An atmospheric picture inside Newcastle United’s players’ changing room in 1938 by top photographer John Humphrey Spender is to be sold in London.
The image of a United player is estimated at £1,000-£1,500 by Roseberys Fine Art Auction. The sale takes place tomorrow (September 23).
It was spotted by Dan Jackson, author of the new book Howay the Lads: A People’s History of Newcastle United.
That sparked research into the identity of the player in the uncaptioned picture, which has shown that the player is almost certainly Ehud Rogers, who was signed by Newcastle from Arsenal for £2,500.
Welshman Rogers was known as “Tim” at the club, apparently because people had difficulty pronouncing his Biblical Christian name.
He played for Newcastle from 1937-39, making 58 appearances and scoring 10 goals.
The likely candidate for the hatted figure in the near background facing Rogers has been identified as John Walton Lee, who lived in Whitley Bay and was a United director from 1934 to his death in 1954. He was club chairman from 1949-51.
Lee ran an egg importing and poultry merchant’s business and was a director of several other companies in the North East, including the chairmanship of the Crown Building Society.
Ed Plackett, Roseberys head of prints, said: “Spender’s photograph is part of an important body of work he made on Tyneside in 1938, when he was documenting everyday life in Newcastle and the surrounding area.
“His photographs ranged from streets and homes to children playing football, and this remarkable visit inside the Newcastle United changing room forms part of his attempt to record and celebrate the life of the city from close quarters.
“The discovery that the footballer is Ehud Rogers gives the photograph a very tangible connection to the history of Newcastle United. It’s a wonderfully informal view of the club away from the pitch and being able to identify Rogers brings a fascinating chapter of the club’s history into focus.”
The picture was taken during a visit to the North East by Spender, who was one of the photographers who were part of the Mass Observation movement, taking pictures of daily life in working-class communities.
His photographs cover the full range of Mass-Observation’s interests – politics and elections; religion; street scenes; industrial landscapes; pubs; market scenes, new buildings and developments, sport and leisure time, factory work, holiday scenes, street hoardings and advertisements.
His North East trip also produced pictures of the packed interior of what is believed to be Newcastle Commercial Exchange on the Quayside – later the Slug and Lettuce pub – and a Wallsend shipyard vista viewed from a terraced street.
But the chance to access the inner workings of Newcastle United was obviously an opportunity which grabbed his imagination.
During the Second World War Spender was appointed an official war photographer. He also worked as an interpreter of photo-reconnaissance pictures, identifying German rocket sites and making maps for D-Day.
Spender later moved from photography towards art and design and went on to become a successful textile designer and painter as well as a tutor at the Royal College of Art from 1953-1975.
Gazza souvenir makes a splash
Another United player to feature in an auction sale has produced a windfall for a retired policeman who has cashed in on his quick thinking during one of Tyneside star Paul Gascoigne’s greatest games.
England met Scotland at Wembley in the group stage of Euros 1996 when Gazza scored an unforgettable goal in his side’s 2-0 victory as he looped the ball over the head of Scottish defender Colin Hendry and then volleyed it on the drop into the net.
Now a yellow and black Fair Play water bottle used by Gascoigne with a letter has been sold by Budds Auctions for £180.
A letter of provenance states that Gazza drank from the bottle before throwing it towards the touchline, where it was collected by the policeman.
The game, in which another Tyneside star, Alan Shearer, scored the first goal, was the first England-Scotland encounter for seven years, and the first time they had met in the finals of a major competition.
The game was also memorable for the part played by another water bottle.
After scoring his goal, Gascoigne celebrated by lying down as England team-mates poured bottled water down his throat in a send-up of the team’s Hong Kong trip headline-making “dentist’s chair” incident.
The sale also included a Football Association presentation legacy salver, the centre engraved with three lion crest and inscribed to Paul Gascoigne, issued to celebrate England Men’s 1,000th International, on November 14, 2019. It sold for £900.
In 2019 the Football Association introduced legacy numbers to mark the 1,000th England fixture and the Gascoigne salver is valued at £1,000-£1,500.
Gascoigne was the 1006th player selected by The F.A. to play a full international match.
The auction also featured a red velvet Football Association legacy cap, inscribed 1006, with interior label inscribed Paul Gascoigne, which realised £1,800.
An England training top worn by Gascoigne went for £300.
