Can anyone add to this bio of Jack Rowley? Why didn't he play more for England, for example? Thanks! http://www.manutd.com/bio/bio.sps?iBiographyId=2561 Jack Rowley was born in Wolverhampton on 7th October 1920. After a brief spell with his home town club Wolverhampton Wanderers and seven months with Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic, where he scored 10 goals in 11 appearances, Rowley signed for United for £3,000 in 1937. In his first full season at Old Trafford he helped Manchester United to the runners-up position in the Second Division, thus securing promotion to the First Division. Like many professional footballers his age, when the Second World War broke out his career was interrupted for six years as competitive League football was suspended. During the War he served in the South Staffordshire regiment, participating in the D-Day landings at Normandy in 1945. Whilst serving in the army he made guest appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Aldershot, Belfast Distillery, Folkestone, Shrewsbury Town and Tottenham Hotspur. When League football recommenced in 1946, Jack Rowley continued his career with Manchester United. He was a full England international and helped United win the F.A. Cup in 1948, scoring twice in the final in a 4-2 victory over Blackpool. In 1952 his 30 League goals helped United to the First Division Championship the first time since 1911. At his peak Rowley was one of the best strikers in the country. His goals came from either his lethal left foot or his accurate heading. However he was not just a goal scorer; his all round play was generally good with him often posing as the provider of goals. He was nicknamed 'the gunner' by the supporters because of his shooting skills. In 1955 after making 503 appearances scoring 312 goals, he left Manchester United to join Plymouth Argyle as their player-manager, retiring from playing two years later in 1957. After taking various coaching and managerial posts he retired from management in December 1969 to run a sub post office/newsagents in the Shaw district of Oldham.
[Jack Rowley, like his cult hero brother Arthur, didn't win more England caps because the likes of Roy Bentley, Tommy Lawton, Nat Lofthouse, Jackie Milburn, Stan Mortensen, etc., were ahead of them in the England pecking order. Just like Stan Pearson would've probably won more England caps if he hadn't been an England contemporary of Raich Carter & Wilf Mannion. Of course the war & the intern. sel. comm. almost certainly played a part in this as well. Here's another profile on Jack that might help you some: http://www.manchester-united-fans-site.com/jack-rowley.html ]
As Roy says, England have probably never had a better forward line than the one they enjoyed in the late 40s and early 50s. Even with 5 attackers in the team Rowley was competing with some of the best strikers of all time. England really had an abundance of riches at the time (and yet still were unable to convert it into success). Lawton in particular is arguably the finest centre-forward that England have ever produced.
[England's depth at forward & the halt in play caused by the war limited the amount of England caps that many great players received: "Beddy" Jezzard, Jesse Pye, Jackie Sewell & Charlie Wayman, just to name a few.]
[For anyone who's interested, this is an exellent feature & interview w/Tommy Lawton from the BBC Football Legends series. It also has commentary from the likes of Sir Tom Finney, Sir Stan & Sir Walt praising possibly England's greatest ever number nine: http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/football_legends/11906.shtml ]
Another excellent bio & profile of Jack Rowley fr. a Plymouth Argyle fan site: http://www.greensonscreen.co.uk/managers.asp?name=JackRowley