Rob Sawyer
Dixie Dean’s goalscoring exploits gained legendary status, long before he hung up his boots in 1939. His instincts and ability to plunder goals were unsurpassed, but he was always quick to recognise the contribution to his remarkable goal haul of his Everton wingmen. Without their ‘assists’, to coin the modern parlance, his figures would still have been impressive, but somewhat less so. Bobby Irvine, Sam Chedgzoy, Ted Critchley, Jimmy Stein, Albert Geldard, Jack Coulter and Torry Gillick were all top class outside rights and lefts, but it is fair to say that Dean’s highest praise was reserved for a Forfar-raised diminutive crossing maestro: Alexander ‘Alec’ Troup.
Alec was the eleventh child born to Benjamin and Christina Troup on 12 May 1895. He was raised in his hometown of Forfar, located in Angus, approximately twelve miles north of Dundee. On leaving school at fifteen he apprenticed as a plasterer, but his talent for dribbling a football had long been apparent. He followed his local side, Forfar Athletic, for whom his older brother has turned out, and was at Hampden Park in 1910 to watch Scotland defeat the ‘Auld Enemy’, England, 2-0.
Clubs were wary of taking on such a slight and short player as Alec (he never grew taller than 5’5”), but at seventeen his persistence was rewarded with a selection for Forfar Celtic ‘A’ in the Juvenile League. Subsequently, he turned out for Forfar North End and signed on officially for the 1913/14 season, in which he played at inside-left forward and in a deeper left-half role. Come the start of 1914, he agreed terms with Forfar Athletic, being described by the Forfar Herald, thus:
He is just seventeen years of age but he has not many of the tricks of the trade to learn. His footwork is, indeed, clever and his only disadvantage is his height. His smartness, however, compensates for his lack of weight and inches and he will doubtless prove a useful player for the Athletic.
Within a couple of months, it was Alec’s mother making the headlines, when she attempted to ‘stick it’ to Celtic captain Sunny Jim Young at full time of a Scottish Cup encounter. She had taken exception to Young’s repeated fouls on her son and swiped at his head with her umbrella – fortunately she was restrained before any harm could be done.
By now, the highly promising winger’s nickname was Eck or Eckie (derived from Alec), while he was also affectionately dubbed Wee Troupie by the sporting press (this was the title chosen for his biography, written by David Potter and published by Tempus in 2005). In August 1915, with war with Germany underway, Dundee FC’s treasurer William McIntosh, journeyed to Forfar to secure Alec’s signature – something of a coup, as the player was also heavily linked with Celtic. The story goes that the registration forms were signed on the lid of an empty coffin. Alec was plastering an undertaker’s premises when Dundee officials came calling, so the lid acted as a makeshift desk. Alec chose to remain living at home and commute to Dens Park by train; he also had permission to continue with his plastering work. In his opinion, not playing football or training all week, instead focusing on his plastering work, made him relish Saturday afternoons in Dundee colours all the more. Within months of the footballing move, he made the definitive positional switch from inside-left of attack to the left wing – and found his true calling.
As football limped through the years of conflict, Alec enlisted with the Royal Engineers in the autumn of 1916, heading to Largs for basic training at the turn of the year. When based there on the east coast of Scotland, he guested for Ayr United a few times. Relatively little is known about Alec’s active service due to the destruction of war records but we can say with some confidence that he was serving in France by the autumn of 1917. One surviving phonograph shows him posing with the football team of the 13th Reinforcement Company of the Royal Engineers.
He was back home in Angus by the spring of 1919; he returned to his widowed mother, her husband Benjamin Troup having died from prostate cancer in 1916. A few months later Dundee and Alec picked up the pieces as regular football returned to Dens Park. The winger had a tremendous season as the Dee finished fourth in the league.
His international bow came against England at Hillsborough in 1920. He made a brilliant debut in a 4-5 defeat to the Auld Enemy. The Athletic News report enthused:
He [Troup] was the prettiest kind of player, with plenty of cunning in either foot. At his best in the first half, he was really responsible for opportunities which yielded three goals; and no man could wish to do more, either in his first or tenth international match.
