Alexander Wilson James
(September
14,
1901 –
June 1,
1953)
was a
Scottish
footballer, and is most noted for being one of
Arsenal's greatest players of all time.
Born in
Mossend,
Lanarkshire, Alex James played as an inside forward, as a supporting player
for the main strikers. He was famed for the excellent quality of his passing and
supreme ball control, leading many modern-day comparisons with Arsenal forward
Dennis Bergkamp. His
rheumatism
meant he wore "baggy" shorts to hide the long johns he wore to keep warm; the
baggy appearance became his trademark.
James started his career with local youth clubs, before joining
Raith Rovers in
1922. He spent three seasons at
Starks
Park, recording over a hundred League appearances, before moving to
Preston North End in
1925. He spent four
years at the
Second Division side, scoring 55 goals in 157 appearance, but towards the
end of his stay there he fell into several disputes with the club's management,
partly over wages – at the time,
the Football League operated a
maximum
wage of £8 a week – and also because Preston refused to release James for
international duty.
James left Preston for
Herbert Chapman's
Arsenal
in 1929 for £8,750,
making his debut against
Leeds United on
August 31,
1929. In order to
circumvent the maximum wage rules, James' employment at Arsenal was supplemented
by a £250-a-year "sports demonstrator" job at
Selfridges,
a London
department store. After a forgettable first season, James settled into his
role with Arsenal and became part of the dominant side of English football in
1930s; playing as
Chapman's designated "midfield schemer", he took a little time to adjust to
Arsenal's style of play, but he would become one of the club's all-time greats.
Playing so deep as a supporting player, he scored relatively few goals for
Arsenal – only 27 in 261 appearances – but created many times that number.
James's passing and vision supplied the ammunition that
David Jack,
Cliff
Bastin,
Ted Drake and
Jack Lambert all gratefully put into the net. He won the
First Division Championship four times (in
1931,
1933,
1934 and
1935), and the
FA Cup twice –
James scored the first goal of the
1930 final (which
was Arsenal's first major trophy win), and captained Arsenal to their
1936 win over
Sheffield United. Such was James' influence that in the one Cup final he
missed – the 1932
final against
Newcastle United – Arsenal lost 2-1, albeit thanks to a highly controversial
goal from Newcastle's
Jack Allen.
Despite his sparkling club form, he won just eight caps for
Scotland. However, this included an appearance for the legendary 'Wembley
Wizards' team that thrashed
England 5-1 at
Wembley in 1928, with James scoring twice.
Alex James retired from playing in
1937. During
World
War II he served in the
Royal Artillery, and after the war he became a journalist. In
1949 he was invited
back to Arsenal to coach the club's youth sides, before his sudden death four
years later at the age of 51.
