World Record Transfers - Pre WW2

The Early Years

Pre WW2

1893

 Willie Groves, West Brom to Aston Villa

£100

Today's Price (Adjusted for Inflation) - £10k

Let's start at the beginning. Before the Willie Groves transfer, records are sketchy at best. Players were certainly transferred between clubs, but often as trades for other players or sometimes for services and goods. Groves' transfer between the Black Country rivals is known as being the first transfer to ever exceed £100. As with most world transfer record-holders, Willie Groves was a striker, born in Glasgow and came through the ranks at Hibs. What is interesting about this transfer is that Aston Villa were actually forced to pay West Brom the £100 fee after they were found guilty of poaching Groves and another player, Jack Reynolds, from WBA. The two helped the Villains to the 1984 league championship that season.

1903

 Ben Green, Barnsley to Small Heath.

£500 

Today - £49k

If you've never heard of Small Heath, don't worry, neither had I until researching this article. The Peaky Blinders fans amongst you might though, as Small Heath is where most of the TV show is set. Small Heath became known as Birmingham in 1905, and finally Birmingham City in 1943. It took a decade for Big Willie's £100 transfer to be broken, and along came another Midlands club to smash it, paying 5 times the amount for the inside forward. That 400% increase remains the highest percentage between record transfer fees to this day. 'Benny' is famous for scoring the club's first goal at their new ground St. Andrews, 3 days after it's official opening on 29 December, 1906. The club rewarded Benny with a piano for that goal. Class. Benny was tragically killed in action in France in the first world war, aged just 34.

1904

 Andy McCombie, Sunderland to Newcastle United.

£700

Today - £69k

Up to the North-East we go. Two themes developing; transfers in this period tend to be between teams that are geographically close, and English clubs think Scottish players are worth breaking the transfer record for. Contrary to developing themes, though, is that McCombie was a right-back, making this the first world record breaking transfer for a non striker. McCombie won the football league championship with both Newcastle and Sunderland, as well as being an FA Cup runner-up whilst representing both sides.

1905

Alf Common, Sunderland to Middlesbrough
£1000

Today - £98.5k

Sunderland were swimming in cash in the early 1900s, with their local rivals spending big money to pick apart the dominant Sunderland side that had won 4 league championships between 1892 and 1902. Forward Alf Common had previously moved from Sunderland to Sheffield United in 1901 for £325, but returned to Sunderland in 1904 for £520. Sunderland nearly doubled their money just one year on when a different North-East rival, Middlesbrough, became the first club in history to spend 4 figures on a player. It turned out to be a decent bit of business, as Common scored 58 goals in 168 appearances for Boro. 

1913

 Daniel Shea, West Ham to Blackburn Rovers

£2000

Today - £180k

London, being Britain's financial capital, is conspicuous in its absence from early football transfer records. Perhaps this points to the fact that football has its roots in working-clas areas like the North-East and the Midlands, which have featured in all transfers so far. Daniel Shea's move in 1913 is the first to feature a club from the nation's capital, but tellingly Shea left the bright lights of London for humble Lancashire. Shea was an excellent signing, and helped Blackburn win the 13/14 league championship in his first season. He scored 61 goals in 97 appearances for Rovers, but his spell was interrupted by the First World War and he returned to West Ham in 1920.

1914

 Percy Dawson, Hearts to Blackburn Rovers

£2500

Today - £220k

Dawson was signed during the 13/14 season in which Blackburn won the league championship. The club had shelled out £4500 for Daniel Shea and Percy Dawson to lead their title-winning attack. This was to be Blackburn's last league title until they won the Premier League in 1995, with another expensive but top quality strike-force in Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton. Dawson's transfer is noteworthy because it is the first world record fee to involve a club outside of England, in the shape of Edinburgh-based Heart of Midlothian. Hearts sold their star striker to fund much needed improvements to Tynecastle Stadium.

1920
 David Jack, Plymouth Argyle to Bolton Wanderers
£3500
Today - £129k

Born in Bolton, inside-forward David Jack began his career at Plymouth as a result of being stationed there during WW1. He moved to his hometown club in 1920 and famously became the first player to score at Wembley Stadium, during the 1923 FA Cup Final, which saw Bolton beat West Ham 2-0, with King George V in attendance. Jack scored an impressive 144 goals for Wanderers in 295 games, and his goals helped them win 2 FA Cups; the aforementioned '23 Cup, and again in 1926 where he scored the only goal against Man City.

1922
 Syd Puddefoot, West Ham to Falkirk
£5000
Today - £250k

Falkirk became the first club outside of England to break the world record transfer for a player. Remember that, it might make you a pub-quiz hero one day. Falkirk had been Scottish league runner-up twice in the 1900s and in their push to become champions opted for the excellently-named Puddefoot, who had already scored over 100 goals for West Ham. Falkirk would ultimately not win a league title with Syd, and have still to this day never been Scottish champions. They are, however, the only Scottish team in history to break the world record fee for a footballer. This transfer is also the second time that West Ham to featured as the selling club, suggesting that West Ham have always had a world-class youth development system at the club.

1922
 Warney Cresswell, South Shields to Sunderland
£5500
Today - £275k

This one features another side who have since changed their name. South Shields changed their name in 1930 to Gateshead after relocating the club in the 1920s because of financial problems. Hard to imagine how they had such financial difficulty after they sold their full-back, Warney Cresswell, for a world-record fee. Similar to when Leeds sold Rio Ferdinand for £30m but still managed to descend into administration. This transfer strengthens the fact that the North-East really ruled football in the early 20th century. Cresswell played 182 times for Sunderland but never scored a goal. A 1920s version of Rob Jones.

1925
 Bob Kelly, Burnley to Sunderland
£6500
Today - £340k

In the 1900s, Sunderland were a selling team, but by the 1920s they were soending big. They broke their own world record to sign inside-forward Bob Kelly after he had scored 88 goals in 277 appearances for Burnley. Sunderland are one of only two teams in history to break their own world record to sign a player, with Real Madrid doing it much more recently (Another one for you pub-quiz aficionados). Sunderland's big spending didn't pay off, however, and they had to wait until 1935/36 to win the last of their 6 English league titles, with Cresswell and Kelly both long gone by then.

1928
 David Jack - Bolton to Arsenal
£10'890
Today - £600k

Jack is back! Having held the world record in 1920 when he moved to Bolton, David Jack became thefirst player in history to hold it on two separate occasions. He is one of only three players in history to do so, with illustrious company in Diego Maradona and Original Ronaldo also doing the same. He was also the first ever player to go for 5 figures. This guy is just a pub-quiz dream, and he's got two first names. This transfer is also pub-quiz-worthy in that it is surprisingly the only time in history that a London-based club broke the world record. Arsenal would go on to win their first league championship in 1929/30 as well as the FA Cup the same year to complete the double. That sparked a period of dominance for the Gunners as they won the league again in '33, '34, '35, and '38. David Jack provided 113 goals in 181 appearances for Arsenal between 1928 and 1934. I think it's safe to say that this was one record transfer that paid off big-time.

1932
 Bernabe Ferreyra, Tigres to River Plate
£23'000
Today - £1.46m

The last time the record was broken before the outbreak of WW2 was done so by Argentine giantsRiver Plate. This transfer is the one and only time that a club outside of Europe broke the record. What a signing it was though, as Ferreyra scored 187 times in 185 appearances fro 1932 to 1939, and who knows how many more would have followed if old Adolf hadn't started to play silly buggers in '39.


That wraps it up for Pre-War, join me next time for post-war euphoria. Down with Adolf, up with the transfer value of association football players.