David Jack

1923 Charity Shield appearance for Professionals v Amateurs 1926 Charity Shield appearance for Professionals v Amateurs

An inside forward, Jack started his senior career with his father's club, Plymouth Argyle, after the war. He played in the Southern League in 1919–20, and was a member of Plymouth's team for their first match in the newly formed Football League Third Division in 1920–21. He scored 15 goals in 48 appearances in all competitions. In late 1920 he returned to the town of his birth, signing for Bolton Wanderers for a fee of £3,500. He spent eight seasons with the Trotters, forming a formidable partnership with Joe Smith, and between them they scored more than 300 goals. While with Bolton, he made history by being the first person to score a goal at Wembley Stadium, in the 1923 FA Cup Final; Bolton won 2–0 and Jack earned his first medal. A year later, he won his first England cap, in a 2–1 defeat against Wales on 3 March 1924. In eight years he played nine times for his country – four times as captain – and scored three goals. He continued to have success with Bolton, winning the FA Cup again in 1925–26, scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win over Manchester City. He was the club's top scorer for five of the eight seasons he was there, scoring 144 goals in 295 league matches. As of 2017, he remains Bolton's third highest goalscorer of all time, with 161 goals from 324 senior matches. In 1928, with Bolton in financial trouble, Herbert Chapman's Arsenal made Jack the first five-digit signing in world football, almost double the previous record; the final fee paid was £10,647 10…

After retiring from playing, Jack went on to manage Southend United from May 1934 to August 1940 and then Middlesbrough from November 1944 to April 1952. He also managed League of Ireland side Shelbourne from August 1953 to April 1955.

Jack was born in Bolton, Lancashire, in 1898, the son of Scottish footballer Bob Jack and his wife Georgina Nightingale. He had two brothers, Rollo and Donald, who also played football. Jack was married to Kathleen. Their son, also named David, became a journalist and writer who chaired both the Football Writers' Association and its Australian counterpart, the Australian Soccer Press Association. Jack died in St Thomas' Hospital, London, in 1958 at the age of 60. He served in the Royal Navy during the First World War.