When City Fell Foul of Edwardian Financial Fair Play (Pt 7)
Seven: Turnbull the Terrible
On the day the FA ban was made public City, 14th in the League and a point off relegation, faced second-placed Preston at Hyde Road. City won 6-1, prompting the Daily Mirror to observe:
‘Manchester City are evidently not going to allow their troubles of the Council Chamber of the F.A to interfere with their play on the field. Against the meteoric Preston North End side they played like a veritable whirlwind... I certainly never expected to hear of any club scoring six goals against the Preston defence as I saw it at Plumstead a week or so ago.’
Two of the goals came from 20-year old Alexander “Sandy” Turnbull, who had played a vital role in the previous season’s Cup success.
Some of City's directors had wanted to send him back to Scotland with £5 after he had joined the club in August 1902, thinking him “too small and too slow”. But the 5ft 5” forward soon showed a deceptive burst of speed. And as the Daily Mirror noted: ‘considering his lack of inches he gets his head to the ball in wonderful fashion.’
According to Athletic News,
‘‘He is clever with his head and with his feet… When he is in form, there is no man who can make better use of a chance.’
Now leading the attack again following Thornley’s season-long suspension, Turnbull soon made the most of his opportunity.
On 3 December he got a hat-trick in the 5-2 defeat of Sunderland. Two weeks later he scored four in the 6-0 demolition of Derby at Hyde Road. With 13 goals in nine games, Turnbull was now League’s leading scorer.
But it wasn’t just his goals that were making headlines. Edwardian football had become an increasingly violent and bad-tempered affair, and Turnbull seemed happier than most to push its boundaries.
According to the Manchester Courier, it had earned him the nickname ‘Turnbull the Terrible’.
The wing-play of Billy Meredith was key to Turnbull’s success. And he too was now taking the game to new heights. At a practice game at Blackpool in January, Meredith experimented with chipping the goalkeeper as he rushed out to save a penalty (keepers didn’t have to stay on their line back then). Maley later recalled:
‘In Manchester City’s Cup tie at Lincoln the following Saturday we had a penalty award. The goalkeeper came out, Meredith tried the “loft” over the man’s head, and scored. The crowd couldn’t believe it, and one Gibson, rushing the referee, said: ”He hasn’t kicked the ball!”
“How come it’s there then?” the referee replied, pointing to the net.’
Bolton avenged their Cup final defeat on 18 February with a 2-1 win at Hyde Road in the second round. But all eyes at City were now on the League. By 11 March, a run of eight straight wins had put them in a three-way battle with Everton and Newcastle for the title.
Following a 1-0 win against of Arsenal at Hyde Road on 8 April, third-placed City were just a point behind Newcastle and two points behind Everton with four games remaining. After a late Meredith equaliser salvaged a draw at title-holders Sheffield Wednesday, City hosted the League leaders on the 21st.
The Good Friday encounter was an exceptionately violent affair, which saw City’s Frank Booth knocked unconscious from a punch from an Everton player. According to Football Post:
‘Balmer was in the act of kicking the ball, after the whistle had gone for a foul, when Booth (of City) charged him. Tom Booth, of Everton, immediately rushed up, and struck his namesake a blow under the jaw, knocking him down with such force that he fell on top of him. The City man was laid out for a time.’
There was ‘not the slightest doubt’ that the Everton player should have been sent off, the paper claimed. But after consulting the linesman, who was only a few yards away from the incident, the referee took no action.
Earlier in the game City had a goal contentiously ruled out for offside and had also been denied a ‘clear’ penalty. According to Football Post:
‘Turnbull had a splendid chance of scoring when he was badly charged in the back by Booth. It was a clear case, but Mr. J. T. Howcroft was obdurate, and neither did he give a free-kick when Booth put his foot up to Turnbull, who, as a result of the previous incident, was off the field for a minute or so.’
City, ‘playing the smarter game’, still secured a vital 2-0 victory. According to Liverpool Evening Express, on the final whistle:
‘A number of police surrounded the Everton players as they entered the entrance to the dressing-room, but no disorder occured.’
Although the win had abated the anger among the sell-out 40,000 crowd, there was now a growing sense at the club that City’s title hopes were being hindered by unfair treatment from officials.
After a 3-0 win at Wolves on the Monday, City went to Aston Villa for the final game of the season.
It was another violent affair. With City trailing 3-1 in the second half, the Bolton Football Field reported:
‘Turnbull was in his dourest dribbling mood, dashing about with the ball with his whole heart set on victory. Leake found him a real hard opponent and, becoming annoyed at the rough impact, gathered up a handful of dirt and hurled it at the City man. Turnbull was not hurt and responded with an acknowledgement favoured by the bourgeoisie—thrusting two fingers at the Villa man. He then says that Leake appeared to look towards the referee as though appealing, and not catching his eye, “gave Turnbull a backhander”. The latter immediately responded with fists and Leake was restrained by his fellow players from retaliating further.’
City lost the game 3-2, but this time it was they who needed a police escort on the final whistle. After the match City’s coach was stoned by Villa fans. But most shockingly, newspapers claimed that Turnbull had been dragged into the Villa dressing room and beaten up.
The FA immediately launched an investigation into the game. But it was the behaviour of the City players that soon became the focus of their attention.
Part Seven will be published on Saturday 13th April.
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Wow ….football violence was pretty rampant back then as indeed was society in general with public drunkenness the norm in big city’s ,as the workers drowned the sorrows of their back breaking jobs and often slum housing . Fascinating reading, I seem to recall a Sammy turnbull Bar at Maine road but can’t remember if it was at the back of the main stand or kippax !