New City book on sale

[auldreekie]

On St Andrew’s Day I self-published a book about all the Scottish players and managers who have played for/managed City starting with Tom Dilly in 1911. It also includes other City players who, although not born in Scotland, played there during their careers. I am donating the net proceeds to the club. I was delighted that John McGrath kindly agreed to write the foreword.

The book includes a comprehensive list of the playing CV of these players and 75 of them have an additional and more detailed section on their own careers. City Scots have represented Scotland at almost every level and these honours are included in a separate section. There are also three lists – goalscorers (headed by John Inglis), appearances (headed by John McGrath) and by Scottish clubs for which they played (headed by Celtic with 11 players). It is topped off with a report of City’s only match against Scottish opposition.

Here is a link to the Lulu self-publishing website:

www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/douglas-gorman/scots-wha-hae-wi-city-played-worcester-city-fcs-scottish-players-and-managers/paperback/product-wqe7jn.html?page=1&pageSize=4

The price may come up in US Dollars. If this happens you need to go to the bottom of the page and the dark blue banner where you will see a “USD” tab that you can click on and change to “GBP”.

The book’s retail price is £12.00 plus tax (7.5%) and post & packing. The website regularly offers discount codes and these are usually in a yellow banner at the top of the page. There are three delivery options but it usually defaults to the cheapest.

[adycrean]

Congratulations on the book Douglas

I am looking forward to reading it!

[auldreekie]

Some may be interested to read a review of my recent book on City’s Scottish players and managers that was published in the latest edition of the quarterly “Scottish Football Historian” and written by the editor.

I am donating all profits from sales to the club. Here is the review.

Douglas Gorman has written articles on Scots who played for Worcester City in previous editions of this magazine and in the non-league club’s programme and he has now extended this into a substantial 264 page A4-format book, featuring an essay on 75 Scots (less than half of the total number) who played for the cathedral-city club.

Non-League football in England, up until the abolition of amateurism in 1974, was split between the professional leagues of the North-East, Midlands (which included Yorkshire), Cheshire and Lancashire, and the vast Southern League, of which Worcester City were members; and the strong amateur leagues the Home Counties.

The professional leagues were the destination of hundreds of Scots players, either towards the end of their careers, or when they were in contract dispute with their Scottish League employers. There was also considerable “loan traffic” during the decade-and-a-half of National Service. There were several attractions for Scots nearing the end of their playing days; it was a lot warmer than the Highland League, there were opportunities for full-time contracts at the bigger non-league clubs, and if it was part-time, the terms would be better than in the Second Division in Scotland and a conveniently flexible job in civvy street was more easily arranged, rarely involving the hard graft of the pit or the shipyard. Many (most?) of the players settled in the warmer climes when they hung up their boots.

Worcester City, a leading club in the Southern League with ambitions for advancement in the FA Cup every season, was an attractive destination, boosted in the 1950s by the friendship of the manager Bill Jones with John Hughes, secretary of the Professional Footballers Association, who served his members and friend alike with a steady stream of introductions.

An even-more direct connection between the club and the Scottish Professional Footballers Association is Harry Lawrie, who moved back to Scotland at the end of his playing career to work in a distillery. He became a Union official with the GMB, of which the SPFA was a member, and when Gordon Dunwoodie stood down as District Officer in September 1976, Harry took over. He retired in that role and became involved with Fauldhouse United, culminating in the Presidency of the Scottish Junior Football Association between 2014 and 2017. A centre half, he signed for Rangers from Armadale Thistle in March 1955 and was called up for the following season, but he was in the considerable shadow of George Young and was released in April 1956. In a nine page article, this is how Douglas Gorman describes Harry Lawrie’s arrival at St George’s Lane, Worcester:

“[He was] one of nine Scots in the 22-man playing squad announced for the 1956/57 season. In the 1950’s the maximum wage applied in the Football League but not in the Southern League making a move to non-league football in the south attractive for many Scottish players. Worcester City found Harry a home, jobs for himself (as a linesman for British Railways) and Nan, his wife of nine months, paid him a signing-on fee and good part-time wages as a player. Bill Jones made it a priority to find jobs for players’ wives. His approach was simple – a job in a new town far away from home would allow them to settle in and make new friends and if the wife was happy the player was happy!
“Harry also recalled other ways the club looked after these young players and their wives who were far from home. This included free cinema tickets to “keep them out of trouble,” Harry joked. At one time three flats owned by the Club in Lark Hill were occupied by a Scotsman, an Irishman and a Welshman!”

