The Old Spurs Warrior

Tag: Ton Pentre

  • Jimmy McMenemy and Scouting for Players

    Jimmy McMenemy and Scouting for Players

    When Patrick Gallacher returned to Ton Pentre after the First World War, he was much more than the club’s captain and centre half. Evidence from contemporary newspapers suggests he was also helping to identify and recruit players for the South Wales club.

    One example appeared in the Merthyr Express in October 1919:

    “Pat Gallagher (the burly Ton Pentre centre half) was making enquiries about Tim Coleman, and intends making the journey to Ebbw Vale when Ton Pentre visit Ebbw Vale again. He says, ‘Tim is some lad.’”

    Merthyr Express, 11 October 1919

    Patrick Gallacher already knew Coleman through their service in the Footballers’ Battalion during the First World War.

    Around the same time, Patrick received an intriguing letter from one of the biggest names in Scottish football, Celtic star Jimmy “Napoleon” McMenemy. The letter was written in response to Patrick’s enquiry about potential players for Ton Pentre.

    Letter from Jimmy McMenemy to Patrick Gallacher, 10 October 1919

    James McMenemy
    Wine and Spirit Merchant.
    209 Great Eastern Road,
    and 3 Coalhill Street,
    Glasgow

    10th October 1919

    Dear Pat,
    Received your letter, and was very pleased to hear you are doing well. In regards to players for your team, it is very hard to run across the sort of men you want. Forwards are a bit scarce here at present, (you can judge, when I am still kicking away) but if I should run across, any player I think will suit you, I will write you at once.

    The day I received your letter, I was speaking to D. McDevitt, he says he would like to go up there, but of course you have seen him play, and should know if he will suit you, he is a bit heavier since you knew him, and is looking well. I sent a lad to Blackpool the other week, but I understand they have signed one, there is one inside forward, but a bit light yet, if your letter arrived in time, I would have been pleased to have sent him on to you, however, if I hear or see a good strong lad with a little experience, I will give him a recommendation to you. I will enquire for one or two players, and if they are willing to go, I will write you at once.

    I scarcely ever see Arthur now, I think he must be Tee-Tee.

    Of course we had a great Mission up here a week or so ago, and it has steadied a few of the Boy’s up for the present,

    Trusting this note finds you in the best of Health & Spirits

    Yours fraternally
    Jas. McMenemy

    The letter provides a fascinating glimpse into football’s informal recruitment network in the years immediately after the war. Rather than formal scouting systems, clubs relied heavily on personal contacts and recommendations.

    Jimmy McMenemy’s letter to Patrick Gallacher

    McMenemy explained that suitable forwards were difficult to find, joking that the shortage could be measured by the fact that he was “still kicking away” himself. At the time he was 39 years old and still appearing for Celtic, an age at which most footballers of the period had long since retired.

    The letter also mentions D. McDevitt, a player Patrick had apparently seen in action before, as well as another young inside forward whom McMenemy believed had potential.

    One particularly intriguing line concerns Patrick’s brother Arthur:

    “I scarcely ever see Arthur now, I think he must be Tee-Tee.”

    Arthur Gallacher’s football career occasionally overlapped with that of his brother Patrick. They played together for Duntocher Hibs and later reunited at Barrow AFC during the 1910/11 season. Arthur also spent time with Renton before returning to Glasgow, where he played for Parkhead Forge.

    McMenemy’s letterhead gives his address as 209 Great Eastern Road and 3 Dalmarnock Street, Glasgow, the premises of The Duke Bar, which he owned from 1910. Significantly, this was in Parkhead, the same district where Patrick had been born and where his mother was still living in Salamanca Street.

    How Patrick Gallacher and Jimmy McMenemy first became acquainted is unknown. Both emerged from Glasgow’s Junior Football scene, and they certainly played against one another during the 1907/08 season when Patrick was with Partick Thistle and McMenemy was starring for Celtic. Whether their friendship dated from that period, or from an earlier connection in Glasgow football, remains uncertain.

    What the letter does reveal is that, nearly two decades after leaving Glasgow, Patrick remained connected to influential figures within Scottish football. It also shows him playing an important role at Ton Pentre, helping to identify and recruit players as the club rebuilt in the aftermath of the First World War.

    Can You Help?

    I would be interested to hear from anyone with information relating to:

    • Patrick Gallacher’s role in recruiting players for Ton Pentre.
    • The player D. McDevitt mentioned in McMenemy’s letter.
    • Evidence of when and how Patrick Gallacher and Jimmy McMenemy first became acquainted.
    • Additional correspondence between Gallacher and prominent football figures of the period.

    Please visit the Can You Help page if you can add to this story.

  • Why the “Old Spurs Warrior?”

    Why the “Old Spurs Warrior?”

