Full name James Wardhaugh Role Footballer Height 1.75 m | Playing position Position Inside forward Name Jimmy Wardhaugh | |
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Date of birth (1929-03-21)21 March 1929 Place of birth Marshall Meadows, England Date of death 2 January 1978(1978-01-02) (aged 48) Died January 2, 1978, Edinburgh, United Kingdom | ||
Jimmy Wardhaugh (21 March 1929 – 2 January 1978) was a Scottish internationalist footballer, best remembered as part of the Terrible Trio Heart of Midlothian forward line of the late 40s and 1950s with Willie Bauld and Alfie Conn. He was the club's record League goal-scorer for almost 40 years, until his tally of 206 was surpassed by John Robertson in 1997.
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Heart of Midlothian
Wardhaugh was born in the small Northumbrian hamlet of Marshall Meadows, just north of Berwick-upon-Tweed and less than a mile from the Scottish border. He was raised in Edinburgh and began his career with Hearts in 1946. He played regularly in his first year at Tynecastle but missed much of the following 1947–48 season while undertaking his National Service in Worcestershire.
On 9 October 1948 after a mediocre start to the 1948–49 season, Hearts' manager Davie McLean gave a competitive first team debut to 20 year old centre forward Willie Bauld. 19 year old inside left, Jimmy Wardhaugh, and 22 year old inside right, Alfie Conn Sr. had already broken through to the first team so this game marked the first time all three were deployed as a combined attacking force. They became dubbed the Terrible Trio and scored over 900 Hearts goals between them (Wardhaugh 376, Bauld 355, Conn 221). As a unit they played 242 games together. The combination of Wardhaugh's dribbling skills and non-stop running, Bauld's cerebral play and prodigious aerial ability, and Conn's energetic, tenacious style and powerful shooting complemented each other well. Their first match as a forward combination ended in a 6–1 defeat of Scot Symon's impressive East Fife team of the era. This was notable as Symon's team had defeated the Maroons 4–0 three weeks earlier.
McLean's death on 14 February 1951 saw Tommy Walker promoted to the position of manager. Walker was Hearts manager for the rest of Wardhaugh's time at the club. Walker's reign was to prove the most successful period in the club's history. The important foundations Walker inherited from McLean included the Terrible Trio forwards, the full back pair of Bobby Parker and Tam McKenzie and half backs half Bobby Dougan and Davie Laing. To this established core John Cumming had recently broken through to the first team in the left half position he was to dominate for many years. Freddie Glidden was already at Tynecastle but yet to first team debut as was the then schoolboy Dave Mackay.
Wardhaugh was subject of a £26,000 bid from Newcastle United in 1952, which was accepted by Hearts. He was unable to agree terms with the Tyneside club though, and the deal fell through.
In 1952/53 Hearts were struggling but with Bauld's return to full fitness came a change in fortunes. From the bottom half of the league they surged up the table to finish in fourth place (as they had the two previous seasons). That resurgence also took them to a 1952–53 Scottish Cup semi final against Rangers before 116,262 fans at Hampden Park in Glasgow. Wardhaugh scored in the 2–1 defeat. Hearts were now though on an upward trajectory.
In 1953–54, Wardhaugh became the A Division's top scorer with 27 goals as Hearts appeared set to win the League championship. However, on 13 March 1954 in the Scottish Cup quarter final 3–0 defeat away to Aberdeen, Parker broke his jaw, Conn injured his back, and Wardhaugh collected a serious shin bone injury. Dougan already had a lengthy knee injury meaning 9 November 1953 was his last competitive Hearts first team game (Dougan only subsequently played for Hearts in friendlies). A stuttering end to their season saw Celtic overtake them.
Mackay was given his extended place in the team in the 1954–55 season immediately after Laing's 5 September transfer to Clyde. They promptly became a trophy winning force seven weeks later lifting the first of seven trophies over nine seasons between 1954 and 1963. In October of the 1954–55 season they won their first trophy since 1906, 48 years before. They beat Motherwell 4–2 in the 1954 Scottish League Cup Final. Bauld scored three and Wardhaugh scored one in the final giving the team their break through trophy. Hearts gained some recompense against Celtic from the season before by beating them home and away in that 1954–55 Scottish League Cup group stage.
After signing Alex Young and Bobby Kirk, Walker’s side proceeded to win the 1955–56 Scottish Cup. They thrashed Rangers 4–0 in the quarter finals with goals from Crawford, Conn and a Bauld double. Wardhaugh was the top tier's leading scorer again that season. The scorers in the cup final win over Celtic were Crawford with two and one from Conn. Conn ended that 1955–56 season at the peak of his powers aged 29 with a career best 29 goals from 41 games. On 2 May 1956 two weeks after the cup win Conn became the third of the terrible trio to collect a full Scotland cap and scoring in a 1–1 draw with Austria. However the following September Conn suffered a broken jaw playing against Hibernian keeping him out til January. The days of the Terrible Trio as a combined force were nearing their end.
Hearts led the Scottish League for most of the 1956–57 season. The title hinged on Rangers visit to Tynecastle on 13 April. A capacity crowd watched a tense game in which Rangers keeper, George Niven, was man of the match. Hearts could not beat him and the only goal came from Billy Simpson of Rangers who scored on the break in 35 minutes. Rangers had games in hand which they won to overtake Hearts and lift the trophy.
