The England 'Trialists' for the match against Austria  November 1951
Player	Birthdate	Age	Pos	Club	starts	subs	App	G	Capt
Baily, Edward F.	6 August 1925	24	IL	Tottenham Hotspur FC	5	0	5	5	0
	Baily was called up on 27 November to replace Billy Wright's inside-left position.
Barlow, Ray	17 August 1926	25	LHB	West Bromwich Albion FC	0	0	0	0	0
Barrass, Malcolm W.	13 December 1924	26	CHB	Bolton Wanderers FC	2	0	2	0	0
Broadis, Ivan A.	18 December 1922	28	IR	Manchester City FC	0	0	0	0	0
	Broadis was called up on 27 November to replace Mortensen.
Burgin, Edward	29 April 1927	24	G	Sheffield United	0	0	0	0ᵍᵃ	0
Cockburn, Henry	14 September 1921	30	LHB	Manchester United FC	13	0	13	0	0
Dickinson, James W.	24 April 1925	26	LHB	Portsmouth FC	15	0	15	0	0
Eckersley, William	16 July 1925	26	LB	Blackburn Rovers FC	5	0	5	0	0
Finney, Thomas	5 April 1922	29	OR	Preston North End FC	35	0	35	20	0
	Finney withdrew from the Party on 26 November because of injury.
Froggatt, Jack	17 November 1922	29	CHB	Portsmouth FC	3	0	3	1	0
Hawksworth, Derek M.	16 July 1927	24	OL	Sheffield United	0	0	0	0	0
Lofthouse, Nathaniel	27 August 1925	26	CF	Bolton Wanderers FC	3	0	3	4	0
Mannion, Wilfred J.	16 May 1918	33	IL	Middlesbrough FC	26	0	26	11	0
	Mannion was not part of the original twenty called up on 15 November, but withdrew from the team on 25 November
Medley, Leslie D.	3 September 1920	31	OL	Tottenham Hotspur FC	5	0	5	1	0
Merrick, Gilbert H.	26 January 1922	29	G	Birmingham City FC	1	0	1	0ᵍᵃ	0
Milburn, John E.T.	11 May 1924	27	CF	Newcastle United FC	12	0	12	10	0
	Milburn was called up as a reserve on 25 November in place of Mannion
Milton, C. Arthur	10 March 1928	23	OR	Arsenal FC	0	0	0	0	0
Mortensen, Stanley H.	26 May 1921	30	IR	Blackpool FC	23	0	23	21	0
Mozley, Bert	21 September 1923	28	RB	Derby County FC	3	0	3	0	0
Nicholson, William E.	26 January 1919	32	RHB	Tottenham Hotspur FC	1	0	1	1	0
	Nicholson was the only member added to the team without being a member of the Party.
Pearson, Stanley C.	11 January 1919	32	IL	Manchester United FC	6	0	6	3	0
Ramsey, Alfred E.	22 January 1920	31	RB	Tottenham Hotspur FC	17	0	17	0	3
Sewell, John	24 January 1927	24	IR	Sheffield Wednesday FC	1	0	1	0	0
	Sewell was added to the training Party on 19 November, but he did not turn up.
Smith, Lionel	23 August 1920	31	LB	Arsenal FC	3	0	3	0	0
	Smith withdrew from the Party on 25 November because of injury.
Vaughan, Charles J.	23 April 1921	30	CF	Charlton Athletic FC	0	0	0	0	0
Williams, Bert F.	31 January 1920	31	G	Wolverhampton Wanderers FC	18	0	18	24ᵍᵃ	0
	Williams was not part of the original twenty, but was a reserve, until he withdrew on 25 November
Wright, William A.	6 February 1924	25	IL	Wolverhampton Wanderers FC	38	0	38	3	23

All information is complete to and including England's last match, the third of the 1951-52 season, against Ireland on 14 November 1951.

Diary

Thursday, 15 November 1951 - "The England selectors this afternoon announced the names of 20 players to be called together for special training at Manchester City's ground Monday to Thursday next week in preparation for the international game with Austria. There are some notable omissions, Williams in goal, Milburn at centre-forward, Baily and Mannion at inside-forward, Matthews at outside-right, are among those who are not rated as England's second choices." - Yorkshire Evening Post

Monday, 19 November 1951 - Late in the afternoon, the Football Association from Lancaster Gate announce the starting XI that will take on Austria next week. It is to be Merrick; Ramsey and Smith; Nicholson, Froggatt and Dickinson; Finney, Mortensen, Lofthouse, Wright (captain) and Medley. It took the selectors 2½ hours to decide on the team. Stan Mortensen is recalled at inside-right and Billy Wright is moved to inside-left. It is the FA's way of saying that we do not have an inside-left equal to the task and further, it is an admission that the continental challenge can no longer be met by orthodox selection.
Only Bill Nicholson was not among the twenty players named last Thursday and he is to join the party there, He will be unable to play for the London FA in Berlin on Wednesday.
Jack Sewell, the Sheffield Wednesday inside-forward, is selected by the FA to join the players already in Manchester.

