Old Town player profiles - Alex Jackson

Old Town player profiles - Alex Jackson - Printable Version

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Old Town player profiles - Alex Jackson - Lord Snooty - 25-07-2020

ALEX JACKSON : THE GAY CAVALIER

Back in the 1920s, Huddersfield Town were the best, the most successful football club in the country, nay, the world. And as such, we had the best player in the world. Not my words, but the words of the national media of the day and football supporters all over the country. But like the player I consider to be the best player the world has ever seen, George Best, Alex Jackson had his career cut short by his mid twenties. Alex wasn't an alcoholic, but it was booze in Manchester that started his fall and decline. Like George, he was a tricky winger with an eye for a goal or two and it is said that he revolutionised the role of the winger. He also had a proper footballer's nickname, The Gay Cavalier. You don't get proper football nicknames these days.

Alexander Skinner Jackson was born on May 12th 1905 in Renton, West Dunbartonshire, a town who's football team won the Scottish Cup twice in it's early days, the second of which saw them play West Bromwich Albion in a match to decide the World Champions. They won 4-1 at Hampden Park. Alex played for his home town club, but was transferred at the age of 17 to Dumbarton for the price of a football. After one season there, he and his brother Walter "Wattie" Jackson, who played for Kilmarnock, both went off to the USA to visit another brother, John, in the little town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. They ended up staying and signing for the local steelworks football team, Bethlehem Steel FC.

Alex also played baseball in his short time in the States and had toyed with the idea of turning professional. But after just one season, where he top scored with 14 goals, with Wattie just behind him on 13, the brothers returned to Scotland and signed for Aberdeen. This didn't go down well in Bethlehem as the boys were supposed to be returning after a short visit home to visit family. But as Aberdeen had announced the signing the day before their boat had docked, the Americans reported their displeasure to the SFA, to no avail though.

Wattie had a couple of seasons at Pittodrie before signing for Preston North End and then returning to Bethlehem. After one season though, Alex was to join Huddersfield Town, the greatest team in football the world has ever seen, who were already twice champions of England. He was signed by the legendary Herbert Chapman for a record fee of £5,000, before Chapman was to leave for Arsenal. In those days, players didn't have agents, so Chapman travelled north to meet Alex's dad in Renton. After talking the old man round, they all went to the pub to celebrate, and on hearing that this famous football manager was in town, the entire population, it is said, were in the pub and Chapman bought a round of drinks for everybody.

[Image: Huddersfields-Alex-Jackso-012.jpg]

Unlike wingmen of the day, Alex had a knack of moving positions and would play at inside forward or become another centre forward, depending on the state of play and so became a prolific goalscorer. His first goal in the bright blue and white of Huddersfield Town came in his second match, a 3-2 win against Sheffield Utd away, a week after he had made his Leeds Road debut against West Brom. That was the first of 16 goals for him that season, managed by Cecil Potter after Chapman left for Highbury. Charlie Wilson scored in that win at Brammall Lane, but injury then ruled him out to be replaced by George Cook. George Brown, Cook and Jackson were a phenomenal strike force and the three of them amassed 65 of the club's 92 goals that season to win the title for the 3rd successive season, the famous first ever "Thrice Champions".

Alex scored a hat trick in a remarkable 5-5 draw down at Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane, twice down at West Ham, twice in a 5-1 win over Aston Villa and two more at home to the Hammers to take the Town to within touching distance of the title. We had been top of the league since February and eventually won it with two games to go (just as well as we lost the last two).

The title was secured at Leeds Road with a 3-0 win against Bolton Wanderers, with Alex getting the second of the three to add to goals from Billy Smith and Clem Stephenson, in front of a crowd of 20,829 on the 12th of April 1926, a date celebrated by all Townkind since as Huddersfield Town Day. Not much of a crowd, comparing that we get that many for run of the mill Championship games nowadays, well before Covid anyway. Not to worry, at full time the rest of the Huddersfield area were to know the result as homing pigeons carrying messages of the good news were released and sent to the far flung parts of what we now call Kirklees.

