Guest Howaythetoon Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2018/01/07/22/47DD15BD00000578-5244615-image-a-1_1515365253486.jpg A shot in time: Defences were scared of Chelsea's famously infamous hitman Hughie Gallacher Imagine this trio turning up at your door. More like bailiffs — or worse — than the Chelsea forward line, Jackie Crawford, Hughie Gallacher and Andy Wilson carried more than a goal threat when they posed like this. It was 1931 and in west London, as well as Chicago, Al Capone was in vogue. These three look like they are on their way to, or on the way back from, a hit. Two, Crawford and Gallacher, are smoking, because that was what you did. The other, Wilson, has one glove on, not because he had returned from somewhere he did not wish to leave fingerprints, rather Wilson had fought in the First World War and received a gunshot injury to his lower left arm at Arras. A Scotland winger, Wilson was a Middlesbrough player then. He joined Chelsea in 1923 and stayed in the team for eight seasons. After that he joined QPR, and all that time he wore a glove. Later he underwent amputation. Wilson was 34 in this picture, as was Crawford. He too was a winger, from Jarrow in the North East, where he worked in the shipyard before joining Hull City. He moved to Chelsea at the same time as Wilson. Crawford played for England — once. At 5ft 2in, he is thought to be the smallest ever England international. His height meant that he was one of the few players 5ft 5in Gallacher could look down on. The two Chelsea wingers were, appropriately, either side of their famously infamous centre forward, Gallacher. He was the headline act. ‘Wee Hughie’ Gallacher was a walking headline. Born in 1903 near Glasgow, Gallacher came to Newcastle United’s attention playing for Airdrieonians. By the time he was 23 he had won the Scottish Cup with Airdrie and finished runner-up in the league twice. He had scored 100 goals in 129 appearances and won his first Scotland cap. In December 1925, he moved to Newcastle for £6,500 — £50 short of the British transfer record. He scored on his debut at St James’ Park and never stopped. In his first full season — 1926-27 — Gallacher was made captain. It was a surprise to someone with a reputation for getting his retaliation in first but he responded with four goals in the opening day 4-0 win over Aston Villa. Hat-tricks against Tottenham and Everton followed and in the last home game of the season, against Sheffield Wednesday, Gallacher scored both goals in a 2-1 win. It gave Newcastle the league title for the first time since 1909. And for the last time. In 41 league and cup appearances, Gallacher scored 39 goals. In four and a half seasons at St James’ this phenomenon scored 143 goals in 174 matches — an 82 per cent strike rate. Years later his team-mate Stan Seymour said of Gallacher: ‘Stanley Matthews has only a fraction of his casual genius.’ The Newcastle Journal wondered if Gallacher possessed ‘more than the usual complement of feet’. Gallacher became a Geordie hero. There was more to it than goals: he was a man about town, liked a drink, then another one, a sharp dresser with a sharp wit. But he also had a temper and a willingness to spend. Ultimately those characteristics influenced his life as much as his talent. Frequent suspensions, court appearances, front-page headlines and an offer of £10,000 meant that Newcastle sold arguably their greatest ever individual to Chelsea in May 1930. There was uproar on Tyneside. Gallacher was an idol. Chelsea’s first away game the next season was at Newcastle. It was on a Wednesday afternoon and 68,386 turned up to see him, with at least 10,000 locked outside. It is still St James’ Park’s record attendance. At Chelsea Gallacher was still the star, just not as prolific — but then he was on a two-month FA suspension in this picture for abusing a referee. Later in the year he was declared bankrupt. His Scotland career had ended by then — 24 goals in 20 caps (only Law and Dalglish have scored more). Gallacher left Chelsea, without a trophy, for Derby in 1934, then on to Notts County, Grimsby and back to the North East with Gateshead, where he settled. He was content, still scoring — in total 463 goals in 624 games. But there was tragedy in his past and more in the future. At 17, Gallacher had married and his wife Annie had a son, Hughie, who died before his first birthday. With his second wife Hannah, they had three sons, but when she died in 1950, Gallacher was shattered. He kept the house together but after a row with his youngest son, Mattie, in 1957, Mattie was taken into care. Gallacher was due in court again but that morning, he wrote a note apologising for his behaviour and made his way to a stretch of the London-Edinburgh railway line at Gateshead. It was known as Dead Man’s Crossing. Some locals would later say they had seen him convulsed with anguish. Aged 54, Gallacher stepped in front of a train. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5244615/A-shot-time-Defences-scared-Hughie-Gallacher.html He once gave his fur coat to a tramp outside the Central Station and would regularly drink with fans. Ive read many a match report from his games and he must have been some player to watch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdm Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 As mentioned in the article Gallacher also played for my home town team Airdrieonians and there are streets in the town named after him and frank brennan who also played for both clubs Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
