Old Baggies - WBA Former Players

Jimmy Dugdale is one of history’s rarities, an FA Cup winner with both the Albion and the Villa, for Jimmy was part of that that greatest of all collections of Throstles, the 1953/54 FA Cup winning team, the “Team of the Century” that came within a whisker of becoming the first side in the twentieth century to complete the League and FA Cup double. He then went to Wembley with Villa in 1957 as part of the side that beat the Busby Babes, having beaten Albion in the semi-final before that.

Born in Liverpool on 15th January 1932, Jimmy grew up playing football in the local Cheshire leagues and graduated to play for Harrowby FC in Liverpool. His reading of the game and his unflappable demeanour on the field were qualities that came to the fore very early on and Albion brought him to the Black Country when he turned 18 in 1950. He played on amateur forms for the Baggies for the next couple of years, racking up a number of appearances for junior and reserve teams until he turned professional in May 1952.

There was no hurry to push Dugdale into Albion’s first team given that the immediate post-war years saw The Hawthorns graced by two of our all time greats at centre-half. Belfast boy Jack Vernon was the undisputed first choice at number five, while the equally brilliant Joe Kennedy deputised on occasion, also playing at right-half and soaking up lessons in the fine arts of defensive play from the master.

Vernon returned home in the summer of 1952 and, as expected, Kennedy plugged the gap manfully until he picked up an injury in December 1952, giving Dugdale a first taste of big match action. There could have been no bigger test for any centre-half in his first game than taking on the “Lion of Vienna”, England centre-forward Nat Lofthouse of Bolton Wanderers. Albion went down to a single goal defeat, but Dugdale’s marshalling of Lofthouse was masterly from one so inexperienced.

Kennedy returned to the colours the next week, but Dugdale was marked down as the coming man and, sure enough, when Kennedy picked up another injury in February 1953, there was no question that Dugdale should take his place. It was propitious timing for the Liverpool lad because Kenedy’s absence coincided with a change in manager, Vic Buckingham coming in to replace Jesse Carver, Dugdale getting the first chance to impress the new boss at centre-half.

He kept his place through to season’s end, by which time he had 18 first team games to his credit, and he started the 1953/54 ensconced in that position, playing full part in Albion’s breathtaking start to the season as they won 12 from the first 15 games to head the First Division.

Dugdale suffered injury of his own shortly after, Kennedy returning to the team and performing to the expected high standard, but such was Buckingham’s regard for Dugdale that he returned to displace Kennedy and keep him out of the side for the rest of the season, though Kennedy did return at right full-back after injury to Stan Rickaby.

The highlight of Jimmy Dugdale’s Albion career came on May 1st, 1954, when the Throstles descended upon Wembley Stadium and snuffed out the threat of Tom Finney and Preston North End to bring the FA Cup back home, winners by three goals to two, Albion finally gaining reward for a season of utter majesty. Dugdale’s personal reward came with three games for England B and other representative honours for an FA XI and the Football League.

The following season, it was Joe Kennedy who held the upper hand in the battle for the number five jersey, Dugdale amassing 15 more games, adding a mere three more in the 1955/56 season as Kennedy became further entrenched at the back.

In the search for first team football, Dugdale headed of down Island Road and joined Aston Villa for £25,000, becoming part of the team that denied the Baggies another cup final in 1957 as we lost to Villa in the semi-final. Dugdale duly collected his second FA Cup winner’s medal as they beat the Busby Babes of Manchester United at Wembley and went on to add another winner’s medal to his collection when Villa won the first ever Football League Cup in 1961. He moved to Queens Park Rangers in October 1962 before his career was ended early by injury seven months later.

Writing in the Villa handbook in 1957, Dugdale handed out some advice which still rings down the ages as a good starting place for any centre-half: First, “Do not confuse keen tackling with “dirty” play”. Then he offered a hint to youngsters playing in his position: “Remember, your job is to be first and beat the centre-forward to the ball”.

Another hint to youngsters. Dig out the Albion history books, read the features about the former players, talk to your parents, your grandparents, drink in great draughts of information about the way things were at The Hawthorns, learn about legends such as Jimmy Dugdale, men who built this club, brick by brick. You cannot build a future until you’ve understood the past.

Jimmy Dugdale, Billy Bassett, Jeff Astle, the great Ray Barlow, Tommy Glidden, Bob Taylor, Tony Brown, they are why we are at The Hawthorns, as surely as we’re there to worship at the altar of Bednar, Greening and Robinson. They tie us to who we are as a football club, from our origins, from our glorious achievements. If we lose touch with that, we lose touch with the future.