Langley: Ernest James (Jim)

1951-1953 (Player Details)

Left Back/Left Wing

Born: Kilburn, London: 07-02-1929

Debut: v Bury (a): 28-08-1952

5’9 1/2” 11st 5lb (1957)

A product of Evelyns Yiewsley Senior School Kilburn, he played as an amateur for Yiewsley, Hounslow, Uxbridge and Hayes before joining Brentford in 1946. He returned to Non-League football with Guildford City and signed professional forms in 1949, after Army Service. Leeds signed him in June 1952. Langley, a future England full-back, was given his League debut by Leeds as a left-winger and, in fact all but two of his appearances were as a left winger, as he could only get a game in his specialist left- back position on the two occasions that the excellent Grenville Hair was not available through injury, and although he made a scoring debut it was as a left-back that he would find fame and international recognition after he left Leeds. There was no chance that he would dislodge the highly rated Grenville Hair even though Langley was an excellent full-back himself and so in July 1953 he joined Brighton and Hove Albion. Extremely popular with fans and other players, many were sad to see Langley depart and would remember his wholehearted performances, a precursor to Vinnie Jones, but with a much longer throw, a player who always had a smile on his face and was ready for fun, as well as giving his all, complete with overhead kicks, bicycle kicks and a sliding tackle on a par with Jimmy Dunn, and he was also the original overlapping full-back! It was just a pity United had two of the best English left-backs on their books at the same time. He was in many ways similar to Terry Cooper both started their career as an outside left and both were acknowledged as masters of overlapping left back position. Despite the drop down to the Third Division level with Brighton he won England B honours and represented the Football League and it came as no surprise that after scoring fourteen goals, including nine from the spot, and making one hundred and sixty-six League appearances, a £12,000 fee took him to Fulham in February 1957. There he formed an outstanding partnership with George Cohen. Both played for England and Langley was capped three times, making his debut in a 4-0 win against Scotland at Hampden in April 1958, when he replaced long time England full-back Roger Byrne, who had unfortunately lost his life in the Munich disaster in the previous February. He looked destined for a long reign as England’s left back but paid the price of a heavy 5-0 England defeat in Belgrade by Yugoslavia and was never called up by England again. Langley appeared for Fulham in the FA Cup Semi-Finals of 1958 and 1963 and was a member of their promotion team in 1958-59. He scored thirty-one goals, including thirteen from the spot and amassed three hundred and twenty-three League appearances at Craven Cottage befire moving on to Queens Park Rangers for £5,000 in July 1965. He helped Rangers to a League Cup, by coming back from 0-2 at half-time to beat West Bromwich Albion, and Third Division Championship double in 1967, at the age of thirty-seven. In September 1967, after scoring nine goals, all from the spot, in eighty-six starts and one substitute League games for Rangers, he was appointed Manager of Hillingdon Borough and led them out at Wembley in the 1971 Challenge Trophy Final. In August 1971 he became trainer coach at Crystal Palace. He was later a steward at West Drayton British Legion Club in Middlesex. He also returned to Hillingdon as club administrator for thirteen years from 1972 and then worked in the motor industry until he retired. He had a stroke in the 1990’s and died from a heart attack in Ruislip on 9th December 2007, aged 78.