The answer to the half time puzzle at the game yesterday was Jim Langley, who passed away this time 9 years ago. For all his ultimate longevity – he left the professional game after playing some 650 matches in 15 seasons – Langley had been a slow starter. As a teenager he played at non-League level for Yiewsley, Hounslow Town, Uxbridge and Hayes before joining Brentford, then in the League's top division, as an amateur in 1946. He was rejected as being too small by the Griffin Park boss Harry Curtis, and returned to the lower level, first with Ruislip and then, after demob from National Service with the Army in 1948, Guildford City. His League breakthrough finally arrived when he joined Second Division Leeds United as a left-winger in the summer of 1952, but despite scoring on his début in a 2-2 home draw with Bury, he failed to carve a niche at Elland Road and switched to Brighton of the Third Division (South) in July 1953. At the Goldstone Ground he was converted successfully into a left-back, and soon shone so insistently that he won representative honours, three outings for England "B" and selection for the Football League against the Irish League in October 1956. After twice tasting the disappointment of narrowly missing promotion with the Seagulls, whom he captained for two years, the 28-year-old accepted a career-changing £12,000 move to Fulham, then in Division 2, in 1957. He settled quickly in west London, relishing the atmosphere in an attractive side marshalled by the masterful midfield general Johnny Haynes. In 1957/58, Langley excelled as never before, featuring prominently as Fulham reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, where they were eliminated by a patched-up Manchester United – still reeling after the recent Munich air disaster – only after a replay. However, Langley had done enough to impress the England manager Walter Winterbottom, who was in need of a left-back following the death of Roger Byrne at Munich and called up Langley for his full international début against Scotland at Hampden Park that April. He gave a creditable account of himself in a swingeing 4-0 victory He maintained a high standard with Fulham in 1958/59 as the team, now managed by Bedford Jezzard, finished as runners-up in the Second Division, thus securing elevation to the top tier. Thereafter, despite the occasional brush with relegation, Langley helped Fulham consolidate in the First Division over the next half-decade, during which highlights included his goal in the 1962 FA Cup semi-final replay defeat by Burnley and selection for the London side which lost to Barcelona in the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (now the Europa Cup). Despite celebrating his 36th birthday in 1965, Langley remained in jaunty form and many fans were surprised when he was released that summer by a new boss, Vic Buckingham – to QPR for £5000 ! Not long before his exit, though, there was a tribute from an unexpected source. Stoke City's recently knighted Sir Stanley Matthews, who had just turned 50, planned one last League appearance and scanned the Potters' remaining fixtures for a suitable finale. The great outside-right wanted as his marker a man he could trust not to dish out brutal treatment, and who was not himself in the first flush of youth. He chose Langley, and bowed out in honourable combat with the Fulham number 3, whose day was spoiled only slightly by Stoke's 3-1 victory. Jim was that rare being in professional football during the middle years of the last century – a flamboyant full-back renowned for his impeccable sportsmanship. Not for him the grim, frowning, overtly physical approach which characterised many of his contemporaries. Even in the heat of the most frenetic action, an ear-to-ear grin was prone to crease his homely features, and during his romp with Fulham for eight years from 1957, he was invariably at the heart of dressing-room banter with the numerous Craven Cottage characters of that era. Reportedly most of the verbal cut-and-thrust between Langley and the likes of the winger Trevor "Tosh" Chamberlain and club chairman Tommy Trinder, the comedian, tended to be good-hearted, but it was never less than wickedly irreverent. On the field, unlike less expansive flank defenders, Langley was ever-ready to try something enterprisingly different. He was adept at sliding tackles which seemed to go on forever and spectacular bicycle-kick clearances which required astonishingly acrobatic contortions to complete. And, arguably he was the man who introduced the long throw-in to football. Occasionally, Langley caused palpitations among team-mates and supporters alike by outrageously delicate manipulation of the ball when besieged by opposition forwards inside his own penalty box, and his swashbuckling left-flank attacking forays, rendered all the more eye-catching by his distinctive bandy-legged gait, sometimes left gaps which colleagues had to race to fill. Safe to say “Gentleman Jim” had fun and enjoyed his football as much as the fans enjoyed watching him.
Great article,as a very young lad Jim was one of my many heroes at the cottage, Did you ever see him play ?
A great article, as a young lad Jim amongst others was one of my Cottage heroes. Did you ever see him play ?.
Sure did rosc. One of my favs as well - always gave a hundred percent with a little bit of the unexpected thrown in.
