October 9 – Here’s To Wor Jackie
THERE’S a few sacred shirts in football. The Barcelona number 14 shirt is one, made famous by Johan Cruyff and laid unclaimed after his departure until a certain Thierry Henry va-va-voomed his way to Catalonia in the summer. The Brazilian number 10 and Manchester United number 7 shirts are other examples where the fans will expect something special from anyone who steps up to the mantle. Up in the North East the Newcastle number 9 is their holy grail, and today we’re looking at one of the finest goalscorers that the Geordies have ever seen, as today in 1988 saw Jackie Milburn pass away.
Wor Jackie’s story is boys-own stuff. In 1943 he replied to an advert for trialists in the North Mail Newspaper. Arriving at St. James with his mate’s boots and a pie for lunch he soon impressed, scoring six times in a trial game and getting snapped up by Stan Seymour, the club’s gaffer at the time. Back in those days it wasn’t a case of a couple of hours training followed by an afternoon in the bookies and a spin in your sports car with a bird on each arm. Oh no, Jackie spent his days down t’pit, as the wartime effort meant that English football was restricted to the Wartime League.
Once the war was over and league football returned Jackie went about becoming a Toon Army legend, as Newcastle went on to win the FA Cup three times in the 1950s. His 14-year spell at St. James’ saw him find the net 200 times, a record that stood until a certain Alan Shearer took over the hallowed number 9 shirt.
Milburn went to that great football pitch in the sky when he died of lung cancer in 1988, aged 64. Perhaps Newcastle’s bonus scheme of giving their top players cigarettes in the 1940s wasn’t the best idea. His funeral saw 30,000 pay their respects and the club built a pair of statues for the great man and named their new stand after him. Check out some retro footage below, and in a tip of the hat to the Toon Army’s greatest rivals we’ll be checking into the Stadium of Light tomorrow, so head on over.
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[...] proved he was worth every penny when he became the club’s highest ever scorer, beating Jackie Milburn’s record of 200 goals which had stood since [...]