The Wembley Wizards - And What Might Have Been

[kushiro]

1927/28 - quite a season for Leicester City.

 

The Double Decker opened and Filbert Street took on the basic dimensions it would retain for the rest of the century. Two big sides and two little.

 

We were a thrillingly entertaining  as well as effective side that challenged for the title for the first time, eventually finishing third.

 

The highest ever attendance at the ground was recorded as over 47,000 saw an FA Cup Fifth Round tie v Spurs.

 

Oh - and a tune called 'When You're Smiling' was released in the USA.

 

It was also the year of the Wembley Wizards - the Scottish XI written off as midgets that came to Wembley and outclassed England with an historic 5-1 win. Not something that ever figures in the Leicester City story. But it was nearly so different.

 

On February 8th that year, two months before the game,  England played 'The Rest' at Middlesbrough. This was a trial for Wembley. England A v England B, it might have been called.

 

In the England team were Reg Osborne at left back and Syd Bishop at left half - both Leicester City players. They were, in fact, the first two Leicester City players ever to wear the Three Lions, Bishop the first (for the Scotland fixture a year earlier, when he had marked the legendary Hughie Gallacher out of the game, as England won 2-1 at Hampden), then Osborne just three monhts before this trial, in a 2-1 defeat by Wales at Turf Moor.

 

Bishop and Osborne:

 

 

We also had a player in the 'Rest' XI. Ernie Hine was at inside forward.

 

The result that day at Ayresome Park was 8-3 to the first XI.  Dixie Dean scored five - one more amazing performance in the season he scored 60 in the League for Everton. Contributing to such a crushing victory, Reg Osborne and Syd Bishop now surely had a great chance of being selected for the big Wembley occasion. The Rest, and Ernie Hine, less so.

 

Five weeks later the Scottish trial game took place at Partick Thistle's ground. Scotland had recently lost 1-0 at home to Ireland, and the new faces in this trial game knew they had a good opportunity to impress. The game was 'Anglo-Scots' v 'Home Scots' - those playing in the Football League v those playing for Scottish League clubs. Two of the Anglos who traveled north were Johnny Duncan and Arthur Lochhead, who had been catching the eye in Leicester City's surge up the table.

 

Both of them are massive figures in the club's history - two Peter Hodge signings who would both later manage the club. Duncan was now playing in the half back line after years at inside right, and Lochhead was at inside left. The result of the game was Anglo-Scots 1 Home Scots 1.

 

So now those 44 players all waited to see if they'd be chosen for the real thing at Wembley. In the days before the World Cup, and long before the European Championships got off the ground, this was the most prestigious fixture in the international calendar. How many of those five Leicester players would make it?

 

The answer was - not a single one. 

 

Syd Bishop was the unluckiest. He was actually chosen to captain England - a great honour in just his fifth international. But then he got injured and had to pull out, replaced  by Harry Healless, who had just captained Blackburn Rovers to an FA Cup semi-final victory over Arsenal in the biggest game ever staged at Filbert Street (just one more great occasion in this momentous season).

 

Neither Reg Osborne nor Ernie Hine were chosen for England. 

 

As for the Scots, they picked eight 'Anglos', but amazingly, neither Duncan nor Lochhead. The forward line they chose was:

 

Alex Jackson                 5 ft 10

Jimmy Dunn                   5ft   6

Hughie Gallacher           5ft   5

Alex James                     5ft   6

Alan Morton                    5ft   4

 

They were the ones that mesmerized England on March 31st and went down in history. 

 

And those five Leicester players had only tales of what might have been. 

In fact, it was seven. Len Barry and Arthur Chandler had also been on the England selectors minds. Barry, a winger, was called up to Engand's very next game, a 5-1 win in Paris, becoming the third Leicester player to win an England cap. Chandler had been watched by the selectors, though incredibly, our goalscoring legend was destined never to win a cap.

 

For the English players, that 'if only' would have been a fairly mild refelction, something along the lines of  'If I'd been playing we wouldn't have let five in'. 

 

For Johnny Duncan and Arthur Lochhead, it would have been a more intense feeling of regret - that they came so close to featuring in what is perhaps the greatest day in the history of the Scottish national side.

 

Duncan and Lochhead:

 

                 

[Rob Clarke]

Great research once again Kushiro. Many of these City players names are familiar to me as my granddad told me all about them as this was his era of supporting the City from the Filbert Street end/Popular side corner. The best terrace view in the ground in his opinion. He also said that "Channie" would have won lots of caps had he played for a more fashionable club.

[kushiro]

6 hours ago, Rob Clarke said:

Great research once again Kushiro. Many of these City players names are familiar to me as my granddad told me all about them as this was his era of supporting the City from the Filbert Street end/Popular side corner. The best terrace view in the ground in his opinion. He also said that "Channie" would have won lots of caps had he played for a more fashionable club.

