IN THE DAYS OF OLD NORTH END
— James W. Crabtree | 09/11/1901 —

Learning my football as I did in East Lancashire, it is only natural that the glamour which surrounded the doings of the famous old North End team should have had its influence upon me. It is not only probable, but almost certain, that no team of the future will ever have the reputation which North End possessed in my early football days. It would be almost impossible for such a team to be raised now, for the simple reason that the natural tendency is for the high-class players to get distributed more evenly and fairly than they were in those days. And not only that, but the peculiar conditions which rendered it possible for North End to be so much better than their fellows will never exist to favour any other team. If you were to ask me what made North End sweep all before them, I should reply that it was because they were for a time the only team playing football on a perfect system. Now all clubs — all leading clubs, that is — are playing on a perfect system. They do not all play perfect football, but they play it on the right system. I doubt if there will ever be any serious disparity between the principal clubs.

INITIATORS OF A NEW SYSTEM.

North End obtained a start which their contemporary rivals were not able to make up for nearly a decade. By initiating a new system of football, they obtained a unique position, and after that all was casy, for while their supremacy lasted they were able to introduce the best footballer of the day into any position which, in the opinion of the management, required strengthening. The club went along swimmingly on the principle that nothing succeeds like success. But how did they get such a formidable lead? Simply by being in advance of their time. Veiled professionalism had existed in the North and Midlands, but more particularly in East Lancashire, ever since the very early eighties. Where you get big gates you must almost of necessity get professionalism. There may be exceptions to this, but they are very rare. Men used to get money when they wanted it; some few clubs paid their players surreptitiously on a more or less fixed scale. But nearly all the gates were cut up in some way, and quite right, too; if the men who draw the money are not entitled to it, I fail to see who is. That is putting the matter bluntly, but I think it is putting it sensibly. But the rules of the Football Association made it difficult then for any club to openly avow its professionalism, and even to withdraw the men from their avocations and put them through some such preparation as was given to professional boxers, or runners, or oarsmen. Not only was it difficult; it was practically impossible. Then professionalism was illegal, and it was no use for a secretary to get together the strongest eleven in the world if he could not find opponents for them.

MAJOR SUDELL'S SHREWDNESS.

But Major Sudell, one of the ablest men the football world has ever known, was shrewd enough to take the risk. It was a risk; of that there can be no doubt. He determined to run a team of out-and-out professionals, men who should make football their calling, and devote themselves to it assiduously rather than spasmodically. That he chose his team with marvellous precision and acumen cannot be doubted, but it was the thoroughness of their training, and their complete subordination of self to the interests of the side, which made North End supreme. The man who studies every trick, who leaves nothing to chance, will always beat the man who enters into competition with him unprepared. The North End team — men of great natural ability, one must admit — found themselves constantly pitted against elevens composed of men half-trained or wholly untrained, men who saw a football match once a week, and who were semi-irresponsible. There was method in all that the Preston team did, and their condition, their knowledge of combination, and the general understanding there was between the three lines — forwards, halves, and backs — produced a body of footballers whom their opponents were not meeting on equal terms. That is my estimate of the causes which led to North End's wonderful supremacy; Of course, the men were matched by a master hand: Mr. Sudell did not pick up men in any haphazard kind of way. The other clubs found too late that a team had arisen which was miles in front of them, and it was not until they ran their elevens on the same lines that they began to make up the leeway.

EVERY MAN A SPECIALIST.

In what lay the strength of North End! First and foremost, given of course a general understanding, every man in the eleven was a specialist. I am quite sure that the bulk of the men improved beyond measure after they came to Preston, but the native talent was in them from the beginning. But there have never been finer goalkeepers than W. C. Rose and James Trainer, and Nick Ross was possibly the finest full back that ever played. Apart from his ability in kicking and tackling, there was an indefinable "devil" about Nick Ross's play which no man has ever possessed. We have had some masterly backs since, but none of them have had quite his "devil." When Nick Ross went for the ball, somehow or other the forward who either had it or hoped to get it felt that Ross was destined to annex it. And he used to get it seven times out of ten. He had exceptional will power; when you saw Nick Ross you knew that there stood a man in earnest. When he stepped upon the field to play football, his whole heart and soul were in the game. No man has ever played it with greater zest and earnest. Both Bob Howarth and Bob Holmes were splendid backs; steady and reliable, they were just the men to partner such a dashing, fearless fellow as Nick Ross. Few more judicious backs than Holmes have ever been identified with the game.

A MATCHLESS TRIO.

