Low Wilf Image 4 Newcastle United 1914

Description

Aberdeen born centre half Wilf Low was nicknamed the “Laughing Cavalier”, although opposition forwards may have disagreed with this as he was a typical hard defender of that time. Starting with junior club Abergeldie, he had a brief spell on trial at Montrose in 1904 before joining Aberdeen in August 1904. His five seasons at Aberdeen saw 3 goals in 119 appearances, before he was signed by First Division Newcastle United in May 1909 in exchange for Jimmy Soye and £800.

He made his Football League debut against Bolton Wanderers that September, and in his first season won the FA Cup when Newcastle beat Barnsley in a replay at Goodison Park in the 1910 Final after a 1-1 draw at The Crystal Palace. The following year he was again in the Final with Newcastle, but they lost to Bradford City, again in a replay.

He played both sides of the First World War for Newcastle, during which he guested for Fulham and served in the Armed Forces.

He made his debut for Scotland in a 1-1 draw against Wales at Ninian Park in March 1911, winning 3 caps between 1911 and 1913, and a further 2 caps in the spring of 1920 when he played in the Home Championship matches against Ireland and England.

Low remained with Newcastle after his playing retirement in 1924, playing his final match that April but not being included in their eleven that won the Cup Final, firstly as assistant trainer and latterly as a coach for the Newcastle Swifts junior side, then latterly as the club’s groundsman until his death in a car accident in 1933. In total he played 366 games for Newcastle scoring 8 goals during his St James’ Park career.

His brother Harry was also a professional footballer and played with him Aberdeen and also for Sunderland. He was the father of Norman Low, who played for Liverpool, Newport County and Norwich City, and managed Norwich, Workington and Port Vale.