Match Summary

Scotland Team

England Team

SCOTLAND OUTPLAY ENGLAND

A TRIUMPH OF STYLE AT HAMPDEN PARK

The season 1924-25 has been a great one for Scottish football, Rugby as well as Association. In each case, the International Championship has been won without a single defeat and, if the Rugby victory at Murrayfield was the more dramatic, the outplaying of England's Association professionals at Hampden Park on Saturday was the more complete. The scoring of two goals to none was watched by the expected huge crowd of 100,000 critics, whose comparative complacency in the hour of triumph was eloquent proof of the Scottish team's superiority.

The superiority in style and method of the Scotsmen, as a matter of fact, was much more complete than the score, or even the course of the play, would suggest. To the people who recognized in the English eleven merely a very moderate team who, after all, had failed only where many famous elevens had failed in the past, the match may have meant no more than a rather humiliating defeat. Scotland, it should be noted, had decided on this occasion to make no use of the Anglo-Scot, as he is called, and so it became a true test of international styles. Judged, then, on the day's play, the English representatives and their methods cut a distinctly sorry figure. As to whether the selectors had done their work well in advance is, of course, another story. Everywhere, however, except perhaps in goal and at back, the Englishmen were outmanœuvred and outplayed. They were so outplayed at times that they also looked outpaced, which probably was not the fact.

It would be easy to lay all this at the doors of the unhappy players themselves, but the writer, for his part, refuses to do so and, instead, makes a more or less savage attack upon the wretched misconception of the Association game which is rapidly making professional League and Cup-tie football in England little better than a glorified kick-and-rush--glorified only because the players are at least magnificently trained athletes. The Scotsmen, though their team on Saturday was not, perhaps, one of their greatest, have managed somehow to retain the great outstanding joy of Association football--the dribbling runs which make passing movements something better than a mere rapid dispersal of the ball all over the field. The rigid and argumentative adherents of the so-called Scottish " triangular " game and the equally so-called English rectilinear game may be left to fight out that particular part of the battle without assistance. It is enough to say that, although the Scotsmen still are very apt to overdo their pattern weaving and trickiness in front of goal, the Englishmen no longer seem to have the capacity to do more than swing the ball about mechanically or wildly, as the case may be. Their game, regarded as a whole, has become as featureless and unfootball-like as the Rugby game becomes when it is deprived of its twin characteristic glories--the run with the ball and the courageous tackle... - The Times - Monday 6th April, 1925

Football League Division One 4 April 1925
Team	P	Pts
West Bromwich Albion	36	49
Huddersfield Town	35	48
Newcastle United	38	46
Bury	36	46
Bolton Wanderers	35	44
Sunderland	37	44
Liverpool	35	42
Tottenham Hotspur	37	38
Notts County	35	37
Manchester City	36	37
West Ham United	36	37
Birmingham	37	37
Sheffield United	36	34
Cardiff City	36	33
Blackburn Rovers	35	31
Aston Villa	35	30
Arsenal	36	29
Burnley	35	29
Leeds United	36	28
Everton	36	28
Nottingham Forest	36	22
Preston North End	36	21

 

Division One matches played on 4 April 1925:

ARSENAL 1-1 CARDIFF CITY
Brain (Beadles)
35,000 (Highbury, London)

ASTON VILLA 1-4 SUNDERLAND
Dorrell (Marshall, Andrews, Hawes, Clunas pen.)
22,000 (Villa Park, Birmingham)

Villa were without Billy Walker, who was playing against Scotland in Glasgow.

BLACKBURN ROVERS 0-2 NOTTS COUNTY
(Davis, Widdowson)
8,000 (Ewood Park, Blackburn)

Syd Puddefoot missed a penalty for Blackburn, who were without Harry Healless, who was a reserve against Scotland in Glasgow, whilst County were without Bill Ashurst, who was playing against Scotland.

BURY 1-0 BURNLEY
Ball
18,062 (Gigg Lane, Bury)

Burnley were without Bob Kelly, who was playing against Scotland in Glasgow.

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 2-0 EVERTON
C.Wilson 2, 1 pen.
15,500 (Leeds Road, Huddersfield)

Huddersfield were without Sam Wadsworth, who was captain against Scotland in Glasgow.

LIVERPOOL 1-1 BIRMINGHAM
Baron (Briggs)
28,000 (Anfield, Liverpool)

Jack Jones sent a Birmingham penalty wide just before half-time.

MANCHESTER CITY 2-1 PRESTON NORTH END
Browell, Warner (Woodhouse)
20,000 (Maine Road, Manchester)

City were without Frank Roberts, who was playing against Scotland in Glasgow.