The Dispatch carried a verse, titled Eckie Homo, penned to mark Alec’s departure:
Sadly, for Alec, his international appearances were sporadic due to the consistent brilliance of Rangers’ Alan Morton, another diminutive but brilliant exponent of the outside-left arts. Ten months after his debut, the Dundee FC man made two further Scotland appearances in wins over Wales and Ireland. He lined up for the fourth time for his country in March 1922, in a 2-1 defeat of Ireland at Parkhead, but would wait four years for a further outing.
Very much a Dundee hero by the early 1920s, Alec continued to live in Forfar with his sister and ailing mother (she passed away in 1922, having lived with dementia for some time). The sporting star was also going steady with local girl Elizabeth Kidd. One bizarre, but not entirely unfounded rumour, linked him with a move to the USA in December 1920. Two American soccer agents were present at Dens Park to watch Dundee take on Albion Rovers. Perhaps they spoke with club officials, but Alec was never directly approached. Whether he’d have been enticed by the offer is another matter entirely.
Dundee, although one of the top sides in Scotland at this point, could not break the Auld Firm stranglehold of the league, routinely finishing in fourth place. Perhaps this – along with the passing of his mother – drew Alec’s thoughts to playing for a club south of the border. As early as 1920, the likes of Newcastle United and Everton had shown an interest but received short shrift from the Taysiders. Come the spring of 1922, the Blues of Merseyside had the winger watched again and made a couple of attempts to negotiate a transfer for both Alec and teammate Billy Cowan for a combined fee in the region of £2,000, rising to £2,500. My great-grandfather, Bill Sawyer, was part of an Everton deputation that travelled north in a vain attempt to broker a deal.
The following months saw Dundee blowing hot and cold on making their two players available to transfer for a price within Everton’s acceptable range. The Toffees, for their part, played along. The interest in Cowan waned after he was watched giving a disappointing display (he subsequently joined Newcastle United), but Alec remained firmly on the Toffees’ wish list. His club form fell away in the autumn of 1922 and he was out of the first team until the approach of Christmas (David Halliday had got the nod ahead of him). Perhaps this situation convinced the Dundee directors to write to their Everton counterparts in mid-January 1923 to propose a deal. The missive confirmed that a fee of £1,500, plus whatever long service ‘benefit’ share the player was entitled to, would be acceptable to them.
The need for fresh blood in the Merseysiders’ team had been heightened by poor form, with the Blues lying 13th in the league standings. Neil McBain would be signed from Manchester United (£4,000) and flamboyant Cornish centre-forward Jack Cock transferred from Chelsea (£2,000). On receipt of the letter from Scotland, Everton secretary Tom McIntosh and director Will Cuff were empowered to travel to Tayside, with a budget of up to £1,700 to finally land Alec.
The two Everton officials watched a goalless draw at Dens Park on 20 January. Enjoying his post-match soak, the Dundee winger had no inkling that Tom McIntosh was in negotiations with his Dundee counterpart and near-namesake William McIntosh. With a £1,950 deal agreed, Alec was summoned to be told that he would be Merseyside bound, collecting a weekly wage of £8 plus a signing-on fee. It was, in truth, a deal that suited all parties. Dundee collected vital funds and offloaded a player whose form had dipped, Everton got an international class winger, and Alec had the chance to test himself elsewhere and reboot his career.
Ernest Edwards, writing as Bee for the Liverpool Echo, was cock-a-hoop with the Toffees big-money captures:
Troup: I have seen in internationals, and I know him to be a dandy player and artist on the touch line, and a man with a shot. McBain, too, we know by his “fruits” and by his international record – he is one of the toughest players I know. So, when the Scottish regiment lines up tomorrow one will be sorry that Hunter Hart is not present.
