Alexander Wilson James (14 September 1901 – 1 June 1953) was a Scottish international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

. He is mostly noted as a playmaking lynchpin at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

with whom he won six trophies from 1930 to the 1936 season. James featured as a deep-lying creative midfielder who provided a link between defence and attack. He was famed for his high level of footballing intelligence, outstanding ball control and supreme passing. James was described by

Tom Finney Sir Thomas Finney (5 April 1922 – 14 February 2014) was an English international footballer who played from 1946 to 1960 as a winger or centre forward for Preston North End and England. He is widely acknowledged to have been one of the spo ...

as "an inspiration" and "pure magic" with his style of play eventually leading to comparisons with

Dennis Bergkamp Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp (; born 10 May 1969) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. Originally a wide midfielder, Bergkamp was moved to main striker and then to second striker, where he remained throughout his playin ...

. His

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including ar ...

meant he wore "baggy" shorts so as to conceal the long johns he put on for warmth. His baggy attire became his own

trademark look Trademark look or signature look is the characteristic clothes or other distinguishing signs used by a certain character or performer, making the person more recognizable by the audience. Politicians may also have trademark signs, such as the suit ...

displayed upon the field of play.

Early years

Born in

Mossend Mossend is a small town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, located on the A775 road to the immediate east of its 'sister town' Bellshill, west of the villages of Holytown and New Stevenston, north of the larger town of Motherwell and south of the E ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotl ...

, James was schooled at the Bellshill Academy in

Bellshill Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton to the southwest, Viewpark to the w ...

where he began a long friendship with Hughie Gallacher. James started his youth footballing career with local Junior clubs, Bellshill Athletic and Ashfield.

Club career

Raith Rovers

Alex James joined Raith Rovers in 1922. Having finished third in the season before his arrival, Rovers' best league finish whilst James was at the club was fourth in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hold ...

. Raith placed ninth within both the 1923 and 1925 seasons. All in all he made close to a hundred League appearances in his three seasons at

Starks Park Stark's Park is a football stadium in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. It is the home ground of Raith Rovers, who have played there since 1891. The ground has an all-seated capacity of 9000 History Raith started using the ground in 1891 and it seats . I ...

, and was also involved in an incident of

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

ing in the summer of 1923 when the team's vessel bound for the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...

struck rocks in a storm.

Preston North End

James then went on to link up for £3,000 with club

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

in 1925. During his time at the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side, The ''Lilywhites'' twice seemed certain for promotion to only finish sixth and fourth respectively. He then fell out with the club firstly over his wages which were at

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

maximum In mathematical analysis, the maxima and minima (the respective plurals of maximum and minimum) of a function, known collectively as extrema (the plural of extremum), are the largest and smallest value of the function, either within a given r ...

of £8 a week, and also due to Preston not always releasing him for international duty with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Altogether James scored 55 goals in 157 appearances with the club.

Arsenal

James left Preston for

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful managers in the early 20th ...

in 1929 for £8,750, making his debut against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

on 31 August 1929 two weeks before his 28th birthday. In order to circumvent the maximum wage rules, Arsenal arranged it so that his employment at the club was supplemented by a £250-a-year "sports demonstrator" job at

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridg ...

, the London

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appe ...

. James had an unremarkable first season at Arsenal, partly due to the recovery from injuries he had accrued at Preston. However his first season brought the first of what would be six trophies in seven seasons when he played in the 1930 FA Cup Final win against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

, scoring the first in a 2–0 win to give Arsenal their first major trophy. Over time he settled into his role and became part of the dominant side of English football in 1930s. Playing so deep as a supporting player, he scored relatively few goals for Arsenal – only 27 in 261 appearances – but created many times that number. James's passing and vision supplied the ammunition that

Joe Hulme Joseph Harold Anthony Hulme (26 August 1904 – 27 September 1991) was an English footballer and cricketer. Football career Born in Stafford, Hulme usually played as a right-winger. Hulme played for Stafford YMCA before starting his caree ...

David Jack David Bone Nightingale Jack (3 April 1898 – 10 September 1958) was an English footballer who played as an inside forward. He scored 267 goals from 490 appearances in the Football League playing for Plymouth Argyle, Bolton Wanderers and Arsena ...