    Why Was Patrick Gallacher Called the “Old Spurs Warrior”?

    It’s a good question.

    Why would someone who played for Tottenham Hotspur for just one season, 1904-05, be remembered as the “Old Spurs Warrior“?

    Why not the “Old Barrow Warrior”? After all, Patrick spent four seasons at Barrow AFC, the longest spell of his football career.

    He was given the name while he was with the Footballers’ Battalion. For many years, my family had never heard the term. We only became aware of it around 2012, when we discovered the book When The Whistle Blows, which described Patrick’s role with the Footballers’ Battalion during the First World War.

    The author wrote:

    “Even though there were only about 40 professional footballers still serving with the 17th Middlesex, the battalion team, trained by L/Cpl Pat Gallacher ‘the old Spurs warrior’, was still a formidable one.”

    More recently, I discovered the newspaper article from which the description seems to have originated.

    In an article published in Athletic News, Private John “Jack” Stephenson’s letter is quoted:

    “He also mentions that their trainer is none other than Gallagher, the old ‘Spurs warrior,’ who is like a father to us’.”

    Athletic News, 3 July 1917.

    I don’t have the answer as to why my Grandfather was called the Old Spurs Warrior, but perhaps I can offer some suggestions.

    A Tottenham Connection That Never Ended

    One obvious explanation is that, although Patrick played for several clubs after leaving Tottenham, his connection never really ended.

    Firstly, “Pat” was in the same Tottenham Hotspur squad as Vivian Woodward, the famous amateur forward and England international. More than a decade later, both men appear together in the 1915 Footballers’ Battalion photograph below, visible evidence that their paths crossed again during the war.

    Officers and men of the 17th Middlesex: Front row, from left: Pte Pat Gallacher (Spurs), Capt Edward Bell (Portsmouth and Southampton), Lt Vivian Woodward (Chelsea), Capt Frank Buckley (Bradford City), Pte Sid Wheelhouse (Grimsby Town), Pte Tommy Barber (Aston Villa), L/Cpl Fred Bullock (Huddersfield Town).
    Back row: Sgt Percy Barnfather (Croydon Common), Pte William Jones (Brighton), Pte William Booth (Brighton), Pte George Beech (Brighton), Pte Tommy Lonsdale (Southend United), Sgt Joe Smith (Chesterfield), Sgt Yeoval, Pte Frank Martin (Grimsby Town), Pte Jack Sheldon (Liverpool).

    Even after moving to Luton Town, Partick Thistle, Workington AFC, Barrow AFC and Ton Pentre AFC, Tottenham remained his home during the close season.

    My father, Terence Gallacher, wrote:

    “He was a particular friend of Bill Over who was head groundsman of The Spurs. It is likely that Patrick and Alice would have returned to Tottenham during the summer months and during these visits home, Patrick would have done some work with the Spurs ground staff.”

    Bill Over would later become Tottenham Hotspur’s Head Groundsman. At the time, the position was held by his father, John French Over.

    Through this work Patrick gained experience that would later prove valuable when he became a groundsman himself.

    Home, Family and Tottenham

    Tottenham was also where Patrick built his family life.

    He met Alice Nicholson while playing for Spurs and, although they married in Luton in September 1906, Tottenham remained a constant presence in their lives.

    The family home in Trulock Road became the place to which they repeatedly returned. Their second son, Albert Patrick Gallacher, was born there in 1908.

    Beyond Playing Football

    After retiring from football, Patrick settled permanently in Tottenham.

    In 1923 he worked as a rigger during the construction work that covered the Park Lane and Paxton Road terraces at the Spurs ground. It was work that drew upon the skills he had first learned in the shipyards of Glasgow.

    Patrick Gallacher on the St Ignatius Sports Ground with sons Bob and Donald
    Patrick Gallacher at the St Ignatius Sports Ground with his sons Robert and Donald.

    He later became groundsman at the St Ignatius Sports Ground, situated between Trulock Road and Tottenham Hotspur’s East Stand. In later years Spurs players occasionally trained there.

    By then, Patrick’s association with Tottenham had lasted far longer than his single season as a player.

    A Possible Answer

    Perhaps that is why the men of the Footballers’ Battalion knew him as the “Old Spurs Warrior”.

    By 1917 Patrick had played for Luton, Partick Thistle, Workington, Barrow and Ton Pentre. Yet Tottenham remained the place he returned to year after year. It was where he met his wife, where he worked during the off-season, where he raised his family and where he would eventually spend the rest of his life.

    His friends in the Battalion could not have known what the future would hold. They could not know that Patrick would still be living in Tottenham decades later. Perhaps, however, they could see what seems clear to me now: that my Grandfather had a genuine affection for Tottenham and always regarded it as home.