Football is Britain’s national sport, and it is not surprising that it features a number of times in the forty-one chapters of my book Great Railway Journeys: The Flying Scotsman Route to Edinburgh. They include Hitchin, Newcastle upon Tyne and Berwick-upon-Tweed. However, in this blog, I retell a few of my favourite stories about Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, Ashington, and its football dynasty.

The Emirates Stadium is only just out of London, Kings Cross, and it is very close to the line.  There is a very good view from the train. The stadium’s walls depict great players from the past. It was opened in 2006, and it is England’s fourth largest football stadium. It is worth noting that there are 900 toilets, which with a full crowd is one for every sixty-seven people.  In addition, there are 113 toilet facilities for the disabled, and uniquely in my experience, one for dogs.  Fido’s comfort has not been neglected.

Arsenal have had several great managers and the name of the long serving Arsene Wenger (1996-2018) comes particularly to mind. Herbert Chapman (1925-34) also deserves a special mention. He innovated and built up the club, was very widely respected and enjoyed great success. His role in an entertaining story deserves to be told.

In 1928 Arsenal wanted to buy the great player David Jack from Bolton Wanderers, but the club would not agree to sell him. Eventually Bolton were facing financial problems and sent two representatives to meet two Arsenal representatives at a London hotel. Herbert Chapman (the manager) and Bob Wall (the club secretary) went for the London team.

Chapman and Wall arrived early and Chapman told the bar staff that he would be ordering and that his drink would be gin and tonic. However, they should only put tonic in the glass.  Wall would be having whisky and ginger ale, but they should only put ginger ale in his glass.  The visitors would have whatever they wanted but double the normal amount of alcohol should be put their glasses. The meeting had the desired effect and Bolton sold the player for a fee between £10,000 and £10,870 (accounts differ).  It more than doubled the transfer fee record.  Jack was a great success at his new club.

Ashington is a small town north of Newcastle. It has produced many professional footballers and eight of them were related. They constitute the dynasty referred to above.

Emirates Stadium, seen from the train. (Great Railway Journeys: The Flying Scotsman Route to Edinburgh, Amberley Publishing)

The first Milburn of the Dynasty

John Thomas Milburn was a goalkeeper who played for Ashington AFC. The club was a founder member of the Third Division North in the 1921/22 season and remained a member until the end of the 1928/29 campaign. It finished bottom and was replaced by York City. For seven years it was the most northerly team ever to play in the Football League.

The Four Milburn Footballing Brothers

The four brothers were the sons of John Thomas Milburn and the uncles of Jackie Milburn, whose statue is seen in the photograph. The careers of all five of them were affected by the Second World War.

Remarkably, three of the brothers were fullbacks for Leeds United, and two of them played for the first team at the same time. Jack, born in 1908, played for them in 408 games, and he also played for and managed Bradford City. George, born in 1910, played for Leeds and Chesterfield. He once scored a hat-trick of penalties in just eleven minutes. Jim, born in 1919, played for Leeds and Bradford Park Avenue.

Stanley, born in 1926, played for Chesterfield, Leicester City and Rochdale. He also played one game for the England B team. Playing for Leicester, he was a joint participant in an event unique in the history of the Football League. He and a teammate struck the ball simultaneously and it went into their own goal. The two of them are the only players ever recorded as the joint scorers of an own goal.

Wor Jackie Milburn

In the Geordie dialect Wor Jackie means Our Jackie, which indicates how much he was loved by the people of Newcastle and the North-East. His father, Alexander, was a miner and the brother of the four footballing brothers already mentioned.

Jackie was shy and very modest, which endeared him to people. Some went as far as to say that he had an inferiority complex. An example is revealing. At the start of the 1951/52 season, he could not play because of an injury. In his absence the club’s forwards did very well and scored many goals. When he was fit Jackie asked to play in the reserves, giving as his reason that it would not be fair to disturb a group of players doing so well. He was a smoker and it was said that he sometimes smoked a cigarette at half time.

At the age of sixteen he took an apprenticeship as a fitter in a local colliery. A little later he had a trial for Newcastle United and in his second trial game he was switched to centre forward at half-time. He then scored six goals in the second half. They included two pairs to two goals with each of the goals being scored in less than a minute. Not surprisingly the club signed him. He was very fast and excelled in all aspects of the game except heading. For a time he continued working in the pit and sometimes worked double shifts on Fridays so that he could be available for Saturday matches.

Jackie scored 201 goals in 399 competitive games for Newcastle, and he scored ten goals in thirteen games for England. His Newcastle total has only been beaten once. Alan Shearer scored 206 in 405 games.

Jackie left Newcastle in 1957 but football had not seen the last of him. He spent three years as player-manager of Linfield in Belfast. During his time there the club won a host of trophies and he scored sixty-eight goals in fifty-four games. He was then player-manager of Yiewsley in England’s Southern League.  In the 1961/62 season he scored thirty goals for them. He was manager of Ipswich Town for short time and then became a sports journalist.

Jackie Milburn died in Ashington at the age of sixty-four. Lung cancer was the cause. One wonders if smoking was a factor.

Statue of Jackie Milburn. (Great Railway Journeys: The Flying Scotsman Route to Edinburgh, Amberley Publishing)

Jack and Bobby Charlton

Jack and Bobby Charlton were brothers and the nephews of Jackie Milburn. Both played in the England team that won the World Cup in 1966.

Jack, a hard defender, was a centre half. His whole career was with Leeds United and he played 762 competitive games for them before retiring in 1973. Despite his England call up coming just a few days before his thirtieth birthday he played thirty-five times for his country. For ten years starting in 1986 he was the popular and successful manager of Ireland.

Brother Bobby was two years younger and is regarded as one to the greatest England players of all time. At the age of twenty in 1958 he was a survivor of the Munich air crash. Apart from a very short period at the end his entire career was with Manchester United. He played 749 competitive games for the club and scored 249 goals. Both were records at the time. He played 106 times for England and scored forty-nine goals. This was a record, but Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane have since scored more. His achievements for both club and country were immense. In later life he was a director of Manchester United for almost thirty years.  Sadly, like many football and rugby players, his latter years were marred by dementia.

Whilst not mentioned in the book, it is worth saying that England won the 1966 World Cup by beating Germany 4-2 in the final. Two of the goals were scored in extra time and both should have been disallowed. The first did not clearly cross the line. Perhaps the ball did but perhaps it did not. The defence should have been given the benefit of the doubt. The second was in the last few seconds of the match when people were encroaching on the pitch. The game should have been stopped for this reason. Football is not the only topic covered in my book. My book aims to capture an interesting blend of historical insights with contemporary observations. It covers key landmarks visible along the route, offering a rich narrative on their historical and cultural significance. I highlight engineering marvels, notable events, and fascinating anecdotes, such as the Flying Scotsman's record-breaking feats and its centenary celebration in 2023. Through a blend of railway nostalgia and historical storytelling, the book invites readers on a scenic adventure through Britain’s history. It talks about the various towns and cities along the route, its local history, its architecture, its beauty and many interesting features and events. Did you know that in Hitchen, its people were known as the Hicca people?

Great Railway Journeys: The Flying Scotsman Route to Edinburgh by Roger Mason is available for purchase now.