Dundee fans were far less enthusiastic about the departure of one of their stars, especially with the club still involved in cup football, but there was scant animosity, as it had been an open secret that the player had been ready for a new challenge for some time. The Dundee Courier wrote:
Alec Troup will take with him to England sincerest good wishes of a host of friends. Forfar has produced many clever exponents of the national game, and Troup is outstanding amongst them. Like all great footballers, never learned the game – it was a gift.
Alec, himself, gave this view on swapping Dens Park for Goodson Park to the Dundee Courier:
‘I am looking forward to playing for Everton on Saturday, although I have not been told if I am to turn out at Goodison Park or not. But I will know when I reach Liverpool on Thursday evening, and no doubt you’ll hear about it before Saturday.
‘I’m sorry, in a way, to leave Dens. I have made a lot of friends, and then I’ll be leaving my fellow townsmen, Dave McLean and Dave Nicoll. I have been anxious for a change, and Everton are treating me well. It is not as if I am going amongst strangers. Davie Raitt, Livingstone, and the other Scotsmen there are all known to me, and now that Jack Cock is leading the attack I think the English Leaguers should do well. Jack, of course, is a bit of a music-hall artist, and although I’ve never met him, I hear he is a great lad, and I’m looking forward to hearing him sing.’
The Toffees faithful would have to wait to see their new capture on home turf. Instead, he debuted in place of the long-serving George Harrison at Stoke City’s Victoria Ground. Despite a heavy defeat, Alec impressed the critics, as noted by the Dundee Courier:
Referring to Alex Troup’s play for Everton against Stoke, an English critic writes: ‘There could be no doubting the class of Troup when he was on the move. He did not run along the wing and lift the ball into the centre heedless of his colleagues’ positions, but he placed the ball well, and also made use of a delicious inward pass as deceptive as it was neatly done. It was Troup who gave most anxiety to Brookes and his back.’
With Everton already out of the FA Cup and without a competitive fixture, Alec next lined up in a friendly match at Stockport’s Edgeley Park before making his home debut against Chelsea in a 3-1 win. He sparkled and had the Liverpool Football Echo’s Ernest Edwards (Bee) enchanted:
It was nice, clean, and good football, and nothing was better than the work of Troup, who was dead on the mark and had some typically Scottish methods. Troup not only drove in after dainty dribbles, he was on the touchline when he raised his ankle and by swinging his foot round, brought off a spectacular effort, the likes of which is not seen nowadays in 20 years in English football.
Another observer, writing for the Dundee Courier, recorded:
Troup…pranced along the touchline in style that promises much good sport for the patrons of Goodison Park. All his work was polished and precise, and Priestley and Smith (G.) could never hold him. He varied his method of attack, centred accurately, shot strongly, and rarely placed the ball behind. In the opening minutes he sent in two great shots, each of which sent Hampton, the Chelsea goalkeeper, saved full length in the mud.
Naturally, it took some adjusting playing in a different league, during a February gap in fixtures, he was able to return home and told the Courier of his first impressions:
‘The game is much faster than it is in Scotland. They believe in the quickest road to the goal, and it is useless to try pattern-weaving. There are no soft marks in the English First Division. It is a case of fighting hard every week. Even at home, Everton have to play hard, because the opposition is always first class.’
He ended his first campaign in England with two goals in seventeen appearances, and a fifth-place league finish – quite the turnaround for the club after a poor first half of the season. At the club’s AGM, Will Cuff outlined last season’s work and stated that the inclusion of Cock, McBain and Troup had helped to weld a fine team together, one which could face the future with confidence.
Alec would be a near ever-present on the Toffees’ left wing for the next six seasons – becoming a darling of the crowd, and all this in spite of playing with a weakened shoulder. The condition, attributed to boxing bouts when he was in the army in wartime, saw the shoulder bone frequently become ‘displaced’ in matches and required ‘popping back in’ by trainer Harry Cooke. His need to wear preventative strapping was reported on in 1924 by the Daily Record and there is little doubt that opposing full-backs would have sought to exploit the ailment with robust charges into the winger. It didn’t hold him back, the Forfar Herald once noting: ‘When he was with Dundee, he periodically had a shoulder bone displaced, and how, after a painful readjustment, he was back to the field in a few minutes, thirsting for more work.’