Tuesday, 20 November 1951 - "If the selectors of any of the 92 Football League clubs picked different inside-forwards for four matches in succession they would be severely criticised and not expected to make progress in the League. Yet the FA have done more than that for the match at Wembley against Austria which they expect to be the hardest ever played in this country against a team from the Continent. At inside-right they have selected Stan Mortensen, who usually plays centre-forward; at inside-left they have picked Billy Wright, who plays at wing half-back. They have discarded Mannion (a reserve for Wembley), Hassall, Thompson, Baily, Sewell and Phillips who played inside-forward in the three earlier international matches this season and Pearson, one of the 20 named for Manchester training, and have tacitly admitted that, of the 2,000 odd professional footballers in the country there is not one recognised inside-forward of international standard.... To fill the right half-back position Wright usually occupies the selectors have brought in Nicholson, and they have made another change at centre half, where Froggatt is preferred to Barass. There are now three uncompromising tacklers at half-back." - The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury.
Jack Sewell was the one of two players missing from the first training session today. Walter Winterbottom explained that Sewell had been given weekend leave by his club and had not yet been contacted. The other absentee is Arsenal's Lionel Smith, who had stayed behind at Highbury for treatment to an existing ankle injury, that was further damaged when Smith played for England against Ireland last week. The absence of these two players gave opportunity for two Manchester City players to join in the practise game. Eckersley took the place of Smith, and the two City players, centre-half Jack Rigby and inside-forward Johnny Hart, filled the vacancies in the Reserve side.
The teams were England―Merrick; Ramsey and Eckersley; Nicholson, Froggatt and Dickinson; Finney, Mortensen, Lofthouse, Wright and Medley. Reserves―Burgin; Mozley and Rigby; Barlow, Barrass and Cockburn; Milton, Hart, Vaughan, Pearson and Hawksworth. The teams played 25 minutes each way, being level at 1-1 at half-time. Then England found good form and ran out 3-1 winners. Johnny Hart scored for the Reserves after seven minutes. Stan Mortensen, twice, and Tom Finney scored for England.
Walter Winterbottom announced that as there was only one practise match remaining, Jackie Sewell is not required to attend the three training sessions, and Johnny Hart will continue in his absence.

Wednesday, 21 November 1951 - The Reserves were beaten a second time by England at Maine Road today. Centre forward Nat Lofthouse scored the winning goal 26 minutes minute into the first half. The Reserves provided more of a stern test as they maintained the Austrian style of play, using three backs, four midfield foragers and three forwards. They often at times made the England attack look ineffectual.

Sunday, 25 November 1951 - The fitness of Bill Nicholson is called into doubt. A recurrence of an old groin injury troubled him in Tottenham's match against Portsmouth yesterday. Today his manager, Arthur Rowe, said his appearance for England will be "very doubtful." In the same match, Les Medley, took a knock on the thigh, but is expected to be fit.  However, a spate of withdrawals include right-winger Tom Finney, who strained a thigh muscle playing with Preston against Chelsea. Right-back Lionel Smith and reserve inside-forward Wilf Mannion both missed their club games over the weekend and have withdrawn.
Bill Eckersley is the natural replacement of Lionel Smith at left-back. However, Jackie Milburn is called up to take the vacant reserve position, instead of Mannion.

Monday, 26 November 1951 - The England party report to their headquarters at Hendon Hall Hotel this afternoon after a bewildering weekend which saw half of the fourteen-named players had been reported injured, forcing the selectors to revise their staring XI. As well as the two named yesterday, Captain Billy Wright drops back from inside-left to replace Nicholson at right-half. Arthur Milton and Ivor Broadis both replace Finney and Mortensen. Eddie Baily is called upon to replace the vacant position left by Wright's positional change. Baily, in the meantime, is in bed, suffering from abscesses in the mouth.

Tuesday, 27 November 1951 - There are thankfully no surprises ahead of tomorrow's clash with the Austrians, with the revised team of players all pronouncing fit. The England players were training on a private ground near Hendon using a hockey pitch with its smaller goals as an encouragement to the forwards to pin-point their shooting and played a brief seven-a-side match to help their speed.

England Form: last six games
L W W D D W  f 14:a 9  success: 67%
262	14 April 1951 - England 2 Scotland 3 [1-1] Empire Stadium, Wembley (98,750)	Hassall, Finney Johnstone, Reilly, Liddell	BC	HL
263	9 May 1951 - England 2 Argentina 1 [0-1] Empire Stadium, Wembley (99,000)	Mortensen, Milburn Boyé	Fr	HW
264	19 May 1951 - England 5 Portugal 2 [2-1] Goodison Park, Liverpool (52,686)	Nicholson, Milburn (2), Finney, Hassall Patalino, Albano		HW
265	3 October 1951 - England 2 France 2 [2-2] Arsenal Stadium, Highbury (57,603)	Firoud OG, Medley Doye, Alpsteg		HD
266	20 October 1951 - Wales 1 England 1 [1-1] Ninian Park, Cardiff (51,500)	Foulkes Bailey	BC	AD
267	14 November 1951 - England 2 Ireland 0 [1-0] Villa Park, Birmingham (57,889)	Lofthouse (2)		HW