, Cliff Bastin, and Jack Lambert all put into the net."Dave Halliday" profile on www.qosfc.com
/ref> James orchestrated Arsenal to their first ever First Division Championship win in 1930–31. The defending champions started the 1931–32 season badly largely through missing goals from injured Jack Lambert. However, as Lambert returned to goalscoring form Arsenal enjoyed a good run to regain ground on leaders Everton. After their FA Cup semi final win they harboured hopes of a league and cup double; they were now only three points behind Everton with a game in hand. However, only two minutes into the next game at

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, James suffered serious ligament damage. He missed the rest of the league season and without their playmaker, Arsenal won only one more league game and finished second to Everton. They also lost in the

1932 FA Cup Final The 1932 FA Cup Final was contested by Newcastle United and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium in what became known as the "Over The Line" final. Newcastle won 2–1, both of their goals scored by Jack Allen. Arsenal had led 1–0 with a Bob John goal, ...

against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

. James had been passed fit before injuring himself in a pre-match photo call for the press. Without him, Arsenal lost 2–1, albeit thanks to a highly controversial goal from Newcastle's Jack Allen. He recovered to help Arsenal to a second title in 1932–33; Arsenal scored a club record 118 goals in the League that season. Another spate of injuries marred James's 1933–34 season. Arsenal retained their title but scored far fewer (75) goals in the process. With James recovered they won a fourth championship, and their third in a row in 1934–35 in style. Ted Drake scored 42 league goals in his first season with the club, many of them supplied by James. In 1935–36 James won his last trophy, a second FA Cup winners' medal, when he captained Arsenal to their 1–0 win over

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. With age and injuries taking their toll in the last two years of his career, Alex James retired from playing in the summer of 1937.

International career

Despite his club form, James won just eight caps for

. This was partly due to Preston's reluctance to release him for international matches. He made his international debut on 31 October 1925 in a game against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

which Scotland won 3–0. With the legendary " Wembley Wizards" team he scored a brace in their 5–1 thrashing of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

in 1928. This game was one of six where James and Hughie Gallacher both played with Scotland winning all of them. All three of James's international goals also came while playing alongside Gallacher.

Later years

In the summer of 1939, James went to Poland, invited by the Polish Football Association (PZPN). He spent six weeks there, working with Polish coach

Józef Kałuża Józef Ignacy Kałuża (11 February 1896 – 11 October 1944) was a Polish footballer and later coach, was one of the legends of Polish sports. Club career Kałuża was one of the most experienced forward players of 1920s Poland. His whole car ...

and members of the national team. He taught them modern tactics and led several training sessions. James also played in one or two friendly games with Warsaw's teams. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he served in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

. After the war he became a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and as well running a

football pools In the United Kingdom, the football pools, often referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of association football matches taking place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, and may enco ...

competition. In 1949 he was invited back to Arsenal to coach the club's youth sides. However, he died quite suddenly from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in 1953 at the age of 51. He was survived by his wife and three children. James was inducted into the

English Football Hall of Fame The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of the all-time top English footballing talents, as well as non-English players and m ...

in 2005 in recognition of his contribution to the English game.

In popular culture

He is mentioned in the lyrics of the 1930s song " With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm" which was written by

R. P. Weston Robert Patrick Weston ( Harris; 7 March 1878 – 6 November 1936) was an English songwriter. He was responsible for many successful songs and comic monologues between the 1900s and 1930s, mostly written in collaboration with other writers, notab ...

and

Bert Lee William Herbert Lee (11 June 1880 – 23 January 1946) was an English songwriter. He wrote for music hall and the musical stage, often in partnership with R. P. Weston. Life and career Lee was born in Ravensthorpe, Yorkshire, England.Richard A ...

and originally performed by Stanley Holloway.

Honours

Club

Arsenal * First Division: 1930–31, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

: 1929–30, 1935–36; runner-up 1931–32 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier L ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

Individual

: 2005 *

Scottish Football Hall of Fame The Scottish Football Hall of Fame is located at the Scottish Football Museum. Nominations are made each year by fans and a committee selects the inductees. The first inductions to the Hall of Fame were in November 2004 in a ceremony at Hampden Pa ...

: 2005 *Raith Rovers Hall of Fame: 2013

Notes

References

External links

''The Times'' on Alex James and Dennis BergkampAlex James statistics on Gunnermania
* *Alex James- Life of A Football Legend by John Harding available from DB Publishing * {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Alex 1901 births 1953 deaths Military personnel from Lanarkshire Footballers from North Lanarkshire Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers Scottish Football League players English Football League players Raith Rovers F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff English Football Hall of Fame inductees Deaths from cancer in England Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees Golders Green Crematorium Association football inside forwards Scottish Junior Football Association players Ashfield F.C. players Bellshill Athletic F.C. players British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery personnel People educated at Bellshill Academy FA Cup Final players Association football coaches