Brentford legend with the punch up front that ’Popeye’ was proud of
He would have won more England caps... but for the prolific Raich Carter
HISTORY tells us, on the weekend Brentford christen their new stadium, that Billy Scott was the last Bees player to win an England cap – 84 years ago.
But only a forensic trawl of the archives reveals Scott was on first- name terms with Popeye, the spinach-guzzling sailor with unfeasibly pneumatic biceps.
Shortly after making his only England appearance against Wales, a piece of fan mail was delivered to Scott at Gri f f in Park on Dai ly Mirror-headed notepaper.
And the contents, in a maritime dialect few could imitate, inspired him more than a can of fortified greens.
Never mind the spelling, feel the authenticity: “Howsa boy! Try this spinach – it’s might dern good ‘ an I figgers ya goner knock spots off the nex’ guys ya plays. I am wishin’ ya all the luck in the world. From ya fren’ POPEYE.”
The Mirror had just started carrying cartoon strips of our nautical hero, but Scott was far from starstruck. He went on to score 87 goals in 295 appearances for the Bees, including five in an 8-1 win against Barnsley, and a treasure trove of Scott’s memorabilia now serves as a monument to Brentford’s 116year residence at Griffin Park.
His nephew David Scott, who lives in Brockham, Surrey, said: “My Uncle Billy served an apprenticeship in the shipyards at Wallsend and signed for Middlesbrough at 19 before he was one of three players Boro sold to Brentford on the same day.
“He played in the Brentford side who won promotion two years running to reach the old First Division, and he was the club’s last player to represent
England, winning his only cap at Ninian Park in 1936. I think he would have won more caps, but Raich Carter – who was a prolific centre-forward for Sunderland at that time – kept him out of the side.
“It’s a shame Brentford didn’t win promotion last season because I think Ollie Watkins would have gone on to play for England while he was at the club like my uncle.
“I fear Watkins will move to a Premier League club and he will go on to enjoy that distinction as somebody else’s player.” Fans disenfranchised by the coronavirus pandemic will miss Brentford’s baptism of their shiny new 17,250 capacity stadium at Lionel Road, a stone’s throw from Kew Bridge, against Wycombe in the Carabao Cup tomorrow.
But a big move in a proud club’s history will never erase over a century of memories from the ground they have left behind, nor the contribution of legends like Scott – who died at the age of 61 in 1969.
His contract reveals the princely sum of £5 and 10 shillings (£5.50) a week wages, and Brentford fought hard to keep him. On the day Scott got married, Arsenal’s £5,000 bid to sign him was rejected and he remained loyal to the Bees until he returned to the Tyneside shipyards during the war.
Regrettably, a year before the England team gave a Nazi salute at an international with Germany as a diplomatic signal of appeasement, Brentford were coerced into a similar gesture on their end-of-season tour of the Fatherland in 1937.
Just as nobody remembers the score when England raised their right arms in Berlin ( for the record, the Three Lions won 6- 3), the Bees’ wins against Hamburg and Hertha Berlin, and a 2-2 draw with champions Nuremberg, were marginalised by a moment of fascist homage.