Match Summary

Scotland Team

England Team

England beat Scotland at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on Saturday by two goals to one, and so Ireland are the only country without any claim to the title of Champions.

England had not won at Hampden Park since 1927, but they were expected to win this year, and the team as a whole lived up to its reputation. The summery weather of the earlier part of the week had disappeared, and when the teams came out there was a grey sky and a rain that blew from end to end. Scotland won the toss and had the wind in their favour in the first half, and they should have scored more than a goal by half-time. It is true that the wind is not always the advantage indicated by the fluttering of the flags --the most highly developed footballers of all prefer to play against it--but it does have its influence, and Scotland in the first 45 minutes had chances which should have made the game safe for them. The weakness was on the wings...

Had Scotland had more thrust on the wings they would have given England a very unpleasant time ; even as it was they soon took the lead with a goal that was symptomatic of England's shakiness at the time. Morris, pressed by a Scottish attack down the centre, pushed the greasy ball back to Woodley without realizing that this goalkeeper had run out to narrow the angle. The result was that the ball went wide of Woodley to Dougal, who had only to tap it into an empty and inviting goal...

...after 20 minutes of the second half had been played England equalized. A move on the English left wing opened up the Scottish defence, and when the ball was finally pushed out to Beasley Carabine missed his tackle and Beasley made no kind of mistake with his shot...

England kept up their pressure and, two minutes from the end, the splendid team spirit they had shown gained its reward. Matthews sent across a perfectly calculated centre, Lawton got his head to it, and Dawson had no chance at all of saving. - The Times - Monday 17th April, 1939

   AGREEMENT has been reached between the Scottish F.A. and the B.B.C. for the Scotland-England football international at Hampden Park on April 15 to be broadcast. Negotiations, which have been proceeding for two months, ended in an amicable settlement last night. - 23 January 1939

   The English Football Association yesterday received official notification from the Scotland Football Association that they are unable to agree to the numbering of players.
   Remaining firm in their decision to number international teams, the English Football Association will definitely adopt this course tomorrow [11 March] when the English amateurs meet the Scottish amateurs at Dulwich, and in the full international at Hampden Park on April 15.
   Last year neither side in the England v Scotland match at Wembley wore numbers, the English Football Association having bowed to the Scottish Football Association wishes on the subject. - 10 March 1939

Football League Division One 15 April 1939
Team	P	Pts
Everton	39	57
Wolverhampton Wanderers	39	51
Derby County	40	46
Charlton Athletic	39	46
Middlesbrough	40	46
Arsenal	39	43
Bolton Wanderers	38	42
Liverpool	40	41
Stoke City	39	41
Aston Villa	39	40
Preston North End	38	39
Grimsby Town	39	39
Leeds United	38	36
Blackpool	39	35
Sunderland	39	35
Brentford	39	35
Portsmouth	39	35
Huddersfield Town	39	34
Manchester United	39	33
Leicester City	40	29
Chelsea	38	28
Birmingham	39	27

 

Division One matches played on 15 April 1939:

ARSENAL 2-1 MANCHESTER UNITED
Drake 7, Crayston 65 (Hanlon 15)
25,741 (Highbury, London)

Arsenal were without Eddie Hapgood, who was the captain against Scotland in Glasgow.

ASTON VILLA 1-3 BOLTON WANDERERS
Starling 83 (Currier 4, Sinclair 85, Cobley o.g. 87)
23,160 (Villa Park, Birmingham)

Villa were without Broome, who was a reserve against Scotland in Glasgow, and Cummings, who was playing for Scotland.

 BLACKPOOL 4-0 MIDDLESBROUGH
Dodds 25, 35, 50, 82
13,733 (Bloomfield Road, Blackpool)

Middlesbrough were without Baxter and Milne, who were playing for Scotland against England in Glasgow.

BRENTFORD 0-1 BIRMINGHAM
(Jones 51)
15,298 (Griffin Park, London)

DERBY COUNTY 1-1 LEICESTER CITY
Stamps 44 (Liddle 70)
11,922 (Baseball Ground, Derby)

EVERTON 0-0 PRESTON NORTH END
31,987 (Goodison Park, Liverpool)

Everton were without Lawton (who scored the winning goal) and Mercer, who were playing against Scotland in Glasgow, whilst Preston were without Dougal (who scored the opening goal on his international debut) and Shankly, who were playing for Scotland.

GRIMSBY TOWN 2-1 LIVERPOOL
Howe 7, Jones 36 (Nieuwenhuys 1)
6,164 (Blundell Park, Cleethorpes)

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 3-1 CHELSEA
Mills 14, 55, Price 65 (Payne 44)
11,731 (Leeds Road, Huddersfield)

Huddersfield were without Beasley (who scored the equaliser on his international debut) and Willingham, who were playing against Scotland in Glasgow, as was Vic Woodley, Chelsea's goalkeeper.