Then, what a matchless trio of halves the club had! Robertson, Russell, and Graham. They could play any kind of game. If it came to roughing it, the three could hold their own in any company. Graham had to retire from the game as the result of accommodating certain members of an amateur team who believed in playing the game with charging "all in," so to speak. Russell, too, was a lion-hearted fellow, and their skill was more than equal to their strength. All three were perfect tacklers. Graham did some wonderful feats against clever wing pairs, and few men ever broke up an opposing combination than Davie Russell, while all three combined perfectly with the skilful quintette in front of them. When North End were defending, the halves were found assisting the backs, but when the attack was proceeding — and usually North End were attacking — the halves acted in perfect unison with the forwards. I remember what a magnificent fellow Davie Russell was when stripped. Sandy Robertson was as hard as nails; few men have ever maintained such a high standard of excellence as the old Dumbarton man.

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS.

It is doubtful if any team have ever given such thrilling exhibitions of forward play as North End. As I ventured to remark last week, combination in defence was not so highly developed then as it is to-day. The defence was too scattered to be really effective; it was North End who initiated the principle of play which obtains to-day. But the teams they met were not able to play North End at their own game; if they had had to meet modern defences it is quite certain that they would not have harvested such crops of goals as they obtained. Writing from memory, I believe they scored 12 goals against Bolton Wanderers when the redoubtable James Trainer, afterwards welcomed into the North End fold, stood between the posts of the Trotters. This, of course, was a greater feat than their oft-spoken-of record against Hyde in the English Cup, when they ran up a total of 26 goals. Another match, not so well remembered, was their meeting with Renton, which, prior to the rise of North End, had been universally spoken of as the finest team in the world. North End beat the Scottish cup holders by seven goals to nil! But I don't want to weary you with figures and results; those have been written about over and over again. I prefer to deal with the team on broader lines. But it does make you stare with amazement when you think that a team existed which was capable of breaking through such a defence as Bolton Wanderers on 12 occasions.

FINEST CENTRE OF MODERN TIMES.

Of course, North End were at their very best when they induced John Goodall to leave Great Lever and throw in his lot with the Deepdale contingent. John Goodall was the one man North End coveted at that time, and they were not happy till they got him. John Goodall was a much finer centre than Sam Thomson has been, fine dribbler though the Lugar Boswell man was. John Goodall was emphatically the finest centre of modern times. And what a model of consistency he was! Even in the present season he is figuring in League football, and with a certain amount of success, too. Wherever John Goodall is, old as he now is — and he is by far the oldest player identified with first-class football — the combination is always the better for his presence. Personally, I have never played against such a fine centre as John Goodall, although John Campbell (of Sunderland), G. O. Smith, John Campbell (of Celtic and Aston Villa), and Tinsley Lindley were all great and subtle players. What John Goodall could not do himself, he was always ready to enable others to do.

FAMOUS WINGS.

Then John Gordon and James Ross have an immortal reputation as a wing pair. James Ross is still with us; he is coaching the young players of Manchester City now, but until quite recently, despite his weight of years and decreasing agility, he was a First League Footballer. The fact that he and Goodall are playing still, although fifteen years have elapsed since their greatest triumphs were recorded, constitutes more eloquent testimony of the worth of the North End players of that day than any feeble words of mine can frame. The way in which Ross used to draw the men off Gordon and then shoot the ball out to him as he (Gordon) stood ahead — just on-side as a rule — and the manner in which Gordon heeled or passed the ball back to Ross and left him with a clear opening, haven in my opinion, never been paralleled. Then, what a strong, robust, dangerous pair Fred Dewhurst and Geordie Drummond were! Drummond used to draw the men towards him just as Ross did, and Geordie used to hug the touch-line. No man ever played closer to it; I believe he was a greater adept at it than Bassett. Bassett had a cleverer knack of running outside the touch-line than Drummond had any idea of, but the margins between the touch-line and the rails behind which the spectators stood were as a rule much smaller than they are to-day. There were no grounds such as the Crystal Palace, where a man may avoid a charge by running half a dozen yards outside the touch-line, in the days of old North End. But I have heard backs say that Drummond always puzzled them by the closeness with which he could skim with the ball along the white-washed line.

MAGNIFICENT TEAM, BUT LUCKY.

Yes. they were a grand, a magnificent team, but I still adhere to my original contention that they were lucky in their environment. Teams have to start on a level, now, and the limitation of wages will tend to keep it level. But in my young days we used to idolise North End as no team is idolised to-day; every footballer in Lancashire was filled with pride when he read of and saw the universal homage paid to them. And how the old club is in the Second League. That is sad. But they are making a great fight to get back into the Senior Division. And that is gratifying.