Messi’s millions built on a pioneering Scot who was first paid player... in 1876!

and his middle-class standing means it was unlikely he would have asked for cash to play a game that was still strictly amateur.

Lang, who was 25 when he joined The Wednesday, was from more humble stock.

He had lost an eye in an industrial accident while working in the Clydeside shipyard of John Brown and Co in 1869.

But that didn’t halt his football career – and five years later he was in the Clydesdale team beaten 2-0 by Queen’s Park in the first-ever Scottish Cup final. Lang had already won the first of two Scotland caps, scoring a goal in the 4-0 win over Wales in Glasgow, before making the 250-mile steam train journey south to Sheffield.

He was put on the payroll of a knife-making firm owned by Wednesday official Walter Fearnhough and made his debut for the club against Hallam on November 25, 1876.

Newspaper reports confirm that Lang set up the Wednesday goal for Tom Butler, describing him as “the celebrated player who has come to reside here”.

It seems Lang was given considerable freedom to concentrate on his football rather than knife making.

He was even allowed to return to Scotland to play in another Scottish Cup final, when his Third Lanark side were beaten 1-0 by Vale of Leven in 1878.

Lang helped The Wednesday win the Sheffield Challenge Cup three times and was also in the team that played in the club’s first-ever FA Cup tie. Later, he played for Attercliffe, Sheffield Zulus and Northwich Victoria.

Football historian Martin Westby said: “Peter Andrews did play before Lang but I am convinced by research done by fellow historian Graham Curry that Andrews was a middle-class man working close to the Heeley FC ground.

“On the balance of probabilities this is a man who had no need for payment to play the game he loved, and he had moved south for work reasons.

“This is opposed to ex-shipyard worker Jimmy Lang, who in my opinion, travelled from Glasgow to Sheffield purely for football and remuneration reasons.”