No. 10 — ALEC JACKSON
— Alex James | 01/11/1930 —

If I had been a wing-forward I would have made up my mind to try to play like Alec Jackson, who, in my judgment, is the master player in his position. I have seen no one to equal him, no one with his match-winning capacity or his genius for the game as a whole. I would pay him an even higher tribute and say that he has no weakness.

My acquaintance with Jackson really began as a fellow-member of the Scottish team. Now that we are both in London I see more of him, but I am afraid that we are enemies as footballers. I wish it were otherwise, because, as an inside-left, who believes that the most effective pass I can make is one flung far out to the right, I think he and I would get on exceptionally well in a club side.

It is chiefly in dealing with the ball that comes over from the left that Jackson has made himself famous as a goal-scorer, and his secret is not so much that he is a better shot than any other wing-forwards as that he beats them in stealing the shot. He succeeds, in fact, by stealth. It almost seems as if he moves about on tip-toe so that he shall not be heard, and he is so clever in hiding himself that often he is not seen until the ball is in the net and the back turns round and exclaims, "Where on earth did he come from?"

MEETING THE CROSS-PASS.

Every wing-forward to-day knows that if he is to play his part properly he must go inside to meet the cross-pass, but few of them make the move as astutely as Jackson. They are liable to fall into two errors. Either they do not see the possibility of the ball coming across quickly enough and when they go in they are too late, or they arrive too soon, with the result that defenders have time to cover them.

Jackson, on the other hand, rarely makes either of these mistakes. With his quick-thinking mind he has wonderful power of anticipation, and be times his effort so exactly that he arrives on the scene at the same time as the ball and without his presence being noted. In this way he is able to nip in and take it off the toes of a dumfounded opponent.

I do not think I exaggarate in saying that Jackson scores four out of every five goals in this way, and when he makes the winning shot he is usually in the position of centre-forward. Indeed, I have no doubt that it is on this account that both Huddersfield Town and Chelsea have played him in the middle of the front line.

It has been reported that he would like to play at inside-right. He has not expressed to me any preference for this place, and he is such a magnificent match-winner on the wing that I think it would be a great pity it hewere to move.

TECHNIQUE ALLIED TO INSTINCT.

I have said that Jackson has no weakness. What I mean by that is that allied to his wonderful instinct for the game is superb technique. He does not, for instance, rely on one or two moves to beat a man.

You know exactly which way some wing-forwards will go, either inside or outside in attempting to go past, and it is naturally easy for a back to stop them.

It is different with Jackson. There is no end to his tricks. He will show a back a new one every time they come up against each other, and the odds are in favour of Jackson winning.

He is by far the most original of the wing-forwards as I have seen them. I have been told that he is even too unorthodox and, in consequence, he deceives his own side as well as the opposition. It has also been claimed that he is often out of his place, but I should say that it is exceedingly seldom that he is out of the position from which he can do most for his side.

Jackson is only a rover because he sees so far ahead, and in oving about in his secretive manner he is very likely to be allowed to run loose. That is to say, if he should get the ball he would not be covered.

What is the good of a wing-forward patrolling the side-lines unless the ball is going to him? Jackson acts on the principle, "If it does not come I must go and get it." 

He is right; of course he is.