Cock Jack Image 14 Plymouth Argyle 1927

Description

Phillack, Hayle, Cornwall born centre forward Jack Cock started his football career in London with West Kensington United in 1908, playing for Forest Gate in 1911 and Old Kingstonians in December 1912 before joining Brentford as an amateur in March 1914, making 3 Southern League appeearances. Moving to Second Division Huddersfield Town for £2,000 in 1914 he made his Football League debut at Birmingham that December and scored on his home debut against Grimsby Town a week later. He played for Huddersfield both sides of the First World War, scoring 9 goals in 18 appearances, including 4 goals in a 5-0 win against Bury in September 1919.

During the War he served in the British Army in the 17th Middlesex “Football Battalion”, rising to the rank of Acting Sergeant-Major and earning the Military Medal for “Bravery in the Field” and a Mentioned in Despatches for “gallantry”. He was reported as ‘missing, presumed dead’ at one point during the War after he was wounded in the conflict. He is known to have played 6 times for The Footballers Battalion, scoring 10 goals, and he played again as a wartime guest for Brentford, scoring 52 goals in 48 outings, and he also played once for Croydon Common in October 1915. While with Brentford, Cock scored six hat-tricks, a wartime record he shares with Len Townsend. Cock also scored for England in the Victory International against Wales at The Victoria Ground, Stoke in October 1919.

Huddersfield at the time were in severe financial trouble and Cock was sold to David Calderhead’s Chelsea in October 1919 for £2,650. A skilful, nimble striker with a powerful shot, he had a fanatical dedication to fitness, often staying behind to train long after his team mates had gone home. He scored twice on his Chelsea debut against Bradford and followed it with a hat-trick against Preston North End two weeks later, hitting the net 24 times that season in 30 games, a key factor in the club finishing third in the League and reaching the FA Cup semi-final, where they lost to eventual winners Aston Villa at Bramall Lane. Despite missing the opening months of Chelsea’s campaign, he ended the season as comfortably their top goalscorer, and repeated the feat in each of the next two seasons.

He was capped twice by England in October 1919 when he scored in a 1-1 draw with Ireland in Belfast, opening the scoring after 30 seconds, which is currently the third fastest timed England goal of all time, and in April 1920 when he scored in a 5-4 win over Scotland at Hillsborough, and he holds the distinction of being the first Cornishman to play for the England. He also made two appearances for The Football League against The Scottish League in February 1919 and March 1920, scoring in the latter game in a 4-0 win at Celtic Park.

He scored 53 goals in 110 games for Chelsea before moving to Everton in January 1923. At Goodison Park he scored a hat-trick in his sixth appearance in a 5-3 win over Middlesbrough, and notched a further 31 goals in total in 72 games before joining Plymouth Argyle in March 1925, where he was nicknamed “Jack of Trumps” and scored 72 League goals in just 90 appearances, racking up two 30+ goal seasons in 1925-26 and 1926-27 (his 32 League goals remains the Plymouth Argyle record for League goals in a season) as The Pilgrims missed out on promotion by a narrow margin, finishing runners up in the Third Division (South) both campaigns. His totals included 4 goals against Norwich City in January 1926 after a treble against Southend United in the season’s opener, and home and away hat-tricks against Watford the next season.

But in November 1927 he moved back to London with Millwall for a then record fee of £2,000 and scored twice on his debut against Coventry City the same month, going on to score 92 goals in 135 appearances, helping the club win the Division Three (South) Championship in 1927-28 that had proved so elusive with Plymouth Argyle. His record for career League goals for The Lions wasn’t passed until 1972. In the 1927-28 campaign he scored 4 goals against Newport County in March 1928 and a treble against Gillingham the following month, and scored hat-tricks the following season against Reading and Grimsby Town later in 1928. His 77 League goals there remained a club record until 1973. He joined non league Folkestone in July 1931, finishing his career with Surrey club Walton & Hersham in October 1932.

He was appointed the manager of Millwall in November 1944 leading them to the War Cup (South) Final at Wembley in April 1945, where they lost 2-0 to his old side Chelsea. The club’s playing squad was hit hard by World War II and they were relegated at the end of the 1947-48 season; he left the job shortly after the season end.

His younger brother Donald Cock was also a successful professional footballer with Fulham, Notts County, Arsenal and Clapton Orient among others, and a third brother, Herbert, played once for Brentford and was on the books at Queens Park Rangers, Arsenal and Gillingham.