Alec never settled fully on Merseyside. He had married Elizabeth without publicity at a Liverpool registry office in April 1923, but she headed north to create the new family home in Forfar. Alec would lodge in Liverpool and get back to Scotland when the fixture and training schedule permitted. For example, after a post-season European tour in 1928, he wasted no time in heading north at its end, as reported by the Liverpool Echo:
Alec Troup knows all about trains by now. Starting yesterday morning for home, he was on the journey to Liverpool from 8 a.m to 9.30 p.m, and then made tracks for Scotland by the 10.40 train, which would land him home this morning just nicely in time for breakfast.
1924/25 had been a disappointing season for Everton and their left winger. He missed a number of matches due to a knee injury and, according to some, was showing his age. Thomson’s Weekly News was cutting about his play:
Alec Troup is not the force he was before coming south. I think the fact that his shoulder has been badly injured has caused him to become more cautious. He doesn’t stand up to a tackle as he used to. Troup is tricky, but he lacks dash.
With the relative loss of form and fitness and his wife residing in Scotland, it is little wonder that his mind drifted to a return north and several newspapers predicted that this would occur. Already, he had used some of his earnings to establish an eponymous men’s outfitters business at 20 Castle Street in Forfar. However, the Everton board minutes make no reference to Alec requesting a move away from Merseyside, and even if he had, the directors would have been steadfast in their determination to retain one of their diamonds. It was a wise stance, as the following campaign saw the two wingers, Alec and Sam Chedgzoy, and recent signing W.R. Dean click. ‘Dixie’, still a teenager, would notch a remarkable 33 goals in his first full season as a Toffeeman.
Comparing 1970s football to his heyday, Dean said:
‘The great difference between the game then and now was in the use of wingers. In my days at Everton, we had wingers like Teddy Critchley, Sammy Chedgzoy, Albert Geldard, Alec Troup, Jimmy Stein and Jackie Coulter. Their job was to go quickly down the wings and centre it hard. It was my job to meet these centres and either have a go at putting it in the net if I thought I was the right distance away, or nod it back to the inside forwards.’
The key to Dean’s mastery in the air, aside from his tremendous ability and timing, was the type of cross delivered to him. He explained:
‘As I was going up for the centre, I knew exactly where I wanted to place the ball with the header. I knew which to side of the goalkeeper I wanted to place it. I used to try to give the ball just a slight flick with the forehead because in that way you can place the ball wide of the goalkeeper. I always thought a flick was more effective. If I had made a half turn in the air and headed it square with my forehead, I couldn’t have got the same pace with the ball as I did.
‘I was lucky at Everton with people like Alec Troup, Jimmy Stein, Albert Geldard, Cliff Britton and Jackie Coulter. They used to hit the ball over hard and fast, and it was easy for me to make those flick headers and get real pace on the ball.’
Alec was awarded the fifth and final cap for his country (the only one while plying his trade at Goodison Park) in a match against England at Old Trafford in April 1926. It was a win for the visitors, but the Daily Record report damned Alec with faint praise, describing him as ‘past his prime’ – adding:
‘Alec Troup was just passable, I am afraid. ‘Wee Troupy’ was only a shadow of the flaxen-haired “Forfarian” who made such a grand substitute for Alan Morton on mucky Hillsbro’ six years ago; but for a ‘veteran’ he did not at all badly.’
In fact, ‘Wee Troupy’ (sic) was far from finished. On the wrong side of thirty, he was adapting his play to meet the demands of the English game, and also to maximise his longevity. He accomplished this by paring his playing style down to purely the most productive elements. A Forfar Herald article published in the late 1920s summed this up beautifully:
In the hard school of English football, Troup has learned his lesson well. He is no longer the bag of tricks who used to dance along the Dundee left wing – he is now a footballer pure and simple. So ruthlessly has he pruned his repertoire of tricks that he seems now almost mechanical in his movements.