PORTSMOUTH 2-0 STOKE CITY
Parker 17, Anderson 60
21,381 (Fratton Park, Portsmouth)

Stoke were without Stan Matthews, who was playing against Scotland in Glasgow.

SUNDERLAND 2-1 LEEDS UNITED
Robinson 60, Duns 75 (Ainsley 85)
10,913 (Roker Park, Sunderland)

Leeds were without Wilf Copping, who was a reserve against Scotland in Glasgow.

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 3-1 CHARLTON ATHLETIC
Dorsett 55, 75, Westcott 83 (Welsh pen. 65)
18,420 (Molineux, Wolverhampton)

Wolves were without Cullis and Morris, who were playing against Scotland in Glasgow.

Although Everton dropped a point at home, they could now only be caught by FA Cup finalists, Wolves on goal average, and although Wolves didn't concede another goal in the league, and Everton lost their next game, they were still crowned champions. It was a title that they would hold for a gruelling eight years, when football had to take a back seat to more serious struggles.

Football League Division Two 15 April 1939
Team	P	Pts
Blackburn Rovers	40	54
Luton Town	39	48
Sheffield Wednesday	38	47
Sheffield United	38	47
Coventry City	38	45
Manchester City	38	45
Chesterfield	38	45
Tottenham Hotspur	39	45
Newcastle United	40	44
West Bromwich Albion	39	42
Fulham	38	41
West Ham United	39	39
Millwall	40	39
Burnley	40	39
Bury	40	35
Southampton	39	33
Plymouth Argyle	38	32
Bradford	40	32
Swansea Town	38	30
Nottingham Forest	39	29
Norwich City	38	28
Tranmere Rovers	40	17

 

Division Two matches played on 15 April 1939:

BLACKBURN ROVERS 3-0 SOUTHAMPTON
Rogers 2, 1 pen., Butt
13,722 (Ewood Park, Blackburn)

BRADFORD 0-3 SHEFFIELD UNITED
(Reid, Hagan, Henson)
8,954 (Park Avenue, Bradford)

BURY 1-1 NEWCASTLE UNITED
Roberts (Ancell)
6,656 (Gigg Lane, Bury)

CHESTERFIELD 1-2 LUTON TOWN
McMillen (Redfern 2)
14,925 (Recreation Ground, Chesterfield)

FULHAM 1-0 COVENTRY CITY
Arnold
14,831 (Craven Cottage, London)

MANCHESTER CITY 2-0 BURNLEY
Doherty 2
19,230 (Maine Road, Manchester)

MILLWALL 2-0 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Rawlings 2
33,428 (The Den, London)

Tottenham were without Willie Hall, who was playing against Scotland in Glasgow.

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 1-1 NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Davies o.g. (Fryer)
24,640 (Hillsborough, Sheffield)

SWANSEA TOWN 2-1 PLYMOUTH ARGYLE
Tabram, Lloyd (Smith)
6,445 (Vetch Field, Swansea)

TRANMERE ROVERS 0-1 NORWICH CITY
(Acquroff)
4,898 (Prenton Park, Birkenhead)

WEST HAM UNITED 2-1 WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Foxall, Bell (Clarke)
13,624 (Upton Park, London)

West Ham were without Len Goulden, who was playing against Scotland in Glasgow, whilst West Brom were without Sandy McNab, who was playing for Scotland.

Although Blackburn didn't manage another goal, a point at Sheffield United in their final game returned them to the first division as champions, after three years' absence, and it was United who pipped their Sheffield rivals to the runners-up spot by then winning their last two games.

Division Three on 15 April 1939:

Newport County beat Southend United 3-0 to clinch promotion to the second division for the first time, by winning the southern section. Crystal Palace finished runners-up for the third time, since relegation, 14 years earlier. They would have to wait another 25 years before finally making it back to the second division. Barnsley had already won the northern section, and had a mammoth 13-point lead. They only lost one of their last 22 league games. Doncaster Rovers finished runners-up for the second year in succession, but they would win promotion in the first post-war season (1946-47).

IN OTHER NEWS...

It was on 14 April 1939 that United States President Roosevelt wrote to Hitler and Mussolini asking for a pledge that 31 listed nations would not be attacked. Hitler's response, two weeks later, was to mock Roosevelt's message with sarcasm and he replied that the fear of war was caused by press speculation.

Source Notes

The SFA paid Queen's Park FC £6761 for the rental of their ground for this match.

Scottish Football Association
Scotland - The Complete International Record: Richard Keir
London Hearts
original newspaper reports
FA Yearbooks 1950-60
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CG