After two seasons at Worcester he finished his playing career in the Welsh League with Abergavenny Thursdays.

The book gives an extremely comprehensive account of its subject matter, and each substantial essay is accompanied by at least one illustration of the player.

There are even longer chapters on some of the players who either achieved much while at City, or had enjoyed prominent careers beforehand. The colourful career of Jock Airlie, who played for many clubs during the Second World War with the consent of Celtic, and had a spell with AS Cannes in 1947/48, is given eight pages; Harry Clements, a Scottish Cup finalist with St Mirren in 1908, six pages; Tom Dilly, previously featured in SFH123, ten pages.

Alex Hair’s biography runs to eighteen pages, with much about his playing days at Partick Thistle in the 1920s, and his management of Worcester City in the Birmingham & District League in the early 1930s. There are five pages on the extremely colourful footballing career of Danny McLennan, and another exotic figure to feature is St Mirren’s Polish winger Alfie Lesz, who joined City after leaving Love Street.

Worcester City wasn’t only a popular end-of-career destination for Scottish League players, it featured in the CV’s of several Anglo-Scots, particularly those who had played for clubs in the Midlands. These include Charlie Aitken (Aston Villa), Bobby McDonald and Willie Carr (Coventry City), Tommy Hughes (Hereford United) and Ally Robertson (West Brom), none of whom warrant a chapter in the book.

On a more contemporary note, Nikolay Todorov (Hearts, Falkirk, Caley Thistle and numerous clubs on loan) was loaned to Worcester City by Nottingham Forest at the start of his career, and Steven Craig, son of Joe and man of many Scots clubs, played for Worcester after leaving Forfar Athletic in 2016.

Before the statistical appendices, the narrative of the book concludes with an extended account of the friendly fixture between Worcester City and East Fife in February 1953, one of eight trips south of the border by the Fifers between 16th February and 15th April for floodlit friendlies, when they were otherwise engaged in a battle with Rangers for the League championship. To date, this is City’s only match against a Scots club.

This marvellous book is available from Lulu, using the following link, and the retail price is £12 plus tax and p&p.

[bj]

As a kid I used to hang around the flats in Larkhill where I could get autographs of the players. They would sit outside on the steps smoking! I always believed the flats belonged to George Love.

[simples]

Bill Jones made it a priority to find jobs for players’ wives. His approach was simple – a job in a new town far away from home would allow them to settle in and make new friends and if the wife was happy the player was happy!

Very true in all walks of life.

[lancashirelad2]

Interesting that City only ever played one friendly game against a Scottish club - anybody know why?

[Noboddy aka Lord Ealing]

It’s too bloody far

[auldreekie]

Feb 18, 2021 18:33:28 GMT lancashirelad2 said:

Interesting that City only ever played one friendly game against a Scottish club - anybody know why?

Distance would have been the main issue.

Pre-season friendlies against other clubs started in the mid-1960’s and clubs would cross the border in both directions. City, however, had visitors from nearby Football League clubs that would have provided attractive opponents. However, Corby Town hosted a pre-season friendly with a Rangers XI in 1968 but the new Corby manager was Eric Caldow (Rangers & Scotland).

It is difficult to see City heading north although Kettering Town had a four-match tour of Scotland in May 1953. However, 8 of their 15-man squad were Scottish and they had a Scottish manager so that may have been one of the reasons.

With City in the vanguard of the introduction of floodlights St George’s Lane was the venue for many attractive “floodlit friendlies”. East Fife, City’s only Scottish opponents, accepted many invitations to play mid-week friendlies in England in the mid-1950’s. It was an exhausting schedule and this may have put other Scottish clubs off the idea.