54 Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/history/st-james-park-1968-newcastle-14139427 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paully Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 FFS - idiots are still bleating about this! Scottish, mackem w*****! The comments are superb! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydnNUFC Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 What a pair of absolute twats. That mackem cunt and Simon J rdan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
xLiaaamx Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 Hutchinson is a typical mackem, talks about us way more than he does about down the road despite having no affiliation to us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Away Day Gadgie Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 The media are still gutted we didn't get bummed 6-0 in our own back yard then i see. Even though we lost, it almost feels like we won the way they keep crying about it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemtizz Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Why is this still a thing. Most, if not all of the ridiculous shit that is said about us is clearly to get a reaction and traffic from our fanbase, and sadly it works. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
54 Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 For the first time ever, the Twitter comments are all in agreement. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankpingel Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Hope they read those comments. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altamullan Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Hutchinson is a typical mackem, talks about us way more than he does about down the road despite having no affiliation to us. Thought he was a Newcastle fan? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benwell Lad Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Toon fan Chris Paisley just won the South African Open golf. Congratulations fella ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 When you spend a lot of time on the internet, you read a lot of utter bollocks. Yet every now and then you still see something that makes you think you've hit a new low. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Jesus wept. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest firetotheworks Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 You'd probably be forgiven for thinking Souness would make a good manager based on his punditry...and you somehow managed to pay so little attention that you missed him having already been a consistently shit manager over the space of 15-20 years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenBartonCentrePartin Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Did Souness get us to the Waffa Cup semi? Nar, he got us to the quarter final where we completely dropped our arses m8. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Did Souness get us to the Waffa Cup semi? Nar, he got us to the quarter final where we completely dropped our arses m8. 2-0 up across both legs with an away goal with 30 minutes left to play. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevo Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Hutchinson is a typical mackem, talks about us way more than he does about down the road despite having no affiliation to us. He’s a Newcastle fan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Howaythetoon Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Souness is a good pundit, but was a shit shit manager. Set us back years and destroyed a perfectly decent team that just needed tweaked. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenBartonCentrePartin Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Did Souness get us to the Waffa Cup semi? Nar, he got us to the quarter final where we completely dropped our arses m8. 2-0 up across both legs with an away goal with 30 minutes left to play. then the FA Cup semi final on the Sunday. I think everyone on my coach down to Cardiff was already accepting defeat by the time we hit Scotch Corner. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFEE Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Souness is a good pundit, but was a s*** s*** manager. Set us back years and destroyed a perfectly decent team that just needed tweaked. The daft thing is he said as much in his first interview. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paully Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Beyond belief, really. How we went into this season having not improved the team. Expecting a fairly unspectacular Championship outfit to cope with 38 Premier League games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Hutchinson is a typical mackem, talks about us way more than he does about down the road despite having no affiliation to us. He's from Gateshead man so of course he has some form of affiliation to us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbnufc Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Just seen on twitter https://www.bozfootball.com/blog/ncl-shola-concept-football-shirt eh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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