You have to go all the way back to the Second World War to find the last time professional football faced a disruption like the current coronavirus pandemic. Elite football remains on hold until the end of April at the earliest, with the distinct possibility that it may prove impossible for teams to complete the remainder of the current season.
The 1939/40 campaign remains the last time an English league season was abandoned when it was scrapped after just three games. And while football obviously pales in importance to the literal life and death stakes of a war or a global pandemic, for the individuals involved, it can be life-changing.
In fact, the cancellation of league activities in 1939 inadvertently interrupted what could have been the greatest career in the history of English football.
Earmarked for stardom from an early age after reportedly bagging 570 goals in just three seasons as a schoolboy, Tommy Lawton became the most expensive teenager in football when he joined Everton from Burnley in 1937 for what was, at the time, an eye-watering fee of £6,500.
Still just 17, Lawton was brought to Merseyside to replace an aging William “Dixie” Dean, the club’s greatest ever finisher, and the pressure on Lawton to live up to the legacy of his new teammate was apparent from his very first trip to Goodison Park. On his way to the stadium, Lawton was recognised by a tram conductor, who duly informed him: “You’ll never be as good as our Dixie.”
But he would soon prove more than capable of the task, with Dean serving as a mentor to the precocious young forward who, like Dean, was known for his heading ability and incredible leap. Following Lawton’s death in 1996, the great Stanley Matthews declared: “Quite simply, Tommy was the greatest header of the ball I ever saw.” But it was his combination of skills that set him apart from his peers.
Whereas the free-scoring Dean had only been the top scorer in the First Division twice in his entire career, Lawton equalled that mark by the end of his second full season, guiding Everton to the 1938/39 title in the process.
The Lancashire lad was just as prodigious on the international stage too as, at just 18, he became the youngest Englishman to score on his international debut—a record that stood until 2016, when it was broken by Marcus Rashford. Lawson went on to score in each of his first six international appearances.
With the world at his feet, Lawton had his sights set on Vivian Woodward’s then-record tally of 29 goals in the white shirt as well as the opportunity to become the first man to ever be crowned top scorer of the First Division three years in a row.
But a month before his 20th birthday, Lawton’s promising career—as well as all of English football—was put on hold due to the beginning of the Second World War. With Lawton leading the scoring charts for the third year in a row and boasting more goals than half the teams in the league, the 1939/40 season was abandoned.
It would be seven years before competitive football returned, with Lawton forced to play out much of his prime in unofficial exhibition matches.
“Everton has long enjoyed a tradition of great centre-forwards,” says Dave Prentice, a lifelong Everton fan and Sports Editor of the Liverpool Echo. “The number nine was revered at Everton in much the same way the number seven is at Manchester United.
“Dixie Dean's incredible achievements (60 league goals in a season) always dominated talk of Everton's history. It's a record which will surely never be broken and at a time when Liverpool were dominating the football landscape, gave us something to be proud of.”
“But there were stories that people who watched football in the ‘20s and ‘30s actually considered Lawton to have been a better player. Tommy was well known and highly regarded, but always suffered from following in the footsteps of the club's greatest ever player.”
“And then the Second World War prevented him from surpassing Dixie's achievements, which he may well have done. The war prevented Tommy from becoming possibly the most famous England number nine of all time.”
Indeed, the outbreak of the war means Lawton’s career remains one of the greats “what ifs” in football. With competitive action suspended for several years, Lawton managed an astonishing return of 152 goals from his 113 wartime appearances for Everton—in addition to guest appearances for the likes of Leicester City, Aldershot Town and even the Toffees’ Merseyside rivals Liverpool.
By the time peace returned and league football resumed in 1946, he had successfully pushed through a transfer to Chelsea for £14,000. In his only full campaign with the Blues, a 27-year-old Lawton racked up a single season club record 26 goals but it was not long before he was on the move again.
In one of the all-time greatest transfer shocks, Lawton—still England’s first choice striker at the time—dropped down to the Third Division in November 1947 to join Notts County for a British record transfer fee of £20,000.
The move meant the man many consider to be the most complete centre-forward in the history of English football spent just one full season of his 20s playing in the top tier.
The move to Notts County was partially a financial decision for Lawton. With footballers’ earnings still capped at the time, he was unable to earn more than £15 a week—roughly £200 or so in today’s money—from football alone and so the promise of a lucrative job outside of football upon his retirement was sufficient to lure him to Nottingham.
Lawton quickly became the first Third Division footballer to both play and score for England when he found the net in a 4-2 defeat of Sweden, but within a year he had lost his place in the team, bringing an end to an international career in which he scored 22 goals from his 23 peacetime appearances.
Though he returned to the First Division with Arsenal in 1953, Lawton would never reach the same heights as he had before the war and retired to pursue an ultimately unsuccessful coaching career.
Without football, Lawton soon fell on hard times. He was forced to sell his England caps and First Division winners’ medal to make ends meet, borrowing money from friends such as the late Richard Attenborough to get by.
He suffered with both physical and mental health issues during this time, later telling the Guardian that he had considering suicide, saying: “more than once it crossed my mind to walk into the Trent and end it all.”
Thankfully, he would eventually find stability as a popular football columnist for the Nottingham Evening Post, before eventually passing away in 1996.
In all, Lawton amassed 231 goals in 390 league appearances and while he is already regarded among the greats of the game, as coronavirus closes stadiums across the world, you can’t help but wonder what could have been had his career not been interrupted by war.
