CRAFT SACRIFICED FOR SPEED
— Herbert Chapman | 06/04/1930 —

I took a 'busman's holiday yesterday and went to Wembley to watch the match between England and Scotland. I am a great admirer of Scottish football, the art of the players in their positional play, the finesse and cunning with which they invest their attack. Their combined craftsmanship makes for a spectacle that is all too rare on English fields.

It is not pleasant to make this confession, and I wish it was possible to so alter the conditions under which we play that we might have the same ideals and attain the Scottish standard. But unfortunately we are not allowed to study style. So severe is the competition that we are compelled to sacrifice whatever ambitions we may have for effect.

BITTER CRITICISM.

The Arsenal set out this season to display football in its highest spectacular sense. What was the result? In the early part of the season, before we had time to develop our plans and attain the best results, we were subjected to criticism that was both bitter and unkind.

"The Bank of England team," the "£50,000 team," "The Highbrows," and the "Spendthrifts" were some of the descriptions which were applied to us.

THE VITAL ODD GOAL.

I wish certain sections of the Press and the public had been a little more tolerant, shown more patience, during that period when we lost six home matches by the odd goal. I am convinced we should have found our own salvation if we had not been assalled so unfairly.

We were not even given credit for having nine-tenths of the play in those matches. It did not count in our favour that we strove to give the public a first-class spectacle, and, in my opinion, largely succeeded.

We did not get the goals, though goodness knows how many times we hit the crossbar and side posts, and we were abused.

JEALOUSLY.

I say frankly that our football during this disappointing period was better to watch and better in a scientific sense than we have often played since. The great difference, however, is that it has been more effective.

Personally, I am sorry that the change had to be made, and I have not abandoned the hope of producing a style which will compare favourably with the best Scottish standard. In this, however, we shall require the help of the public. Otherwise we cannot expect to succeed.

The unfriendliness and jealousy that exist in football amazes me. I am told that when it was announced at half-time on another London ground that we were two goals down in the semi-final tie with Hull City there were cheers. Fancy cheering because a team were being beaten! If that is sportsmanship, U have been brought up in the wrong school.

OVER THE BORDER.

In expressing my admiration for Scottish Football I should explain that I mean the traditional type such as the all-star team which played at Wembley yesterday are capable of showing. To-day much of the football in Scotland is poor. Indeed, I fear, since so many of the leading players have ben allowed to come to this country to save the finances of the clubs, there has been a marked deterioration except in regard to one or two clubs.

That is so in the senior competition, and the position is worse in the Second Division. I have seen two or three games in this section this season unknown to any of the officials, and I was convinced that the form shown was no higher than that in our Central League of London combination.

OUT ON THEIR OWN.

Scotland has not ten teams of equal strength. In fact, during the past ten years there have always been two or three oustanding, and in their case the majority of the matches are a foregone conclusion.

In the circumstances, the strain put on them is nothing like as severe as all the English clubs have to withstand. We have no easy matches. It is only that one may be a little harder than another to win.

How true this is marked by the present tables of the two competitions. For a month or more it has been regarded as a certainty that Gçasgow Rangers would win the championship. We may be just as convinced that Sheffield Wednesday will win our championship, but the point I would make is emphasised by the fact that although the season has only another month to run, it is possible for even the two bottom clubs to finish in the top half of the list.

PACE AND POINTS.

Under these conditions, I think it will be appreciated that there is an greater opportunity in Scotland at least for the leading clubs to play what we know as "clever" football.

With us it is a case of goals and points. At times one is persuaded that nothing else matters. To get the results we have speeded up the play, and craftsmanship and ball control have, in comparison with the best Scottish style, been crowded out.

MORE CRAFT WANTED.

Too many players are introduced into English football for their ability in tackling and defensive play generally, so that they may stop the other fellows getting the goals. We should set a higher premium on the ball play and the science that goes with it; we want less of the strong man business and more skill.

English football suffers most of all at the present time owing to a lack of craftsmen. This is unhappily shown by the plight of the English selectors in their search for an inside left.

Their decision proves that they had failed to find one. They had to take Joe Bradford out of the centre so that the emergency might be met.

On the other hand, while we pluck the boys from their playing fields and pitchfork them into games which are too severe a test for them, the Scottish youth is allowed to mature without his development being hurried. In this way he has the chance to learn the arts of the game under much more favourable conditions. For instance, exceedingly clever player as Bastin is, he has no pretension to the cunning and subtlety of the Scottish boy of his age.

When I engaged Alex Jackson for Huddersfield I was told that he was able to bounce the ball on his head without letting it fall to the ground while walking from one goal to the other. I was assured that he could do that at least once out of three attempts.

I never put him to the test, but I do not doubt his ability to perform the trick, for, from what I have seen, the boys of Scotland seem to spend their time playing with a ball, and any sort of ball is good enough for their purpose.

SCOTTISH WIZARDS.

The football is Scotland's national game, and every lad aspires to play for the Rangers or the Celtic. He realises, too, that to join one of these teams he must rise above the ordinary. In the circumstances he sets out to attain a higher standard, taking this or that star as his model, and trying his utmost to achieve his cleverness.

I think it is on this account Scotland has always produced the stars. To-day every one remembers the inimitable "Bobbie" Walker. He is still Scotland's football hero. In a slightly later period they had McMenemy, another wizard with ball, Patsy Gallagher. To-day there is Morton and Gallacher, and Jackson and James, players who have all the same natural genius.

START WITH THE BOYS.

Our own nursery unfortunately is not so fertile. I do not say it does not include the same undeveloped talent, but our demands are far greater, and the young players do not aspire to reach the same high standard, largely, I am convinced, because they have not the same inspiring example.

To improve English football we must start at the bottom. That is, with the boys, and in placing so much reliance on speed we are on the wrong line. But as long as goals and points have such vast importance it is bound to be exceedingly difficult to bring more craft into the game.