[Image: thrice_champions.jpg?fit=613%2C459&ssl=1]

Only 6 goals for Alex in the next season, as Town finished runners up, five points behind Newcastle Utd. He had a much better goal tally in the next season, 1927/28, as we once again finished as runners up, this time 2 points behind Everton, who's Dixie Dean scored 60 goals, a record that still stands today. Alex bagged 19 league goals, one of them in a 8-2 win at home to Cardiff City and another two in a 7-1 away win at Sheffield Utd. Both those games were at the time record home and away league victories. The one at Brammall Lane still stands today.

He scored twice in a 4-1 home win against Portsmouth on the final day of the season, but it just wasn't enough as in what would become a future Town trait, we ran out of steam, losing the previous two games as Sheffield Utd got revenge for that hammering at their place by winning 1-0 at ours, and a 0-3 defeat at Aston Villa.

That Sheffield Utd defeat came a week after another of our famous defeats as we caught up with games in hand due to our run to the FA Cup Final. It was our fourth game in the week, something which modern managers would be wetting their pants over. We played the Cup Final in our first visit to the new Wembley Stadium on the 21st of April, when the final wasn't the grand ending to the season it became later. It was a cup run inspired by the goals of Brown, Smith and young Alex, who chipped in with five. He scored the winner in a 4th round win at West Ham, one in a 4-0 win at home to Middlesbrough and in the semi finals we played Sheffield Utd again in what turned out to be a classic encounter and the reason why we had such a backlog of fixtures. Alex bagged the first in a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford and then following a goalless draw in the replay at Goodison Park, he scored the only goal of the second replay at Maine Road in front of 69,370.

In the Final, against Blackburn Rovers, Alex became the first player to score a goal for Huddersfield Town at Wembley Stadium in the 55th minute to bring the score back to 1-2 after Rovers took an early lead. Jack Roscamp scored in the first minute by bundling the ball and Town keeper Billy Mercer into the back of the net, which was perfectly legal then. Tommy McLean made it two and Roscamp added another near the end as we lost our third Cup Final by a 1-3 scoreline.

We have now played seven times at Wembley, winning once against Bristol Rovers, losing three (FA Cup Finals) and drawing three, which went to penalty shoot outs, losing the Autoglass Trophy on pens to Swansea City, but beating Sheffield Utd and Reading in shoot outs. Of those seven games, Alex is still only one of four players to actually score a goal for us. The others being Richard Logan, Andy Booth and Chris Billy.

But before all that happened in April 1928, Alex Jackson's name went down in football folklore as he starred at Wembley for Scotland against England. He scored a hat trick in the British Championship match as the Scots triumphed 5-1. He had made his international debut two years earlier and scored the winner in a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford and had also scored twice against Wales, but it was these three goals that made his name and that of the whole team who became known as the Wembley Wizards (you don't get proper nicknames nowadays).

The match was played on the 31st of March 1928 and Huddersfield Town had five players in the match. Unfortunately, four of them were in the hapless England side, who's defeat condemned them to finish bottom of the British Championship table for that year. Wales won it, beating England and Ireland, after starting with a 2-2 draw against the Scots at Wrexham.

Despite having five players missing, Huddersfield Town still had to play their scheduled league match and still managed to win, beating Bury 3-2 at Gigg Lane. The other four Town men away with the England set up were defenders Roy Goodall, who would captain the team and Tom Wilson, left winger Billy Smith and inside forward Bob Kelly, who scored England's consolation goal in the 89th minute. The aforementioned 60 goal Dixie of Everton also played but couldn't score.

This wasn't as straight forward for the Scots though. On seeing the team selection, following on from that draw in Wales and a home defeat to the Irish at Partick Thistle's Firhill Stadium, a crowd that had gathered outside the SFA building showed their displeasure at the number of Anglos in the side. Anglos being the name given to Scottish players playing in the English Football League. Only three of the side played in Scotland, goalkeeper Jack Harkness of Queen's Park, James Dunn of Hibernian and Alan Morton of Rangers.