He traps the ball as beautifully as ever, dashes ahead like a deer, brings himself to a sudden full stop and then centres the ball to the very spot where virile Dean can make most use of it. That is movement number one. The second move is simply the quick pass to his inside forward and the run into position for the return pass. And the third (and, so far as I could see, the only other movement Troup employs) is the cut in and left-foot drive for goal.
To any who know Troup in his Dundee days, and who, therefore, knows the wonderful footcraft of which he is capable but which is now never in evidence, the transformed Troup I saw at Bury would be something of a disappointment. But Troup knows what pays. It has meant a sacrifice, but he has made it willingly. If all Scottish footballers in England were as ready as Troup has been to conform to the needs of the English game, there would be fewer failures among the highly priced men who come over the border.
Alec had one final taste of representative football when selected for the ‘Anglo Scots’ to play home-based Scots in the Robert Burns Memorial Match played at Newcastle United’s ground on 28 April 1926. He was photographed with the squad outside the Avenue Hotel, Whitley Bay on the day of the match.
Prior to the 1926/27 season getting underway, Everton’s left winger had things other than football on his mind. He delayed returning for pre-season training to be present for the birth of a daughter on 5 August. Nan, as she was baptised, would be Alec and Elizabeth’s only child. Interestingly, on the birth certificate Alec stated his profession as ‘gents outfitter’ rather than ‘professional footballer’ – clearly, he had an eye to his future.
On the football front, it was tough going. Shorn of the services of Dixie Dean after the forward’s motorcycle accident, the team floundered, needing nine attempts to register a win. Dean’s return to action, in which the Birkenhead man scored in a win at Leeds United in late October, helped to turn things around to a degree (indeed, Dean scored in each of his first five games back in the team). However, it was still a dismal campaign and Everton only narrowly avoided relegation. Anyone brave enough to place a bet would have been offered remarkable odds on the Toffees being crowned league champions twelve months later. But that is exactly what happened.
Dean and Troup, ably supported by outside-right Ted Critchley, and Scottish inside-left Tony Weldon, set about creating football history in the 1927/28 season. Alec was an ever-present, scoring ten times times in 42 league appearances – but just as important was his consistently brilliant delivery of the ball to Dean in the box.
The title was wrapped up with a game in hand, but Dean needed a hat-trick to hit the magic figure of sixty on the final day of the season, a home fixture against Arsenal. The pressure was on the peerless Dean, but also on his supply line to deliver. Fittingly, it was the Forfarian who set up the centre-forward for his record-breaking goal. He had already produced some fireworks to create chances that the talisman narrowly missed; then, with eight minutes left on the clock, Alec was entrusted with delivering an outswinging corner from the Bullens Road side of the Park End. Like Dean, he probably realised that this was THE moment that could send Goodison into raptures and propel Dean into sporting immortality.
Bee, in the Liverpool Echo, described what transpired:
Troup took the corner kick and out of a ruck of probably fourteen players, Dean, with unerring accuracy, nodded the ball to the extreme right-hand side of the goal. There has never been such a joyful shout at Everton. It was prolonged for minutes and went on to the end of the game.
Thomas Keates, the former Everton director, wrote this in the club’s golden jubilee history, which was published shortly after his passing:
Troup (the electric tripper) sent a nice dropping shot in front of goal, the ball hung in the air. Dixie’s magical head went for it and tipped it into the net. You talk about explosions and loud applause. We have heard many explosions of applause in our long pilgrimage, but, believe us, we have never heard such a prolonged roar of thundering, congratulatory applause before as that which ascended to heaven when ‘Dixie’ broke the record.
Everton FC held what was termed a ‘domestic gathering’ on the Saturday night, after the match. Dean thanked all the team for helping him to his record, but when asked exactly how he came to achieve the record goal haul, he quipped ‘Go to Alec’. He meant that his Scottish teammate would be best placed to explain how the goals came about. Indeed, Dean would later claim, without much exaggeration, that Troup had a hand in forty of two thirds of his goals during the unforgettable campaign. Aside from his Football league medal, Alec (along with teammates) was given a canteen of cutlery by Everton, as a token of appreciation for his standout season.