 

This was Channie's only representative honour  -  chosen for the Football League against the Scottish League in 1927. This is his crest from the game:

 

 

That's from this excellent look back at the 1920s from John Hutchinson:

 Leicester City Through The Years: 1920-1930 (lcfc.com)

[Foxdiamond]

10 hours ago, kushiro said:

1927/28 - quite a season for Leicester City.

 

The Double Decker opened and Filbert Street took on the basic dimensions it would retain for the rest of the century. Two big sides and two little.

 

We were a thrillingly entertaining  as well as effective side that challenged for the title for the first time, eventually finishing third.

 

The highest ever attendance at the ground was recorded as over 47,000 saw an FA Cup Fifth Round tie v Spurs.

 

Oh - and a tune called 'When You're Smiling' was released in the USA.

 

It was also the year of the Wembley Wizards - the Scottish XI written off as midgets that came to Wembley and outclassed England with an historic 5-1 win. Not something that ever figures in the Leicester City story. But it was nearly so different.

 

On February 8th that year, two months before the game,  England played 'The Rest' at Middlesbrough. This was a trial for Wembley. England A v England B, it might have been called.

 

In the England team were Reg Osborne at left back and Syd Bishop at left half - both Leicester City players. They were, in fact, the first two Leicester City players ever to wear the Three Lions, Bishop the first (for the Scotland fixture a year earlier, when he had marked the legendary Hughie Gallacher out of the game, as England won 2-1 at Hampden), then Osborne just three monhts before this trial, in a 2-1 defeat by Wales at Turf Moor.

 

Bishop and Osborne:

 

 

We also had a player in the 'Rest' XI. Ernie Hine was at inside forward.

 

The result that day at Ayresome Park was 8-3 to the first XI.  Dixie Dean scored five - one more amazing performance in the season he scored 60 in the League for Everton. Contributing to such a crushing victory, Reg Osborne and Syd Bishop now surely had a great chance of being selected for the big Wembley occasion. The Rest, and Ernie Hine, less so.

 

Five weeks later the Scottish trial game took place at Partick Thistle's ground. Scotland had recently lost 1-0 at home to Ireland, and the new faces in this trial game knew they had a good opportunity to impress. The game was 'Anglo-Scots' v 'Home Scots' - those playing in the Football League v those playing for Scottish League clubs. Two of the Anglos who traveled north were Johnny Duncan and Arthur Lochhead, who had been catching the eye in Leicester City's surge up the table.

 

Both of them are massive figures in the club's history - two Peter Hodge signings who would both later manage the club. Duncan was now playing in the half back line after years at inside right, and Lochhead was at inside left. The result of the game was Anglo-Scots 1 Home Scots 1.

 

So now those 44 players all waited to see if they'd be chosen for the real thing at Wembley. In the days before the World Cup, and long before the European Championships got off the ground, this was the most prestigious fixture in the international calendar. How many of those five Leicester players would make it?

 

The answer was - not a single one. 

 

Syd Bishop was the unluckiest. He was actually chosen to captain England - a great honour in just his fifth international. But then he got injured and had to pull out, replaced  by Harry Healless, who had just captained Blackburn Rovers to an FA Cup semi-final victory over Arsenal in the biggest game ever staged at Filbert Street (just one more great occasion in this momentous season).

 

Neither Reg Osborne nor Ernie Hine were chosen for England. 

 

As for the Scots, they picked eight 'Anglos', but amazingly, neither Duncan nor Lochhead. The forward line they chose was:

 

Alex Jackson                 5 ft 10

Jimmy Dunn                   5ft   6

Hughie Gallacher           5ft   5

Alex James                     5ft   6

Alan Morton                    5ft   4

 

They were the ones that mesmerized England on March 31st and went down in history. 

 

And those five Leicester players had only tales of what might have been. 

In fact, it was seven. Len Barry and Arthur Chandler had also been on the England selectors minds. Barry, a winger, was called up to Engand's very next game, a 5-1 win in Paris, becoming the third Leicester player to win an England cap. Chandler had been watched by the selectors, though incredibly, our goalscoring legend was destined never to win a cap.

 

For the English players, that 'if only' would have been a fairly mild refelction, something along the lines of  'If I'd been playing we wouldn't have let five in'. 

 

For Johnny Duncan and Arthur Lochhead, it would have been a more intense feeling of regret - that they came so close to featuring in what is perhaps the greatest day in the history of the Scottish national side.

 

Duncan and Lochhead:

 

                 

Nice mention that Bishop and Osborne were the first Leicester City players to play for Engand. Of course Horace Bailey of The Fosse played in goal for England in 1908