Wardhaugh completed the set of having won all three major Scottish football trophies with the League Championship in 1957–58. Conn suffered a serious ankle injury meaning he only played in five league games all season. Injury hit Conn left Hearts for Raith Rovers in September 1958 just two years after his 1956 zenith. With an injury hit Bauld only playing nine times in the league title win a new Hearts attacking trio were dominant. For a third time Wardhaugh was the League's top marksman with 28 strikes. This was one ahead of Jimmy Murray's 27 and four more than Young's 24. Mackay, now Captain, was fourth in Hearts' league scoring charts with 12. Hearts won that League title in 1957–58 with record-breaking points, goals scored and goal difference. Their record from 34 league games of 62 points out of a maximum possible 68 was 13 more than their nearest rival. They scored 132 goals (still the Scottish top tier record) with only 29 against for a record net difference of +103. This was Hearts' greatest ever league side.
In the 1958–59 Scottish League Cup group stage Hearts eliminated Rangers. That October 1958 Scottish League Cup Final was won with a heavy 5–1 defeat of Partick Thistle. Bauld and Murray each scored two and Johnny Hamilton netted one. Hearts defended their league title by being leaders in mid December. However a side visiting Ibrox missing injured Mackay were beaten 5–0 with all goals in the first 35 minutes. This put Rangers into top position in the table on goal average. This precipitated a poor run of only two wins from the next seven games without injured Mackay. Hearts beat Queen of the South in a 2-1 home league win on 7 March 1959. After that QoS game Rangers with six games to play were firm favourites for the title, six points ahead of second placed Hearts. Even if Hearts were to win their remaining seven games including a game in hand and beating Rangers in their visit Tynecastle in Rangers' penultimate game of the season, Rangers would still have to drop two points elsewhere and give away a superior goal average. The league game against QoS was Mackay's last for Hearts after they accepted a bid of £32,000 from Tottenham Hotspur for their captain who was fit at this time despite having had lengthy spells out injured in the previous 12 months. Bobby Rankin was brought in to bolster the squad and scored twice in each of his first two games (both victories). On the penultimate Saturday of the league campaign goals by Cumming and Rankin at home to Rangers meant Hearts were four points behind with a game in hand. In midweek they next won 4-2 at Aberdeen with Rankin scoring a hat-trick. The last day of the season began with Rangers two points clear with an identical goal average to Hearts. Rangers thus needed a point to clinch the title but lost 2–1 at home to Aberdeen. Despite missing Bobby Kirk at right back with a knee injury, Rankin's ninth goal from his fifth Hearts game had Hearts 1-0 up at half time at Celtic Park. Any victory would have given Hearts the title. Then Celtic's Bertie Auld playing at left wing equalised before Eric Smith scored Celtic's winning second goal to seal the title for their cross city rivals leaving those at the Tynecastle to wonder what would have happened if Mackay hadn't been sold when he was.
Although Wardhaugh was part of the side that won the 1958–59 League Cup, he too by this stage becoming a fringe player and didn't play in the final. His last competitive game for Hearts was a League Cup quarter final tie against Bobby Ancell's Motherwell on 9 September 1959. The trio were reunited a last time in the testimonial at Raith Rovers of ex Raith and Hearts forward George Dobbie on 31 October 1960 even though Conn and Wardhaugh had both already left Hearts. Wardhaugh scored 375 Hearts goals in 518 games and a club record league total of 206 strikes. The 206 was only surpassed by John Robertson 38 years later.
Dunfermline Athletic
Speculation linked him with a move to Hearts' city rivals Hibernian. Eventually it was Dunfermline Athletic he joined in 1959 for a fee of £2,000. He scored four goals from 12 league games before giving up his career as a professional footballer in 1961.
Scotland
Wardhaugh made his full international debut in a 4-2 defeat by the 'Magical Magyar' Hungarian team at Hampden Park on 8 December 1954.
His selection could be viewed as controversial as, despite his Scottish parentage and sense of self identity, he was born in England. At this time when the home football associations had strict eligibility restrictions for their national sides. Other 'Scots' such as Joe Baker and Hearts team mate Gordon Marshall were obliged to seek selection for the English national team due to their place of birth. However, for footballing purposes the Scottish Football Association and the Football Association considered their shared boundary to be the River Tweed, allowing Wardhaugh to represent Scotland. His case was helped by the fact that Berwick Rangers, based to the south of his Marshall Meadows birthplace, had competed in Scottish football since 1905.
His second and final cap was a 1-0 home win against Northern Ireland on 7 November 1956.
Wardhaugh also represented the Scottish League XI and scored eight goals in nine appearances.
After playing
In 1961 he started a new career in sports journalism. He possessed a keen interest in sports generally and his writing was not limited to football coverage. His first role was with the Edinburgh Evening News, where he developed a particular enthusiasm for ice hockey and was responsible for the paper's coverage of the local Murrayfield Racers. Later he worked for the Scottish Daily Express as well as editing Hearts' official matchday programme.
In the 1970s he worked as a publicity officer for the BBC while continuing to cover live sport events. It was after one such occasion, a match between East Fife and Hearts on 2 January 1978, that he died, collapsing on his way back to his Edinburgh home. His death was 10 months after that of his friend and Terrible Trio team-mate Bauld.