1919 Albert Stubbins born, Wallsend. (1936-46) Just found this about one of our most famous strikers that hasn't had a great lot said about him in the past when we've spoken of players of yesteryear. ____________________________________________ Born on the banks of the Tyne, Albert moved to the USA at the age of just four and was raised in Detroit and New York. Arriving at SJP in April 1937 after a spell at Roker Park, Albert's career was disrupted by WW2 and he worked as a draughtsman in a Tyneside shipyard. His wartime playing record for the Magpies was staggering though, plundering 231 goals from 188 games. Still in the Second Division, Newcastle cashed in on their asset in 1946, with Liverpool beating rivals Everton for his signature in a then-record £12,500 transfer. A First Division Championship medal followed in his first season at Anfield and Albert also collected an FA Cup runners' up medal in 1950, when Liverpool lost to Arsenal. Nicknamed "The Smiling Assassin", Stubbins remains regarded as one of the best English players of his generation not to have been capped by his country. Returning to the North East in 1953, Albert ended his career at Ashington and later worked as a scout for Liverpool and a football writer for a national newspaper. Stubbins died on December 28th 2002, less than a week before his two former clubs met at SJP. Yet in this tribute-laden age, there was no pre-match commemoration for Albert. Albert is immortalised on the cover of the Beatles' 1967 album release "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." The now-iconic montage of faces included Stubbins at the request of Liverpool fan Paul McCartney. A smiling Albert looms behind George Harrison, sandwiched by the sculptor Horace Clifford Westermann & guru Sri Lahiri Mahasaya. But you knew that, obviously. I didn't. When the record was released, a copy was dispatched to Albert accompanied by a message from Paul McCartney: "Well done, Albert, for all those glorious years of football. Long may you bob and weave."
Not many of us would have been going to the games in those days to have been able to see him. I did hear a lot about him though. Him and Hughie Gallagher were the players of the day. A bit more about the sad end of Hughie Gallagher. On the day of his death, two young trainspotters watched him for half an hour pacing backwards and forwards on a footbridge over the London-Edinburgh railway line at Low Fell, Gateshead. He was openly weeping, talking to himself and occasionally pounding the bridge rail with his fists. He stepped down from the bridge and took his life by walking in front of an oncoming express train.[
From what I've always known about him his quite insane goalscoring record is largely overlooked because of the "disruptive" wartime era. There tends to be some snobbery or ignorance about the the perceived quality of defenders left for these guys to face or indeed the league itself around that time. Happens in most sports actually and especially in the US with Baseball you tend to have a thought that the statistical legends of the 40's were just the best of the rest. Perhaps that's reasoning in part for his England omission? I've always taken his record seriously though and couldn't believe it when I first found it – should hear more about him from the club!
My father was a regular at St James from 1936 until he died 7 years ago. He obviously never saw some of the greats from yesteryear - Jackie Rutherford, Bill Appleyard, Colin Veitch, Ronald Orr, Albert Shepherd, Stan Seymour snr, Frank Hudspeth, Jimmy Lawrence - but he always said that Albert Stubbins was the greatest player he ever saw in a black and white shirt. He met him a few times in later life - and said he was a true gent. The only players that came close were Jackie Milburn and Len White, he told me. NUFC was blessed with a large group of exceptional forwards in that immediate post-war period. Albert Stubbins, Len Shackleton, Ernie Taylor, Charlie Wayman, Bobby Mitchell, Jackie Milburn were all true greats and all a similar age. It was impossible to keep all at the club, and only the final two stayed the distance. Of course we brought in George Robledo and Len White from other clubs a couple of years later. Can you just imagine that pool of talent today? The great tragedy is that we couldn't win the championship with that team due to a leaky defence, political in-fighting and a lack of financial investment. No change then.
Most people, myself included have never give Albert Stubbins the credit he deserves on Tyneside, probably because of the war and the fact that football at the time was very much paint brushed out of most record books. I never realised until today that he was on the cover of 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. Forget football that is History and forever an Icon. Same with Hughie Gallagher, I never realised where he died until today. So close to where I have lived all my life and I just never knew. Damned shame for it too end that way.
