27-05-47: Celtic (h) 1-3 (HT 0-1) Crowd (19,000)

Programme: Photo

(Player Profile)

(Player Details)

(Leeds United War-time Guest Player Details)

Joseph Eric Stephenson was born on 4th September 1914 in Bexleyheath, Kent. He played Inside-Left for Leeds United between 1934 and 1941. He was killed in action in 1944 during WW2 whilst serving as a Major with the Gurka Rifles. He played 151 times for Leeds and was capped twice for England (Scotland 1938 and N. Ireland 1938).

Match Report

The benefit match for Eric Stephenson, kicked off at 7pm in the evening of 27th May 1947. A.W. (Arthur) Luty, the well known Leeds referee, was in charge of a game that featured a strong Celtic XI and a Leeds team heavily reinforced by the inclusion of two Barnsley players, left-half Jimmy Baxter, later to star with Preston North End and left-winger Johnny Kelly, who was later substituted. However, the star attractions were Irish International inside forward, Peter Doherty, from neighbouring Huddersfield Town, and the heavy scoring Jock Dodds at Centre-Forward, who was regularly scoring for Everton and had made his name with Sheffield United, Blackpool and Scotland. Celtic had Rolando Ugolini in goal and while never able to establish himself with Celtic, he was a very accomplished and popular keeper who went on to become a stalwart with Middlesborough where he made over 500 appearances. There was no finer Celtic player than Bobby Evans, who started as an Inside-Forward, but later found fame for Celtic and Scotland as a wing-half and finally at centre-half. Equally as famous was John McPhail, who started as a wing-half and defender but then moved up to become a scoring centre-forward and was capped five times for Scotland. There was a crowd of about 19,000 on hand to see Jock Dodds score the lone Leeds goal, as a token reply to goals from outside-left George Hazlett, inside-left Bobby Evans and Inside right Jimmy Sirrel. The slightly built Sirrel was always a handful for defences but he suffered badly with injuries while at Parkhead and eventually left for Bradford Park Avenue in April 1949. He later became more famous as a Manager, leading Notts County into the top flight after years in the fotball wilderness. He discovered former Leeds full-back and midfielder, Nigel Worthington and mentored Howard Wilkinson as a Manager.(Thanks to Steve Bell for amended scorer and McAra details)