New milestone for veteran of United

Jan 1 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

ALREADY the oldest surviving Newcastle United player, Jack Shiel now has another footballing milestone to celebrate.

Jack, 91, a member of the well-known Northumberland fishing and boating family, is marking the 70th anniversary of getting his big break in the game.

Jack, who was skipper of North Sunderland School at Seahouses, joined the family fishing business at the age of 15.

“I would come ashore on Saturdays to play football,” said Jack, who still lives in Seahouses.

He was signed as a centre forward by Newcastle United and on his debut for the club’s reserve side in the Central League in 1936, hit a hat-trick.

The match was against Huddersfield reserves, whose centre half on the day was Alan Brown, who was to go on to be manager of Sunderland.

One of Jack’s great friends was Newcastle’s legendary centre forward Albert Stubbins, who retired to live in Cullercoats in North Tyneside.

“Both Albert and Alan Brown used to come to Seahouses for their holidays,” said Jack.

He played for around 18 months for United’s reserves at grounds like Old Trafford and Villa Park.

He made his only appearance for the first team in 1937 in a 2-1 defeat at Barnsley, and turned down a bid by Portsmouth. “I wasn’t keen on going away from home,” he said.

Instead he joined North Shields and it was after an FA Cup game at Consett that he was taken to a Newcastle hotel where Huddersfield were waiting to sign him up and give him his big chance.

He made his debut in a 1-0 defeat by Middlesbrough.

In a far cry from the massive wages earned by today’s stars, Jack was earning £6 a week as a full-time Huddersfield player – but his footballing career was terminated by the Second World War.

Ironically, Jack ended up at Portsmouth anyway when his seafaring experience saw him join the minesweeper HMS Europa.

He served for five years, including spells off West Africa. After the war, he returned to fishing.

“Who knows what would have happened if the war had not broken out, but going to sea was what I was brought up to do,” said Jack, who last attended a Newcastle game three years ago.