16 February 1929
The following season was something of a disappointment for all concerned, Alec missed just four matches, but Dean missed thirteen through injury and, with no other forward stepping up to the scoring mark, the Blues sank to a lowly eighteenth position at the season’s end. On a brighter note, the club celebrated its 50th anniversary in April with a lavish event at the Philharmonic Hall, with Toffees great past and present in attendance.
Injured prior to the start of the 1929/30 season, the thirty-four-year-old winger required an operation which kept him out of contention for two months. Fellow Scot Jimmy Stein stepped in and quickly cemented his place in the team. When fit again, the senior man had to wait patiently for a first team opportunity. This came at Blundell Park with the recalled Alec also being named captain. He didn’t disappoint against the Mariners. Some months later, Ernest Edwards (Bee) recalled in the Echo:
That was the day they promoted Alec Troup to be captain, and he resumed after weeks of absence. He played half-back, forward, and all over the place to try to gain the day, and he was just one good leader among eleven rousing (and on that day’s play) capable players.
Alas, this would be the last time he shone brightly in the royal blue shirt. Alec was dropped after three matches back in the side, before being recalled and captaining the side again, away to Bolton Wanderers on 28 December. A 5-0 defeat by the Trotters brought his Everton first team career to an inauspicious end. Out of the team and unhappy, he had his mind sent on a return to Scotland at the end of the season – but then matters accelerated.
Early 1930 saw a spate of transfer activity between Everton and Dundee. Former Hibernian forward Harry Ritchie was sold by the Toffees to the Dee, having failed to become a first team fixture at Everton. A fortnight later, two days after Alec’s name was one of half a dozen circulated on ‘the open to transfer’ list, a deputation from the Tayside club attended an Everton board meeting and asked if the Toffees would be prepared to do business over Alec. The response was that it would take £500 plus Alec’s accrued benefit money to part with the winger. Subsequent talks between the clubs saw Everton given first option on the imposing Dundee wing-half John Ross ‘Jock’ Thomson for a £3,650 transfer fee, with Troup included in the price. Alternatively, Dundee would offer £200 for an outright cash deal for the winger.
The Toffees quickly agreed to having first option on Thomson. Advised on 29 February by Everton secretary Tom McIntosh that he was being sold back to Dundee, Alec was thrilled. He went straight into the Dundee team for a Scottish Cup quarter-final against Hearts, the following day, helping to draw 31,000 to Dens Park. In spite of an impressive second Dee debut by ‘Eckie’, Hearts ran out convincing winners, but the winger’s know-how and ability helped to steer Dundee clear of relegation worries.
He was pictured in Dundee’s dark blue colours next to Jock Thomson – the six-foot tall wing-half towering above the winger. A little over two weeks after Alec’s move north, Thomson made the journey in the opposite direction. Thomson would emulate his predecessor’s success at Goodison Park, winning the league in 1932, the FA Cup in 1933 and captaining the side to the 1938/39 league title.
Alec’s departure from Everton was met with some sadness by connoisseurs of Merseyside football. Louis T. Kelly, writing as Stud Marks, used his Liverpool Echo column to comment:
No man ever gave his masters less cause for worry and his admirers more genuine delight than did little Troup during his six years on Merseyside. Troup recently confided the news that he had enjoyed every hour of his stay at Everton. And Everton, for their part, have, we think, enjoyed every hour of their Troup.
As late as November 1932, the Motherwell Times was singing his praises as he held Father Time at bay. Although The Dee sank to defeat to Motherwell, the match report stated: ‘“Wee Troupie” showed that his feet can still twinkle in mystifying fashion. Two of his crosses early on showed the master touch.’