NEWCASTLE UNITED 0-1 WEST BROMWICH ALBION
(Carter)
25,402 (St James' Park, Newcastle)

West Brom were without Tommy Magee, who was playing against Scotland in Glasgow.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 4-0 LEEDS UNITED
Morgan, Gibson, Walker, Martin
5,000 (City Ground, Nottingham)

SHEFFIELD UNITED 2-0 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Gillespie, Johnson
20,000 (Bramall Lane, Sheffield)

United were without Fred Tunstall, who was playing against Scotland in Glasgow, as was Tottenham's Seed, whilst his team-mate, Elkes, was a reserve against Scotland.

WEST HAM UNITED 1-1 BOLTON WANDERERS
Campbell (Vizard)
25,000 (Upton Park, London)

Bolton were without Dick Pym, who was in goal against Scotland in Glasgow, although his replacement, Jack Bourne saved a penalty from Tommy Yews, shortly after the Hammers had taken a fifth-minute lead.

Huddersfield retained their title on the last day of the season, but a tight defence and a far-superior goal average were always going to make them difficult to beat and so it proved.

Football League Division Two 4 April 1925
Team	P	Pts
Leicester City	36	51
Derby County	36	51
Manchester United	35	46
Chelsea	36	40
Wolverhampton Wanderers	36	39
Portsmouth	36	39
Port Vale	35	38
Hull City	36	35
Middlesbrough	36	35
Fulham	35	35
Southampton	33	34
Clapton Orient	36	34
Bradford City	35	34
Stockport County	36	34
South Shields	35	33
Crystal Palace	36	33
Blackpool	35	32
Oldham Athletic	37	32
The Wednesday	37	31
Stoke	36	27
Barnsley	35	26
Coventry City	36	25

 

Division Two matches played on 4 April 1925:

BARNSLEY 1-1 CLAPTON ORIENT
Hine (Dixon)
8,000 (Oakwell, Barnsley)

Orient were without Jack Townrow, who was playing against Scotland in Glasgow.

BLACKPOOL 2-1 LEICESTER CITY
Bedford pen., Meredith (Duncan)
9,000 (Bloomfield Road, Blackpool)

BRADFORD CITY 2-0 CHELSEA
Butler 2
15,000 (Valley Parade, Bradford)

DERBY COUNTY 1-0 MANCHESTER UNITED
Wightman
24,438 (Baseball Ground, Derby)

FULHAM 1-0 OLDHAM ATHLETIC
Edmonds
12,000 (Craven Cottage, London)

HULL CITY 0-0 STOKE
7,000 (Anlaby Road, Hull)

MIDDLESBROUGH 0-0 CRYSTAL PALACE
16,000 (Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough)

PORTSMOUTH 1-0 COVENTRY CITY
Mackie
11,000 (Fratton Park, Portsmouth)

SOUTHAMPTON 1-0 PORT VALE
Dominy
7,000 (The Dell, Southampton)

SOUTH SHIELDS 0-1 STOCKPORT COUNTY
(Meads)
9,000 (Horsley Hill, South Shields)

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1-0 THE WEDNESDAY
Bowen
9,000 (Molineux, Wolverhampton)

A dearth of goals with half of the second division clubs failing to score. Derby did manage to strengthen theirs and Leicester's positions at the top by beating Manchester United, but a run of only three goals in ten matches was to prove costly and it was United that won promotion as runners-up to Leicester.

Selected Division Three matches played on 4 April 1925:

BRISTOL ROVERS 1-1 MILLWALL
Phillips (Parker)
7,000 (Eastville Stadium, Bristol)

Millwall were without Len Graham, who was playing against Scotland in Glasgow.

SWANSEA TOWN 2-0 GILLINGHAM
Nicholas, Logie
11,300 (Vetch Field, Swansea)

Swansea Town led the southern section on goal average from Bristol City, who had played a game more. They were to maintain their lead to the end and won promotion for the first time. Darlington led the northern section by five points from Nelson, who had a game in hand, after the 1-1 draw between the sides became a missed opportunity to close the gap which would remain right through to the end of the season, as Darlington secured their first promotion.

IN OTHER NEWS...

It was on 5 April 1925 that the Ulster Unionist Party maintained its majority in the Parliament of Northern Ireland, despite losing eight seats in the province's General Election.

Source Notes

Scottish Football Association
Scotland - The Complete International Record: Richard Keir
London Hearts
original newspaper reports
FA Yearbooks 1950-60
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CG