Tough at the top – when Eddie was dropped after ten-goal masterclass
IF you’d played in a team who won 10-0, you’d think you would be chosen for the next game.
Ten of the England team who rattled up that score against Portugal in May, 1947, did get the nod – the odd man out was Eddie Lowe.
For the opening international of the following season the Halesowen-born Aston Villa left-half was dropped.
It was not even a case of opting for youth when the selectors chose Derby County’s Tim Ward as his replacement. He was 30 while Eddie was 22.
Rumours
There were rumours Eddie may have upset an FA official though nothing was ever substantiated. Despite impressive displays for Fulham in subsequent seasons he never added to a total of three caps.
Eddie had made rapid progess after joining Villa in the summer of 1945, having played for works sides Gaskell & Chambers and Kynoch. He and his brother Reg signed for Villa while Gaskell and Chambers team-mate Les Smith joined Wolves.
By coincidence another Les Smith, the England left-winger whom Villa signed from Brentford, made his debut on the same day as Eddie – in a Football League South match away to
That 1945-6 season, the last before the Football League resumed following the war, saw Villa finish runners-up. Eddie also figured in eight FA Cup ties which normally would have been enough to make it to Wembley. However, the ties were decided on a home and away basis and Villa bowed out to eventual winners Derby County at the quarter-final stage, the sixth round.
Plymouth Argyle. Record
For the first leg of that tie, 76,588 packed into Villa Park, a record for the ground.
Building on his debut season a series of impressive displays brought Eddie to the attention of the England selectors and he was given his first cap in the game against France at Highbury, which England won 3-0. He had been named reserve for the previous game against Scotland at Wembley. The Scots held England 1-1 and the selectors turned to Eddie,
Harry dropping Blackpool’s Johnston.
It looked as though Eddie was the ideal third member of the England half-back line alongside Neil Franklin and Billy Wright, as he received favourable reviews of his debut display.
John Thompson wrote in the Daily Mirror: “As expected Eddie Lowe was a splendid success. He will have many caps.” In the Daily Herald, Clifford Webb wrote: “Eddie Lowe, the Aston Villa left-half, impressed as a highly valuable discovery. He is only 21, an admirable addition to the middle line.”
England then went ahead with a two-match trip even though the league season was still in full swing, having been delayed by a succession of postponed games during one of the most severe winters the country had suffered.
Surprisingly, England lost the first of these games. 1-0 against Switzerland in Zurich.
Then came the match with Portugal at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon and the only changes saw inside right Raich Carter and left winger Bobby Langton omitted in favour of Stan Mortensen and Tom Finney.
Goals
It was the first time wing legends Matthews and Finney had played in the same England team and they were both in top form as England scored five goals in each half. Mortensen, on his debut, hit four goals as did centre-forward Tommy Lawton. Finney was also on target and it was left to Matthews to put the score into double figures five minutes from time. The England team on May 25, 1947;
Swift (Manchester City); Scott (Arsenal), Hardwick (Middlesbrough); Wright (Wolves), Franklin (Stoke), Lowe (Aston Villa), Matthews (Blackpool), Mortensen (Blackpool), Lawton (Chelsea),
Mannion (Middlesbrough), Finney (Preston).
For the opening international of the 1947-8 season, Tim Ward displaced Eddie, Billy Wright moving from right to left half in the 5-2 win over Belgium. Ward was then promptly dropped for the next game, against Wales, when the slectors turned to Liverpool’s Phil Taylor.
Despite two good seasons in a useful Villa side, Eddie never got another England call, Manchester United’s Henry Cockburn being the preferred choice at left-half after Ward and Taylor were discarded.
Injury in January, 1949, kept Eddie sidelined and Frank Moss grabbed his chance to make the left-half spot his own in the Villa side. After making only six apperances the following season, Eddie decided he wanted a move.
Fulham, then in the top flight, signed Eddie and his brother Reg, who had been a Central League regular without
ever making a first-team appearance. Eddie had played 117 games for Villa as well as 24 in that final season of wartime football.
At Fulham, Eddie became a legend, being a first-team regular for 13 seasons. His 511 appearances is a figure bettered for Fulham only be Johnny Haynes (658).
Promotion
Eddie was a key figure when Fulham gained promition back to the First Division in 1959, having been relegated in 1952.
He was nearly 38 when he played his final league game in 1963, helping Fulham to a club record eight wins in a row that season. Ironically that was during another epic winter freeze and Eddie had first come to prominence during the dire winter of 1947.
After Fulham Eddie had a couple of seasons as playermanager of Notts County before turning his back on football.
He did not fare well as a boss as County were relegated from the Third Division.
So the last chapter in a lengthy football career was for Eddie, low.