Mason George Image 3 Coventry City 1936

Description

An England schoolboy international in 1927, Birmingham born centre half George Mason played his early football with Birmingham side, Redhill Amateurs in 1929. Coventry City manager Harry Storer pinched him from under the noses of Aston Villa and Birmingham to sign him in November 1931 aged 18, and it was one of his shrewdest moves. Mason made his Football League debut at Bristol Rovers in March 1932 and soon emerged as an outstanding centre half and captain, skippering the side to the Third Division (South) Championship in 1936. Injury however caused him to miss the final two matches of the season, the only ones he missed, including the vital final game against Torquay United and the tension was so great he had to leave the ground and go for a walk around Gosford Green. Coventry won the match 2-1 without him.

The next three seasons were Mason’s golden years as Coventry twice finished fourth in the Second Division in the final two peacetime seasons, and Storer resisted many offers for his services from bigger clubs. A model of consistency, he was an ever present in two of the last three seasons before the Second World War. In another era he would have certainly been capped by England, however the War cut across Mason’s career but he did become City’s first England international, albeit in two unofficial wartime internationals.

After the War he was still a regular for four seasons but time eventually caught up and having not featured at all for The Sky Blues in 1950-51 he played his last match against West Ham United in February 1952, before he was given a free transfer in the summer 1952 after 9 goals in 362 appearances for Coventry City, finishing his career with a spell with non league Nuneaton Borough.

His unstinting loyalty to Coventry City over a 21-year period marks him out as a true club stalwart and but for the War he could well have made over 600 appearances for the club.