The crowd were particularly perplexed at the inclusion of Newcastle's Hughie Gallacher, who was making his first appearance after a two month ban for pushing a referee into a bath. He was in for Celtic's Jimmy McGrory and they also weren't happy at the omission of Rangers’ Davie Meiklejohn and Bob McPhail. Not only that but the team also lacked experience. The average number of caps in the side was only seven and what's more, they were a team of dwarves. One of the defenders Tom Bradshaw was nicknamed "Tiny" (they don't have proper nicknames these days), although this was ironic as he was indeed a large, physically imposing player. He played for Bury at the time and this was his only international cap and he did go on to have 8 years at Liverpool, but the congregation outside the SFA were unhappy that such a player should be brought in to mark Dixie Dean.

But the height issue was with the front five, with Alex being the tallest at 5'7". The others, Alex James, then of Preston but later to star for Arsenal, was 5'6", as was Dunn, Gallacher was 5'5" and Alan Morton was a mere 5'4" and known as the Wee Blue Devil (they don't have proper nicknames these days). This was a major issue, not only to meet crosses, but as mentioned already, this was an era when goalkeepers could be bundled over the line with the ball, so large, imposing forwards were popular.

However, the Scottish selection committee must've been keen meteorologists, knowing that heavy rain would give the little Scottish lads scope to run rings around their lumbering English counterparts on a sodden surface, and so it proved as when the team emerged from their hotel on that late March morning, the heavens had been opened for hours and it was pishing it doon.

The game started in a brisk manner with two Town wingers involved at both ends. Billy Smith hit the post with a shot in the first minute, but then just two minutes later, Alex Jackson put the Scots ahead, nodding home from a Morton cross. The defence stood tall and strong for the rest of the half. Well almost, as James doubled the lead in the last minute.

It was 3-0 twenty minutes into the 2nd half with a repeat of the first goal, Jackson heading in a Morton cross. James added a fourth before Alex made it 5-0, again assisted by the lively left wing play of wee Alan Morton. Bob Kelly's consolation did nothing to lift the English spirits and it would be years before the Scots stopped banging on about it. Incidentally, Kelly's goal made him England's oldest goalscorer at the time. He was 34 and has since only been passed by Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney, Teddy Sheringham, Frank Lampard and Jack Charlton.

Alex only scored twice more for his country, both against Ireland at Windsor Park as they triumphed 7-3 in what he would call the greatest 90 minutes of his career. He didn't add many more caps as in 1930 the English FA took their bat and ball home by announcing that clubs in England should only have to release players to play for England. The Scottish FA took this in the manner you would expect and so from then on, only picked players playing for Scottish clubs. And so Alex Jackson's caps tally ended on 17. Of those seventeen times he represented his country, 15 of them were wins, with only one defeat. And he will always be remembered as a Wembley Wizard.

So back with the mighty Huddersfield Town and the following season, 1928/29 was somewhat disappointing, finishing 16th in Division One, but making it to the semi finals of the FA Cup. Alex banged in 14 league goals, including a hat trick in a 7-1 home win against Burnley. He followed that up with another hat trick in a 6-1 win against Sheffield Utd. He scored 5 in the cup run. One in the 3rd round 7-1 victory at Chesterfield. Two in the 3-0 home win over Leeds Utd, with 53,700 turning out at Leeds Road for that one. Another one in the quarter final replay at home to West Brom and then he got our goal in the semi final 1-3 defeat against Bolton Wanderers at Anfield.

In 1929/30, Town once again made it all the way to Wembley for the FA Cup Final. This time it would be another defeat, against Chapman's Arsenal, which became famous for the German airship the Graf Zeppelin flying over the stadium at the start of the 2nd half.

Town finished this season in 10th, with Alex contributing 8 goals from 30 games. But it was his 9 goals in 7 games that fired us down Wembley Way. He started with a hat trick against Bury in a 3rd round replay. Then bagged a brace in the 4th round win against Sheffield Utd (they must be sick of him by now). He scored again in the 5th round, a 2-1 home win over 2nd division Bradford City. And then another in a 2-1 win at Aston Villa in the quarter final. On to Old Trafford for the semi final and yet another 2-1 win, this time it's Sheffield Wednesday and Alex scored them both. Had he scored in the final, he would've been in a small group of players to have scored in every round of the Cup, but it wasn't to be as the Arsenal ran out 2-0 winners.

