I don't know whether these two might be interesting Results for 'milburn finney buchan bloomer' | Between 1st Jan 1950 and 31st Dec 1959 | Daily Herald | Publication | British Newspaper Archive Results for 'milburn finney buchan bloomer' | Between 1st Jan 1950 and 31st Dec 1959 | Daily Mirror | Publication | British Newspaper Archive (the second link on that page I think, seemingly with favourable comparisons between Matthews and older players this time?) Because I'd put Milburn in the search terms I had a look at the Newcastle paper available, wondering if his name might feature in any run-down of best England players or anything....but from these search results I guess the most interesting might be the bottom one to see what is said about Finney in more detail, after he is being credited with scoring two goals, one from a solo run, and leaving 'no doubts' about something Results for 'milburn finney buchan bloomer' | Between 1st Jan 1950 and 31st Dec 1959 | Sunday Sun (Newcastle) | Publication | British Newspaper Archive I had wondered if I might find some all-time England selections or something with those terms, but I don't think I did. The top link mentions Puskas I saw anyway as well as "from the hey-days of Buchan and Bloomer through to Ford, Finney and Flowers. Goals of the 1890 s remembered as if they were whipped between the posts last Saturday afternoon. Wonderful letters about Milburn. Steel, Mime. Shackleton, Alex James" (I corrected Shackleton, but guess Mime should be corrected to something too....).
I also found some good ones to look at, in the aftermath of England-Czechoslovakia, here I think: Results for 'nejedly puc matthews planicka' | British Newspaper Archive The top two results with 'Matthews the Genius' and 'Matthews scores England's greatest goal ever' I see....
There was apparently this comment in The Times too, about Alex James: "Even those who take only an occasional interest in football must have- had their attention caught this week by the annoutice- nment that Alex James, who is acclaimed not only as the greatest footballer in the world to-day, but probably the greatest there has ever been...." https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/h...yer-short-lists.2027972/page-73#post-38809883
my account only have one free-view chance left, I decide to open the second link but it was not really insightful, the only interesting point is that one said that Matthews is as good as the great master of the past such as Woodward, Bloomer, Buchan, etc.
it was a common knowledge that James was the greatest British ever since the WWI. could be argued as top tier level in all-time debate, but for sure he was the greatest British of pre-WWII with such masters like Walker, Bloomer, Crabtree, and others
SOME GREAT INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS - William MacGregor 05/04/1902 good article to find out great players of pre-Football League era. in the very end he mentioned Crabtree as the "perhaps, the most versatile footballer who has ever played the game. In many respects, the most polished and skillful exponent of modern game"
I thought it was about time I got some more credits myself from britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, so I can post a few pages now. I'll start with this one, where Charles Buchan says Finney is better than Matthews (at that time, but the way it's written I'm not sure he doesn't mean better than Matthews has ever been too) (Monday 23rd February 1953) He says he's only seen one player as good with the ball as Matthews or Finney then - Bobby Templeton. But Buchan wasn't born until 1891 of course, it should be said (and "as good with the ball" doesn't mean as good as overall necessarily). EDIT - I'll add a mention for Len Shackleton, as Buchan suggests he would rival all three of Matthews, Finney and Templeton for being good with the ball, if he was more consistent.
I've noticed a slightly different Raich Carter XI, from 1963 (in the Sunday Sun of Newcastle) And a page in the Daily Mirror in 1971 with replies about whether Finney has been the best (British?) player, that doesn't show many of them but apparently George Best, Finney, Matthews and Carter were among those finding the 'most favour' among readers; one reply that is shown does give a top 6 of Carter, Wilf Mannion, George Hardwick, Alan Morton, Buchan and Warney Cresswell though too
The Finney comment re: little doubt was just 'little doubt he's at the top of his game' and I basically already saw the whole comment as it was part of a round-up section. The top link is quite interesting (though again only a small selection of replies is shown) as there is a run-down of the top 6 goals according to the respondents recollections, in response to the writer saying a goal Jimmy Greaves had recently scored was his choice for 'greatest goal' - the top 3 being a solo run and shot by Tommy Cummings, the FA Cup Final goal by Jackie Milburn (the final one on this short video that also features some Matthews dribbling for Blackpool) and a David Jack (who has a heading David Jack - a Master) goal involving body swerves and going past six players
The second link on that page has that heading about England's Greatest Goal, though in the write-up it's referred to as possibly England's most important (rather than best, albeit it's still described as a glorious left foot shot after 'feinting this way and that'). Puc and Nejedly get praised in that report individually and as a 'left wing pair' (Puc seems to be involved in several goals). This is the report from the first link (where Matthews is called a genius, though no comparisons are made to old players - the game is described as as fine a display of fast, highly skilled and sporting football as could be wished to be seen though, and Czechoslovakia described as at that point the finest Continental side to visit the country, and Planicka gets high praise despite conceding five):
It is worth bearing in mind that William McGregor had a long association with Aston Villa, latterly as chairman. That is the same club as Crabtree, Cowan and Archie Hunter.
