How Arsenal fans almost destroyed a wonderful player. The story of Jack Lambert

 The club that changed football

By Tony Attwood

Jack Lambert was an enigmatic player both in terms of what we know about him, and in terms of his own personality.

He played local football for Greasborough and Methley Perseverance, before being rejected by The Wednesday after a trial run, then playing non-league with Rotherham County, playing without getting very far with Leeds, and finally managing to get a run with Rotherham United in the 3rd Division North, where in getting 13 goals in 44 games he looked as if he had found his level.

There are now two rival stories as to what happened next.  One says that Leslie Knighton, paid  £2,000 for him in January 1925.  The other is that Herbert Chapman had seen him while managing Huddersfield, and so, on moving to Arsenal, he signed him £2000 in the summer of 1926.

If Knighton did sign him in 1925 then that blows another hole in the story of Sir Henry Norris not allowing Knighton to buy any player costing more than £1200.  And it seems odd that a player bought with a decent transfer fee that would have stretched Norris’ patience, should not play for the first team in 1924/5 when Arsenal were struggling, and eventually ended up one place above relegation.  Surely, having paid that money, Knighton would have risked him for just one game at least.

Likewise it is odd that Chapman did not even try the man out for a single game in 1925/6.   So it seems more likely that Chapman did indeed buy him in the summer of 1926.

His record at Arsenal is one of the most interesting that you will ever see.  The following figures relate to league matches only.

Season Appearances Goals
1926/7 16 1
1927/8 16 3
1928/9 6 1
1929/30 20 18
1930/1 34 38
1931/2 36 22
1932/3 12 14
1933/4 3 1
  143 98

If Knighton bought the man, it is amazing that from such a low start Chapman still persevered with the player.  Another story (without any citations sadly) that circulates is that Jack was booed by the Anti-Arsenal Arsenal of the day and that Chapman was so annoyed that he wanted the “boo-boys” as they were called then, ejected from the ground.  The Jack Lambert issue is the first incident of Chapman’s side being booed by supposed Arsenal fans – something that reached a crescendo after the cup defeat to Walsall.

But this early problem for Jack was forgotten by many (although I think not by Jack) when he broke the club goal record with his 38 goals in 34 league games, including seven hat tricks, as Arsenal won the league for the first time.  Those who had booed him presumably changed their minds and claimed always to have liked Jack.

His final appearance was in September 1933 and in October he moved on to Fulham where he played for two seasons before retiring as a player aged 35.

He then moved on to become coach of Margate, who at the time were virtually owned by Arsenal and who were run as a nursery club for the side, before moving back to Arsenal in 1938 as coach of the reserve side (according to one report) or the youth team (according to another).  Tragically he died that year killed in a car accident in Enfield (although yet again there is a disagreement as an alternative source says that he was not killed until 1940).

So why did Chapman stay with a player who had had no previous record of success in the top division, and who had been rejected by other clubs?  One answer probably comes from the fact that at the time the reserves played in a regular Saturday afternoon league which unlike today was not a league for young players.   Arsenal regularly won the Football Combination in the 30s, and it was here that Jack finally showed signs of the standard that Chapman had known him capable of.

There is another point: Jack Lambert’s first real goal scoring return came in 1929/30 (18 goals in 20 games) when Arsenal came 14th in the league, which means that his goalscoring in such a modest team no mean feat.  But that was also the year Arsenal won the cup, and Jack played in all 8 FA Cup matches, scoring five goals, including one in the final.

And we must remember who he was playing alongside during the peak of his career: Cliff Bastin, Alex James, David Jack and Joe Hulme.  Not a bad set of players.

So why did people turn on him.   Reports suggest that he was incredibly nervous as a player, saying on one occasion, “Even the thought of setting foot on the pitch, fills me with dread.”

He is of course now forgotten by most Arsenal fans, but his name and his sadly short life should be remembered – and it would be good if we could get the variant reports of his life resolved.

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7 Replies to “How Arsenal fans almost destroyed a wonderful player. The story of Jack Lambert”

  1. Jack Lambert was the centre forward in the 1930 Cup final, which must have been a game to remember by all who were there. According to my ‘Arsenal’ book. Arsenal were 1 – 0 with 7 minutes to go When Jack alone in the center circle received a pass from James. Jack got past two defenders and hurled off goal wards. From the edge of the penalty area scored. He turned for the acclaim of his team mates only to find he was on his own and ran back to the centre appluding imself. What a sight for Arsenal fans that must have been.
    For the fans of both sides and the neutrals the sight the Graf Zappelin, must have made it a final to remember.

  2. I actually never knew of this player as I’m from the late 80″s but I do appreciate the approach of this story it’s sad n touchy, great goal scoring record as uv shown anyways thankyou again for this story.

  3. I have the video of Lambert’s goal in 1930 Cup final.
    @Colario, you’re right about that goal which he scored from edge of penalty area but I can see an arsenal player approaching towards the box from right of Lambert [propably Bastin]. So not quite sure if he had to smash it but it was a great goal on a big day for the club.

  4. @Sampat Prabhudesai. Perhaps Lambert didn’t pass because he didn’t know about ‘tappy tappy’ 🙁 I don’t think I should have said that! I am glad I am alive now but I would love to have been there.

  5. hi.just like to praise you for the piece.can add a couple of points as jack lambert was my grandmothers brother and i have many cuttings of the time given too me by my grandmother.jack was transfered to arsenal from doncaster rovers not rotherham utd.the story was that herbert chapman signed jack while he was playing cricket for greasborough at the cricket ground.he also died in dec 1940 ironically the story goes he was making a trip back up to greasborough to see relatives before christmas.cant fill in all the holes but these are the stories told by my grandmother and although she never moved from greasborough allways supported arsenal.i would have loved to have met him.nice to chat about him thanks its nice to know he is still remembered.

  6. Lambert was born Yorkshire in 1902, making him 38 when he died in ’40 — 7 December 1940. That’s probably where the 38/40 confusion comes from.

    There was also an American football player by that name, who terrorized ballcarriers in the late 1970s and early 1980s and is in the sport’s Hall of Fame; and an actor by that name, who specialized in tough guys and bad guys, especially in Westerns. The gridiron star is still alive (1952- ), the actor is not (1920-2002).

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