The next season, Alex set off like a house on fire, scoring 7 goals in the first 4 matches, one against West Ham, two against Grimsby (yes Grimsby), one against Bolton and then a hat trick in a magnificent 6-0 win at Old Trafford against Manchester United. He was one of two Town players scoring hat tricks that day and he had to fight the other winger Gerry Kelly for the match ball afterwards (if hat trick scorers were given the ball back then).

But then moneybags Chelsea stuck their big fat noses in and lured young Alex away to the bright lights of London. They had already spent £10,000 in bringing his fellow Wembley Wizard, Hughie Gallacher from Newcastle down south and another Scot in Alex Cheyne from Aberdeen. The big spenders had already forked out 20 grand on players in the summer and according to the Yorkshire Post would've been willing to spend £12,000 on Jackson, but managed to prize him away from Town for a snip of a figure at £9,500 after three days of negotiation. Then, as now with the recent transfer of Aaron Mooy, the player was determined to leave and so it was a matter of getting the best possible deal for the club.

He had business interests outside of football and took up ownership of a pub in Covent Garden, had an interest in the Queen’s Hotel in Leicester Square and also had a weekly column in a national newspaper. Leslie Knighton, the Chelsea manager noted that he was given privileges that no other player was afforded and he sometimes took liberties as he was the big name that thousands flocked to football grounds to watch.

The team though hadn't gained the success that the money forked out the directors at Stamford Bridge would've wanted. They only finished 12th in his first season down there. He was made club captain at the start of his second season, but they were still nowhere near the top when they travelled to play Manchester City at the back end of the season. He played and scored in a 1-1 draw, but news got out that in the hotel the night before, Alex Jackson, as celebrity footballer and club captain and ordered a round of drinks for all his team mates in his room. It was one transgression too many for the directors and he was suspended, put on the transfer list and told that he had played his last game for Chelsea.

Alex gave his version of events in his column, but Chelsea refused to comment. They held his registration and so seeing as players had no power back then, his career was virtually over at the age of 27, a great waste of talent brought about by what now seems such a trivial affair. He did play again, but not in the Football League as Chelsea were still being pissy. So he played in the Cheshire League for Ashton National FC. They payed him a staggering £15 a week, more than double the average of other players. They did this with the power of his "gate appeal", but despite of this he had to leave as the club were on the brink of bankruptcy.

He left Ashton and went to play for Margate in the Kent League, still on a whopping £10 a week. He got married to Grace in 1933, they had two children named Alex and Grace. For the honeymoon, they went to Paris and Alex, despite what Chelsea were saying, signed for Nice and then Le Touquet.

Still only 28 years old, he was still having talks to revive his career with Chelsea. That never came off though and so the game of football lost it's Gay Cavalier to the pub trade as he went off to manage the Angel & Crown Inn on St Martin’s Lane. He could still make money from his name as he began to advertise cigarettes and of all things, a bookmaker (no not Paddy Power).

[Image: 393e2842-5dee-40cb-8cd9-700065c10c01-206...94bcf34f9c]

Alex in his boozer

Then the 2nd World War started and Alex joined the Army. He fought with the Eighth Army in north Africa, but was injured in Libya. He stayed on in the army once the war had finished and was in Egypt in 1946 when tragedy struck. He was in the Suez zone and whilst driving an army truck, it over turned and he was killed, dying of the head injuries he sustained before arrival at hospital. And so the Gay Cavalier was no more. The greatest footballer in the world was dead.

He is buried in the Fayid War Cemetery, a patch of land on the western shore of Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake. He was Major AS Jackson by this time. He was only 41 years old.

RE: Old Town player profiles - Alex Jackson - theo_luddite - 25-07-2020

I take it that was when gay meant something different to what it mostly means now, as in happy?

RE: Old Town player profiles - Alex Jackson - Lord Snooty - 25-07-2020

It meant that right up until Larry Grayson came along. Big Grin

RE: Old Town player profiles - Alex Jackson - SHEP_HTAFC - 27-07-2020

Cracking read Snoots. Really enjoyed that. Thumb up

RE: Old Town player profiles - Alex Jackson - Lord Snooty - 27-07-2020

Thanks, Shep. Thumb up