Later in the same year, Buchan said that Alex James was the greatest of them all shortly after his death.
I think I only saw reference to it on this page actually Top 10 wingers in history - Game of Goals (gameofgoals-it.translate.goog)
The Greatest Internationals - (09/10/1920) by Jas Blair some players that he considered as the top tiers (well this one was probably based on total caps) Bob Crompton Bobby Walker Ollie Stanfield Billy Meredith (the greatest of all) - looks like he means the greatest player in General too. and some other famous ones included
Bob Crompton - (25/03/1911) Foreigner Team : Leigh Richmond Roose Andy McCombie Jimmy Watson Andy Aitken Charlie Thomson Peter McWilliam Billy Meredith Bobby Walker Jimmy Quinn Grenville Morris Alex Smith English XI John Willie Sutcliffe Howard Spencer Bob Holmes Jimmy Crabtree Tommy Crawshaw Ernest Needham Billy Bassett Steve Bloomer Gilbert Oswald Smith Edgar Chadwick Fred Spiksley
Jimmy Seed - (12/11/1934) "Charlie Buchan, the greatest player, who in all things is a shade better than anyone else in the game" Sam Hardy Tommy Clay Ernest Blenkinsop Willis Edwards Frank Barson Arthur Grimsdell Sammy Crooks Charlie Buchan Dixie Dean George Holley Alan Morton
Alf Common - (17/07/1913) Ned Doig Bob Crompton Nick Smith Harry Johnson Alex Raisbeck Hugh Wilson Dicky Bond Steve Bloomer Jimmy Quinn Fred Wheldon Fred Spiksley
Lanchasire Evening Post - (07/10/1899) Jimmy Trainer Walter Arnott Nick Ross Hugh Wilson James Kelly Ernest Needham Billy Bassett Steve Bloomer John Goodall Edgar Chadwick Alf Milward
James Mason - (19/02/1927) Greatest England - Scotland Team England XI John Willie Sutcliffe Howard Spencer Herbert Burgess Jimmy Crabtree Charlie Roberts Ernest Needham Billy Bassett Steve Bloomer John Goodall Dennis Hodgetts Fred Spiksley Scotland XI Peter McBride Nick Ross Walter Arnott Jimmy Gordon Alex Raisbeck Peter McWilliam Jack Gordon Bobby Walker Jimmy Quinn James McMenemy Bobby Templeton
I find interesting the somewhat mixed views on GO Smith. Some people call him the greatest of all time yet he gets omitted in half the teams presented here, and I can't even blame that on Amateurism considering Walter Arnott makes many XI's in which Smith is absent.
At the time many of these teams were published, there was a strong focus in England on the league and FA Cup. Smith never appeared in either. He made his reputation in amateur football in southern England as well as in internationals. The southern press always rated him highly, but the league-dominated North and Midlands did not see much of Smith and were not really interested in the amateur game. Nor were they impressed by his criticism of long-ball aerial football and a refusal to head the ball. In Arnott's time many Scottish professionals played in England while the amateurs stayed in Scotland. He won the Scottish Cup three times with Queen's Park and appeared in two FA Cup finals with the same club.
I think Charlie Buchan was the best example to demonstrate the big gap between the level of British football post-war and pre-war. at the time of his physical peak, his 1912/13 and 1914/15 season was extraordinary of course, but his tally in 1911/12 and 1913/14 were very disappointing. for comparison, each of his Arsenal seasons (he was 34-37 years old) scored a higher rate than the aforementioned seasons. but i am aware that goals were not equal to measuring the performances level. It is also suprising that his peak came in early 1920s (he was 30 years old) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Buchan