Three months later, the Sunday Post correspondent ‘Maroon’, was moved to express similar sentiments when Dundee, once more, fell to Motherwell: ‘Wee Troupie amazed me. He was the hero of the line. I can remember him years ago with his twinkling feet, darting out and in again between opponents. He has lost none of his artistry – he kept the Dundee interest alive.’
With the wide man increasingly afflicted by injury, including bouts of sciatica affecting his left leg, the financially stricken club decided to call time on Alec’s engagement at the end of the 1932/33 season. His final appearance came in April 1933, against Celtic. Soon afterwards, he was down in London to cheer on his former club as Everton defeated Manchester City in the FA Cup Final. At thirty-eight, he accepted that the time had come to hang up his boots, except for the occasional veterans/charity match. One such example was staged at Pittodrie in 1940, raising money for the Red Cross, with Alec taking his place in a ‘grand old-timers’ XI.
In retirement he was a popular figure around town, often seen walking his dog, Ben. Although a quiet man, he was happy to have a conversation with locals, including children, and ready to dispense some footballing yarns to an awestruck audience. Always interested in the fortunes of his three former football clubs, he would be a regular at the Station Park ground of Forfar Athletic. His sister-in-law would run his clothing business until it was sold prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. He continued to do plastering jobs and with the advent of war he happily travelled by bus to work in a Brechin munitions manufacturing plant.
Having been in poor health for some time, Alec succumbed to throat cancer on 2 January 1952; he was fifty-six. He died at home at Willowbrae, Brechin Road, Forfar, with his family at his bedside. His funeral, which took place two days later at Forfar Cemetery, was well-attended. Former Everton and Dundee players Jock Thomson, Davie Raitt and David McLean were present. Everton sent a letter of condolence to the family and a floral tribute for the funeral service, as did Dundee FC.
Alec’s grandson, Brian Taylor is proud of his illustrious forebear, who died when he was just nine months old. Brian played football up to Junior level and if he ever got in trouble with a referee, his grandmother, Elizabeth, would say ‘Your grandad never got booked/sent off’. As a birthday gift, Brian came down to Goodison Park in March 2008 to watch the Toffees draw 1-1 with West Ham. He has a son and daughter plus two grandsons, one of whom is a tall centre half, while the other is a left-footed winger – so here’s hoping for a chip off the block.
For decades after Alec left Goodison Park in 1930, Everton’s left wingers would be compared, often unfavourably, to the Forfar man who made 260 appearances over a seven-year period and laid on countless goal opportunities for his teammates. When pressed to name his best Everton line-up, Dixie Dean went with:
Sagar, Williams, Cresswell, Britton, Jones (T.G.), Mercer, Chedgzoy, Dunn, Dean, Johnson and Troup (subs: Cook, White and Lawton).
He may have been ‘wee’ in physical stature, but Alec Troup’s achievements in the royal blue shirt were immense. Surely these make him worthy of induction as an Everton Giant, to complement his induction in Dundee FC’s Hall of Fame in 2017.
Rob Sawyer
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Acknowledgements
This article would not have been possible with reference to ‘Wee Troupie’ written by the late David W. Potter and the kind assistance of Alec Troup’s grandson, Brian Taylor. My thanks, also go to Billy Smith, curator of the Blue Chronicles website, Dundee FC Historical Trust (Jim Mitchell) and the archive team at DC Thomson for the Troup-Dean-Weldon image.
References
Potter, David, Wee Troupie: The Alec Troup Story (2005) Tempus
Keates, Thomas, History of the Everton Football Club, 1878-1928 (1929)
Corbett, James, The Everton Encyclopedia (2011), DeCoubertin
ed. Rogers, Ken, Dixie Dean Uncut: The Lost Interview (2005), Trinity Mirror
Roberts, John, Dixie Dean: The Forgotten Tapes (2008) Sport Media
Billy Smith, Blue Chronicles, bluecorrespndent.co.uk
Johnson, Steve, Everton Results evertonresults.com
evertoncollection.org.uk (Liverpool Record Office)
enfa.co.uk
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