A SHORT KING; IN HEIGHT AND REIGN

Having mentioned Port Vale FC yesterday and the club's nickname, here's a list of Football League club nicknames from a little while back. Not all present clubs are here (e.g. new ones) and one or two may have left the PL/FL. A test would be to see if you can reorganise the "92". I hope you can make out the small print!

 While football, these days, drags on during the Spring and often into Summer, the football season in past years, had its conclusion earlier, often with an England match against Scotland in March, along with the other "home internationals". 

England had beaten Scotland in early April, at Hampden Park in 1927, 1-2, with Dixie Dean scoring both goals. Almost a year later, Wembley entertained the Scots, soon to be known as the "Wembley Wizards", in front of over 80,000 people. In the previous two home internationals, England had already lost to Ireland 0-2 and Wales 1-2, in the Autumn of 1927. Below: Dean 5'10".....

On March 31st 1928, the annual match between England and Scotland was played at Wembley, when the "Wembley Wizards", a Scottish team of some influence, made its mark and a place in history. Scotland won 1-5! 

Robert Kelly (16 November 1893 – 22 September 1969) scored the England goal and later he broke the British transfer record when he moved from Burnley to Sunderland for £6,550 in 1925. He then joined Huddersfield Town and later played for Preston NE. He made 14 appearances for England between 1920 and 1928, scoring eight goals.

The English press had described the Scottish team as "undernourished" with a forward line no taller than 5' 7". Previously in the Championship, the Scots had drawn 2-2 with Wales in Cardiff and lost to Northern Ireland 0-1 at Hampden, so the Scottish selectors "tore up" the past team sheets and started again. Eight of their new team were playing for clubs in England. Tom "Tiny" Bradshaw was given the task of marking Dixie Dean. The tricky, dribbling Scots, however, made England look like "helpless small boys, chasing butterflies", as reported in The Observer. 

Below is the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII meeting the Scots- he was 5'5" tall and reigned for 325 days. Compare heights!

This diminuitive team scored 5 and England could only reply with a single goal towards the end of the match. England came bottom of the 1928 "Home Championship" table with no points, 2 goals for and 9 against.

In 1929 the Scots beat England again, 0-1 at Hampden, in front of a crowd of over 110.000. Scotland topped the table and England came second. The next season, 1930, England topped the Championship table and when Scotland visited Wembley (5th April 1930) England won 5-2. Phew! They then topped table in 1931 and 1932.