Saxon wing-halves paid more attention to the wingers than the inside forwards – therefore the latter were given a lot of space. It is a common thing in England to let wing halves, and not fullbacks, mark the wingers. It doesn’t pay and I don’t know why they pursue it.”
It was a gentlemanly comment, as he did not belittle the English effort or try to elevate his own side to the abnormal, but merely made an observation which was probably just about right. By adopting those tactics, England placed themselves at the mercy of a much-underrated Scotland attack. The rain made matters worse for England too.
It was also a historic day in the story of Wembley Stadium. In a booklet published by the stadium owners in 1945, the story is told like this:
"English football fans shudder when the year 1928 is mentioned. The traditional enemy, Scotland came to Wembley and gave the Sassenachs a first class lesson in the art of playing football. So much so that, to this day, that Scottish team is still spoken of as 'The Wembley Wizards’.
All Scotland seemed to come to town for that match, and the fans actually brought their own scaling ladders to make sure of getting into the stadium. As a result of this, Wembley afterwards became a barbed wire fortress.
The King and Queen of Afghanistan were among the mammoth crowd who saw the Scots make rings around England. It was Scotland’s day without a doubt. Alan Morton, Glasgow Rangers’ Wee Blue Devil, and Alex Jackson, then with Huddersfield and later with Chelsea, were on the Scottish wings and the English defenders just couldn’t do anything about them. Also of course there was the great Alex James – he of long pants who rarely scored a goal but made openings for hundreds."
Ivan Sharpe
Ivan Sharpe
Ivan Gordon Sharpe was an English amateur association football player. Although an amateur himself, he played for several professional clubs, including Watford, Derby County— with whom he won the Football League First Division in 1911–12–and later Leeds United...
, the ex-player and writer, commented on the victory for the Athletic News
Athletic News
The Athletic News was a Manchester-based newspaper formed in 1875. Its sole purpose was to report sporting news.In 1931 it merged with Sporting Chronicle, part of Bell's Life in London....
: "England were not merely beaten. They were bewildered – run to a standstill, made to appear utterly inferior by a team whose play was as cultured and beautiful as I ever expect to see." More than 30 years later he was still writing the same thing, adding that he had never seen a performance to match it in all the time that he had been watching football.
The Wizards were never selected again en masse for an international match. Tom Bradshaw never played another game for Scotland, despite effectively marking Dixie Dean out of the game.