But just like the defenders who tried to mark him 80 years ago, Tommy Lawton will always leave us guessing.
The 1939/40 campaign remains the last time an English league season was abandoned when it was scrapped after just three games. And while football obviously pales in importance to the literal life and death stakes of a war or a global pandemic, for the individuals involved, it can be life-changing.
In fact, the cancellation of league activities in 1939 inadvertently interrupted what could have been the greatest career in the history of English football.
Earmarked for stardom from an early age after reportedly bagging 570 goals in just three seasons as a schoolboy, Tommy Lawton became the most expensive teenager in football when he joined Everton from Burnley in 1937 for what was, at the time, an eye-watering fee of £6,500.
Still just 17, Lawton was brought to Merseyside to replace an aging William “Dixie” Dean, the club’s greatest ever finisher, and the pressure on Lawton to live up to the legacy of his new teammate was apparent from his very first trip to Goodison Park. On his way to the stadium, Lawton was recognised by a tram conductor, who duly informed him: “You’ll never be as good as our Dixie.”
But he would soon prove more than capable of the task, with Dean serving as a mentor to the precocious young forward who, like Dean, was known for his heading ability and incredible leap. Following Lawton’s death in 1996, the great Stanley Matthews declared: “Quite simply, Tommy was the greatest header of the ball I ever saw.” But it was his combination of skills that set him apart from his peers.
Whereas the free-scoring Dean had only been the top scorer in the First Division twice in his entire career, Lawton equalled that mark by the end of his second full season, guiding Everton to the 1938/39 title in the process.
The Lancashire lad was just as prodigious on the international stage too as, at just 18, he became the youngest Englishman to score on his international debut—a record that stood until 2016, when it was broken by Marcus Rashford. Lawson went on to score in each of his first six international appearances.
With the world at his feet, Lawton had his sights set on Vivian Woodward’s then-record tally of 29 goals in the white shirt as well as the opportunity to become the first man to ever be crowned top scorer of the First Division three years in a row.
But a month before his 20th birthday, Lawton’s promising career—as well as all of English football—was put on hold due to the beginning of the Second World War. With Lawton leading the scoring charts for the third year in a row and boasting more goals than half the teams in the league, the 1939/40 season was abandoned.
It would be seven years before competitive football returned, with Lawton forced to play out much of his prime in unofficial exhibition matches.
“Everton has long enjoyed a tradition of great centre-forwards,” says Dave Prentice, a lifelong Everton fan and Sports Editor of the Liverpool Echo. “The number nine was revered at Everton in much the same way the number seven is at Manchester United.
“Dixie Dean's incredible achievements (60 league goals in a season) always dominated talk of Everton's history. It's a record which will surely never be broken and at a time when Liverpool were dominating the football landscape, gave us something to be proud of.”
“But there were stories that people who watched football in the ‘20s and ‘30s actually considered Lawton to have been a better player. Tommy was well known and highly regarded, but always suffered from following in the footsteps of the club's greatest ever player.”
“And then the Second World War prevented him from surpassing Dixie's achievements, which he may well have done. The war prevented Tommy from becoming possibly the most famous England number nine of all time.”
Indeed, the outbreak of the war means Lawton’s career remains one of the greats “what ifs” in football. With competitive action suspended for several years, Lawton managed an astonishing return of 152 goals from his 113 wartime appearances for Everton—in addition to guest appearances for the likes of Leicester City, Aldershot Town and even the Toffees’ Merseyside rivals Liverpool.
By the time peace returned and league football resumed in 1946, he had successfully pushed through a transfer to Chelsea for £14,000. In his only full campaign with the Blues, a 27-year-old Lawton racked up a single season club record 26 goals but it was not long before he was on the move again.
In one of the all-time greatest transfer shocks, Lawton—still England’s first choice striker at the time—dropped down to the Third Division in November 1947 to join Notts County for a British record transfer fee of £20,000.
The move meant the man many consider to be the most complete centre-forward in the history of English football spent just one full season of his 20s playing in the top tier.
The move to Notts County was partially a financial decision for Lawton. With footballers’ earnings still capped at the time, he was unable to earn more than £15 a week—roughly £200 or so in today’s money—from football alone and so the promise of a lucrative job outside of football upon his retirement was sufficient to lure him to Nottingham.
Lawton quickly became the first Third Division footballer to both play and score for England when he found the net in a 4-2 defeat of Sweden, but within a year he had lost his place in the team, bringing an end to an international career in which he scored 22 goals from his 23 peacetime appearances.
Though he returned to the First Division with Arsenal in 1953, Lawton would never reach the same heights as he had before the war and retired to pursue an ultimately unsuccessful coaching career.
Without football, Lawton soon fell on hard times. He was forced to sell his England caps and First Division winners’ medal to make ends meet, borrowing money from friends such as the late Richard Attenborough to get by.
He suffered with both physical and mental health issues during this time, later telling the Guardian that he had considering suicide, saying: “more than once it crossed my mind to walk into the Trent and end it all.”
Thankfully, he would eventually find stability as a popular football columnist for the Nottingham Evening Post, before eventually passing away in 1996.
In all, Lawton amassed 231 goals in 390 league appearances and while he is already regarded among the greats of the game, as coronavirus closes stadiums across the world, you can’t help but wonder what could have been had his career not been interrupted by war.
But just like the defenders who tried to mark him 80 years ago, Tommy Lawton will always leave us guessing.
